A Rural Boy's Skills

 

Yesterday afternoon Roman was sitting on the verandah with Benedict and me.  He was telling us about different things he had done before he came here.  He explained that there is kind of big bird that swoops down and gets little chickens.  So one day he was hiding nearby and when the bird came, he used his slingshot and killed the big bird.

 

He told us about how an uncle would dig down to get a burrowing kind of animal.  You have to put a rock on the hole where it might escape, and then you dig down and get that animal to eat.  I'm not sure what kind of animal he meant.

 

Another story was about catching birds.  You cut down a tree that has sticky sap.  You let the sap dry somewhat.  Then you wrap it around a stick.  The stick is then put near some water.  So when the birds come to get water and land on the stick, their feet stick and they can't fly away.

 

And the amazing thing to me is that he told all of this to us in English!