"What you say is very true, Sun," replied Mother Nature. "Those things of which you speak are very likely to happen. But I am going to take away their tails just the same, for it would never do to have them turn into monkeys, like the creatures down in the jungles. These animals are going to be different. For one thing, they must learn to walk about on their hind feet, instead of running on all fours, like the other beasts. And to teach them that, I have got to keep them out of the tree-tops. If they haven't sense enough to find some way to get food, and protect themselves from their enemies, they will surely starve, or be eaten up. But I am certain they will get along." So the ape creatures lived happily in their wide valley, picking the fruit and nuts from the low bushes and trees, and sleeping safely in grassy beds on the ground, and because Mother Nature did not think they needed tails, she took them away, just as her great laws had taken away the feet of the snake, and the eyes of the mole, when they were no longer needed. As the years went by, and new generations of apes were born, their tails were smaller and smaller, and finally, when a very long time indeed had passed, they were born without any tails at all. The Sun watched, for hundreds and thousands of years, and he saw that after a while the whole valley came to be full of the new creatures without tails. At first they ran about on all fours, picking food, or climbing the trees, the way they had always done, but because there were so many of them to be fed, it often happened that food on the bushes became scarce near the ground, and the ape creatures had to stand up on their hind legs in order to reach it. After a while, from standing up on their hind legs so much, they got used to it, and came to like it, and walked about that way most of the time. The Sun saw this strange sight of an animal walking about, upright, on its hind legs, instead of running about on all fours, as all the other animals did, and because he had never seen such a sight before, it surprised him very much indeed. "Is he a Man, Mother Nature?" he asked. "No," Mother Nature told him. "He is not a Man yet." "Why not?" said the Sun. "Because he has not yet learned to think. He is just like all the other animals so far. But I am going to make him think very soon, and when he does, he will begin to be a Man." "How are you going to make him think?" the Sun asked. "I am going to make him hungry." "Will that make him think?" "Yes. If he needs food to keep himself alive, and doesn't find it right at his hand, he will have to think of a way to get it, or starve. And I don't believe he will let himself starve. You see, Sun, I have tried the same thing over and over, on a great many other worlds, and the laws that God has made always work." Then Mother Nature sent for Cold and had a talk with him.