THE TREE-DWELLERS

This is a story of long ago.

It will tell you of the first people we know anything about.

It will tell you how they lived before they had fire.

It will tell you how they worked before they had tools.

Many wild beasts lived then .

They were fierce and strong.

All the people feared them.

The cave-bear could strike with his big paws.

The tiger could tear with his sharp teeth.

The rhinoceros could trample one under his feet.

Each animal knew how to do one thing well.

But the people could do a great many things.

They could remember, too, what had happened before.

They learned to profit by their mistakes.

You will learn how they became brave and strong.

You will learn how they used their bodies and minds.

They began the work we are doing to-day.

They took the first steps.

People who lived after them were able to do a little more.

The next people could do still more.

Many people have lived and worked since then.

The work they have done helps us to-day.

We have something to do, too.

We can do our part better if we know what others have done.

We can do it better if we learn to use our hands.

We can do it better if we learn to use our minds.

That is why we have this little book.

Sharptooth was a Tree-dweller.

She lived a long, long time ago.

She did not have any home.

Nobody had a home then.

People wandered from place to place.

They had no shelter except the trees.

Each night Sharptooth slept in the branches.

Each day she hunted for something to eat.

Sometimes she was very hungry.

She had hard work to find enough food.

She could not go to a store to buy it.

There were no stores then.

She could not buy food of a farmer.

There were no farmers then.

All the plants were growing wild.

All the animals were wild, too.

Sharptooth was afraid of them.

That is why she climbed the trees.

The Tree-dwellers needed a place where they could be safe from the wild animals.

So they lived among the tall trees.

They needed to be near fresh water.

So they lived by trees along the river.

They needed to be where they could find roots and berries.

“The wooded hills”

Down in the river valley most of the forests were dense.

The sun could not shine through the thick leaves of the trees.

There was not enough sunlight to make the roots and berries grow.

Acorns

There were not many nuts and acorns on the trees.

So the Tree-dwellers could not live there.

Out on the grassy plains there were no trees.

The Tree-dwellers could not live there.

Near the head of the river valley there were hills and uplands.

Wild roots were used for food

The forests there were not so dense.

The sun could shine through the open spaces.

Many roots and berries grew there.

On the wooded hills near the head of the valley was a good place for the Tree-dwellers to live.

They could be safe in the tall trees.

They could get fresh water from the river.

They could find nuts and acorns on the trees.

They could find roots and berries in the open spaces.

Sharptooth knew every spot on the wooded hills.

But she seldom went to a strange place.

“She walked out upon a strong spreading branch”

One day, though, she took a long journey.

This is the way that it came about.

She found plenty of roots and ripe blue berries.

She ate until she was satisfied.

Then she began to play among the trees.

She walked out upon a strong spreading branch.

Then she grasped a tough branch just over her head.

She swung herself into a neighboring tree.

Then she walked out on another branch.

She swung herself into another tree.

She traveled in this way for a long time.

At last she came to a dense forest.

How dark and damp it seemed!

How still it was!

She stopped her play.

She began to feel tired and hungry; so she rested a while, and then searched for food.

She found few signs of roots or berries.

There were many trees, but nuts were scarce.

So she ate the bark from the tender twigs.

But she was not satisfied.

She missed the roots and berries.

She missed the bright sunshine.

She missed familiar sights and sounds.

So she soon went back to the wooded hills.

Another day Sharptooth went to the edge of a grassy plain.

“Sharptooth hid in the tall green grass”

There were many wild animals feeding there.

She hid in the tall green grass and watched the wild cattle from her hiding-place.

She saw mammoths eating the tender grass.

There were smaller animals not far away.

A lion was creeping up through the grass.

Sharptooth saw him pounce upon the beasts.

The frightened creatures ran for their lives.

Sharptooth wished that she had not ventured so far.

She watched for a chance to get away.

As soon as she dared she crept to the trees.

Then she hurried back to the wooded hills.

She never forgot what she saw that day.

A lion

We have learned that the Tree-dwellers had no homes.

All the Tree-dwellers had a hard time to live, for they had not yet learned to help one another.

It took many long years to learn to do that.

But mothers have always taken care of their babies.

Sharptooth’s mother had once taken care of her.

But Sharptooth soon learned to take care of herself.

Then she began to live as the other Tree-dwellers lived.

She lived by herself the greater part of the time.

She grew to be a strong young woman.

Then a baby came to live with her.

How proud she was of the little boy!

Wherever she went she took him with her, for there was nothing else for her to do.

There was no place where she dared to leave him, so the mother and baby were never apart.

Sometimes the baby clung to her waist.

Baby Tree-dwellers knew how to hold fast.

Sometimes Sharptooth tied a vine around her waist.

Then the baby clung to the vine.

Sometimes he sat on her shoulder and clung to her head or neck.

Sometimes he rode upon her back.

Sharptooth helped him all that she could, but she needed her hands for other work.

Sharptooth had climbed most of the trees on the wooded hills.

She had slept in many of them.

But she liked the old oak near the trail the best of all.

Its strong spreading branches were covered with vines.

Here was a place to lay the baby.

While he slept among the vines, she gathered wild foods.

But she never went far away, and she never stayed away long.

There were panthers and wild cats on the hills.

