And it was not long before the Sea Valley filled up, and in it were
countless families. But, before this happened, the land, which had

been free to all and belonged to all, was divided up. Three-Legs
began it when he planted corn. But most of us did not care about

the land. We thought the marking of the boundaries with fences of
stone was a foolishness. We had plenty to eat, and what more did

we want? I remember that my father and I built stone fences for
Three-Legs and were given corn in return.

"So only a few got all the land, and Three-Legs got most of it.
Also, others that had taken land gave it to the few that held on,

being paid in return with corn and fat roots, and bear-skins, and
fishes which the farmers got from the fishermen in exchange for

corn. And, the first thing we knew, all the land was gone.
"It was about this time that Fith-Fith died and Dog-Tooth, his son,

was made chief. He demanded to be made chief anyway, because his
father had been chief before him. Also, he looked upon himself as

a greater chief than his father. He was a good chief at first, and
worked hard, so that the council had less and less to do. Then

arose a new voice in the Sea Valley. It was Twisted-Lip. We had
never thought much of him, until he began to talk with the spirits

of the dead. Later we called him Big-Fat, because he ate over-
much, and did no work, and grew round and large. One day Big-Fat

told us that the secrets of the dead were his, and that he was the
voice of God. He became great friends with Dog-Tooth, who

commanded that we should build Big-Fat a grass house. And Big-Fat
put taboos all around this house and kept God inside.

"More and more Dog-Tooth became greater than the council, and when
the council grumbled and said it would name a new chief, Big-Fat

spoke with the voice of God and said no. Also, Three-Legs and the
others who held the land stood behind Dog-Tooth. Moreover, the

strongest man in the council was Sea-Lion, and him the land-owners
gave land to secretly, along with many bearskins and baskets of

corn. So Sea-Lion said that Big-Fat's voice was truly the voice of
God and must be obeyed. And soon afterward Sea-Lion was named the

voice of Dog-Tooth and did most of his talking for him.
"Then there was Little-Belly, a little man, so thin in the middle

that he looked as if he had never had enough to eat. Inside the
mouth of the river, after the sand-bar had combed the strength of

the breakers, he built a big fish-trap. No man had ever seen or
dreamed a fish-trap before. He worked weeks on it, with his son

and his wife, while the rest of us laughed at their labours. But,
when it was done, the first day he caught more fish in it than

could the whole tribe in a week, whereat there was great rejoicing.
There was only one other place in the river for a fish-trap, but,

when my father and I and a dozen other men started to make a very
large trap, the guards came from the big grass-house we had built

for Dog-Tooth. And the guards poked us with their spears and told
us begone, because Little-Belly was going to build a trap there

himself on the word of Sea-Lion, who was the voice of Dog-Tooth.
"There was much grumbling, and my father called a council. But,

when he rose to speak, him the Sea-Lion thrust through the throat
with a spear and he died. And Dog-Tooth and Little-Belly, and

Three-Legs and all that held land said it was good. And Big-Fat
said it was the will of God. And after that all men were afraid to

stand up in the council, and there was no more council.
"Another man, Pig-Jaw, began to keep goats. He had heard about it

as among the Meat-Eaters, and it was not long before he had many
flocks. Other men, who had no land and no fish-traps, and who else

would have gone hungry, were glad to work for Pig-Jaw, caring for
his goats, guarding them from wild dogs and tigers, and driving

them to the feeding pastures in the mountains. In return, Pig-Jaw
gave them goat-meat to eat and goat-skins to wear, and sometimes

they traded the goat-meat for fish and corn and fat roots.
"It was this time that money came to be. Sea-Lion was the man who

first thought of it, and he talked it over with Dog-Tooth and Big-
Fat. You see, these three were the ones that got a share of

everything in the Sea Valley. One basket out of every three of
corn was theirs, one fish out of every three, one goat out of every

three. In return, they fed the guards and the watchers, and kept
the rest for themselves. Sometimes, when a big haul of fish was

made they did not know what to do with all their share. So Sea-
Lion set the women to making money out of shell - little round

pieces, with a hole in each one, and all made smooth and fine.
These were strung on strings, and the strings were called money.

