The First Days of Man, as Narrated Quite Simply for Young ReadersKummer, Frederic Arnold
General
The First Days of Man, as Narrated Quite Simply for Young Readers
Kummer, Frederic Arnold
Cave dwellers -- Juvenile literature; Prehistoric peoples -- Juvenile literature
Their chief, a huge man as big as Mor, came out, carrying a heavy
spear, and he and Mor began a terrible fight. The village chief aimed
a heavy blow at Mor with his spear, but Mor caught it on his shield.
When the sharp stone point of the spear cut through the shield it got
caught in the wicker-work, and would not come out. Then Mor jerked his
shield back and pulled the spear clear out of his enemy's hand. The
village chief drew a knife, but Mor rushed at him and killed him with
his copper axe.
At this the village people were discouraged, and the men from the
island set up a loud shout and rushing at them, killed many of them.
The rest, seeing their leader killed, ran away. Then Mor and his men
went into the village and captured the women, and took great stores of
grain, and wine, and furs back to the ships. After that they set the
village on fire.
By this time the village people had secured help, and were coming back
to renew the fight, so Mor called his men together, and guided by the
light from the blazing huts of the village, they pushed their boats off
the sand, sprang aboard, and rowed swiftly away. In a little while they
had vanished in the darkness.
When they got back home, Mor and his men had a feast, and all the
people thought him a hero. After that, he made many voyages, and so did
others of the island chiefs, and the people of the mainland were afraid
of them.
These rovers of the sea were no more than pirates, of course, but they
did a great deal of good. Year after year they would descend on the
people of the coast, burning and robbing, carrying off their women and
animals and taking them back to their island home, but sometimes they
could not get back, but were driven by storms to other lands, where
they settled and built new homes, taking with them all that they had
learned about metals, about building boats, and many other things. In
this way the knowledge they had gained was spread to other peoples.
Sometimes they would land in peace and trade with the people on the
mainland, giving them gold and copper and tin in exchange for grain
and cattle and pottery. They sailed great distances in their stout
ships and not only learned the things that other races knew, but at the
same time brought to these other peoples their own knowledge of metal
working, and carpentry, and the building of boats. Thus, through these
sea rovers, the different arts spread from tribe to tribe, and from
people to people, which was what Mother Nature intended.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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