Chapter VI: Things to Think About

How do you think the Cave-men would act at a feast?

What would they use for dishes?

What would they do to entertain themselves and their
neighbors?

When would the neighbors go home?

_The Feast_

Nobody knew just when the feast began.

Nobody set the table, for there was no table to set.

But the women brought bowls they had made out of hollow gourds.

Before the meat was half cooked everybody was eating.

Some ate thick slices that had been partly roasted on the sharp sticks.

Others chewed raw meat from bones which they tore from the carcass.

The children sucked strips of raw meat and picked the scraps from the ground.

When the women lifted the ribs out of the hot ashes, they found a nice gravy.

They dipped up the gravy in their gourd bowls and gave it to the men.

Strongarm dipped some up with a bone dipper that had been made from the skull of a cave-bear.

Then he tore out a rib from the carcass and gnawed the meat from the bone.

They all held what they ate in their hands.

They all ate very fast, and they ate a long time.

At last their hunger was satisfied, and they began to crack the marrow bones and scrape the marrow out with sharp sticks and bones.

When the men became tired of sucking the bones, they tossed them to the women and children.

Then the men joined in a hunting-dance while the women beat time with the bones.

The women chanted, too, as they beat time.

They danced until all became tired and the visitors were ready to go.

Then Firekeeper loaded pieces of meat upon the backs of the women, and all gathered around to see the neighbors start home.

As soon as they were gone the Cave-men prepared to rest for the night.

THINGS TO DO

_Take turns in doing something that the Cave-men did at
the feast, and let the children guess what it is._

_Find some good marrow bones and crack them._

_Find out whether we use marrow bones for anything
to-day._

_If you think that you can, make something of the
marrow bones._

_Can you think why bones are filled with marrow?_

_See if you can beat time with marrow bones so as to
help some one do his work._

_See if you can make dishes of pumpkins, squashes,
melons, cucumbers, or anything else that you can
find._