After the water and grass tribe lit the fire, people happily feasted on barbecue meat, saying that the barbecue meat was too delicious. At this time, Uncle Shuicao said loudly: "I have been a few days old, a cigarette, now each person is issued one, everyone wants to eat fragrant barbecue meat for a long time, we must learn to smoke, so as to retain the precious fire, after this cigarette is smoked, everyone can sing and dance, tomorrow everyone has to learn to smoke, in the future they will smoke their own cigarettes." Everyone happily learned to smoke around the fire, and after smoking a cigarette, the singing and dancing began, and the girls and boys took the lead in the carnival, which was very lively.

At this time, Xiao Ye wanted to learn to make a soil plate, so he asked: "Uncle Shuiwe, is the water baby who made the "soil plate" here?" I want to learn how to make a "clay plate" from him, so I ask my uncle to help me find him. ”

When Uncle Shuicao saw Xiaoye's eagerness to learn to make a soil plate, he shouted loudly: "Water baby! Hurry up and take a look. ”

At this time, a young man in his 20s, tall and long, with black hair, a pair of thick eyebrows and big eyes on a rectangular face, was very clever, and ran to Uncle Shuicao and responded: "Uncle, what do you call me?"

Uncle Shuicao said: "This is Xiaoye, he said that the "soil plate" you made is very beautiful, and you have to learn how to make it, and you have to teach him patiently. ”

Shuiwa replied: "Okay, making a "soil plate" is very easy to learn, and it must teach Xiaoye. ”

Xiao Ye smiled and said: "I thank Shui Wa, I can't see it tonight, and I will start learning from you tomorrow, and now I would like to hear your introduction to how I came up with the idea of making an earthen plate." ”

The water baby thought for a while and replied: "We have a kind of clay with a yellow-red color here, and we use this kind of soil and water to rub it into an egg-sized "soil bomb", which is very hard after drying, because we have very few stones here, so we use this "earth bomb" to beat small animals such as hares, and one by one. When I was only a few years old, I followed my father to make "dirt bombs". I am very playful, in addition to making "soil bombs", but also make small soil people, small earth cows, small earth horses, small earth sheep, small soil chickens, small earth ducks, small earth birds and other animals, what do like what, dried and used to play, become a very popular toy for children. Everyone praised me for being smart and doing a good job. When I grew up, I couldn't live without this kind of dirt even more, so to speak, and I could say that I could do more and be more practical. Uncle Shuicao arranged for me to pick fruits every day, and I thought that it would be great if there was something to hold the fruits, so I started to make earthen bowls, earthen plates and other utensils, dried them in the sun, and used them to hold fruits after cooling, and everyone liked them. ”

Xiao Ye was very interested after hearing this, and said happily: "Shuiwa, you are really smart and capable, I will definitely learn from you tomorrow to make a soil bowl and a soil plate ......." The two also talked about the role of fire, digging traps and hunting, and so on, and the conversation was very speculative.

The next day, after everyone had eaten barbecue around the fire, Uncle Shuicao said loudly: "Today, except for women and children, everyone goes to look for and collect tobacco leaves, the more collected the better, let's go, act immediately." "Under the leadership of Uncle Gao Shan and Uncle Shuiwe, everyone collected tobacco leaves everywhere, and after half a day, everyone was tired and sweaty, and only collected a little tobacco leaves.

Uncle Gao Shan said to Uncle Shuiwe: "You have very few tobacco leaves here, and if you don't have enough tobacco for it, you can exchange sheep for tobacco." Uncle Shuicao said: "This is the only way, in the afternoon I will use sheep to go to the nearby tribe to exchange for tobacco." ”

In the afternoon, Xiao Ye came to the cave where the water baby made the soil plate, the water baby led the small leaf to watch his various works, Xiao Ye is really a feast for the eyes, a large cave, full of people made of soil, all kinds of animals and earth bowls. Xiao Ye was full of praise, he admired the smart water baby from the bottom of his heart. He asked, "How long will it take for these earthen bowls and earthen plates to dry?" ”

Shuiwa replied: "It will take half a month to dry, and if you use it if you don't dry it, it will be broken." ”

Xiao Ye thought to himself, we will leave after staying here for a few days, how can we take the earthen bowl that was given to me without drying, he thought for a while and then said: "Now that there is a fire, you can put it next to the fire to dry, so it will be much faster, you can give it a try." ”

Shui Wa said: "Yes, why didn't I think of it, you can take two plates and try it." ”

The two young people said that they would do it, Xiao Ye took two earthen bowls, and Shui Wa took two earthen plates to the fire, and put the earthen bowls and earthen plates next to the fire to roast. Xiao Ye took a cigarette, the two smoked a cigarette, carefully observed the changes in the earthen bowl and soil plate, Xiao Ye found that the soil bowl and soil plate were steaming, and there was little change. After a while, it was found that one of the earthen bowls had been roasted by the fire and had a hole missing, and two earthen dishes had also been burned.

Shui Wa said: "The earthen bowl and earthen plate have been baked and cannot be used. ”

Xiao Ye casually threw the missing earthen bowl into the fire, and said, "It seems that this dry earthen bowl can't be roasted with fire, so let's go back to the cave to make an earthen plate." ”

Shui Wa said: "Okay, let's go back and make an earthen plate, it seems that it can only be put in the hole to dry."

The two returned to the cave, and the clever Xiaoye learned very quickly, and made 3 earthen bowls and 3 earthen dishes in half a day, so they had to be placed in the cave to cool and dry.

