The First Jumper (first draft version)

The First Jumper 30: Caves and Bearskins

The remaining two entrances were disappointments.  One of them just opened into the very large cavern, and the other was a vertical shaft, ten feet in diameter, that went up twice as high as a man’s head.  The floor was dried mud.

They could only come see the cave a few at a time, because they only had one fire pot.  Ringtail knew how to make another, and was excited to see the clay covering Little Bear, when he came out.

“Can we make many fire pots, Ringtail?” Little Bear asked.

“If we have enough clay,” he said.  “They don’t last long.”

Apple was scraping down the bear skin, when Little Bear came with Cave Bear to where the bear had died.  “Will we be here long, Little Bear?” she asked.

“I will decide that,” growled Cave Bear.  “Remember your place, woman.”  He stalked off in the direction of the fire.

Apple smiled at Little Bear, and got up to follow her husband.  Before she did, she said to Little Bear, “This is to be your bearskin, Little Bear, but it isn’t ready yet.  I need to find some oak leaves.”  Then she looked up at the cave.  “Will I get to see the cave?”

“I suppose,” said Little Bear.  “Everyone will see it.”

“Good,” said Apple, smiling at him.  “If there is a quiet place by itself, I will show you how we can make this bearskin so it will stay soft and warm, and won’t smell bad or fall apart, or even get stiff.”

Then she went running off after Cave Bear, leaving Little Bear puzzled.

He looked at the bearskin.  Apple had scraped all the extra flesh off it, and it looked like a good skin.  But how could she keep it from going bad?  Didn’t skins always go bad?

It only took a moment for Little Bear to realize how foolish this was.  They used water skins, which did not go bad, and the bag that had held Bison’s spear making tools did not go bad.  Furs usually went bad, but Apple had been wearing the same fur about her shoulders, as long as Little Bear could remember.  When the weather was warm, she wore skins like everyone else, but those went bad, like everyone else’s.  The fur she had brought with her when she had been taken from another tribe, but Little Bear had been too young to remember that.

So they sometimes went bad, and sometimes didn’t, and Apple was going to do something to keep it from going bad.

Gerleesh had no knowledge of tanning or hides.  Her ancestors had done something similar in her early history, but she had never heard of it.  Little Bear simply accepted what was around him, and had never thought about it.

Now, he was fascinated.  He went over to the fire, and did not see Cave Bear or Apple, but was surprised to see that Pomegranate and Rat were working on a project together with Raccoon.  They had Little Bear’s spear thrower, and they had about twenty sticks that were something like it, and they were bending the sticks and trying to compare them to the spear thrower.

Little Bear asked what they were doing, and Raccoon explained.  “We know you are going to want to make more of these.  We are getting some pieces you might want to use.”

Little Bear looked over the pile.  “Make sure they are big enough to fit the end of a spear,” he said.  He separated out about a third of them.  “These are too small.”  He stood up, and took the original in his hand.  He made a throwing motion with it, then frowned, and moved his hand back, and did it again.  Then he picked up a spear and held it on it, testing the balance.  Satisfied, he made a mark on the spear thrower with his knife, and said, “It must be at least as long from the big place where the spear touches it to the end, as this is.  Longer is okay, but it cannot be shorter.”