"Each string was of the value of thirty fish, or forty fish, but
the women, who made a string a day, were given two fish each. The

fish came out of the shares of Dog-Tooth, Big-Fat, and Sea-Lion,
which they three did not eat. So all the money belonged to them.

Then they told Three-Legs and the other land-owners that they would
take their share of corn and roots in money, Little-Belly that they

would take their share of fish in money, Pig-Jaw that they would
take their share of goats and cheese in money. Thus, a man who had

nothing, worked for one who had, and was paid in money. With this
money he bought corn, and fish, and meat, and cheese. And Three-

Legs and all owners of things paid Dog-Tooth and Sea-Lion and Big-
Fat their share in money. And they paid the guards and watchers in

money, and the guards and watchers bought their food with the
money. And, because money was cheap, Dog-Tooth made many more men

into guards. And, because money was cheap to make, a number of men
began to make money out of shell themselves. But the guards stuck

spears in them and shot them full of arrows, because they were
trying to break up the tribe. It was bad to break up the tribe,

for then the Meat-Eaters would come over the divide and kill them
all.

"Big-Fat was the voice of God, but he took Broken-Rib and made him
into a priest, so that he became the voice of Big-Fat and did most

of his talking for him. And both had other men to be servants to
them. So, also, did Little-Belly and Three-Legs and Pig-Jaw have

other men to lie in the sun about their grass houses and carry
messages for them and give commands. And more and more were men

taken away from work, so that those that were left worked harder
than ever before. It seemed that men desired to do no work and

strove to seek out other ways whereby men should work for them.
Crooked-Eyes found such a way. He made the first fire-brew out of

corn. And thereafter he worked no more, for he talked secretly
with Dog-Tooth and Big-Fat and the other masters, and it was agreed

that he should be the only one to make fire-brew. But Crooked-Eyes
did no work himself. Men made the brew for him, and he paid them

in money. Then he sold the fire-brew for money, and all men
bought. And many strings of money did he give Dog-Tooth and Sea-

Lion and all of them.
"Big-Fat and Broken-Rib stood by Dog-Tooth when he took his second

wife, and his third wife. They said Dog-Tooth was different from
other men and second only to God that Big-Fat kept in his taboo

house, and Dog-Tooth said so, too, and wanted to know who were they
to grumble about how many wives he took. Dog-Tooth had a big canoe

made, and, many more men he took from work, who did nothing and lay
in the sun, save only when Dog-Tooth went in the canoe, when they

paddled for him. And he made Tiger-Face head man over all the
guards, so that Tiger-Face became his right arm, and when he did

not like a man Tiger-Face killed that man for him. And Tiger-Face,
also, made another man to be his right arm, and to give commands,

and to kill for him.
"But this was the strange thing: as the days went by we who were

left worked harder and harder, and yet did we get less and less to
eat."

"But what of the goats and the corn and the fat roots and the fish-
trap?" spoke up Afraid-of-the-Dark, "what of all this? Was there

not more food to be gained by man's work?"
"It is so," Long-Beard agreed. "Three men on the fish-trap got

more fish than the whole tribe before there was a fish-trap. But
have I not said we were fools? The more food we were able to get,

the less food did we have to eat."
"But was it not plain that the many men who did not work ate it all

up?" Yellow-Head demanded.
Long-Beard nodded his head sadly.

"Dog-Tooth's dogs were stuffed with meat, and the men who lay in
the sun and did no work were rolling in fat, and, at the same time,

there were little children crying themselves to sleep with hunger
biting them with every wail."

Deer-Runner was spurred by the recital of famine to tear out a
chunk of bear-meat and broil it on a stick over the coals. This he

devoured with smacking lips, while Long-Beard went on:
"When we grumbled Big-Fat arose, and with the voice of God said

that God had chosen the wise men to own the land and the goats and
the fish-trap, and the fire-brew, and that without these wise men

we would all be animals, as in the days when we lived in trees.
"And there arose one who became a singer of songs for the king.

