Tuesday 15 April 2014

Dum and the wanderers (Dum tales 18)

                   Australian aboriginal cave painting


The numbers living in the cave had risen and there were grumblings in the cave as some of the men wanted to move away. They were not happy staying in one place all the year round. They were the wanderers as Dum called them. They never wanted to stay in one place for long thinking that there was always somewhere better to hunt or fish or steal women than where they were.

The danger of not wandering like many others was that food and water had to be available all the year round. Many of animals and birds came and went with each season and winter was very hard when those that were left were thin and hungry just like them.

Each year a few would drift away, some would return a few weeks later with tales of hunting and the chasing and trapping involved. Dong and Grunt were tempted to go but Yum felt safe with Dum who always seem to come up with ideas of how to find food. He had invented the fish trap and the basket and he had rid the cave of bears. Even the other men in the cave had made stone axes like his rather than just use a spear. The spear was good but when thrown you might have retrieve it from an angry animal who was keen to stay alive. In fact a few of the men now carried two or three spears with them when they hunted.

Dum talked to Yum about moving. Yum thought about it for some time then shook her head. “If we wander like the others it is hard on the mothers with small children, but worse with toddlers like Wah-Wah who are heavy to carry all the time and cannot keep up with the adults. We feed ourselves quite well here and with some leaving, the hunting close by will be easier.”

Dum bent over her and touched her face with his fingers. She looked up at him and smiled “There is one more thing; we have another baby on the way.”

“Good”, Dum said simply as he stroked the hair on her head.

When Dong heard that Yum was staying she looked a little disappointed. She was silent for a bit then said. “Perhaps little Bonk and I will stay with you too. Dum will look after us all, won’t he?”

Yum shook her head laughing “No, not in that way he won’t”.

Dong blushed, laughed too and shook her head, “No of course Grunt will agree to stay as well, he likes Dum. We have never gone hungry with Dum around.”


9 comments:

  1. It is amazing the way you use the writing prompt "move" in this story.
    I am wondering if you start writing the new chapter after you see the writing prompt, or if you have already plotted the entire story and adjust it so that it will include the key word...

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    1. I have no idea what Dum and Yum will do until the prompt. I try to think like a cave man and just grunt one of the prompt words to myself and see what comes. Dum and Yum worked out what would be best for the family. Thank you Romi for your comment.

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  2. Robin's Nest, as in Robin Masters from Magnum PI? lol Nice to meet you through Two Shoes Tuesday. Now following!

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    1. Thanks for following Cathy. Robin is my name but I am no PI merely a romancer!

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  3. Indeed you are a romancer, Old Egg, not just in these wonderful tales of Dum and Yum, but in many of the other stories you've written as well!

    What I love about Dum's character is that he isn't afraid to do things his own way, to think things out and to find ways to make their lives better, he doesn't follow "herd mentality". Yum is an awesome wife, she keeps an eye on her husband, is proud of his accomplishments and how well he takes care of them, and returns the love and attraction. This little group is the beginning of something very good!

    I join the others in being impressed with how well you can take a prompt word and weave a story around it so well that we don't even notice it's a prompt! Well done my friend!

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  4. To stay or to go remains a frequent theme in our lives, but true nomadism eludes most of us. It seems like a hard way to live, but I can imagine that the first settled tribes found it just as scary to stay put.

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  5. I loved this one. My significant other was a yak herder in Tibet, nomads... This made me think of him... he died a few years ago... this was a lovely place to see him again, thankyou!

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  6. Sounds like they have a rough, long journey ahead of them. : )

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