The Cave Princess

The Cave Princess

Aaron Smith

for Ashley

It was spring and all things were becoming verdant. It rained some times, the plants were beginning to bloom, the animals were starting to come out, and a little cave tribe was out and about more.

They were a simple people, planting, hunting and herding to survive. There were many of them and they got along well. Generations of work had left them with orchards along the river bank for fruit in fall and hides plentiful for staying warm. They did different tasks, some preferring one over the other, making things with clay they found or sewing, while some preferred the food gathering work. One among them did his best to be an especially nice cave man.

One day the hunting team came back early with something unexpected, a group of other people. They were nomads from the looks of them, badly dressed and carrying weapons. They looked at their cows with strange looks and then introductions were made.

"You speak a similar language to us?"

"Yes, we do."

"It seems we might have been from the same people, long ago, when our God gave to us our religion. Do you still hold to this?"

"We lost it many generations ago, but would be interested in learning again."

"Are you well? It looks like you have had quite the journey."

"We are. What do you do with these animals here?"

"We milk them. You might be able to try some later."

"We would appreciate food. Hunting has not been the best."

And so the tribes met. They invited them to stay in their large cave with them and everyone settled in with each group settled with its' own. The day went on and night time came, and everyone gathered around the fire.

"Our God told us a story about how creation came to be. That there was a great expansion, then a charging forth, a burning of lights, a forming of worlds, and growth, development, and advancement of life. He told us to always believe in Him and remain innocent."

"We could return to these beliefs."

"Good, then you have repented to him."

They shared stories about herding life and the long trail their until all went to sleep. The next day they sent out hunting teams working together and found they were pretty good at this. Life went on and days passed.

One day a fight broke out among the nomad tribe. The cave tribe kept back and was horrified at the proceeding. They never discerned what the cause was and did not ask. When talking about it later the nomad tribe said,

"We are sorry for the disturbance, we have many social questions to solve among us."

"Could you not find a better solution than fighting?"

They were silent.

After some time watching them the cave man noticed that most of them were paired of as mates, but one woman was not. He decided to talk to her.

"How do you like your tribe?"

"We are family."

"Do you have a mate?"

"No, I was thinking of marrying one of the men who already had a wife, but I do not want to share."

"That makes sense. So are you looking to mate?"

"I guess."

He took that as a decent enough sign.

That night he went to her and nudged her with his head. She snarled and bit him in the shoulder. He yelped, pried her head off, and went back to bed. The next day the nomad tribe asked what had happened.

"What did you do to her?"

"He went to her to see if she would be interested in mating."

"Why would he approach one of our tribe?"

"There would be nothing wrong with that, why did she bite him?"

"We were not expecting such actions."

"That still does not give you the right to hurt people."

Days went on and the cave man went to the other tribe to talk.

"How do you mate among your people?"

"We usually choose partners when the hunting is good."

"What do you do when the hunting is not good?"

They were silent.

"Would you ever welcome a mating between our tribes?"

"We are unaccustomed to dealing with anything other than what we are familiar with."

"But you are not specifically against it?"

"We do not understand what you mean."

He left it at that.

Work went on. They caught a rabbit hunting together, and the cows though skinny as ever kept going. The cave tribe was constantly wary of the nomad tribe's weapons now since they had seen fighting, so they put a lot of thought into how to discourage their use. Eventually one day they came up with an idea.

"Would you all be interested in learning how to tend cows?"

"We had not considered it, but might."

"We could put some of you on shifts with us if you would like."

"We could try it."

It went very poorly, they did not get the concept of keeping track of them and asked constantly if they used them for meat, but they did not bring weapons along. Within a few days the woman's turn came up and the cave man decided to work the cow shift that day. He approached her and said,

"Hello, could we talk again?"

"Who are you?"

"The man you bit."

"Ohh, you."

"So could we?"

"Sure. How many of these cows do you own?"

"None, we share them."

"Oh."

"Do you like the herding so far."

"It is different. I had a dream about drinking milk."

