A water basket.
Not all the people who lived there were allowed to take part in the ceremonies. Only the grown people were allowed to see the first part. And only the wisest and bravest ones went into the dark shelter.
For a moment, those who went in stood in silence waiting for a sign. Then, by the light of a torch, Fleetfoot chiseled a reindeer on the hard rock, and Greybeard, holding a reindeer skull, murmured earnest prayers.
A feeling of awe came over them while they worked. They began to feel that the god of the reindeer was really there with them. They asked the god to take good care of those who lived in the rock shelter, and to send many herds of reindeer to the Cave-men’s hunting grounds.
THINGS TO DO
Make a rock shelter with walls of skin instead of plaited branches. Use bone pegs to keep the curtains drawn tight.
Find a forked stick and several smaller ones and make a framework for a basket-cradle. If you cannot weave such a cradle as the one shown in the picture, make one in some other way and fasten it to the framework.
Find grasses and splints and see if you can make a sewed mat or basket. Make a simple pattern for your mat.
Look at the picture of a water basket. Why do you think it was made to bulge near the bottom? Why was the bottom made flat? Why was the neck made narrow? Why were handles put on this basket? Tell or write a story about this basket.
Turn to the [frontispiece] and find a picture with this legend: “A feeling of awe came over them while they worked.”