“Antler learned to protect the cord by running it through a hollow bone.”
So, at length, Antler thought of cutting vines and fastening them to branches. Then she learned to tie knots that would slip and tighten when pulled. And, after a while, she used the slipknots in making many kinds of snares.
Antler watched the birds until she knew the spots where they liked to alight. Then she set snares on the ground and fastened them to strong branches.
The birds, alighting on the spot, caught their feet in the snare. When they tried to fly away, they pulled the slipknot which held them fast.
Some of the birds were frightened away, and did not return to the spot. So Antler tried to coax them back by scattering seeds near the snare.
Once Antler set a snare in a rabbit path just high enough to catch the rabbit’s head. A rabbit was caught, but he nibbled the cord and ran off with the snare. And so Antler learned to protect the cord by running it through a hollow bone.
There was no better trapper than Antler among all the Cave-men. It was she who taught the boys and girls how to make and set traps. When the marmots awoke from their long winter’s sleep, all the children learned to catch them in traps. They learned to loosen the bark of a tree without breaking it except along one edge. They used the bark as a leadway to a trap which they set near a marmot’s hole. After placing the noose inside the bark, they fastened it to a bent sapling.
“So it ran along and nibbled the bait until its sharp teeth cut the cord.”