Sharptooth knew that they could climb the trees.

Many a time they had nearly caught her.

She was afraid that they would get the baby.

So she always stayed near him while he slept.

“She made a safe place for the baby to sleep”

When she stayed in a tree that had no vines, there was no place to lay the baby.

So she wove the slender branches together.

She made a safe place for the baby to sleep.

She lulled him to sleep as he lay in her arms.

Then she gently laid him upon his bed.

She watched him a moment as he slept.

A moment more and she, too, was asleep.

The sun was just setting.

Sharptooth was getting ready for the night.

She was in the old oak tree.

The baby had gone to sleep.

As she put him down upon his bed she heard the mooing of the wild cattle.

She looked out upon the hills.

The wild cattle were coming down to the river to drink.

She watched the long line winding down the trail.

Other creatures were watching, too.

Wild animals were coming out of their dens.

A big bear passed close to Sharptooth’s tree.

He had heard the mooing of the wild cattle.

Wolves were prowling about.

They, too, were watching the herd.

“They drank from the flowing stream ”

The cattle reached the river.

They waded out.

They drank from the flowing stream.

They stood knee deep in the cool water.

At last the leader turned to go.

The others followed one by one.

But some of the weaker ones lingered behind.

They seemed tired.

A big wolf watched them from a thicket.

At length the cattle came out of the stream.

They walked slowly along the bank.

They passed close to the thicket.

The wolf sprang out from his hiding-place.

He seized the smallest creature.

The others dashed off through the underbrush.

They were too frightened to keep the path.

They lost their way.

Wolves and bears were lying in wait.

They fell upon the frightened cattle.

The herd was too far away to help.

So the poor creatures lost their lives.

But the wolves and bears had a feast.

It was now almost dark.

The wild cattle had reached the grassy upland.

They were feeding on the fresh grass.

Sharptooth had watched them out of sight, and now she was getting sleepy.

She could see nothing but dim shadows, but she could hear all sorts of sounds.

Wild animals were coming out of their dens.

Most of them had slept during the day, but now they were wide awake.

The upper part of the river valley

Hippopotamuses were snorting and blowing.

They were splashing in the water.

They were crashing through the underbrush along the banks.

Straight-tusked elephants were trumpeting and bellowing.

Lions were roaring.

The hunted animals were seeking a place of refuge.

Sharptooth was used to these sights and sounds.

She felt safe in the old oak tree.

She tied herself to a strong branch and soon was fast asleep.

She slept all through the long night.

Many of the wild beasts, too, were soon asleep.

Some of the hunted creatures found places of refuge.

Some beasts of prey were soon satisfied.

Then they stole back to their dens and slept.

But all of the wild animals did not fare so well.

“Hippopotamuses were snorting and blowing”

Not all of the hunted creatures found places of refuge.

Not all of the beasts of prey found food.

Some beasts of prey hunted all through the night and were still hungry when morning came.

Before sunrise the next morning Sharptooth awoke.

She opened her eyes and looked out upon the hills.

“Hyenas were stealing down to their caves”

She heard animals moving about.

A large cave-bear was passing by toward his cave.

Hyenas, too, were stealing down to their caves.

Many flesh-eating animals were slinking away to their dens.

They were tired with their night’s work.

Most of them had eaten until they were satisfied, and now they were ready to sleep through the day.

The wild cattle were coming back to the hills.

The baby awoke.

Sharptooth played with him a moment.

Then she put him under her arm and slipped down the tree.

“Sharptooth played with him a moment”

She started down toward the river, but she did not go by the trail.

It was safer to walk in the shadow of the tall trees.

Once she suddenly grasped a branch of a tree and swung herself up and looked about.

“The animals were ready to sleep through the day”

She had heard a rustling in the underbrush.

Long ago she had learned what such sounds meant.

So she swung on the branches until she reached the river.

She listened a moment in the tree.

Then she slipped down and ran to the water’s edge.

She dipped up the water with her hand.

She drank some, and then gave some to the baby.

He was so pleased that he laughed aloud.

As quick as a flash, Sharptooth sprang for the tree.

She was afraid the hyenas were in the thickets.

She was afraid they had heard the baby laugh.

She talked to the baby in a strange language.

She made queer clucking sounds.

After that he was always quiet when they went to the river.

He must have understood what she said.

The sun had now been up for some time.

Sharptooth was getting hungry.

She picked a handful of wild plums from the thicket, but she wanted something more.

She kept on down the hill.

The wild hogs were rooting under the oak trees.

She wondered what they found there, so she stepped near enough to see.

A wild hog

They were eating something round and black.

She watched them for a long time.

As soon as they started off toward the marsh, Sharptooth ran down to the trees.

She saw the loose earth that the hogs had rooted up.

Then she began to dig where it had not been loosened.

She had nothing to dig with except her hands, but she was not afraid to dig with them.

She soon felt something that was round and hard.

She dug it up and looked at it.

It was a truffle.

It was black and warty on the outside.

She bit off a piece.

It was white inside.

She tasted it and found that it was good, so she dug another and ate it.

She wondered how the wild hogs knew that the truffles were there.

Perhaps you can tell.

Perhaps you have heard stories of how hogs dig truffles in France to-day.

