THINGS TO THINK ABOUT

Fleetfoot is Adopted by the Bison Clan

For a few days Fleetfoot missed his mother and Chew-chew more than he could tell. He missed little Pigeon, too. He missed the people he had always seen. But he said very little about them.

It was Greybeard who told him that he was now living with the Bison clan. Not all of the people belonged to that clan, but there were more of that clan than of any other. And so they were known as the Bison clan. At first Fleetfoot was afraid of the men and large boys. Most of all he was afraid of Bighorn, for it was Bighorn who captured him.

But before one moon had passed, he was adopted by the Bison clan. And soon after that, he began to feel at home. Greybeard told him stories, and gave him little spears. Antler was kind to him, and the children were always ready to play.

Fleetfoot liked to play with the children. He liked to play with Flaker best of all. Flaker was Antler’s child, and he was about the size of Fleetfoot.

As the days became cold, the women worked upon skins. There was not a smooth spot near the cave which was not covered with a skin. Fleetfoot watched Antler as she cut little slits in the edges. He helped stretch the skins out on the ground and drive little pegs through the slits. He watched her stretch a skin on a frame and put it near the fire.

Antler scraped a skin until the fat was off, and the inner skin was removed. Then she roughened it by scraping it crosswise, so as to make it flexible. When Fleetfoot saw Antler roll the skins in a loose roll, he asked if she was going to chew them. Antler smiled as she asked Fleetfoot how his mother softened skins.

Fleetfoot showed how his mother did it. And he told Antler about Chew-chew. He told her that Chew-chew got her name because she learned to chew the skins.

While Antler and Fleetfoot were talking, all the women and children gathered around. They wanted to see what they were doing, and to hear what Fleetfoot said.

Then Antler said to the women and children, “These skins are ready to soften. Come, join hands and show Fleetfoot how we soften hard skins.”

What a noisy time they had for a little while! Each group wanted to finish first. Some of them stamped the skins, and kept time by singing. Others pounded the skins with their hands, and still others pounded with hammers of reindeer horn.

They had such a merry time that Fleetfoot could not keep still. He was soon stamping and singing as well as any one.

When the skins were softened, Antler told Fleetfoot that once her people chewed the skins. But since they had found an easier way, they chewed only the edges they wished to sew.

And so Fleetfoot began to learn lessons of the Bison clan. But once he was the teacher. It was when he showed Flaker what happened the day Pigeon played with hot stones. Flaker told his mother, and Antler told Greybeard. And then Greybeard asked Fleetfoot to drop the hot stones in the water again.

All the Cave-men gathered around to see what Fleetfoot did. When the steam began to rise from the water, they stepped back. But when they saw that the child was not afraid, they came forward cautiously.

When the water began to bubble, they were all filled with fear. They looked upon Fleetfoot in silence. They called him a wonderful child.

THINGS TO DO

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