It's late, and everyone eats barbecue around the fire. Xiao Ye smoked again after eating, he thought, why did the wet bowl burn bad? Can it only be dried in the sun? He took a deep breath of smoke, suddenly remembered the rotten bowl thrown in the fire, looking for a branch to see what had changed, he took a branch in the fire to find, after a while the bowl came, saw that the fire had burned the bowl red, after the bowl cooled, Xiaoye took it and looked carefully, the color was still red, the original broken pot was larger, harder than the earthen bowl. He handed it to the water baby, and after the water baby saw it, he said, "Let's go, let's go to the river and soak in water to see what changes." ”

The two came to the river, put the bowl in the water, waited for a while, picked up the bowl and looked at it, and it was not damaged by the water. Xiao Ye said: "Let's take the bowl with half a bowl of water back to the cave, and wait tomorrow to see if there is any change." They brought half a bowl of water and put it in the cave and returned to the fire.

At this time, Uncle Shuicao was speaking loudly: "Today, I used a sheep to other tribes, in exchange for 4 cigarette leaves, now everyone gives some, start to learn cigarettes, everyone must learn to roll, learn to smoke, as long as the fire is retained, we will have barbecue meat to eat for a long time." "The tobacco leaves were also sent to the water baby, Xiao Ye taught the water baby to roll cigarettes and smoke, and the smart water baby will learn it.

Xiao Ye said: "As long as you insist on smoking, you will become addicted after a period of time, everyone will take the initiative to smoke every day, your fire can be retained, don't worry about no barbecue to eat in the future, come, water baby, let's smoke a cigarette." The two happily smoked cigarettes and discussed how to make earthen bowls and plates......

After eating breakfast the next day, Xiaoye and Shuiwa came to the cave and found that the half bowl of water in the broken earth bowl was still half a bowl of water, and there was no change, and the earth bowl was not damaged by the blister. Xiao Ye said happily: "The earthen bowl that has been burned with fire can be filled with water, which means that it can also hold meat!" ”

The two were very happy, and Shui Wa hurriedly said: "The earthen bowl and soil plate I made before have been cooled and dried, take a few to test it to see if it will burn out." Xiao Ye said: "Yes, take it and test it, and then take some small actions you made to test it and see if there are any changes." ”

The two of them came to the fire with the earthen bowl that had been cooled and dried, the earthen plate and a few small animals made of clay, and Xiao Ye asked: "What should I do if the earthen bowl and earthen plate are damaged by firewood when I put it in the fire?" ”

The clever water baby thought about it for a while, found a few stones, built a square, put the earthen bowl, the soil plate, and the earth animal in the square space, and then burned it with fire, the two smoked cigarettes, kept by the fire and kept adding firewood, burned for most of the day, and only when they were eating at night did they use branches to wrap the bowl, and the two bowls burned, one was complete, and the other burned out of shape, the two plates were complete, and four of the small movements were complete, and two of them were burned. The earthen bowls and earthen plates that have been burned by the fire are all red and beautiful. After it cooled down, the water baby filled the bowl with water, and while drinking the water, she shouted: "It's a success!" The earthen bowl was fired! ”

People came to watch the earthen bowl and earthen plate that had been burned by the fire, Uncle Shuicao and Uncle Gao Shan also took a sip of water with the earthen bowl, Uncle Shuicao said happily: "Shuiwa, you are so smart, do more, all of them use one, and then make 10 bowls and 10 plates for Uncle Gaoshan." (This is the first clay pottery bowl created by human beings in the practice of life, which laid the foundation for firing all kinds of beautiful clay pottery and ceramics in the future.) ）

After firing the first clay bowl, Uncle Shuicao sent three people to learn to make clay bowls and clay plates with the water baby, after continuous improvement, they made a variety of clay bowls, plates, reeds, and other utensils, and also made clay pottery men and women, all kinds of clay animals, people like these clay pottery very much, there are many tribes to imitate, and some tribes use other things to exchange these clay pottery, so that the clay pottery has been developed very quickly.

Uncle Gao Shan and others, after living in the Shuicao tribe for a few days, visited more than 20 tribes successively, and were respected and warmly welcomed by people everywhere they went. They saw that the fires of each tribe were burning brightly, large and small; Many people are addicted to smoking, and they can't do without cigarettes, and the fire has been retained; can use torches and traps to hunt wild beasts, and have achieved a lot of results, and they all have endless meat; Fishing for "water meat" by the river is faster to learn, and men and women of all ages like to fish for "water meat", and you can get delicious food just like playing. People's lives have improved a lot.

It is gratifying that many tribes have made new improvements and developments on the basis of learning the "four skills". For example: the problem of retaining the fire, there is a tribe, looking for a large cave, this cave has a hole entrance, there is also a cave, they burned a fire in the big cave, the smoke of the fire will flow away from the mouth of the cave, special maintenance for a long time, you can eat barbecue as usual on rainy days, sometimes even a few days of rain does not stop, it does not affect their barbecue to eat. Another tribe when fishing for "water meat", they changed the branches into small bamboo poles, and tied their intestines on the tips of the small bamboo poles to fish for "water meat", which is not easy to break, but also elastic and easy to use. They also invented the cultivation of "water meat", sometimes fishing too much "water meat", too much to eat, one or two days after death stinks and cannot be eaten. They dug a pond on the bank of the river to fill it with water, and if they caught too much "water meat", they would put it alive in the pool and raise it, so that they could eat the fresh "water meat" at any time. Uncle Gao Shan was overjoyed when he saw it, and he said happily: "We are the smartest, and there is no unthinkable emotion, let alone a ...... that cannot be done."