Sharptooth watched the wild hogs every day.

She learned many things from them.

They were peaceable creatures when not disturbed.

They lived on fruits, wild nuts, and roots.

When they had eaten all they wanted, they went down to the river or lake.

They hid in the reedy marshes.

They hid in the thorny thickets.

But they always kept together.

Sharptooth watched them from a tree.

There were tiny little pigs with long, light stripes.

They kept close to their mothers.

There were larger pigs that had lost their stripes.

They, too, stayed with their mothers.

There were wild boars about three years old.

“There were larger pigs that had lost their stripes”

They did not go far from their mothers.

They were not strong enough yet to protect themselves.

There were many full-grown hogs.

There were fierce boars with long tusks.

Sharptooth watched them eating acorns.

A pack of hyenas was watching, too.

They were hiding in the underbrush.

They were lying in wait for the smaller pigs.

But the old hogs scented danger.

They gathered the little pigs together.

The stronger ones stood in a circle around them.

Their white tusks glistened in the sunlight.

They were ready to fight for their young.

The hyenas were afraid.

They sneaked away in the underbrush.

The little pigs were safe.

Sharptooth’s baby had grown to be a large boy.

He was now about seven years old.

His mother called him Bodo.

Bodo did not have to wash his face.

He did not have to wear any clothes.

He had no clothes to wear.

He did not have to go to school.

There were no schools then.

But he learned a great many things.

His mother was his first teacher.

She taught him where to find the ripe berries.

She taught him where to dig for roots.

She taught him how to catch birds and squirrels.

She taught him how to hide from the wild animals.

She taught him to keep so still that he might be taken for a hump on a log.

She taught him all that she knew.

Bodo learned his lessons well.

He always obeyed his mother.

Sometimes he saw other Tree-dwellers.

He had seen them snatch food from his mother’s hand.

He had seen them help her, too.

But usually each Tree-dweller took care of himself.

Bodo was learning to take care of himself.

He was beginning to feel that he was almost a man.

One day he caught a pig without any help.

The next day his mother let him hunt all alone.

She knew now that he could find his own food.

After that Bodo always hunted alone.

Sometimes he saw his mother, but she no longer found food for him.

She had another baby to care for, so Bodo knew that he must take care of himself.

When the Tree-dwellers lived nobody ever thought of taking care of a child who was able to find his own food.

Although Bodo was glad to take care of himself, he often wished that his mother were near.

Sometimes he called to her.

When she heard his call she would answer him.

Then he would swing on the branches until he found her.

But sometimes she was too far away to hear.

Then he listened in vain for her answering call.

Sometimes it was hard work to keep back the tears.

Once he sobbed so loud that a sleepy bear heard him.

The bear started up and began to growl.

Bodo hid in the branches of a tall tree.

He stayed there until the bear went away.

Then he was very hungry.

As he started out to find something to eat, he heard a rustling among the branches.

“It was only a boy who was hunting birds’ eggs”

He listened.

Bodo hoped that his mother was coming.

But it was only a boy who was hunting birds’ eggs.

Bodo watched him climb among the branches.

He watched him suck the eggs that he found.

How he wished that he might find some eggs!

He began to look for some.

In a moment he saw a bird’s nest above him.

He climbed up the branch and peeped into the nest.

There were three beautiful eggs.

His eyes danced with joy.

He sucked the eggs.

Then he smacked his lips and hunted for more.

Bodo never had any candy.

Nobody knew how to make it.

But he knew where to find the wild honey.

He had found some one day in a hollow tree.

He learned to track a bee home to its tree.

When he found a bee-tree he robbed the swarm.

Sometimes the bees stung him, but he was used to getting hurt.

Two or three years passed by.

Bodo was now about ten years old.

He still lived on the wooded hills.

One afternoon he went to the river.

The wild horses were drinking there.

Bodo watched them wade through the shallow water.

He watched them toss their shaggy manes.

He listened to their whinnying calls.

He tried to whinny, too.

The horses drank until they were satisfied, then they started toward their evening pasture.

“Bodo watched them wade through the shallow water”

The largest horse led the herd up the trail.

Others followed one by one.

What a long line they made!

The leader was far away over the hill before all the horses had left the stream.

“Farther out was a herd of mammoths”

The smallest and the weakest ones lagged behind.

Spotted hyenas were lying in wait for them.

Bodo wondered if he could catch a wild horse.

He wondered where the horses went at night.

He followed the herd a long, long way.

He went swinging along from branch to branch.

At last he came to a grassy plain.

He did not dare to go out on the plain.

A bison

So he sat on a branch and peeped through the leaves.

Wild horses were feeding on the edge of the plain.

Farther out there was a herd of mammoths.

Beyond these still other herds were feeding.

They may have been bisons or wild cattle.

All these animals were eating the fresh green grass.

Bodo watched them till nearly sunset.

But while the sky was still red in the west, Bodo tied himself to a branch and fell asleep.

The wild horses that Bodo saw were about the size of ponies.

Long before the Tree-dwellers lived there were horse-like creatures the size of a fox.

Long before that there was a time when there were no horses at all.

Great reptiles moved about on the land, they swam in the seas, or they flew through the air.

All other creatures feared them.

