Dum's stone axe

Dum and Grunt were now friends and while the women looked for fish on the beach the men wandered off to explore the forest, streams and mountains. Yum liked having time with Dong to talk about their men and laugh.

That day the men followed the river upstream, finding it cool and dark whilst looking for animals in the forest. Grunt carried his spear as did Dum who also took woven bags for their finds.

The terrain got rugged and birdsong and animal cries ceased. Cautiously they pushed through the undergrowth following the stream where they could. Although Dum's sight was impaired his hearing was acute. Now and then he would cover his mouth to tell Grunt to keep quiet, Grunt was too noisy for Dum and he felt like hitting him. 

Suddenly Dum heard a noise it was the sound of stone striking stone. This time he hushed Grunt and whispered there was someone close by. Grunt strained his ears but shook his head. Dum listened again then pointed to where the sound was, then started off toward it. He then turned to Grunt indicating someone else was close by.

Then they saw him. The man was crouched by the stream chipping at stones collected from the water. He was tying the stones to short sticks with strips of vines. Eventually he fastened one tight and tried it out but the stone loosened immediately. Frustrated he gave up, took some stones with him and walked away.

They waited awhile then checked what he had been doing. Dum picked up some of the stones from the stream and put them in his bag. They kept looking for small animals but none came no doubt sensing the humans.

Dum wanted to get back home now as he knew where the man had erred. The stone head should be inserted in the handle and tied with vine strands. He knew he could make that weapon.

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Word count 324

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