The First Days of Man, as Narrated Quite Simply for Young Readers

by Frederic Arnold Kummer

The stream poured out of the valley through a narrow gorge, tumbling over the rocks in a foaming waterfall. This was the only entrance to the valley, except over the rough, forest-covered hills that surrounded it on all sides, and none of the cave men, in their hunts for food, had ever gone outside the valley. They knew nothing of the country beyond, and were afraid to enter it, not knowing what sort of enemies they might meet.

Ma-Ra reached the waterfall and stood there for a long time, his heavy spear in his hand. All he could see through the gorge was a wide marshy plain, covered with tall rank grass, with here and there a clump of fern-like bushes and trees. He wondered if there were any food to be found in the plain, for he had had nothing to eat since the afternoon before, and he was very hungry. He knew it would be useless to go back to the caves, for he would find no food on the way, and when he got back, there would be nothing there either, except a few of the dry roots of plants on which the cave people were trying to keep themselves alive. Ma-Ra felt a spirit of adventure stirring within him; why, he said to himself, should he not go outside the valley and see what he could find? He might as well be killed by some wild beast, as starve to death. So he decided to go.

Picking his way carefully over the slippery rocks beside the waterfall, he finally got to the bottom of it, and found himself on the edge of the wide, marshy plain. There were many hummocks of grass, with muddy pools between, but although he searched very carefully, in none of them could he find any fish.

As he walked along through the tall grass, higher than his waist, he saw many large birds fly over his head, lighting here and there to feed on the tender shoots of the grass, but while he knew these birds might be good to eat, there was no way in which he could catch one of them.

Suddenly Ma-Ra paused, the hair on his neck and head standing up straight. Some animal was coming toward him through the grass; he saw the grass tops waving, and heard low grunts, as the creature forced its way along through the mud. What it was Ma-Ra could not tell, but he stood quite still, a little to one side of the path the animal was taking, and waited, spear in hand.

In a few moments he saw a heavy pointed snout come poking through the grass, with little sharp tusks sticking upward, and small bright eyes, which turned quickly from side to side, watching for any danger. Suddenly the animal saw Ma-Ra and stopped. It had never seen a man before, and did not know what to make of him.

Ma-Ra was very quick. Without waiting a moment, he drove his flint-pointed spear into the animal's side, just behind its fore-leg.

The wild pig tried his best to use his sharp tusks, but it was too late. Ma-Ra's thrust had been a fatal one, and in a few moments the boar fell over on his side, dead.

Ma-Ra drew out his spear. Some bits of the animal's flesh, warm and covered with blood, clung to his spear point. Half starving, he put them in his mouth, chewed them, swallowed them. They tasted good to him, even better, he thought, than raw fish. With the blade of his spear he cut some strips of flesh from the animal's side and made a hearty meal. Then, because the body of the boar was too large and heavy for him to carry, he twisted some marsh grasses together, tied them to the animal's front legs, and began to drag it along through the marsh toward the entrance to the valley.

When he at last came to the waterfall, he was tired, and he saw at once that he would not be able to carry the body of the boar over the steep, slippery rocks that led into the valley. So he sat down to think what he should do, and meanwhile, ate some more of the boar meat. Soon he heard a cry from the rocks above, and saw two of his brothers standing in the valley entrance, looking down at him in surprise.