The tiny mammals that lived then were about the size of rats and mice, but these mammals were not like rats and mice.

The little mammals ran, but they did not run fast, for their feet were not well fitted for running.

They climbed rocks and trunks of trees, and hid in holes in the ground.

They ate the eggs of the large reptiles, and became their enemies.

A reptile

Millions of years passed; great changes took place.

Parts of the land slowly sank beneath the seas, and out of the seas rose dry land.

Most of the larger reptiles died, but the mammals multiplied.

They grew to be as large as the fox or the sheep.

At first they were all very much alike and they lived in about the same way.

But as they became more and more unlike they had very different ways.

Some became like cats, and some like dogs.

An ancestor of our mammals

Some became like rhinoceroses and some like hogs.

Others became like monkeys, and still others became like horses.

Perhaps you have seen the zebra.

If you have, you must have noticed its stripes.

The first horse-like creatures were probably striped in much the same way.

These animals never ate hay and oats; and, at first, they did not eat much grass.

There was little, if any, grass at that time.

These horse-like creatures lived on marshes and in swamps bordering streams and lakes.

They probably ate stems and leaves of plants that grew on the marshy lands.

They did not run as horses do to-day, but they plodded along on the soft ground.

They spread out their toes as they walked along, so as to keep from sinking.

When the dry land began to be covered with grass, little by little they left the marshes.

They went to the grassy highlands to live, and became more and more like horses.

Some of the cat-like creatures went to the highlands, but they did not go for the grass.

They were becoming more and more like tigers, and they went to hunt the wild horses.

The timid horses ran when their enemies came, for there was no place in which to hide.

When they ran they stepped on the tips of their toes.

They used the third toe so much more than the others that it became larger and larger.

Its hoof became hard and strong.

The first and fifth toes were used so little that after thousands of years they disappeared.

Meanwhile the horses had learned to run fast.

When a pack of wolves chased them, they galloped away.

They found rich grass on the highlands.

Colts grew to be larger than their mothers.

By the time they were as large as ponies they used only the third toe.

Two side toes hung like the dew-claws of a dog, but they did not reach the ground.

When the Tree-dwellers lived, little bones beneath the skin were all that was left to show where the side toes had been.

The hoof had become round and hard.

The wild horses ran very fast.

They outran all other creatures.

When surprised, they struck hard blows with their hoofs, and they bit with their sharp teeth.

But if there was a chance to get away, they always ran when they were attacked.

Bodo did not have any tools or weapons.

Nobody knew how to make them.

But he had learned to use his hands.

He used them to catch small animals.

He knew how to creep up softly.

He knew how to wait patiently.

He knew just when to grasp the animal.

Bodo used his hands to gather berries and nuts.

He used them to pull up roots.

He used them to rake the acorns together.

“Sometimes Bodo threw stones”

He used them to scoop small things up from the ground.

Bodo knew how to strike with his fists.

He knew how to kick with his feet.

Sometimes he threw stones.

Sometimes he threw sticks.

The stick Bodo used

Sometimes he struck with a stick in his hand.

He could strike harder blows with a stick than he could when he struck with his fist.

Sometimes it hurt him when he struck with his fist.

It did not hurt him when he struck with a club.

Bodo had many enemies.

He had to take care of himself.

He felt safer when he had a club in his hand.

Bodo had never had a warm dinner.

He had no fire to cook his food.

Much of his food was hard and tough.

He had not learned to soften it with fire.

He had not learned to crush or grind it with stones.

His teeth did all of this work.

The teeth of all the Tree-dwellers were large and strong.

They were fitted to cut and grind tough food.

They were fitted to crack the shells of nuts.

Bodo often cracked nuts with his teeth.

But sometimes he found nuts that he could not crack.

He had never seen or heard of a hammer, so he threw a hard nut against a rock.

The nut did not crack.

So he kept on trying different ways.

At last he struck the nut with a stone.

Its hard shell broke.

How glad Bodo was!

He ate the kernel and then cracked some more nuts with the stone.

This stone was his first hammer.

Sometimes he used a rough stone.

Its rough edges hurt his hand, so he hunted for a smooth stone.

At other times he wrapped one end of a rough stone in grass.

The grass protected his hand.

This was the first handle to his hammer.

Bodo liked to use this hammer.

He liked to use smooth hammer-stones.

But sometimes the smooth stone slipped or bounded back and jarred his hand.

“Bodo cracked nuts with a stone”

One day he found a smooth stone that had a little pit on either side.

He put his thumb and finger into the pits and cracked a hard nut with the stone.

This was just what he needed.

It neither slipped nor jarred his hand.

Some of the other Tree-dwellers tried it.

They wanted one like it, so they began to hunt for pitted stones.

They could not always find such stones, but they never thought of making the pits.

People lived many years before they learned to do that.

Tree-dwellers simply used things that they found on the spot.

They seldom changed their shape.

The chipped pebble

We have only a few weapons that we know they made.

They were found years ago deep down in some gravel.

They had lain there many long years.

Here is a picture of one.

It is only a chipped pebble.

Such a weapon is used nowadays only in play, but then it was used in real work.

For a long time the Tree-dwellers did not have even this.

They used their teeth and nails instead.

