Maroo of the Winter Caves Pre-reading Guide and Chapter Summary

Main Characters
Maroo- The main character, a stone age girl around 12 years old
Otak- Her little brother
Nimai- Their younger sister who is about three
Areg- Their father
Tikek-Their mother who is going to have a baby
Vorka-Their uncle
Old Mother- Their grandmother
Chapter 1:
Old Mother sends Maroo and Nimai from their caves to find herbs for hot drinks.
Maroo and Nimai go to the lakeshore and find herbs and berries.
Otak scares the girls by slinging a stone into the water as Maroo is looking at her
image, which she calls her spirit form.
Nimai sees the hunters returning and the children run to greet them.
Chapter 2:
The children greet the hunters, led by Tevo and Areg, who are carrying bison, and
alert the women of the news.
Everyone works on the flat rock outside the caves to separate and clean different
parts of the animal with sharp stone tools.
The group feasts on the meat all day while singing, playing, and telling stories,
then falls asleep.
The next day everyone packs to go to their summer camp.
The men gather and discuss the routes they will take when the tribe splits into
smaller groups for the summer.
They decide to take the trail around the White Mountains rather than over them
because a glacier covers the latter trail, frequented by mountain lions and are
believed to be haunted by spirits.
Chapter 3:
All of the groups follow the deer northeast but set out for different campsites.
Maroos group camps first at a wooded gorge on the plain past the White
Mountain.
The men build a dome shelter with sticks, skins, and rocks, while the women and
children use digging sticks to find fresh food, which they gather in woven bags.
The children go gathering up in the slopes when they see an ibex and chase it as it
climbs higher.
When they stop, Otak and Maroo hear an animal crying out in pain and sets out to
find it.
Chapter 4:
The children find a dead female dog and a puppy with an injured leg behind a
rock.

Maroo remembers a man from the Blue Lake tribe who has a dog and the children
decide to save the puppy as a pet.
Maroo splints and bandages the snarling dogs leg while Otak holds it down, then
she fastens a collar around its neck..
The women and children return to camp with the injured animal and after some
discussion with the men who just returned from fishing, the children are allowed
to keep the pup.
The men finish the shelter, and the women cook vegetables and fish, and after the
group eats and Maroo feeds the puppy, Old Mother tells stories as they sit around
the fire.

Chapter 5:
The next morning, Otak feeds the puppy as Old mother makes a fire.
Maroo wants to name the puppy but Old mother tells her to wait and see if the
puppy follows them to the next camp before naming him.
The group stays longer than expected at the camp in the gorge because of a
plentiful food supply, and during this time the children befriend the dog and it
remains with the group without being leashed.
The family discovers Sovis group camped nearby and the two groups decide to
join and travel to the seashore.
That evening they camp together and join in singing, clapping, and drumming,
then go to their huts to sleep.
In the morning, they roll up their skins and set off for the sea. Maroo nervously
calls the dog to join them and he quickly bounds after them.
Old Mother indicates that the time to name the dog has come, and the children
call him Rivo, meaning friend.
Chapter 6:
Vorka documents their journey by carving symbols in a bone. The two groups
cross the Summer Mountains where the deer seek out the perpetually snow
covered summits.
They travel more slowly because Tikeks time to have her baby is near. They
camp for a few days in the mountains near a spring, then descend to the sea.
Old Mother sends the children to search for a cave she remembers from a
previous visit and Otak finds it. They line it with bedding of heather and fur
skins.
The children play in the cold water and spot seals in the waves. The group easily
gathers from various food sources along the shore.
One day when the children are playing. Otak discovers Rivo can fetch and decides
he can be a good hunting dog. The children tell their father about this Idea, and he
explains that the dog must learn to respond to their commands to hunt. So they set
about training him.
Soon it is time to head bake to the autumn camp but they have to wait for Tikek to
have her baby,
Finally, Tikek gives birth to a healthy baby boy.

