How People Learned to Hunt Large Animals
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.