His pack was hungry and it was time to look for food. They have walked quite a distance and everyone was already tired. He needs to find food fast but the usual grass that they ate was nowhere in sight in this cold forest. There were only leafless trees around. So, he grunted to the rest of the pack to stop and take a rest.
He looked around and only found rocks, snow and the leafless trees. He grunted again towards the rest of his pack to wait so he could look further. The others sat around the rocks also looking for the usual grass while he walked towards the trees. He still did not find any grass around the trees but found little dark things that looked like stones. He did not mind them since he did not know what they are. He walked further inside the group of trees but still found nothing.
He decided to go back to the pack since there was nothing around to eat. Saddened, we traced back the path he took. While walking back, he noticed a couple of critters picking the stone things he neglected earlier. The critters picked one, brought the things towards a small rock, and smashed the little things on the rock. The little things broke and a lighter colored stone fell out. The critters picked up these stones and ate them.
He felt surprised with what he saw. These stone-like things had food inside and there were many of these things around the trees. The amount could feed the pack for a day before walking again. He picked a couple of the stone-like things and smashed them on the rocks. The little light things came out. He picked one and placed it in his mouth. Its taste was unlike any grass he has eaten. It was quite new and it was better than grass. He ate some and brought the rest to the pack.
He gave some to the older ones in the pack. They too liked the small things. Just like him, they thought it was better than the usual grass. They asked him where he found these things so they could gather more for the pack. He led them towards the leafless trees, grunted towards the others to pick the dark stone-like things, and showed them how to smash the little things on the rocks. The others followed his example and started smashing on the rocks. They gathered the light things that came out for the others to eat.
Since food was plenty in the form of the stone like things, the pack decided to stay in the area. Every day they gathered the stone-like things and smashed them on the rocks until one day that there were no more. The stone-like things did not appear in the usual area. Even the critters who ate the same thing also disappeared. It was time to move on. However, this time, they know to look for these stone-like things.
They walked a great distance while also looking for trees that might have these little things under them. For the mean time, they ate what grass they could find. After a number of sunrises, they found a clump of leafless trees. Immediately, every member of the pack ran towards the trees in hopes of finding their new food. The trees were different from the ones they found earlier. They were larger and taller. The things under the trees were also different from the ones they were familiar. These were bigger. Every member was glad since it was bigger which means the food inside was bigger too.
Each pack member picked one for each hand and started to look for rocks. Unfortunately, there were no big rocks where they can smash the stone-like things. The ground was soft and there were only small stones that break when smashed on. Everyone was disappointed since the food was there but there was no way to break the hard stone containing the food. Every member of the pack scurried around looking for larger rocks to smash on. A few moments passed until a younger member of the pack found a slightly larger rock and in his excitement smashed the rock on the stone-like thing.
It was on that moment that the world changed. A wisp of spirit formed in that fist-sized rock. It was the birth of something new and something intelligent.
When the other members of the pack saw what the young one did, all of them looked harder for similar rocks. Other looked further while others waited for the young one to finish and borrowed the rock to smash the food out of the stone-like things. For each time he used the rock, the spirit inside it grew.
It was also during that moment that ideas formed from the members of the pack. Some tried the branches to smash the stone like things, which worked. Although the branches took longer to crack open the food, they were easier to use and less painful. The others started to use the branches too. Also every time the branches were used, the spirit inside the stone grew. It was also during that time that some found the stone-like things attached on the fallen braches. They then discovered that the stone-like things were from the trees. Everybody looked up and found the abundance of food still attached to the trees.
The pack decided to stay permanently around the area due to the abundance of food. As the days passed, different ideas took form. The young pack member that first used the stone attached his stone on a branch with vines. This made cracking the fruits, as they called it now, easier and with every use, the spirit inside grew stronger. The object, the hammer, came into being.
The packed continued to develop, ideas bloomed, and innovation became a trend. What was once a pack now became a community. The youth became an adult and, one day, his stone hammer broke and released the spirit into the world.