All the best stories are hunting stories. The tribe sits around the fire and asks an accounting by its hunters. If it was a successful hunt, they listen while they eat, while the hunters tell of each detail, how the earth smelled, and the crows heckled, the clues they followed, the search, the hunt, the stalking; the obstacles that were overcome, the fierce battle, the kill and returning in triumph with food for the tribe. The elders add how the spirits contributed. The women gathered roots and pottage, and the whole tribe participated.

If they are empty handed, the embellishments of the hunt are background to explaining why their bellies are empty. The story provides meaning and analysis. If the hunt is unsuccessful for many days in a row, and there are few roots and pottage to be found, perhaps it is time to move on.

It is ever thus, for a tribe needs to gather more resources and food during its day than it uses up in the gathering, or it starves and dies.

All the best stories are hunting stories, and we listen to them for the echoes of a successful hunt.