An antler used as a wedge

Some animals had larger and sharper teeth.

The Tree-dwellers found such teeth in the sand.

They found sharp claws there, too.

They often found sharp bones and horns.

They used such things for cutting for many long years, but at last they made a knife.

It happened when Bodo was cracking a bone.

In some way he broke his hammer.

He picked up the pieces and looked at them.

They were sharp enough to cut with, but the edges hurt his hand.

So he found a smooth pebble and chipped flakes from one end.

Before long he had a sharp point.

He never hafted it; but he left one end smooth, so that it would not hurt his hand.

It was such a weapon as this that was found in the gravel.

You can see that it is something like a spear-head.

Bodo used it when he hunted small animals.

He used it to skin them and to hack off strips of flesh.

Many things had been used as knives before, but this was the first knife that we know man made.

Bodo grew to be a large boy.

He made many friends among the Tree-dwellers, but he liked One-Ear best of all.

The boys liked to hunt together.

When they had enough to eat they liked to play.

One night as they were watching a herd of wild cattle, a young cow caught their eye.

She was running down toward the marsh.

The boys wondered why she was going.

They chased her down the trail.

When the cow saw what the boys were doing she started off through the underbrush.

It was no longer safe to follow, so the boys gave up the chase.

Darkness came on.

The boys dropped their clubs and climbed a tree, where they spent the night.

They slept until the break of day.

As they were rubbing their sleepy eyes, they heard a queer sound close by.

“What is that?” said Bodo.

The boys listened.

All was still.

But they were sure that some animal was near.

There was a clump of alders within a stone’s throw.

Perhaps a bear was hiding there.

The boys were eager to find out, but they knew better than to rush into danger.

So they waited and listened.

All was quiet.

Bodo threw a stick.

“They crept up softly and peeped into the alders”

Not a sound could be heard.

He called out.

Still there was no sound.

The boys slipped down the tree and picked up their clubs.

They crept up softly and peeped into the alders.

“There’s nothing there,” said One-Ear.

Bodo knew better.

He noticed a hump among the leaves.

He reached out his hand and touched it.

It was a little calf that had been hid there by its mother.

It scarcely moved as Bodo touched it.

Its mother had taught it to lie still.

Many people might have passed it by.

But Bodo had sharp eyes, and besides he was very hungry.

So the boys killed the calf and began to eat the raw flesh.

They ate until they were satisfied.

Then they played among the trees.

One day Bodo and One-Ear climbed a fir tree near the edge of a cliff.

They were watching a big-nosed rhinoceros.

It had just rooted up an oak tree with its twin-tusked snout.

Now it was tearing the trunk into strips as we tear a stalk of celery.

The boys watched it grinding the wood with its great teeth.

The big-nosed rhinoceros

They were glad that they were safe in the fir tree.

They watched the creature in silence.

Suddenly Bodo gave One-Ear a nudge.

One-Ear looked up.

Bodo put his finger on his lips, then pointed toward the underbrush.

One-Ear stared with open mouth.

A whole pack of hyenas was on the cliff.

They were sneaking along toward the rhinoceros.

What hungry-looking creatures they were!

How their eyes gleamed!

The boys wondered what the hyenas would do.

They watched to see.

The big-nosed rhinoceros went stupidly browsing along the edge of the cliff.

He did not see the hyenas.

The hyenas had learned that the rhinoceros could not see far away, and now they were taking advantage of this.

They were too cowardly to risk a fair fight.

Even the mammoth and sabre-tooth did not like to encounter the big-nosed rhinoceros.

Even they could not pierce his thick, heavy skin.

Even they feared his twin-tusked snout.

The hyenas crept softly from bush to bush.

They kept their eyes fastened upon the rhinoceros.

As he stepped on the very edge of the cliff they sprang out and began to growl.

“He tossed one of the hyenas over the cliff”

The rhinoceros turned fiercely upon them.

He tossed one of the hyenas over the cliff.

As he did this he lost his footing.

The huge creature stumbled and fell.

He rolled down the steep cliff and was dashed upon the rocks.

The hyenas were no longer afraid.

They feasted upon the carcass.

They dragged the bones to their caves.

They gnawed them until they left the marks of their teeth.

The bones stayed in the caves for many years.

Not long ago some one found them there.

He sent them to a museum, where they may be seen to-day.

Perhaps you will go to the museum some time.

If you do, be sure and look at these bones.

Perhaps you will be able to help your friends read the story they tell.

One day there was a great storm on the wooded hills.

The lightning struck a tree in the forest.

It set it on fire.

At once the flames spread to the neighboring trees.

The Tree-dwellers were driven to the ground .

They had never been so frightened before.

They were afraid of thunder and lightning.

They were afraid of beasts of prey.

Only when they were up in a tree did they feel that they were safe.

But now the trees were on fire.

They thought that the fire was a wild animal.

They thought that it was an animal that ate wood.

They had seen the rhinoceros and the mammoth eat parts of trees, but this creature devoured all the trees in its path.

.·.

Several years passed by.

Once again a fire broke out on the wooded hills.

Once again the wild animals ran.

The Tree-dwellers ran, for they still were afraid.

Bodo ran; for he, too, was afraid.

But he soon stopped and looked at the fire.

