View over the ocean

 

“Let's go for a walk" invited Song one beautiful morning. I know a place where there is a great view of the sea". She pointed to the hills behind them. Dum should come too".

What are you planning, Song?” Yum asked.

Song smiled, “I have a yearning. I want more; I want to see more; I want to learn more.” Yum looked sad  saying, “Perhaps happiness is staying and living our lives safely”.

Dum caught up with them after he had left the children playing with their friends in the village. They climbed up the mountainside higher than ever before. A light breeze blew their hair and the smell of the trees and the flowers was different to the plain below.

Yum found a small open area to look out over the ocean. Song sat too to admire the view. While they chatted Yum continued to observe the horizon and suddenly called out, “Look, look far in the distance do you see what I see?” all the while pointing with her fingers to where she was looking. Dum of course only had one eye so he said “What do you see?”

Song just smiled. “The sky is so clear we can see far, far away when we look out from here. Do you see it? It looks like another land...I want to go there.”

Dum looked at Yum who now clearly felt like crying. She loved Song but didn’t want to lose her. So then Dum asked Song “How will you get there?”

“Well Dum, you will build a boat for me...well, for us all perhaps. We should all see what is there. We have the ability, we have the courage and we have the love to explore our world.”

Yum looked doubtful, “What if it is terrible or dangerous there?”

Song put her hand on Yum’s face “Then we will come back” she smiled. “But remember we have much to trade.”

So this was the day that man instead of wandering by foot on land decided to explore the world by sea.

Note that Song's reference to their having much to trade was of course their knowledge. This is the last Dum and Yum story for the moment. 

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Trapped in the storm.

All the cave dwellers had moved to the village where spirit woman Song lived. She persuaded the head man that Dum would be a useful and creative member. Although some cave dwellers were unsure at first, the watertight roofed huts to live in persuaded them that it was a safer place to be as the village had a fence around it. 

One day however Dum and Grunt were hunting in the forest when a terrific storm trapped them there. They were soaking wet and couldn't light a fire and the streams and rivers were dangerous to cross even bursting their banks and some tall trees had been blown down.

Carefully avoiding danger they made their way back to the sea. Dum kept lifting his nose to catch its scent as the damage and debris was vast. Finally they made their way to the seashore. There were fresh rivulets everwhere bound for the ocean. Heading back toward the village settlement was difficult as flood water was too dangrous to cross. As the tide was coming in Dum persuaded Grunt to help him get a fallen branch into the sea water and use that to carry them up toward the village. Luckily the tide was on the turn and pushing them back to shore so paddling the branch they managed to head for the village. Recognising where they were he slipped off the branch to see if he could feel the sea bed. Finally it felt firm underfoot and they left the branch and safely waded to shore again.

Getting back to the village Yum hugged him tight as he told her what happened. She in turn showed him the damage done to the village huts losing their roofs but everyone was safe. Later he told her what they had done saying that he might use a large log to travel out to sea to fish and explore. 

"One day perhaps" Yum replied doubtfully..

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The village where Song lives

 

When Dum and Yum talked that night Dum said that they would visit the village people with a gift and decide what to do. Yum nodded and said "I think that Song the spirit woman has spoken about us and our tribe to her people. She must see the value of what we do". Dum, nodded, saying, "We should take them a gift to show our good will and ask to see their village". 

Dum laughed "You want to take a basket of gifts and see Song there?"

Later Dum and two other cavemen set off with Yum carrying Lara set of to the village. They took some time to reach the settlement. Clearly they had been sighted for soon some men came to meet them. Dum went forward and placed the gift a basket in front of a village man.

"A gift for the village" Dum said assuming he was their leader. "The basket of woven reeds has many uses, inside there are some flint spear heads and a knife made from bone" The leader nodding his head said "We will show you our village. I see you have brought a woman with you. Is she your spirit woman?"

Dum smiled, "She is my wife and this our younger child showing good will. Yum can talk to your women while you and I are talking of other matters."

The men were then shown the village of timber huts with reed rooves and a large area of land where vegetables were grown close by and ready to harvest.

Dum then said "You mentioned a spirit woman. Who and what is this person?"

The man replied "Our spirit woman tells of approaching storms; heals the sick and tells us what is good and bad for us. Do you not have one?"

"Perhaps she looks after all people not just your village" Dum said, "Does she live in the forest, the mountains or by the sea?"

"No, she lives with us in the village. She told us to find you; the cave man leader with one eye who if he came would bring his woman showing his good will".

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Moving day

The amount of people in the cave had risen causing grumbling by some that they would move away. Dum called them the wanderers, as they searched for somehwere better than the caves. 

The problem with staying was that food had to be found close by all year round. Animals and birds came and went with each season as they searched for food too. 

