I am a Primitive Man
Chapter 106 – Plastering the Mud Roof and Stone Sickle
Shang stood on the low wall inside the wall, holding the rope in his hands.
Seeing someone below hanging a bag of mud on the hook at the end of the rope, he began to pull the rope.
There is a knot on the rope about every half meter to increase friction so that the person pulling the mud does not get blisters from pulling too long and to save a lot of effort.
Shang was originally strong, and staying in the Green Sparrow tribe for half a winter, with good food and drink, made him even stronger.
He exerted a little force on the hand holding the rope, and the bag of mud lifted off the ground. After a few pulls with alternating hands, the bag of mud rose to the top of the wall.
Shang raised his right hand, holding the rope, and the entire bag of mud passed over the wall.
He didn’t let go but maintained this position, turned around, and bent over to place the bag of mud on the ground.
Without waiting for someone else to take it, Shang loosened the rope, and the hook came off the strap made of rope on the bag, then gently lifted the hook back.
Similarly, he didn’t need to pay attention to the bag of mud left below. Someone would take it to the edge of the deer circle and hand it over to the person on top of the deer circle who was plastering mud on the fence.
Shang turned around and hung the empty rope on the outside of the wall again.
The person who brought the mud here had not yet arrived, so he could take this opportunity to look around.
Standing on this low wall, the view was broad. Because there were no trees blocking, Shang could see the riverbank at a glance.
At the river, there were a few small figures moving around.
Shang knew that there were several underage people in the tribe gathering food for the tribe.
At first, Shang was really surprised.
According to his thoughts, after the arrival of spring, the most urgent thing for the tribe to do was to go out hunting.
After a winter of consumption, the food stored in the tribe was not much.
Moreover, when he was leading the people in their tribe, he had always led them to do so.
However, the decision made by this tribe surprised him greatly.
The Divine Son and others did not rush to go hunting. Instead, they gathered many people in the tribe to start building the unnecessary roof of the deer circle.
As for getting food, it was handed over to several underage people in the tribe.
These underage people did not carry harpoons but instead brought several things he had never seen before to the river.
They used these to catch fish.
Shang was completely baffled.
Just as he began worrying about the possibility of going hungry tonight, one of the underage people who had gone to the river returned.
Behind him, he carried a fish basket with several fish inside.
Shang was extremely shocked. He thought that fishing in the winter was already very fast, but he did not expect that the speed of fishing would be even faster after melting the ice and snow.
Even now, Shang still finds this incredible.
To know, in their original tribe, it required the collective effort of all adults to obtain enough food, and even then, they would occasionally go hungry.
In this tribe, the most important task of obtaining food is surprisingly not carried out by the most robust adults. However, it is delegated to several underage individuals who, in their original tribe, would still be in a state of dependency.
As for the strongest adults, they are engaged in tasks unrelated to obtaining food.
The key is that the food these underage individuals obtain is more than enough for the people in the tribe.
Shang didn’t know how to express his feelings.
When he learned that the Divine Child taught all of this, he admired that underage person even more.
“Pat, pat.”
On the roof, the Eldest Senior Brother and other disciples were smearing the well-prepared mud on the fence.
According to the Divine Child’s instructions, each layer of mud should be about the depth of their finger.
After smearing each layer, they would pick up a stick about three meters long and about four centimeters in diameter, split in the middle, and hold one end each to rub back and forth on the freshly smeared mud. This was to make the smeared mud smooth.
Working on the top of the deer shed required extra attention because of the risk of falling.
So, the people on top were quite agile, and following the Divine Child’s instructions, they tried to walk on the wooden beams as much as possible. Even if there were no wooden beams, they would step on the rafters, not just the fence.
Although the area of the deer shed’s roof was not small, the labor force of the Green Sparrow tribe had also increased by nearly one-third, and the tools for digging had greatly improved. Therefore, smearing mud on the fence was not a slow process.
It was completed in six days.
After completion, Han Cheng allocated half of the workforce to go out and find grass that could be used to cover the roof.
For the Green Sparrow tribe, obtaining this kind of grass was not too difficult because many of these grew on the mountain where they built their caves.
The mountain where the Green Sparrow tribe’s caves were located had many stones and little soil.
With little soil, the likelihood of tall trees growing on top was not great. Therefore, the vegetation on top was dominated by low shrubs, and this hardy grass was similar to the later-termed thatch, which Han Cheng now officially called.
Most grass would deteriorate after a severe winter, but thatch would not because it was inherently tough. Moreover, the stems had a thin, shiny layer outside, significantly reducing the erosion by rain.
Of course, to be more specific, it would be better to use thatch harvested and stored in autumn if making a roof. However, for the current Green Sparrow tribe, it was evident that this condition could not be met.
Plus, this was for the deer shed roof, not for humans, so they could make do with it.
Harvesting thatch by hand alone would be very laborious, and hands would hurt if done for a long time.
With little success after half a day’s effort from the people, Han Cheng, as their Divine Child, once again displayed his intelligence. Thus, the stone sickle was born.
The making of a stone sickle is not complicated. It only requires a thin stone knife, a stick with a diameter of about three centimeters and a length between fifteen to thirty centimeters, and a piece of rope.
During the making, the thicker end of the wooden stick is split along a crack about three to four centimeters wide, and then one end of the stone knife is horizontally wedged into the crack.
The side that is relatively thin and has a blade faces downward, while the angle between the stone sickle and the wooden stick is about seventy degrees.
After adjusting the position, it is firmly tied with a rope, and a stone sickle is made.
Of course, such a stone sickle is much heavier than a later iron sickle and can be more tiring, but it is far more convenient and labor-saving than using hands to break them.