Chapter 7:
With the cold approaching the groups need to be on their way but Tikek is still to
weak to travel.
As decided that evening, Sovis group leaves in the morning and Aregs group
follows the trail two days later.
The distance between the two groups gradually increases and Areg turns off of
Sovis steep trail and onto a lower path because Tikek is still weak and slow.
They camp near a sheer rock wall but are afraid there because they think their
echoes are a spirit.
They eat the last of their fish and leave part of it as an offering to the spirit. In the
morning the fish is gone, and judging by the clues, it is thought that the spirit
came as a great cat and accepted their offering.
On the way back to camp they discover ibex droppings and the men talk of a hunt,
but Old mother protests explain that big game hunting is unwise with a small
group.
Because the group is hungry, the met set off for the hunt anyway, but do not return
by dusk.
The women and the children eat dried meat and offer some to the spirit and go to
sleep.
In the morning, at her insistence, Old mother takes Maroo, Otak and Rivo up the
mountain to look for the men.
Rivo finds the mens trail and leads the three to the edge of a cliff, where they
look over and find Vorka injured on a small ledge half way down and Areg lying
at the foot next to a dead Ibex.
Chapter 8:
Old mother, Maroo and Otak send a rope to Vorka on the ledge but he cannot
climb up because of a broken arm and a sprained ankle.
Maroo climbs down to the ledge and splints Vorkas arm, then ties the rope to a
pointed rock and lets it down to the foot of the cliff.
Vorka climbs down, followed by maroo and the two look at Areg who they now
know is dead.
Old mother reaches the spot via an easier route and Otak fetches his mother, the
baby, and his little sister.
Vorka explains that they had tried to kill an ibex by chasing it over the cliff when
Areg lost his footing near the cliffs edge in the dim dusk light. Vorka tried to save
his brother but fell off onto the ledge.
Upon arrival of the rest of the group, they all begin to cry at Aregs passing.
They bury Areg with his spear, harpoon and drum under a pile of stones. They cut
up, cook and eat as much of the ibex as they can, as they cannot carry it. Vorka is
sad, he does not eat.
They continue up the rocky path and find Sovis cold trail. When they stop to rest
along the way, tikek decides to name the baby Areg, or hunter.
With Areg dead and Vorka injured, the group has no hunter to help them survive.
Chapter 9:

By the time they reach the plain before the White Mountains, the weather
becomes gray and cold.
They travel slowly for many days across the endless plain with many deer that are
clamoring for the last food. Otak and Rivo hunt small game.
When Maroo and Otak see wild dogs chase down and eat a small deer, they
decide they will try later to chase some wild dogs away from their catch to obtain
meat.
One morning, after they sleep between two boulders, they awake to snow covered
ground and are forced to travel through snow flurries for the next two days.
Otak kills the ptarmigan with his sling shot and the group cools and shares the
meat even thought it isnt enough for everyone.
Before they reach the White Mountains the first blizzard comes. They travel on
looking for a small shelter Old Mother knows of.
They travel for a seemingly endless amount of time and begin to think they will
not find the shelter when Old Mother spots the rocks.
They put skins over the crevice between the two boulders and wedge themselves
into the cramped space to sleep and they awake, it is still blizzarding.
They travel through another day of tearing wind and snow with diminishing hope
until they are weary and Old Mother instructs them to stop and build a snow
house.

Chapter 10:
The group cuts and stacks blocks of ice and makes a dome shaped house with an
entrance tunnel and a fire hole.
Old Mother builds a fire and hands out a few slivers of meat. Tikek spreads out
the furs and hands out nuts, roots and mushrooms. This is the last of the food but
they are still hungry. They warn up by the fire and dry their wet clothes.
They stay in the snow house for two days with nothing to eat while the blizzard
continues. They sleep as much as possible despite their extreme hunger.
On the third day, the blizzard ends and they come out of the shelter and find that
they are a day away form the White Mountain, Old Mother laments that they
cannot reach the hunting grounds now because winter has overtaken them.
Then, they see wild dogs catch a deer, and Maroo and Otak quickly fetch and light
their torches and with much struggle chase the dog pack away from their kill.
After they cut up and eat some of the meat, Old Mother says that they cannot
follow the trail around White Mountain because they have only enough food to
take a shorter dangerous route over the mountain. But, she explains that only
Maroo and Otak are strong enough to cross and they must take the path alone and
fetch help for the rest of them.
Vorka and Tikek protest, knowing the journey could be fatal for the youngsters,
and all are fearful of the mountain spirits, the glacier, and the mountain lions, but
they resign to the strength of Old Mothers wisdom.
Chapter 11:
Old Mother instructs Otak and Maroo by telling them: how to find the trail over
the mountain, to make offerings to the mountain spirits, to feel ahead with a staff
on the glacier before each step, to build a snow house if necessary to survive the

cold, and not to linger by the great cave about the Pass of the Spirits. Once
over the pass, she says they will see the crossing place at the bottom of the
mountain.
Old Mother agrees they should take Rivo but instructs them to eat him if they are
starving, rather than risk their lives hunting large animals.
Finally, Old Mother elects Maroo as the leader of the duo, and Maroo worries that
she wont be able to control Otaks childish impulses to take unnecessary risks.
Old mother warns that if one of them is lost or injured, the other must go on.
Old Mother tells them a story and tells them to remember songs and stories to
give them hope when they are at their worst.
Old Mother gives a little of the remaining deer meat to Otak and Maroo, but keeps
the greatest portion for themselves, enough to survive until help arrives if the
childrens journey is not delayed in any way.
Maroo, Otak and Rivo walk all day and reach the mountain before nightfall. They
climb and cross many freezing streams and, exhausted, stop for the night under an
over hanging rock at a plateau just below the glacier.
Maroo and Otak cant sleep and quarrel about when Otak will be ready to be a
hunter.