Him they called the Bug, because he was small and ungainly of face
and limb and excelled not in work or deed. He loved the fattest

marrow bones, the choicest fish, the milk warm from the goats, the
first corn that was ripe, and the snug place by the fire. And

thus, becoming singer of songs to the king, he found a way to do
nothing and be fat. And when the people grumbled more and more,

and some threw stones at the king's grass house, the Bug sang a
song of how good it was to be a Fish-Eater. In his song he told

that the Fish-Eaters were the chosen of God and the finest men God
had made. He sang of the Meat-Eaters as pigs and crows, and sang

how fine and good it was for the Fish-Eaters to fight and die doing
God's work, which was the killing of Meat-Eaters. The words of his

song were like fire in us, and we clamoured to be led against the
Meat-Eaters. And we forgot that we were hungry, and why we had

grumbled, and were glad to be led by Tiger-Face over the divide,
where we killed many Meat-Eaters and were content.

"But things were no better in the Sea Valley. The only way to get
food was to work for Three-Legs or Little-Belly or Pig-Jaw; for

there was no land that a man might plant with corn for himself.
And often there were more men than Three-Legs and the others had

work for. So these men went hungry, and so did their wives and
children and their old mothers. Tiger-Face said they could become

guards if they wanted to, and many of them did, and thereafter they
did no work except to poke spears in the men who did work and who

grumbled at feeding so many idlers.
"And when we grumbled, ever the Bug sang new songs. He said that

Three-Legs and Pig-Jaw and the rest were strong men, and that that
was why they had so much. He said that we should be glad to have

strong men with us, else would we perish of our own worthlessness
and the Meat-Eaters. Therefore, we should be glad to let such

strong men have all they could lay hands on. And Big-Fat and Pig-
Jaw and Tiger-Face and all the rest said it was true.

"'All right,' said Long-Fang, 'then will I, too, be a strong man.'
And he got himself corn, and began to make fire-brew and sell it

for strings of money. And, when Crooked-Eyes complained, Long-Fang
said that he was himself a strong man, and that if Crooked-Eyes

made any more noise he would bash his brains out for him. Whereat
Crooked-Eyes was afraid and went and talked with Three-Legs and

Pig-Jaw. And all three went and talked to Dog-Tooth. And Dog-
Tooth spoke to Sea-Lion, and Sea-Lion sent a runner with a message

to Tiger-Face. And Tiger-Face sent his guards, who burned Long-
Fang's house along with the fire-brew he had made. Also, they

killed him and all his family. And Big-Fat said it was good, and
the Bug sang another song about how good it was to observe the law,

and what a fine land the Sea Valley was, and how every man who
loved the Sea Valley should go forth and kill the bad Meat-Eaters.

And again his song was as fire to us, and we forgot to grumble.
"It was very strange. When Little-Belly caught too many fish, so

that it took a great many to sell for a little money, he threw many
of the fish back into the sea, so that more money would be paid for

what was left. And Three-Legs often let many large fields lie idle
so as to get more money for his corn. And the women, making so

much money out of shell that much money was needed to buy with,

• valley [´væli] n.谷；河谷；流域 (初中英语单词)
• moreover [mɔ:´rəuvə] ad.再者，此外，而且 (初中英语单词)
• thrust [θrʌst] v.&n.猛推；冲；刺；挤进 (初中英语单词)
• cheese [tʃi:z] n.干酪，乳酪 (初中英语单词)
• priest [pri:st] n.教士；牧师；神父 (初中英语单词)
• singer [´siŋə] n.歌手，演唱者 (初中英语单词)
• perish [´periʃ] v.灭亡；消灭；(使)死去 (初中英语单词)
• therefore [´ðeəfɔ:] ad.&conj.因此；所以 (初中英语单词)
• secretly [´si:kritli] ad.秘密地；隐蔽地 (高中英语单词)
• theirs [ðeəz] pron.他们的 (高中英语单词)
• thereafter [ðeə´rɑ:ftə] adv.此后，其后 (高中英语单词)
• grumble [´grʌmbəl] v.&n.抱怨；发牢骚 (高中英语单词)
• famine [´fæmin] n.饥荒 (高中英语单词)
• runner [´rʌnə] n.奔跑者；走私人(船) (高中英语单词)
• whereat [weər´æt] ad.对于...；在这里 (英语四级单词)
• whereby [weə´bai] ad.凭什么；靠那个 (英语四级单词)
• foolishness [´fu:liʃnis] n.愚蠢 (英语六级单词)
• recital [ri´saitl] n.背诵；叙述；音乐会 (英语六级单词)