"Would you like to learn how to milk a cow?"

"No."

"Come on, it is good to learn how to take care of one's own needs."

"Fine."

He went and got a clay bowl and helped her with the process. She drank it and seemed to like it. The day went on and it came time to take the cows to the river to bathe. They herded them there and undressed to bathe with them. The woman caught the cave man staring and splashed at him.

"What do you want?"

He refrained the rest of the time but kept what he wanted in mind. That evening everyone gathered again in the cave and went to bed. He decided things had gone well enough he might try going to her again, so he went over to her bed and tried mounting her. She squealed, clamped her legs together, rolled over, and started beating him with her hands. He harrumphed, gave up, and went back to bed.

The next day the other tribe looked at him funnily but did not say anything. Work went on, they caught a deer working together, and with the new hide began sewing better clothes for some of the nomad people. Things seemed alright, but the cave man was still sad.

One day one of the nomad tribe's females showed up with a black eye. Apparently there had been an altercation between her and her husband. This became a cause of immediate concern.

"Your tribe does such things to each other?"

"We would prefer to deal with our own matters."

"We are appalled at the violence."

"We will take that into consideration."

They were more wary of the nomad tribe after that. They decided it was directly time to have a conversation about the weapons.

"Why do you all go armed?"

"In case we come across other people."

"But what if they want to be your friends, like us?"

"We rarely come across such situations."

"Would you at least stop carrying them while you are here?"

"We will discuss it among ourselves."

They did so and there was a reduction in their carrying weapons after that. The cave tribe was thankful they were open to reasoning. Life continued and they started to wonder when the nomad tribe was planning to move on. Days passed.

The cave man was becoming desperate so decided to try talking to the woman again. He approached her one evening before bed.

"My people believe that in some generations we might produce another God. Would that be something you would be interested in?"

"What do you mean?"

"There is more than just us to generations, it has to do with living as God created us to. Please think about what I am asking from you."

"You want me to consider something?"

"Yes."

The next day they caught another rabbit, and that evening the nomad tribe approached the other to talk.

"It has come to our attention that one member of your tribe has expressed interest in mating with one of ours."

"Yes, we thought that was the case."

"You do not keep track of everyone's doings?"

"There seemed to be no reason for concern."

"We have never married beyond our own people."

"Would you consider it?"

"Would she become part of our people or he join us?"

"We had been considering she become a cow herdress."

"That would be even more to consider."

"We will settle this our way"

The man who had beaten his wife some days earlier steps forward.

"I challenge you to a fight for the woman."

The cave man has no time to react, so he tackles the attacker and a fight begins. They beat and knee at each other, rolling on the ground. Suddenly the attacker gets hit on the head with a rock. The woman had intervened.

"I will not be raped."

The attacker starts crying and runs off. The cave man is relieved the fight is over. Discussion begins again.

"Given that your woman has ended this fight we take it she has made her own decision."

"We will discuss this among ourselves."

The cave people go back to their work and later the nomad people. They all go to bed for the night. The next night they gather again to talk.

"We have decided that you are correct, as the woman has chosen to side with your people she should join them as she so chooses. Whether there will be a mating is up to her."

"So you would like to be part of our people?"

"Yes, I would."

"Would you like to mate with this man?"

"Yes."

"Then it is settled, she will join us."

"And we will be moving on soon. We have learned much of friendliness here, we will take it with us."

That night the cave man goes to the now cave woman and quietly approaches her. He picks up her hips, sets her on her knees, and moves her legs apart. He gets behind her and enters her. She whimpers at first, but then participates.

The next morning the two tribes wake to find the new couple sleeping near each other. Days of work pass and all seems well, until the time comes for the nomad tribe to move on.

"Thank you for your hospitality here, we will miss the milk and our family much."

"Thank you for giving us the opportunity to learn to work together. We are happy you have liked it here."

The cave woman says her last goodbyes to her family and they head off.

It is summer now and all is verdant, the animals are about and the humans continue with their generations.