“Bodo stood and watched it a moment”

He was almost full grown now.

He was learning every day.

He was curious about many things, and now he wanted to see what the red monster was doing.

So he stood and watched it a moment.

It seemed to be chasing him.

So he ran to find a hiding-place.

He ran around through the underbrush until at last he found a safe place.

The fire ran away from him now.

He stood and gazed at the red flames.

The wind blew.

The fire monster spread its great red wings and leaped from tree to tree.

The branches groaned, and cracked, and fell.

Bodo was filled with terror.

He did not know what to do.

After a little it began to rain.

The fire monster became smaller and smaller.

In a few moments it was gone.

Bodo wondered where it went.

The Tree-dwellers still thought that the fire was alive.

The red monster still frightened them.

Whenever they saw it they ran away.

Bodo, too, was afraid of the fire.

So he tried to be good to it and thus make it his friend.

He gave it wood to eat.

He learned to go near it without getting hurt.

He learned to carry a burning branch.

Once he carried a firebrand to the old oak.

He put it in the hollow of the tree.

Then he gave it dry sticks that he found close by, and he watched it while it ate them.

As he stood looking at the fire, the sound of footsteps fell upon his ear.

He looked up to see who was passing.

It was Sharptooth.

She was coming to the old oak tree.

As soon as she saw the fire, she ran.

Bodo called to her.

He asked her to come back.

Sharptooth was trembling, so that she could scarcely walk.

Bodo took her by the hand.

He led her to the fire.

He told her how he had made friends with it.

She listened to what he said, but she still seemed afraid.

Bodo wished to show that he was not afraid.

He looked puzzled a moment and then he said, “I am not going to sleep in the trees any more.”

For a moment Sharptooth was speechless.

At length she opened her lips and spoke.

“The cave-bears will get you,” was what she said.

But Bodo had thought of the bears.

“I am not afraid of the bears,” he said.

“They run when they see me with fire. I am going to sleep at the foot of this tree.”

Then Sharptooth was troubled.

She was anxious about Bodo.

She had taught him the best that she could.

But now he seemed to be risking his life.

She wondered how he could do it.

As it grew dark she climbed into a neighboring tree.

She was afraid to sleep in the old oak that night.

Bodo stayed on the ground beside the fire.

Sharptooth did not close her eyes.

She kept watch from a branch of the tree.

She knew the wild animals were out of their dens.

She saw their shadows among the trees.

When they saw the fire they turned and ran.

But Bodo stayed by the fire.

He was a brave boy, yet he could not sleep.

As long as he was awake he felt safe.

But he was afraid of what might happen if he went to sleep.

So he kept awake and fed the fire.

Sharptooth still kept watch from the tree.

At last she came down.

“Let me feed the fire, Bodo, while you sleep,” she said.

Bodo had been yawning for some time.

He was glad to have a chance to rest.

So he slept while Sharptooth took his place.

She watched the fire cautiously at first.

Then she fed it and found that it did not hurt her.

“They lived by fire at the foot of the tree”

She liked the warmth that it gave.

She enjoyed the pleasant firelight.

She saw that it was their friend.

After that Sharptooth and Bodo did not sleep in trees.

They lived by the fire at the foot of a tree.

Sometimes their home was by the old oak.

Sometimes it was in other places.

But it was always where they carried the fire.

The next night One-Ear stayed with Sharptooth and Bodo at the foot of the old oak.

Then other Tree-dwellers came.

At first they were afraid just as Sharptooth had been.

But they, too, soon learned that the fire was their friend.

So they sat around the fire each evening.

They talked about the wild animals they had seen.

As long as they sat by the fire, they felt safe.

So they came to the fireplace each night.

They began to live together.

They formed a clan.

Their clan was the fire clan.

The women with babies stayed near the fire.

All the others went farther away.

Each one hunted for his own food.

Each ate what he found on the spot.

But all came back to the fireplace at night.

“They talked about the wild animals they had seen”

All were tired and needed to rest.

Since they had no chairs they squatted on the ground.

They talked and they played in the firelight.

When they got drowsy they fell asleep.

But Sharptooth kept watch of the fire.

Her sisters helped, but she was the clan mother.

It was she who took charge of the fire.

She knew how the fire became their friend.

She knew that it needed care.

She knew that it gave them their first home.

So she taught the people to worship the fire.

When people slept in trees, they did not need to make a shelter.

They were sheltered by the trees.

Long after they began to sleep on the ground, the trees still sheltered them.

The leaves of the trees kept off the rain.

The thick underbrush kept off the cold winds.

When the fire clan moved to a new place, it was always Sharptooth who chose the spot for the fire.

She knew the best sheltered places.

Sometimes she chose a spot near an oak or a birch.

Their tops were well thatched with leaves.

They shed rain almost as well as a roof.

But when the oak and the birch trees dropped their leaves, Sharptooth carried her fire to a fir or a spruce.

These evergreen trees had needle-like leaves.

They gave some protection from the rain and the snow.

But sometimes a drizzling rain kept up for many days.

Sometimes the cold winds blew.

Then the fire clan shivered with the wet and the cold.

Mothers were anxious about their children.

They wanted to keep them safe from harm.

So they tried to keep off the cold wind and the rain.

