I once heard a story that went something like this...
Once upon a time, several thousand years ago, there lived a tribe of hunter-gatherers who subsisted on nuts, berries, insects, and occasional prairie dogs that they could catch. As the size of their tribe increased, they had a difficult time finding enough food. They were almost always hungry and their young ones were thin and small. Ironically, all around them were countless buffalo (probably bison, but we don’t have all the details) grazing in herds and pretty much ignoring the tribe. The hunters in the tribe sharpened long poles to use as spears and tried to stab the buffalo to kill some of them and use them for the meat. But the buffalo ran away before the hunters could get close enough. Indeed some hunters were gored and trampled in their attempts to kill the buffalo.

Finally, driven by pangs of hunger and the tragedy of hearing his children crying, one particularly clever and brave hunter by the name of Glug thought about the problem at hand. An idea came to him, and he told the other hunters. He said, “We can’t kill a buffalo if we attack it one at a time, and we can’t sneak up on it, but what if all of us at once surrounded it and yelled and shouted when it was at the water hole and drove it into the muddy part? I have noticed that sometimes a buffalo will get stuck in the mud and have a hard time getting out. If that happens, then the buffalo can’t get away and can’t attack us, and we can all stab it at the same time with our spears and maybe kill it.” The other hunters were skeptical and more than a little fearful to get that close to a buffalo while shouting at it.

“Come on, let’s at least give it a try. I think it will work,” Glug pleaded. So that afternoon, they gathered around one particularly weak and slow looking buffalo who was at the muddy side of the water hole. On the count of two (as that was as far as their number system had progressed), they all shouted and drove the surprised animal into the mud. Sure enough, it became stuck. At that point, Glug shouted, “Stab it!” and they all stabbed it with their pointy sticks. To their amazement, they could kill the beast.

For several days, the entire tribe feasted on good buffalo meat, and the hunger pangs disappeared. Glug was treated with reverence and respect. People thought he was a genius. He was made the chief of the hunters and did all the planning for the hunts. In the next several months, they perfected their technique of killing buffalo through the “Stick in the Mud” method as it was called, and the tribe thrived like never before.

Not only did Glug become a revered figure in the tribe, but his wife, Moon, also enjoyed new-found respect. She was as clever as Glug, and she realized that they should somehow document and communicate the Stick in the Mud method to their children and to all in the tribe so that they would never forget this valuable skill. One day she had a bright idea. She used boiled down, wild spinach plant and iron-rich, red clay to make paints, and she chewed yucca leaves to make thin brushes. Then she painted pictures on buffalo hides that depicted the order and process of the hunting method. These hides became instruction manuals for new and future hunters. Moon’s younger brother, Cliffton, also enjoyed the prestige of the Glug family, and he became the second in command to Glug among all the hunters.

But nothing stays the same forever. Over time, their part of the world experienced a severe drought. The water holes began to dry up, and with them all the soft, sticky mud. They found that it was ever more difficult to drive a buffalo into the remaining mud and get him stuck. Many times, they would spend the day hunting with no success or simply kill a young calf that did not provide much meat. And the hunger pangs returned to the tribe. Some of the hunters and others in the tribe began to complain about the Stick in the Mud method of hunting, saying it was useless. But Glug would become angry and remind them of how well it had worked for such a long time.

One day, after thinking about their plight, Cliffton told Glug and the other hunters that he had a better idea for how to kill buffalo. He said, “You know how sometimes the buffalo herd gets spooked all at the same time and starts stampeding. They all just seem to follow wherever those buffalo go that are at the front of the stampede. Here is what we could do. We could get some drums and whistles and make a lot of noise and scream and shout and run at the buffalo and get them to stampede. A few hunters could be in the front of the buffalo and run toward the cliff near our camp, and the buffalo would follow and fall to their deaths on the rocks below, and we would have our meat again.”

Glug was angry with his brother-in-law, Cliffton, for suggesting a completely new plan. He said, “Why would we ever leave a method that has worked so well for a plan that is much more dangerous to us and probably will get some of us killed in the stampede? Who would be so stupid as to be in front of the stampede and go over the cliff with the buffalo?”

Cliffton thought about it and answered, “Those hunters would be the fastest and bravest men in our tribe. They would be our heroes. And at the last minute, right before the edge of the cliff, they could jump under the ledge and hide there while the buffalo fell over the edge.”

Some of the hunters were on Glug’s side and wanted to stay with the traditional method, but some of the hunters, especially some of the younger ones who wanted to show how fast and strong they were, joined Cliffton's side. Finally, one, old wise hunter said, “Well, all I know is that we don’t have enough meat right now, and we might as well give the new method a try.” So the young hunters decided to try it out. Three of the bravest and fastest young men volunteered to lead the stampede to the edge of the cliff. To their delight, the method worked, they were able to cause a stampede, and several of the buffalo went over the cliff before the rest of the herd turned away. Then all the hunters went below to the base of the cliff and cut up the buffalo and hauled the meat back to camp. There was so much meat that the women had to devise a way to preserve it from rotting. They found that if they smoked it in a smoke house made of clay and grass, they could keep the meat for quite some time. In fact, they developed quite a craving for smoked meat.

Glug and some of his followers were wroth with Cliffton, and they continued to hunt using the old Stick in the Mud method, with decreasing success. Many others joined Cliffton using the new “Over the Cliff” method. It wasn't long before Cliffton replaced Glug as the most respected and chief hunter. Moon was torn in her loyalty to her husband, Glug, and to her brother, Cliffton. She begrudgingly painted buffalo hides depicting the Over the Cliff method and also depicting the new, smoked meat method, but she remained true to poor Glug, who had taken to wandering around the camp in a subdued and saddened state, munching on ants and grasshoppers.

Is there a lesson to be learned from this story? Well, humans can be quite creative problem solvers, especially when a strong need arises. But humans are also creatures of habit and good at retaining and repeating what they have learned to be successful. Often a creative, new idea takes some time to catch on, but that is probably a good thing because it would not be wise to throw out every valuable tradition for every new and often crack-pot idea that comes along. It is also the case that a new, creative idea or process will inspire related creative ideas and advances. Let’s hear it for passing on traditions and also for creative innovation.

As an epilogue to this story, one summer a severe monsoon hit the area. The water holes filled up, and there was plenty of mud once again. Cliffton talked Glug into coming out of retirement for one last Stick in the Mud hunt, and the two of them became buddies once again. Stay tuned for the sequel: The Fabulous Bison Boys.