Flint Dog

by Stephanie Dagg

Chapter 11: The menhir

  Mother, First Son and Hazel Eyes were thrilled at the news about the menhir. They darted off to tell their friends and soon the whole village knew that Youngest had found the menhir and had then told the chief that he'd like a hut made of mammoth bones and a young wife. Youngest's friends were green with envy. Youngest basked in all the attention. He swaggered around importantly with Flint in his hand.

  Next day, Father, Strong Man, Lamp Maker and some other Hunters set off early to see the menhir. The whole village waited excitedly for their return. Everyone found it hard to concentrate on their chores that day. Youngest was supposed to be helping Mother scrape some skins but he couldn't keep his mind on the job. He kept thinking about his menhir. What if the chief didn't like it? Would he be cross with Youngest and Father? He was so preoccupied that he wasn't any help at all to Mother. Mother sent him off to play and called Hazel Eyes to help instead. Hazel Eyes had been practising sewing with some of her friends and wasn't too pleased at having to go and scrape smelly old skins.

  But Youngest needn't have worried. When at last the Hunters returned, the chief was smiling broadly. He summoned the tribe at once and announced that the menhir had indeed been found. Tomorrow, he said, they would begin preparing to bring the menhir to the village. It would take a lot of hard work, but the Mother Goddess had been good to the village and so it was only right that they honoured her in this way with their efforts.

  Then the Hunters who had been to view the menhir disappeared into the chief's hut to discuss how to bring the huge rock to the village. The others drifted back to their huts, talking about the enormous task that lay ahead.

  The family waited impatiently for Father to return home that evening. As soon as he walked in, Youngest and Hazel Eyes bombarded him with questions.

  "How will we get the menhir here, Father?"

  "Will it take long?"

  "Can I help?"

  "Will we have a feast when it's here?"

  "How heavy is it?"

  Father held up a hand. "Stop, stop!" he cried, putting his hands over his ears. "Let's eat our meal and then I'll tell you what the plans are."

  The meal went on for an awfully long time. Youngest had never realised what an age Mother and Father took to eat a meal. They kept chatting and laughing. And then Mother insisted on Father having second helpings.

  "We'll be here all night!" thought Youngest grumpily.

  But at last he finished eating.

  Father yawned and stretched.

  "Now, what did you want to know about the menhir?" he asked.

  "Everything!" Hazel Eyes spoke for all of them.

  "Goodness, where do I start?" sighed Father. "Right. The facts are that Youngest's menhir is many, many paces from here. It is also very heavy. There is a big, thick wood between here and the menhir and some rough, rocky ground. It will be hard to bring it."

  "So how will we do it?" asked First Son.

  "We will need a lot of ropes. Tomorrow, Strong Man has said, we will begin making them. We will use plaited leather strips and plaited vines. The Birth-givers will cut the skins and Hunters will gather vines from the woods. Everyone will help to plait them. Other Hunters will go hunting every day for our food of course, and also for extra skins. Then, when the ropes are made, we will fell trees from the wood."

  "Of course! To make a path for the menhir!" burst out Hazel Eyes.

  "Exactly," nodded Father. "But also to provide rollers for the menhir."

  "What are rollers, Father?" asked Youngest puzzled. He couldn't think how trees would help move a menhir.

  "We will lay the rollers under the menhir. That will make it much easier to move than just dragging it along over the ground. Some of us saw this being done when we visited the distant tribe with the many standing stones. What happens is this."

  Father pulled a stone out of his pouch, and picked up a few twigs from the floor. He laid the twigs in a row and then put the stone of top of them.

  "With our ropes, we will pull the menhir along, like this." He moved the stone forwards. "See, it moves along. It's actually rolling along on the rollers."

  "It's left a twig behind!" pointed out Hazel Eyes.

  "That's right. Now, I take this twig - our roller - and put it in front of the stone. So as it carries on moving, it slides onto this roller."

  "And another one gets left behind," observed Youngest.

  Father nodded again. "And that's how it works. As the stone slides forward and leaves a roller behind, that roller is moved to the front of the stone to allow it to carry on moving. And so on and so on until we get the menhir here."

  But Youngest had a question.

  "How will we get the menhir on the rollers to start with?" he asked.

  "A good question, Youngest. It won't be easy. We will have to use strong tree trunks to raise the menhir up so that we can slide the rollers underneath. That's probably the trickiest and most dangerous part."

  "And how will we set the menhir in the ground so that it stands up, like the stones you told us about?" asked First Son.

  "Again, it won't be easy," said Father. "We will have to dig a pit for the menhir to stand in first and roll the stone right up to it. Then we will use tree trunks again to lever the stone up so that it slides into position. We will use ropes too. We need to build a frame from tree trunks on the side of the pit away from the menhir. Using ropes that loop through the framework we can help to pull the menhir up as well as lever it in from behind."

  Youngest wasn't quite sure that he understood the last bit, but he did understand what an enormous job lay ahead for them all.

  "I'll help as much as I can, Father," he promised.

  "And so will I," said Hazel Eyes.

  "I know you will," smiled Father. "Now, off to sleep so that you are strong and fresh tomorrow for making ropes."