I am a Primitive Man
Chapter 421 – Three Tribes
The autumn heatwave unabashedly displayed its might, under a sky blazing like fire, igniting a fervor akin to flames among the people of the Green Sparrow Tribe.
Glistening sweat washed down, breaking through the grain rust clinging to everyone’s bodies, dripping onto the harvested fields, soaking this land of abundance.
Golden grains fell in swathes, carrying the joy of harvest.
“Let’s go!”
Second Senior Brother shouted, his voice carrying as he exerted force. With a creak of wooden wheels, the single-wheeled carts loaded with bulging grains began rolling towards the threshing ground in front of the tribe.
Behind Second Senior Brother, a four- or five-year-old child squatted occasionally, picking up fallen ears of grain from the ground; she already had over a dozen in her hands.
There were five hand carts, each followed by a child like her.
Other children who weren’t assigned this task continued tirelessly searching the harvested fields, picking up scattered ears of grain and placing them on grain piles.
The people of the Green Sparrow Tribe spared no effort in their respect for food.
Next to the threshing ground, a large pile of harvested grains had already accumulated.
The first batch of grains to be harvested was spread out on the ground.
With a wooden fork in hand, Qi Qiu would come over every so often to turn them over and ensure they dried evenly.
“Alright, let’s begin!”
Seeing the sun already slanting westwards, Han Cheng grabbed a few ears of grain, rubbed them in his hands, and when they were about right, he brought over the stag, which had just had a good meal, and fitted it with the harness. Then, leading it with a stone roller, he headed for the well-dried field.
The other three also each led a deer with a stone roller to start threshing.
The heavy stone rollers pressed into the soft grains, sinking in halfway; deep tracks were left behind after rolling over them.
Some grains were dislodged from the ears during the process.
Han Cheng led the stag in circles around the field, not randomly but to ensure each subsequent circle pressed down the previous one, progressing and moving in circles.
This method ensured that all grains spread on the ground were evenly pressed.
Several first-timers using deer to pull stone rollers to thresh were excited, recalling the tips Han Cheng had told them earlier and watching his demonstration. It didn’t take long for them to grasp it.
Qi Qiu was particularly excited because after one pass with the stone roller, the effect was better than his previous method of hitting with a wooden fork, and the speed was also breakneck.
Initially, seeing such a large area spread out at once, he was worried that they wouldn’t finish today. After witnessing firsthand how quickly the deer could pull the stone roller on the threshing ground, all his previous worries vanished.
Not only that, he felt that they had spread out too little…
After rolling for a while, Han Cheng led the stags aside to remove their harnesses and let them rest in the shade.
Meanwhile, Qi Qiu and the others used wooden forks to turn over the compacted grains and continued to dry them. After a while, they would start the second pass, then the third.
Immersed in the joy of harvest, the Green Sparrow Tribe put their total effort into harvesting grain. Meanwhile, the Green Tribe leader and their people collected scattered wild grasses growing sparsely around their tribe.
Seeing that they only had a small bundle of grass with seeds, the leader of the Green Tribe felt like crying without tears.
If only he hadn’t been so impulsive, their tribe wouldn’t have had so few wild grasses to collect.
In this state of mind, he placed a piece of hide that hadn’t thoroughly dried onto the pile of hides in front of him.
This particular piece of undried hide had been obtained not long ago.
“!”
The leader of the Green Tribe looked somewhat reluctant as he glanced at the ground, then forcefully hoisted the wild grass onto his shoulders.
The others carried pelts, fruits, and other items on their shoulders, following the leader as they departed.
Compared to previous trips to exchange goods, the mood among the tribe members was subdued.
Because this was the last they could offer, after trading for salt to eat, they didn’t know what they would do next.
“… Joining that tribe would provide free salt to eat, which seems like a good solution, and that tribe is so wealthy…”
Such thoughts occasionally flashed through some people’s minds…
Far from the Green Sparrow Tribe, along the banks of a large river, people from the Fire Tribe gathered.
A dugout canoe, gifted to them last year by the Green Sparrow Tribe, and several wood rafts moored on the shore.
Compared to the bamboo rafts made by the Green Sparrow Tribe, these wooden rafts were much more straightforward and rougher.
However, it couldn’t be denied that they could navigate on the water and were adequate substitutes for bamboo rafts.
“a￥a￥!”
In the instructions shouted by the leader of the Fire Tribe standing on the bank, the people on the dugout canoe and rafts pounded their chests with their hands, indicating to the leader not to worry too much.
Among those showing a more carefree attitude were the four Fire Tribe members who had gone to the Green Sparrow Tribe last year with Han Cheng and returned on their boats.
The other four riding such watercraft for the first time appeared much more restrained than them.
One reason was that they had never ridden such crafts before, and the other was that they had never been away from the tribe for a long time.
“……￥!”
Regardless of reluctance or anxiety, the dugout canoe and rafts carried them upstream, gradually moving further away.
The Fire Tribe people standing on the shore shouted, blessing them in their way.
Only after they could no longer see those people did the leader of the Fire Tribe turn around and lead his people away to go hunting and gather fruits.
They needed to make good use of their time; suddenly losing eight adults like this would mean much less food gathered during this time.
Fortunately, since they had eaten the things brought back from that water tribe, the people in the tribe had become much stronger, which more or less offset the food shortage caused by these few people leaving…
Several days later, the Fire Tribe’s “fleet” stopped at a rattan field. These people, armed with sickles made from the two stone sickles presented by the Green Sparrow Tribe, stepped onto the rattan field, ready to harvest the mature wild rattan.
A dozen days later, the rafts returned downstream fully loaded, greeted by cheers.
Subsequently, bundles of wild ramie were thrown into a small river and underwent retting.
Many tributaries were close to the main river, and according to the accounts of those who had been to the Green Sparrow Tribe, finding suitable places for retting rattan was quite easy.
Over a month later, the retted wild rattan was pulled out of the water.
Ten days later, these people set off again, still using small boats and rafts.
Three rafts were placed on the bank of the rattan field, with only one dugout canoe paddling upstream and a raft loaded with many rattan skins.