Stories of the Cave People

by Mary Marcy

It cheered the Cave People greatly when they saw that One Ear had returned to the tribe bringing some of the magical arrows, so effectively employed by the Dart Throwers. They believed that the bone javelin of Strong Arm possessed some of the strength and skill of this mighty cave man; they knew that the dried head of the green snake which had been killed by Big Foot and a great boulder were filled with his valor and his wisdom, for they had seen Run Fast elude the wild boar with this snake head in her hands. If any one thing was sure in all the muddle of strange things and stranger events in this world, it was that weapons or adornments or tools, acquired the characteristics of their owners, and that these characteristics might be transferred to him who was fortunate enough to secure them. The darts or the arrows of the Dart Throwers brought skill to the holders and so the Cave People were cheered when they beheld the darts in the hands of One Ear.

All through the night, as they huddled and shivered in the shadows, the Cave People kept the big fire burning and listened for the Arrow People. It was when the moon rode high in the heavens that the soft wind brought the scent of the enemy approaching with quiet and with caution. With quivering nostrils Strong Arm, who, in spite of the pain he suffered from his wounds, was the first to smell the coming Arrow Throwers, gathered the tribe behind the protection of the giant rocks.

And when they advanced within the circle of light thrown out by the flames of the fire, One Ear drew his great bow to his shoulder and sent arrow after arrow into the gleaming breasts of those who made the attack, until the Arrow people were confounded and afraid and fled away in the night whence they had come.

And for days there was peace and the Cave People encamped themselves near a fresh water hole and built more mud caves and huts of the branches of trees. But evil spirits hovered over Strong Arm and entered into him and gave him fever and sickness and pain from the wound in his breast, until at last he died in the night and his Spirit passed out of his body. So thought the Cave Dwellers.

And they mourned for Strong Arm, both in their hearts and with loud voices, for they knew that his spirit would hover about to see what they said of his words and his deeds and they desired very strongly to please and propitiate the Spirit of Strong Arm, for he had always been a powerful and wise man, able to help those he loved and bring evil to those whom he had hated. And they wanted to win the support and friendship of the Spirit of Strong Arm in order that it might work good in their behalf.

So even Big Foot, who had always feared and envied Strong Arm, spoke loudly in his behalf, saying “Brave, Brave, Strong, Strong,” and he screamed as though he had lost his best friend. This was all done to show the Spirit of Strong Arm in what high esteem Big Foot held him.

The Cave People chopped up the body of Strong Arm and roasted his arms and his legs and his head on the coals so that every member of the tribe might acquire some of the noble virtues of the mighty chief by eating a portion of his body. To Laughing Boy was apportioned the hands of his father, and he ate them, stripping the flesh from the bones so that his own hands might become skillful and quick in killing the enemy. The remainder of the body of Strong Arm was laid in a cavity in the earth, along with his sharp bone javelin, and his stone knife and his flint; and food also, which they knew he would need in the Spirit Land where he had gone. These things they covered with earth and leaves and weighed them down with heavy stones so that neither wild boar, nor any other wild animal might devour the remains of Strong Arm.

And in the night the Spirit of Strong Arm came back to his people in their dreams, telling them many things. Once he appeared in a dream to Quack Quack, with his bone javelin in his hands, and the cry of danger upon his lips and a long arrow thrust in his hair. And Quack Quack and the Cave People knew that this was a warning to them that the Arrow Throwers were again stealing upon them to drive them from their new land, so they gathered up their bone weapons, and the bow and arrows which One Ear had brought, and their knives and their adornments, and wandered toward the North in the hope of escaping.

But the Hairy Folk fell upon them, and the Man-eaters and the Tree People nagged them and stole their food and wrecked disaster at every step, so that there was no peace, only constant fighting and death and terror in all the days.

So the Cave People traveled wearily and furtively, ever farther North, where the fruit grows only in one season and the cold descends over the earth for a long period of the year, and where men are only able to survive by learning new things and new methods of keeping food against the barren days.