THE AUTHOR: MARY POPE OSBORN
Prologue
One summer day in Frog Ceek, Pennsylvania
Chapter 1: The “M” Things
Annie and Jack were passing the Frog Creek woods on their way home from their swimming class at the Y. Annie darted into the woods. Jack sighed. He gave up on the idea of changing out of his bathing suit. He moved through patches of sunlight and shadow. Soon he came to a small clearing. He looked up. There it was. The magic tree house in the tallest tree in the woods. Finally they reached the tree house. Jack stared at the large M into the wooden floor. On the M were a moonstone and a mango, the special things they’d found on their last two journeys. Annie and Jack stared at the stacks of books in the tree house. All of them were closed. Only one book lay open in the corner. They walked over to the open book. They looked at the page the book was opened to. It showed a picture of rocks and snow. The wind started to blow. The leaves started to shake. The tree house started to spin. It spun faster and faster! Then everything was silent.
Chapter 2 : Bones
Jack,Annie,and Peanut looked outside.Snow was faling from a grey sky.The tree house was in the tallest tree in a grove of tall, bare trees. The grove was on a wide, white plain. Beyond the plain were high, rocky cliffs. Annie teeth chattered. She wrapped her towel tightly around her. Annie slipped Peanut into the pocket of the backpack. There was no sign of thePennsylvania
Jack,Annie,and Peanut looked outside.Snow was faling from a grey sky.The tree house was in the tallest tree in a grove of tall, bare trees. The grove was on a wide, white plain. Beyond the plain were high, rocky cliffs. Annie teeth chattered. She wrapped her towel tightly around her. Annie slipped Peanut into the pocket of the backpack. There was no sign of the
Early modern humans were called Cro-Magnons. During the late Ice Age in Europe , they sometimes lived in caves beneath cliffs.
Jack turned the page. He found another picture of the Cro-Magnons. He read :
The Cro-Magnon family often hunted together. They covered deep pits with branches. Then they drove reindeer and mammoths into the traps.
They watched the family disappear over the other side of the cliff. Jack put his book away. Jack pulled on his pack and started down the rope ladder. Annie followed. On the icy fround, they huddled together. The wind was biting. Jack put his towel over his head.. annie had put on her swimming goggles. Annie wrapped her towel around her head. She and Jack started across the white plain. The snow wasn’t deep yet. But the wind was blowing hard. Annie pointed to an opening in he rocks-a cave. They run to it. They stepped carefully into the shadowy cave. It was only slightly warmer inside. In the gray light, they stemped the snow off their sneakers. Annie took off her goggles. Jack pulled out the Ice Age book. Jack stood by the entrance so he could read the book. Jack turned the pages of his book. He found a picture of a cave filled with bones. Jack read the writing below the picture of the cave. It said :
The great cave bears of the Ice Age were over eight feet tall. These bears were larger and fiercer than today’s grizzlies. Their caves were filled with the bones of their ancestors.
They were in the cave of a great cave bear !
Chapter 3 : Brrr!
“Annie!” whispered Jack again. No answer. He put his book quietly into his pack. He stepped deeper into the cave. Jack stepped on the bones. The wet dog smell grew stronger. He kept going, deeper into the smelly blackness. He ran into something. He gasped. Jack heard a low, deep moaning. It was loud, then soft. Loud, then soft. A booming snore shattered the air. Jack and Annie ean through the cave, over the bones, and out into the falling snow. They kept on going. They ran between fallen rocks and under jagged cliffs. Finally they stopped and turned around. All they could see was snow and rocks and their own footprints. No bear. Annie huddled close to Jack. The cold wind blew against Jack bare legs. Annie pointed to something behind Jack. Under a cliff was a wide ledge. Under the ledge was another cave. Only this cave seemed to have a golden glow. This one looked cozy and safe and warm.
Chapter 4 : Cave Kids
Jack and Annie crept to the cave and peeked inside. A small flame danced from a bed of glowing coals. Near the fire were knives, axes, and hollowed-out stones. Animal skins were neatly stacked against the wall. Jack and Annie moved quickly to the fire and warmed their hands. Jack pulled out his Ice Age book. He found a picture of a cave. He read :
Cro-Magnons made many things from animals, plants, and stone. They made flute-like musical instruments from mammoth bones. They made ropes by braiding plant fibers. They made axes and knives from stone.
Jack pulled out his notebook and pencil. He started a list : Cro-Magnons made bone flutes, plant ropes, stone axes and knives.