They had not yet learned many ways of working, but they long had known how to weave cradles of vines.

So the women now tried to weave a shelter.

They broke off large armfuls of evergreens.

They carried them to some saplings that grew near the fire.

Then they bent down the tops of the small growing saplings.

They tied them together and began to weave.

They wove branches of evergreens among them.

They piled larger branches against the wall.

At last the shelter was done.

It was the first shelter that they had made.

There was not one like it on the wooded hills.

Before the Tree-dwellers had fire they did not need baskets.

For a long time afterwards they did not make them.

They ate fruits from the trees and cracked the nuts where they found them.

Each night they came home one by one.

Sharptooth still had charge of the fire.

She ate wild roots that grew near.

She cracked nuts that she found in the trees close by.

She ate berries in a neighboring patch.

But she never went far away, and she never stayed away long.

The blueberries were now ripe, so she went to the patch.

How she wished she might stay a long time!

But as soon as she had eaten a few, she hurried home to the fire.

As she scrambled over the fallen trees, she broke off a handful of bushes.

They were loaded with ripe blueberries.

She carried them home to the children.

She told the women and children about the patch.

They all wanted to go.

So they piled broken branches upon the fire.

Then Sharptooth told one of the women to stay at home and take charge of the fire.

The women left their babies and little children in charge of this woman, too.

How disappointed the little children were!

They watched the women and older children until they had passed out of sight among the trees.

Sharptooth led the way to the patch.

In a few moments they found it.

It was almost blue with berries.

The children ate as fast as they picked.

The women ate, too, for a while.

But they remembered their little ones at home.

So they picked heaping handfuls of berries.

They wanted to carry more berries, so hunted for something to hold them.

One woman had a rabbit skin.

The other women helped her fill it with berries.

Another woman made a basket of oak leaves.

They filled that with berries.

The bottom of the basket	“She bent the rushes and tied the ends together”

Sharptooth gathered some rushes from a marshy place and tried still another way.

She sat down upon the grass and began to weave.

The bottom of the basket was soon made.

Then she bent the rushes and tied the ends together.

After that she wove round and round.

When the basket was deep enough she fastened the ends.

Then the basket was done.

It did not have a rim.

Sharptooth did not miss the rim, for this was her first basket.

She called the women and children around her.

They ran up to see what she had made.

“She wove round and round”	“When the basket was deep enough she fastened the ends”

Every one wanted to take it.

It did not take long to fill the basket with berries.

Sharptooth took them home to the children.

How glad the little ones were when they saw the women and children!

They were glad to eat the berries.

While they were smacking their lips, Sharptooth showed them the basket.

That night as the fathers and mothers came home, the children ran out to meet them.

Each time they told what Sharptooth had made.

Each time they showed the rush basket.

It was not many days before each of the older children had made one like it.

All the Tree-dwellers now knew that the fire was their friend.

They found it useful in many ways.

It guarded the spot where they slept at night, and it helped them all through the day.

They no longer swung from branch to branch.

When they carried a firebrand, it was safe to walk on the ground.

Their hands were at last free.

When Bodo started out with his firebrand the wild animals ran to their dens.

Sometimes Bodo pursued them.

He chased some of the animals home to their dens, but he never went to the caves.

Sabre-tooth and the cave-bear were too large and fierce.

The hyenas were small, but they lived in packs.

So Bodo learned to let them alone.

“Bodo would build a fire at the mouth of the hole”

But he was not afraid of the gophers and badgers.

He chased them to their holes and tried to smoke them out.

He would build a fire at the mouth of a hole.

Bodo’s club

Then he would stand with a club in his hand and watch.

He would watch until the animal came out.

Sometimes he had to wait a long time.

But in the end he nearly always got meat to eat.

One day he was hunting squirrels.

He chased a squirrel to its hole in a tree.

Then he tried to smoke it out.

He waited a long time in vain, so at last he set fire to the tree.

But the rain soon came and his fire went out.

So Bodo struck the tree with his club.

The trunk gave way.

Bodo peeped into the hollow tree.

He wanted to find the squirrel.

“He put in his hand and pulled the squirrel out”

It lay there perfectly still.

He put in his hand and pulled it out.

It had been killed by the fire and smoke.

He began to eat the warm flesh.

He wondered why it was so hot and tender.

Bodo did not know then that the flesh had been roasted.

This was the first time that he had ever eaten cooked food.

Not long afterward all the people learned to roast meat.

One day One-Ear was hunting gophers on the grassy upland.

His torch went out.

So he tried to get back to the wooded hills without being seen.

At first he crept through the tall grass.

But he soon came to a place where the grass did not cover him.

He hurried on as fast as he could.

He had almost reached the wooded hills when a cave-bear crossed his path.

The bear saw him.

One-Ear shouted for help, and then ran as he had never run before.

“They saw Bodo rush up to the cave-bear and wave a torch in his face”

But the cave-bear overtook him.

He soon had One-Ear in his embrace.

One-Ear remembered nothing more, but the men who heard him saw what happened.

They saw the cave-bear grasp him with his huge paws.

Then they saw Bodo rush up to the cave-bear and wave a torch in his face.

The cave-bear let go his hold.

The frightened beast ran off to his cave.

