PREFACE

 

This story is not, nor is it meant to be, a serious study of human development. It is fiction.

 

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In the dim, distant past, humans lived much like animals. Some scholars who studied the advent of man came to the conclusion that, other than noting the difference between light and dark, primitive people had little concept of time. Their language consisted of grunts and gestures. By gesturing, they could indicate the difference between one, a few, and many. At night, they slept huddled in trees and caves, then ventured out each morning to hunt for food. Their diets consisted of fruit, nuts, plants, and grubs. They used sticks, rocks, and bones for tools. If they caught an animal, they ate it raw.

This story, Beyond the Valley of Mist, begins much later, but still it takes place hundreds of thousands of years ago. Humans have advanced to the point of tying stones to the ends of sticks, which they use as clubs or crude axes. They have developed a limited language and they have curiosity, the beginning of learning. This story is about learning.

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