Jack looked up. Annie was wearing a coat. It had a hood and long sleeves. It went all the way down to her sneakers. She picked up another coat and handed it to Jack. Jack put his backpack and towel down on the hard dirt floor. He slipped on the coat. It did feel very warm-and soft. Jack turned the pages in the book until he found a picture of Cro-Magnon women sewing. He read :
Cro-Magnons scraped reindeer skins with flint rocks to make them soft. They use bone needles to sew the skins together for clothing.
Jack added to his list : reindeer-skin clothes
They left their gifts on top of the rest of the animal skins. Jack opened the Ice Age book. He found a picture of cave people holding odd-looking lamps. He read aloud to Annie :
Cro-Magnons made stone lamps. They hollowed out a rock, filled it with animal fat, then burned a wick made from moss.
Annie pointed to two stones near the fire. In the hollow of each was gooey white stuff and a pile of moss. Jack picked up one stone. It was smaller than a soup bowl, but much heavier. Jack held the stone close to the fire and lit the piece of moss. He lit another lamp and gave it to Annie. Jack tucked the book under his arm. He and Annie carried their stone lamps to the back of the cave. Annie held her lamp up to an opening in the wall. Jack picked up his lamp and book. He ducked into a small tunnel. Jack could see Annie lamp flickering at the other end. Crouching down, he hurried toward her. At the end of the tunnel was a huge cavern with a high ceiling. Annie held her lamp close to the wall. Animals were painted on the wall in strokes of red and black and yellow. There were cave bears and lions, elk and reindeer, bison and woolly rhinos and mammoths. In the flickering light, the prehistoric beasts looked alive.
Chapter 5 : Snow Tracks
Jack read about the cave paintings :
These ice Age beasts were painted 25,000 years ago. Cro-Magnons painted pictures of animals they hunted. They may have believed the paintings would give them power over the animals.
Annie pointed at a painting farther down the wall. It showed a figure with human arms and legs, reindeer antlers, and an owl face. It seemed to be holding a flute. Jack looked at the book again. He found a picture of the figure and read :
Cave men may have been led by a sorcerer, or “Master of the Animals.” He may have worn reindeer antlers so he could run like a reindeer-and an owl mask so he could see like an owl.
They went back through the tunnel into the first cave. Jack and Annie blew out their lamps. They places them back by the fire. Jack’s backpack was on the floor next to the skins. He put the Ice Age book into it. Annie walked slowly around the cave, looking into the shadows. She was standing near the enterance to the cave. The snow had stopped falling. In the snow were tiny tracks.
Chapter 6 : Song on the Wind
Annie wrapped her reindeer coat around her and headed across the snow. Jack pulled on his backpack and followed. The mouse’s tracks led them between the fallen rocks and back onto the open plain.. the wind blew harder. Snow swirled over the ground, covering the tiny footprints. Annie and Jack now stood in the middle of the plain. They started at the windswept snow. The mouse’s tracks had vanished. Jack followed her gaze. On one of the cliffs was a tiger. A giant tiger with two long, sharp fangs. Jack and Annie stepped very softly across the snow. Then Jack glances back at the cliff. The sabertooth was gone.
Jack and Annie started running. They ran over the snowy palin, heading toward the tall, bare trees in the distance. Suddenly Jack heard a crack. The ground caves in, and Jack went with it. Annie fell beside him. They crashed down onto a heap of branches, snow, and earth. They both looked up. They were in a deep hole. “This is a trap,” Jack said. “The Cro-Magnons must have put branches over this hole. Then the snow hid the branches. So we didn’t see them.” The pit was too deep to climb out of.
Jack heard a yowl in the distance. Jack pulled out the ice Age book. He found a picture of the sabertooth. He read :
The sabertooth was the fiercest beast of the Ice Age. It attacked humans as well as woolly mammoths and other large animals.
Jack closed his eyes. He heard the wind. But this time he heard annother sound, too. Strange, haunting music. Jack opened his eyes. Staring down at them was a figure wearing reindeer antlers and an owl mask. Peanut peered down at them, too!
