THINGS TO THINK ABOUT

What Happened when the Children Played with Hot Stones

Again the Cave-men went out to hunt. Again the women went out to gather roots and berries. Only Chew-chew and the children were left near the cave.

Chew-chew was curing the skins which the women had brought home. Some of them were stretched out on the ground. Others were stretched on frames. Many of these were ready to be rolled up and put away.

While the skins were drying, Chew-chew had time for other work. She wanted to finish her basket, and so the splints must be put to soak.

At a sign from Chew-chew, Fleetfoot went to the river for a bag of water. While he was gone, Chew-chew began to make a place to put it. She dug a shallow hole in the ground and lined it with a skin.

When Fleetfoot came back they patted down the skin. Then they poured the water into the skin-lined hole, and put the splints to soak.

While Chew-chew worked at her basket, Fleetfoot played near at hand. Often he came to his grandmother’s side and talked about many things.

At length Chew-chew, holding up a skin, turned to Fleetfoot and said, “Do you know what animal wore this skin?”

“One of the reindeer we saw at the ford,” quickly responded Fleetfoot.

“Where have all the reindeer gone?” was Chew-chew’s next question.

“To the cave of the Big Bear of the mountains,” came the prompt answer.

While Chew-chew and Fleetfoot talked the children played near the cave. Pigeon was playing with stones which she had gathered and tossed into the fire. In trying to get them out again she burned her fingers, and began to cry.

When Chew-chew saw what had happened, she told Fleetfoot to play with Pigeon. And Fleetfoot played with Pigeon, and he showed her how to lift hot stones without getting burned.

The children played and carried hot stones with tongs made of sticks. They ran back and forth between rows of skins until Pigeon dropped a hot stone into the hole.

No sooner had Pigeon dropped the stone than she screamed, “A snake! a snake!” And she ran to her grandmother and sobbed, while she hid her face in her chubby arm.

Chew-chew thought that a snake was crawling about. Fleetfoot helped her look under all the skins. They looked for some time, but they found no trace of a snake. Then Chew-chew asked Pigeon to tell her all about it. And Pigeon said, “A big snake hissed and made me drop the stone.”

Just then Fleetfoot dropped a hot stone and something went “s-s-s-s-s-s.”

Pigeon screamed again, but a hearty laugh from Chew-chew showed there was nothing to fear. Chew-chew knew that the hissing sound was not the hiss of a snake. It was the sizzling of the water when it touched the hot stone.

And so Chew-chew tried to teach the children how to know the hissing sound. She picked up hot stones and dropped them into the water. Each time a stone was dropped, the hissing sound was heard; and the children learned to know the sound, and they were no longer afraid.

As Chew-chew kept on dropping the hot stones, she did not notice all that happened. She thought only of teaching the children, so that they would not be afraid. But at last such a strange thing happened, that even Chew-chew was afraid.

The water no longer was still. It kept moving like the angry water in the rapids of the river. A thin mist began to rise, and a strange voice came from the water, saying:—

“Bubble, bubble, bubble;
Bubble, bubble, bubble.”

At the sound Chew-chew was filled with fear. She was afraid the gods were angry. She looked about for an offering, and found a piece of bison meat. She dropped the meat into the water, hoping to appease the angry god.