Chapter Four
Many years went by, although the mountain did not know what a “year” was. The mountain only knew it would become cold and snowy, then the snow would melt, and plants would grow, and then it would snow again.
The mountain had not slept much since the people appeared. The mountain might nap for a while, but it would wake when anything happened. The people hunted animals, or moved their village, or maybe even fought each other, one group against another!
The mountain was thus awake to see something unusual. A new group of people suddenly appeared. They wore animal skins, like the others, but they had hats and long sticks that made a loud noise and lots of smoke.
The new people could hunt with these sticks, which confused the mountain because it saw only smoke. The mountain had to admit, however, that animals fell down whenever the smoke came out. This was very different than the sticks and stones used by the other people.
But the new people (there were never many of them) soon passed on. And the people the mountain knew returned. Although the mountain should have known better, it concluded that nothing would really ever change.