Chapter 7 : The Sorcerer’s Gift
The sorcerer didn’t speak. He stared through the eyeholes of the owl mask. The sorcerer threw a rope into the pit. Jack grabbed it. Jack looked up. The sorcerer was gone. Jack tugged. The rope tightened. It began rising. Annie held the rope with both hands. She pushed her feet against the side of the pit. She rose into the air with the rope. She kept pressing against the side of the pit-until she reached the top. Jack saw the sorcerer reappear and help Annie up. Then they moved out of sight. Jack was puzzled. The sorcerer had used both hands to help Annie. The sorcerer came back and threw the rope down again. Jack grabbed it. And the rope started to rise. Jack held on tight. He started up. His hands burned. His arms felt as if they were being pulled out of their sockets. But he kept his hold on the rope and his feet against the side of the pit. At the top the sorcerer pulled Jack onto the snowy ground. The sorcerer was tall. He wore a long fur robe. Annie was sitting on a woolly mammoth. Peanut was sitting on the mammoth’s head. The mammoth looked like a giant elephant with shaggy reddish hair and long, curved tusks. The other end of the rope was around the mammoth’s huge neck.
The sorcerer helped Jack climb onto the mammoth. Then the sorcerer reached into a pouch. He pulled out a smooth white bone and handed it to Jack. The bone was hollow. It had four holes along one side. And two on the other. Jack tried to give the flute back to the sorcerer. But the sorcerer held up his hand. He turned away from Jack and untied the mammoth’s rope. Then he whisoered in the ear of the giant woolly creature. When the mammoth stood up, Jack gripped Annie’s coat to keep from falling off. He felt miles above the ground. The mammoth took slow, plodding steps across the snow, then picked up speed. The sorcerer was standing in the snow, watching them. But at the moment the clouds parted, and the sun came out. Jack was blinded by sunlight on the snow. He squited to see-but the sorcerer had vanished.
Chapter 8 : The Great Parade
The huge mammoth walked across the open plain. Annie pointed to a herd of elk in the distance. They had great, wide antlers. Jack to a herd of reindeer came into view. They pranced gracefully across the snow. Then the woolly rhino joined them on the open plain. Then the bison! The elk, reindeer, rhino, and bison moved along with them, at a distance. They seemed to be escorting Jack and Annie back to the tree house. They were getting closer and closer to the grove of tall trees. But just then the mammoth let out a cry. All the other animals bounded off. Behind them the sabertooth was slinking across the sunlit snow! The woolly mammoth roared and plunged forward. Jack and Annie nearly fell off. The mammoth thundered wildly over the ground. The mammoth changed to the grove of trees. But the tiger had circled around the trees. He stood between the tallest tree and the mammoth. The sabertooth began moving slowly toward the mammoth. Jack knew a sabertooth could kill any creature, including a mammoth. The huge tiger’s head was down. His burning eyes were fixed on the mammoth. His long white fangs glinted in the sunlight.
Chapter 9 : Master of the Animals
The sabertooth crept forward. Jack held the mammoth-bone flute to his lips. He blew. The flute made a strange sound. The tiger froze. He glared at Jack. Jack’s hands shook. The mammoth roared and stomped the ground. Jack blew again. The sabertooth froze again. Jack closed his eyes. He took a deep breath. Then he blew as hard and as long as he could. He covered and uncovered the holes on the bone. The music sounded strange-as if it were coming from another world. Jack raised his eyes. The sabertooth was slinking off toward the cliffs. The mammoth waved Annie trunk happily. From the back of the mammoth, Jack grabbed the rope ladder. He held it for Annie. Annie grabbed the rope ladder. Then she started up. Peanut climbed up, too. After they disappeared into the tree house, Jack climbed onto the ladder. The mammoth walked away into the sunset. Jack pulled himself into the tree house. Annie handed the Pennsylvania book to Jack. Jack smiled. Now he was positive they had found the third M thing. Their mission was complete. They took off their reindeer-skin coats and dropped them to the ground. Jack stared out the window. The sun was setting behind the hills. Four people were crossing the snow plain. It was the cro-Magnon family. The Cro-Magnons stopped and peered in Annie and jack’s direction. Jack grabbed the Pennsylvania book. He found the picture of Frog Creek and pointed at it. The wind started to blow. The leaves began to shake. The wind blew harded. And the tree house started to spin. It spun faster and faster. Then everything was still. Absolutely still.
Chapter 10 : This Age
Birds sang. The air was soft and warm. Jack held up mammoth bone. Then he placed it on the M carved into the floor. Next to the mango from the rain forest. Next to the moonstone from the time of ninjas. Annie started down the rope ladder. Jack gathered his things. He paused and glanced at the mouse. Then he climbed down the rope ladder and jumped onto the ground. Jack and Annie ran through the Frog Creek woods onto their street.
The End
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