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The Man Who Tamed a Stone (frag. 2)

Submitted by Ken Watts on Sat, 11/25/2006 - 10:53

And Woman said, "We must do something or we will die. You must take on the Spirit of the Tiger and the Word of the Wolf. You must hunt the animals yourself, and bring us meat to eat"

So the man went out, and took upon himself the Spirit of the Tiger and the Word of the Wolf, and began to hunt. He was too wise to stalk an elk or a goat; he knew he should start this new thing small, so he stalked a rabbit. He caught it, and he killed it, and he brought it back to Woman and Baby.

Then Woman said. "Share the meat with us, so we can eat."

Man looked at the rabbit, and saw that it was not torn open like a tiger kill, not ripped apart like the prey of a wolf. So again he took upon himself the Spirit of the Tiger and the Word of the Wolf, and he tore at it with his teeth.

He did this for a very long time.

Then he went to Woman, and said, "I have discovered something."

And she answered him. "What have you discovered?"

And he said, "I have discovered that the Spirit of the Tiger and the Word of the Wolf signify nothing without the Teeth of the Lion."

And Woman laughed, and said to him, "Then you must get the teeth of the lion."

So once again the man went out, and he found a stone with an edge, and said to himself, "this is like the tooth of a lion."

So he brought the stone back to the rabbit, and used it to tear at the rabbit's skin. But the stone was not sharp enough, and the skin was too tough. After trying this, also for a long time, the man got angry and threw the stone.

It hit a rock and split in two. Woman saw this, and said to Man, "bring the pieces here." And Man brought her the pieces, and she saw that the new break was sharper than the old edge, and she took the two pieces and struck them together again, and again, and soon she had a stone that was sharper than the teeth of a lion.

She gave this to Man, and said, "Now you have the Spirit of the Tiger, the Word of the Wolf, and the Tooth of the Lion."

Man took the stone and skinned the rabbit. He shared the food with Woman, and from the rabbit's skin, he made a blanket to help keep Baby warm.

And after that, when Man and Woman wanted to cut or shape something, they made a tool from a stone.

Some say this was a mistake. Some say the berries were there to be eaten, and the rabbit was there to be eaten, but the stone was not there to be a tooth. They say this was the beginning of the trouble.

I do not think so. I think Man and Woman did a wise thing.