Sharptooth and Her Baby
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.