Ra-Na got to thinking about how hungry the people were, and of all the good food in the cave, so when any came to worship the Sacred Fire, he gave them something to eat. Soon all through the valley the people were saying that the Fire God was taking care of his children by giving them food, and they came, and were fed with the smoked meats, and fish, and the roots and nuts which the two old men had stored away.
It did not take very long to eat all this food up, for there were many people in the valley, but by the time it was all gone, the storm had passed, and under the heat of the sun the snow and ice began to melt, so that the hunting parties were once more able to find fish and animals for food. They had a hard time, and many starved to death, but the tribe was saved.
Ra-Na explained to the people how the Sacred Fire had kept the meat and fish for them, and they thought it a very wonderful thing, a miracle. After that, when food was once more plentiful, they brought great offerings of it to the Fire Cave, to show how grateful they were for their escape from starvation, and they laid away stores in their own caves too, all through the summer, for they had learned a great lesson, the need of storing food for use during the winter. From that time on the cave people were never in danger of starving in the cold months, and for this they gave thanks to the Fire God, and to Ra-Na and Sut, who came to be looked upon as the Sacred Fire's priests.
When the first men began to worship Fire, they were giving thanks to one of God's great forces, which had brought them comfort and happiness in the shape of warmth and cooked food and safety from their enemies, the wild beasts, who feared the hot flames. This worship of God's great natural forces was the beginning of religion. Later on, they came to worship the Sun, the Rain, the Wind, the Sea, the Lightning, the Rivers and Mountains, seeing in each the power of the Great Spirit which had created them all. This early kind of worship was in many ways very beautiful, but it was not long before the priests of the Fire or other god began to change it to suit themselves. Having nothing to do but live in the cave or temple, and be fed by the tribe, they found life very easy and comfortable, and this made them think themselves better than the common people. So they became proud and arrogant, and made every one believe they could get special favours from the gods. In this way they came to rule the people, for they would threaten any one who did not obey them with the anger of the gods. It was very easy for these priests, they had great power, and instead of being two old men who watched the fire, younger men became priests, with many followers about them, all of whom the people had to feed and support in idle luxury. Soon the priests began to make all sorts of rules, telling the people what they should eat, and wear, ordering them to build fine temples, in which the priests might live, forbidding them this and that, and claiming to have wonderful powers given to them by the gods. They became very cruel, too, and not only frightened the people by clever tricks, which to these simple creatures seemed like wonderful miracles, but told them to make all sorts of sacrifices to the gods, sometimes even human beings, men, women and children, who, they said, had to be killed and offered upon altars so that the gods would not be angry. All this work by the priests soon changed the simple religion of the people, worshipping God through His great forces into a brutal kind of religion which we call Paganism. This rule by the priests lasted for a very long time; it was found among all the ancient peoples, in Nineveh and Babylon, in Egypt, Greece and Rome, and it was only when Christ came to teach people a better way to worship the Divine Creator that people began to understand that God is not cruel and angry, asking sacrifices, but a God of Love.
CHAPTER XIII
THE FIRST BOW AND ARROW
Among a people whose whole life was spent in fighting, and in killing animals for food, weapons were the most important things. We have seen how the cave men used clubs and spears, and later stone axes and knives. But as the tribe increased in numbers, so that the whole valley was filled with them, it became harder and harder to get enough food.
The cave men were very swift runners, and often pursued and overtook the smaller beasts, but there were many that they could not overtake. There were also great flocks of waterfowl that flew over the marshes. The hunters tried in every way to kill these, but it was hard work. Sometimes they would manage to hit one with a well-aimed pebble or stone, but even though they became skilful throwers, it was not easy to throw a stone far enough, or with enough force, to kill an animal or a large bird. So they all tried to think of some way to kill birds and animals at a distance.