The men came up in time to help Bodo raise One-Ear from the ground.

They helped him back to the wooded hills.

His wounds were soon healed, but he always carried the marks of that cave-bear.

That was the day that he lost his ear.

We have called him One-Ear before, but the fire clan never called him One-Ear until after that day.

For many days the men talked about One-Ear’s narrow escape.

They acted the whole thing over again.

One man would show what One-Ear did.

Another would take the part of the cave-bear.

Then some one would play he was Bodo and rush up with a make-believe torch.

Others showed how the men came up to the spot and helped One-Ear home.

They played this over and over again.

They learned to work together.

They learned to play other plays as well.

They learned it in this way: They watched the wild animals all through the day.

A leader

At night they showed what they had seen.

At last they made plans for hunting them.

They did it the way children make a new game.

First they chose a leader for the play.

Then the leader asked them all to help.

He showed them what to do.

They all did as the leader said.

They learned to play together.

This play was their hunting dance.

It helped the people to hunt together.

It helped the brave men to lead in the hunt.

It helped all the people to do their part.

Only brave men were given a chance to lead the hunting dance.

Each one led the best that he could.

The people always chose the man that they thought led the best.

This man led them all in the hunt the next day.

The fire clan played a hunting dance each night.

They hunted every day.

They began to attack the larger animals.

Brave men were needed to do this.

Men liked to show that they were brave.

So they kept trophies of their conflicts with the wild beasts.

These trophies were sometimes teeth and claws.

Sometimes they were beautiful skins and feathers.

A necklace of claws

When men found the time they worked upon them.

They made them into curious ornaments.

It was hard work to bore holes through the teeth and claws.

But they learned to do it.

They strung them on sinews and hung them about their necks.

Sometimes they wore them on their arms and wrists.

Sometimes they wore them on their ankles and knees.

They made head-dresses of the feathers.

They covered their shoulders with the skins.

“They strung them about their necks”

Men did not wear skins to keep themselves warm.

They wore them to show that they were brave.

Such trophies were worn by all the brave men.

These men were the leaders in time of danger.

When they were successful in the hunt, the people praised them.

When they failed, the people mocked them.

So they tried to do their work well.

They tried to find the best stones for tools and weapons.

They worked until they made them sharp and strong.

They studied the animals until they learned their ways.

They taught the people the hunting dance.

They kept the trophies of their brave deeds.

They were brave men.

All the people praised them.

One day long after Bodo lived some men went up the valley to hunt.

They had not gone far when the leader waved his hand.

All the men stopped to find out what he wanted.

He pointed to a herd of strange animals feeding on the rocky slope.

Then he motioned to show them what to do.

He sent some of the men up the trail to the right.

He motioned for others to go to the left.

He wanted to surround the animals.

The strange creatures soon caught sight of the hunters.

They huddled together like frightened sheep.

Then the men thought they could surely catch them.

They shouted aloud for joy.

But the animals turned and ran up the slope.

They jumped over rocks and chasms with ease.

They were soon out of sight.

How disappointed the hunters were!

They did not know what these strange animals were.

They did not know from what place they had come.

They wondered why they had come to their land.

Perhaps you would like to know.

They were musk sheep that had come from the cold, cold north.

They were used to treeless, desolate places.

They were used to eating moss and young shoots of the willow.

They looked something like sheep and something like oxen.

Sometimes they are called musk oxen.

They looked something like the bison.

Sometimes they are called musk bison.

Does it seem strange that the musk sheep should leave their cold home and come to the land where the Tree-dwellers had lived?

It was not so strange as it seemed.

Many years had passed since the Tree-dwellers lived.

It was no longer warm on the wooded hills.

There was snow on the ground the greater part of the year.

After many years it became very cold.

Then all the animals came down from the north.

The coming of the musk sheep was the sign of the coming cold.

About the same time that the musk sheep came from the north, another strange animal appeared.

It was a huge creature.

Not one like it has lived for ages.

It was a woolly rhinoceros.

The big-nosed rhinoceros liked to live where it was warm.

It lived on the wooded hills before the Tree-dwellers did.

The small-nosed rhinoceros liked the warm country, too.

It came from the south when the Tree-dwellers appeared.

But the woolly rhinoceros came down from the north.

It was able to live in the cold.

It had an inner coat of fine curly wool.

This coat kept it warm.

It had a coarse, hairy outer coat.

This coat kept it from feeling heavy blows.

It had two horns on its ugly snout.

They kept it safe from harm.

When it was not disturbed it was a peaceable animal.

But when it was attacked there was no animal that was more fierce.

The other animals learned to let it alone.

Sometimes the wolves and hyenas frightened it over a precipice.

But it was a long time before men tried to hunt it.

The Tree-dwellers lived such a long time ago that we do not know all that they did.

But they have left some things to tell their story.

A few of their bones and stone weapons have been found in the gravel.

We have learned something about the Tree-dwellers from studying these.

Bones of animals that lived then have been found in the caves.

They tell something more about the life of the Tree-dwellers.

Marks of plants have been found upon the rocks.

They, too, help to tell the story.

Wise men have studied all these things.

They have tried to learn all that they could about these people.

We have written their story in this book for you, so that you may know how our forefathers lived before they learned how to use fire.