Inquisitive Caveman Sam [Short Story]

[chriswu 25]

Hi guys,

 

at my school, we had to write short stories about something we learned in science class. We learned about the Scientific Method (for the fourth time in a row). This is my short story about how ancient peoples discovered how to harden clay. I hope you guys like it. Let me know what you think. Since a ton of people at Tanki are way older than me, I thought having advice from wise old people would be good.

 

Inquisitive Caveman Sam

And the case of the

Rock Hard Clay

 

Billions of years ago, the young and prehistoric earth trembled under the feet of humungous reptilian giants: the dinosaurs. However, after the dinosaur’s extinction, mammals were allowed to evolve into what we know as Homo sapiens: humans. But before Homo sapiens, there came a predecessor: Homo erectus. Our hero, Inquisitive caveman Sam, was a homo erectus (i.e. Neanderthal). Life in caveman Sam’s time was hard: Hunting wooly mammoths and fighting saber tooth tigers. After the cavemen would come back to camp with their catch, they would cook it over the fire.

Although he never let anyone know, one of Sam’s professional passions as a caveman was to jump up and down in the soft, squishy mud around the riverbank. One day, Caveman Sam had a cold, so he didn’t feel like hiking ten miles to the riverbank to jump in the mud. This made him very sad and depressed. He refused to eat or speak, for he had been deprived of feeling the sticky, prehistoric mud ooze through his big, round, caveman’s toes. Then suddenly, he had a wonderful idea! He could just walk outside his tent and jump in the freshly laid out mud around the campfire site! So, he went outside and found, to his delight, that cavewomen had just finished laying out the mud for the fire. He gleefully started jumping and tossing in the mud. “Harrumph!” he thought after he was finished, “Still not as good as the real thing, but quite satisfactory. “ Later that afternoon, the other cavemen returned, hauling a huge, archaeopteryx, Sam’s favorite food! But when the cavemen were about to roast it over the fire, they found that the clay around the site was too messed up from someone jumping in it. Although the cavemen tried very hard to find the culprit, they could not seem to find out who had ruined their mud. “harrungagle Trogglebuckle!” said Caveman Bob, “heeeragalfogackle!” said caveman Charlie. Suddenly, out of nowhere, Caveman Sherlock Holmes said: “based on the diameter of the main sole, and the circumference of the big toe, I would conclude that the gentleman guilty of this crime is….is….is…. Caveman Sam!” That did it, all the cavemen worked on fixing the mud, but when it came time for dinner, they excluded Caveman Sam. “What a terrible day!” thought the heartbroken Sam, “well, at least I can jump in the mud after they are finished gnawing at their meat.” So, after all the cavemen cleared out, caveman Sam took a tremendous leap into the clay surrounding the campfire. But to his terrible surprise, the mud around the fire was as hard as rock, and his poor feet were throbbing with pain. Inquisitive caveman Sam was determined to find the cause for this hardening of clay. So, he decided to consult Caveman Einstein. The only problem was that he had no idea where Caveman Einstein lived. The only one who knew this wise, old Neanderthal’s dwelling was old caveman Habakkuk. Old Caveman Habakkuk was an old, gray Neanderthal. He told Sam to gaze into the horizon. “What do you see?” he croaked. “I see mountains. The mountains are kind of bluish gray, but maybe they’re orange,” Said caveman Sam. (Sam knew that only smart Neanderthals could appear before caveman Habakkuk, so he was trying his hardest to act intelligent). “You see well,” came the answer, “behind those mountains are more mountains, and behind those, you will find a whitish sort of structure, and inside lives caveman Einstein. But beware, you must journey many miles and suffer many ordeals to seek this elusive, mysterious caveman. It is rumored that he isn’t even a caveman, that in fact he is an alien from another dimension, here to study our primeval civilization.” “Thank you, Caveman Habakkuk,” said Caveman Sam, and with that he left to begin his journey.

The journey was tough, the mountains were steep, and the nights were cold, but caveman Sam persevered. After about two months of hard traveling, caveman Sam finally reached his destination. Caveman Einstein lived in a very strange cave indeed! It was completely white, and appeared to be made of some strange material, definitely not rock. Also, there was no obvious entrance to the cave. Pondering this, Sam walked around the outside of the cave, when suddenly, two strange rocks glided silently apart, revealing an entrance. Not knowing what else to do, Caveman Sam walked in, and was immediately greeted by a strange voice: “Welcome, Caveman Sam, what brings you here?” It was Einstein! Sam could hardly believe his eyes! “How did you know my name?” asked Sam in total awe and wonderment. “Oh, simply by my multiple Pan and tilt security cams matching up with the appropriate DNA profile” came the answer. Caveman Einstein was a strange entity, with frizzy white hair growing at odd angles. Caveman Sam felt he could not blame the persons who suspected him of not being a caveman. For one thing, he was far too intelligent, and he wore a strange white coat made of a strange material. In fact, the whole cave was white. “What brings you here?” Einstein repeated. “Uummmmmm…….” Now that Sam had finally reached his destination after such a long and hard journey, he had forgotten why he had even come. “Oh yeah, I would like to know why mud is nice and squishy, but then after you put it around fire, it gets really hard.” “If you wish to find the answer to this problem, you should use the scientific method to find the answer.” After a blank stare came across Sam’s face, Einstein continued, “To do this, first state what you are trying to find out. Then, make a hypothesis or logical answer to your problem. After you have made a hypothesis, test it with an experiment, observe, then analyze and organize your data. With your new data, you may publish it so that fellow Neanderthals all over the world may read, understand, and replicate your experiment. Now go with this new knowledge, inquisitive caveman Sam!” Sam was too dazed to reply. He simply left the strange cave and headed home. His mind was too primitive to comprehend what the scientific mumbo jumbo Einstein had muttered, but he memorized the sounds that he had heard, and he made sure that the sounds were passed down from generation to generation.

Many years later, when the human mind had evolved further and there had been an established language and civilization, inquisitive caveman Sam’s great great great great great great grandson, Inquisitive Mesopotamian Sam, finally put Einstein’s directions to use. So, he hypothesized that mud hardened because all the water evaporated from it due to the extreme heat from fire. To set up his experiment, he took a lump of clay, and tossed it into a creek. For the second lump, he placed it around a small fire, and sure enough, after a couple days, the clay left around the fire became as hard as rock, but the clay left in the water stayed nice and squishy. He gathered his data and presented them to the king of Mesopotamia. The king was very impressed, and soon, the ancient Mesopotamians were using Mesopotamian Sam’s methods to create beautiful clay pots and vessels. All those wonderful works of art were all because long, long ago, an inquisitive Neanderthal had been adventurous enough to seek an answer that was beyond his primitive understanding, and passed it down, not knowing what it meant. All those wonderful works of art had all been because of an inquisitive Neanderthal, forgotten, in the mists of time.

 

THE END

[SalvadorSTM 20]

Thats so short.....

 

*jumps in mud*

[chriswu 25]

what?

[husto 474]

nice short story :thumbup:

[chriswu 25]

:mrgreen:

[spartan344 0]

Player spartan344 has been banned for a week. Reason: Necroposting

Edited June 9, 2013 by MizARee

[SpreadLoveNotHate 374]

Necroposting is a bannable offense.

[Guest]

Necroposting is a bannable offense.

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