Chapter 12:
Maroo tells Otak to follow with Rivo in her footsteps, and she prods the snow
with her staff as she walks.
Just as she sees they are halfway to the pass, Maroo falls through the snow into a
crevasse and is buried in ice and snow.
Maroo digs herself out and ties the rope that Otak throws down to her around her
waist.
Maroo crawls her way up the crevasse, slips once almost pulling Otak in, and then
hauls herself out as Otak pulls.
They rest to recover from the shock, and then put on their packs.
Suddenly they see a huge ibex standing above them on the pass. They feel it
could be their fathers spirit who was killed hunting an ibex.
Chapter 13:
Maroo makes an offering to the spirits by throwing some shells into the crevasse.
They reach the pass by sundown to find an empty, uneven plateau just beyond it,
and Maroo realizes that the Pass of the Spirits is still a long, difficult climb
away.
Finding no shelter, they proceed to make a snow house, during which Otak finds
the fresh print of a cave lion.
Maroo makes a fire in the snow house, and the children sleep late into the
morning.
They stay in the snow house for two days waiting for a blizzard to pass.
During this time, they hear a mountain lion hunt down an animal and Maroo sings
songs and tells stories to calm their fear.
Otak wants to go out and hunt and is angry when Maroo tells him he cant
because its too dangerous.

Maroo sees the blizzard is clearing and the two try to sleep so theyll be ready to
leave at dawn.

Chapter 14:
The children wake to blinding sun reflecting off the snow.
Rivo sniffs out the fresh trail of a hare, which they see running from behind a
mound. Otak attempts to spear it but misses and feels discouraged.
As they travel in the bright snow, Otak tries to kill a ptarmigan with his sling shot
but is unsuccessful and feels humiliated
They see the lion prints again before the pass, but no sign of the lion.
They share the last of their meat, and then watch for the lion as they climb up to
the narrow pass between a huge cave and a cliff.
They fearfully pass the cave, which is scattered with bones and smells of lion.
They reach the hillside over the pass and see the crossing far below. They make a
camp under some leaning rocks and Maroo tells Otak to fetch some firewood.
As Maroo is laying out the furs she sees a hare, grabs Otaks spear, and strikes it.
Rivo retrieves it.
When Maroo returns with the fresh kill, Otak is angry that he did not have the
chance to kill the hare, that Maroo used his spear and hunting dog, and that she
completed the task of a male.
They cook and eat the meat, and then Maroo falls asleep as they try to stay warm.
When Maroo awakes, it is storming and Otak and Rivo are gone, nowhere to be
seen.
Chapter 15:
Maroo calls and searches for Otak and Rivo many times, but can do nothing and
nervously wait by the fire.
Maroo realizes she must leave today if they are to save their family who is
waiting in the snow house. After an emotional deliberation and knowing that Old
Mother might sacrifice her own life to prolong the survival of the rest, she realizes
she must go on without Otak and Rivo.
After searching once more, Maroo packs up and heads west in the pounding snow
and dusk approaches as she is still high in the mountains. She decides to travel
throughout the night.
Maroo becomes lost for a time in the darkness and snow, and after a bout of
overbearing panic, regains her sense of direction and continues west.
The blizzard passes and Maroo stops to rest and falls asleep. She awakes to a
bright moon and she sees she is on lower slopes of the mountain.
As she stands to continue on, she suddenly sees the mountain lion standing in her
path.
As the lion growls and snarls, she lights and holds up her torch and fearfully
advances toward the lion. It pounces at her, she shoves the stick into its face, and
the lion retreats.
She collapses and falls asleep and wakes to the sunrise.
She sees the autumn camp not far below and descends, finally running into the
middle of the grouping.

Chapter 16:
It is five days since she has come down the mountain, and Maroo is sitting with
her family and friends among several fires as they prepare a homecoming feast.
They had searched for Otak the day she returned but didnt find him and felt the
mountain spirit must have taken him.
Maroo had been pulled on a sledge as she guided the men to the plain where her
family was found still alive, and then the whole family was pulled on sledges
back to the camp.
When they returned, they feasted all night with the sorrowful awareness of the
absences of Areg and Otak.
The Blue Lake Hunters dog began to bark at something as they were drumming
and upon inspecting the area, the men returned with Rivo and Otak.
Otak explained that he had sprained his ankle and had been unable to walk, so
rivo kept him warm and brought him small game to eat until he could walk, then
helped him find the way to the camp.
They decided the dog would join them at their winter caves.
The tribes packed up and went to their separate home caves, as Maroo and Otak
with Rivo and the rest of their family.