"Wind and Rain," she said, "I want you to blow up a great storm, and turn the little stream in the valley into a mighty torrent, and when the torrent is strong enough, it will wash away the banks that dam up the lake at the lower end of the valley, and carry the lake, and all the fish in it, right down through the low country into the Ocean."
So Wind and Rain made a terrible storm, and the Lightning flashed, and the Thunder roared, and all the cave men crept into their holes in the rocks, afraid. For three days the storm swept through the valley, tearing down the trees, stripping them of their fruit, and turning the stream into a raging muddy torrent, that tore along in its course like a flood.
When the Sun at last shone again, and the cave men came out of their holes to see what had happened, their lake was gone, and in the foaming yellow torrent that poured through the valley there was not a single fish.
Of course there was some food remaining, fruit, and nuts, and eggs, but with so many to feed it did not last long, and as the cold rainy weather came on, the cave men, without any fish to eat, were soon very hungry. Once more Mother Nature was about to teach them something new by means of suffering and pain.
CHAPTER VIII
MA-RA FINDS A NEW KIND OF FOOD, AND A COAT OF FUR
Ma-Ra, the grandson of Ra, was out looking for food. It was the chief thing the cave men did. When they had plenty, they would lie in the sun and sleep, but when food was scarce, as it was now, they spent the whole day, from morning to night, looking for something to eat.
Ma-Ra went down along the banks of the stream, hoping to find a fish. It was not so much of a torrent, now, as it had been during the storm, but it was still swift and strong, dashing down over the rocks in the narrow way it had cut for itself, and boiling up here and there in clouds of foam. The wide lake at the lower end of the valley was gone, and there were no longer any quiet marshy pools along the edge of the stream, in which fish might live.