tell what really happened in each of these cases?

Can you see how stories of animals that turned into men could be
started? Is there anything that we can learn from these stories?

_How Flaker Became a Priest and a Medicine Man_

The winter was long and stormy. Wild animals found little food. Herds
of horses and reindeer went to the lowland forests. Game was scarce on
the wooded hills. Few horses or reindeer were seen near the caves. The
trails were filled with snow and everything seemed to tell of the
coming of a famine.

The people ate the frozen meat that was left near the caves, and when
they found they could get no more they began to pray to their gods.
"O, Big Bear," they prayed, "send us thine aid. Help us now or we die.
Drive the horses and reindeer out of thy caverns. Send them back to
our hunting grounds."

When the first rumor of famine came, Fleetfoot took down his drum. And
he set out over the hills to call a meeting of the brotherhood.

At the first sound of the drumbeat, the people knew what it meant.
Everybody felt a gleam of hope. The young men passed the signal along
and fresh courage came to the hearts of the people in the neighboring
clans.

Buckling their hunger-straps around them, the young men started at
Fleetfoot's call. They met near the Bison clan's cave. There they told
of the heavy snowstorms and the disappearance of the herds. They told
of the beginnings of famine and considered ways of finding food.

Some said, "Let us leave the old hunting grounds for our elders. Let
us take wives and go to far away lands."

Others said, "No, let us dwell together and let each clan keep its own
hunting ground."

"But how can we dwell together," said one, "when there is not food
enough for all?"

[Illustration: _A Cave-man's engraving of two herds of wild horses._]

The silence which followed the young man's question showed that no one
could reply. It was then that Fleetfoot turned to Flaker and asked him
to speak what was in his mind. And Flaker arose, and turning his eyes
toward the heavens, he raised his baton, whereupon all the young men
were silent. Then he turned to the young men and said, "The gods will
surely provide food for the hungry Cave-men."

"But the people need food and game is scarce," said one of the brave
young men. "How can we prevent the famine? How can we make the gods
understand?"

"Remember the Big Bear," said Flaker. "He heard our prayer when we
made