Grunt and his wife Dong were tempted to go but Yum felt safe with Dum who kept coming up with ways of finding food. He had invented the fish trap and the basket and rid the cave of bears; even the other men made stone axes like him rather than use just their spears. The spear was good but not always able to be retrieved from an angry animal who was hungry too! In fact many men carried more than one spear with them hunting. 

Dum and Yum talked about moving but Yum shook her head. "If we wander like the others it is hard with mothers with young children and worse with toddlers like Wah-Wah who are heavy to carry but cannot keep up with adults. We feed ourselves well here and with few going hunting close by will become easier.

He bent over 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" he said simply, stroking the hair on her head; as she closed her eyes and lay her head on his chest..

When Grunt's wife Dong heard Yum was staying she looked a little disappointed. Then quietly said "Perhaps little Bonk and I will stay with you too. Dum will look after us both won't he?"

Yum shook her head laughing, "No! Not in that way he won't!"

Dong blushed and shook her head. "No of course Grunt will stay as well, he likes Dum. We have never gone hungry with Dum around".

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Dum leaves his mark

One benefit of the fire in the cave was that the bats had gone too. They did not worry Dum and Yum as they had an overhanging ledge to sleep under that no-one else cared for. Dum didn't sit up straight when he woke, his main concern was to check that Yum and Wah-Wah were safe. Yum liked her hole in the wall too a it made her feel special while the other women preferred to hear the chatter of others and listen to their secrets. 

Yum would reach out and touch Dum's face when he was asleep wondering how such a man who thought things out rather than acting rashly should be so pleased with her. She knew she had a temper and would explode every now and then. Despite this Dum merely got on with his life providing for his family.

She was glad too that he was respected now rather than laughed at. She was determined to reward him. Perhaps she should stop hitting him so much or perhaps she could show her appreciation in some other way. She knew he really liked her as he always slept with one arm over her and Wah-Wah each night. 

Wah-Wah was growing and would soon be running about chasing birds and butterflies  when spring came around again. His was the first bearskin garment she had made to see how it could be and now she was working on one for her and Dum.

She went back to their sleeping place to tidy up. It was quite snug and dark there. As Dum was out with Wah-Wah she swept out bits and pieces and laid her firebrand on the floor so she could use both hands. As she brushed the debris out of their corner she glanced up and saw a drawing of bears on the rock above. She knew at once Dum had done it. He would definitely get a reward tonight. 

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The bears were back

It was late autumn and the men could hear the grunts and roars of bears in the forest. They knew they may have to leave the cave if the bears decided to hibernate there this winter. They had to fight the bears or leave and there was much discussion where they should go.

Dum didn't say much merely saying "Let's wait until the bears choose where to go". Grunt saw the twinkle in Dum's good eye.

"What about the bears then?", he asked.

"Let them look in the cave. It may not suit them" said Dum. "But we should gather a lot of wood for the fire with winter coming and store it in the cave".

A few days later the bears came. Luckily those inside could see the bears as the caves were dark to bears and this gave them a chance to escape without the bears seeing them.

Everyone gathered to discuss where to sleep that night. As Dum's suggestion they built a few fires that night some way off and gathered extra fuel to keep them going. The men took it in turns to keep watch and when it was Dum and Grunt's turn, Dum said he would check the cave taking a fire brand with him. All was quiet there except for bears grunts and snorts. So Dum entered and set light to the dry wood store inside.Then he backed out and hurried to the others. 

Before long everyone woke at the roars of the trapped bears inside the cave as they were overcome by the smoke and unable leave as the fire engulfed the entrance.

Grunt said "Won't they come and attack us?"

Dum shook his head "If they escape they won't come towards another fire will they?"

In the morning they carefully checked the cave finding no bears had escaped the smoke and flames. Yum was pleased; she went up to Dum and asked if they could use the bear skins. Dum looked doubtful but said  "We can try".

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Yum is cross

 

Most mornings Yum and Dong would go down to the beach soon after the tide started going out, to check their fish trap. This day they hadn’t gone early as they talked about their husbands now they were both off hunting. Noticing that most of the other women had already gone they put their babies on slings to be rocked by their walking as they went down to the beach.

There were one or two women waiting to look for fish after Yum and Dong had taken theirs first. Already in the pool was a woman looking for fish and tossing them out on the sand nearby.

When the two friends arrived Yum handed Wah-Wah to Dong, strode up to the woman and hit and scratched her face. She told the woman to take the fish she had stolen and go and tell her husband to build his own fish trap as she was not allowed in this one anymore.

All the other women were scared and started to walk away but Yum called them back to look for fish for their families with her and Dong. Dong was amazed at how strong but fair Yum could be.   

Everything quietened down in the cave after Yum’s fight with the woman at the beach. The woman’s husband would have been cross with Dum had it not been the fact that Grunt and Dum did everything together as well as him knowing his woman was greedy. When he learned that Yum had given her the fish he didn’t see a problem. It wasn’t long though before the couple left the cave and peace was restored,

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