One of the hardest things which the boys had to do was to make their own weapons. At first, Greybeard helped them; but, later, they had to do their own work.
So the boys learned to go to the trees that had the best wood for shafts. They learned to cut, and peel, and scrape, and oil, and season, and polish the sticks before they were ready to use. No wonder the boys became tired before all this work was done.
Then they worked very carefully before they could make good spearheads. They hunted for the best stones and learned to shape them very well. When they forgot and struck hard blows, they spoiled the flint points. Then Greybeard would tell them that the strongest and bravest hunters were those who could strike the gentlest blows.
It was work of this kind that was harder for the boys than chasing a wild horse or a reindeer. If they had not known that they must have weapons, they would not have had patience to do it.
While the boys worked at their weapons, they thought of what they would do with them. They thought of the trophies they would bring home and what the people would say. And they learned to sing at their work and to mark the time for each blow. And so they managed to keep at work until the weapons were done.
One day when the boys were flaking spear points, Fleetfoot turned to Flaker and said, “Do you know who made the first flaker?”
“Yes,” answered Flaker, “it was Greybeard.”
“No, no!” said Fleetfoot, “Nimble-finger did it.”
Greybeard heard Fleetfoot speak his name and he came to the spot. Then it was that Fleetfoot learned that Greybeard was Nimble-finger.
After that Fleetfoot took great pains to learn how to flake flint points. He watched Greybeard as he worked and he listened to all he said.