Section 11.1 Small Number and the Abandoned Pit House
Written by: Veselin Jungic and Mark MacLean Illustrated by: Kyra PukanichSmall Number is a young boy who gets into a lot of mischief. It is summer time and Small Number visits his Grandpa who lives on their Nation’s traditional territory in a small village near the river.


This afternoon, Grandpa is meeting with a group of elders and a visitor from a university. Every week they get together so that the visitor can record the stories that the elders tell in their mother tongue. Even though Small Number only understands a few words, he enjoys listening to his Grandpa when he speaks in the language of their people. “I’ll ask Grandpa to teach me all stories that he knows, so that one day I can tell them to my children and grandchildren,” thinks Small Number.
Just when he and Grandpa were ready to leave the house, Small Number got a message from his friend, Big Circle: “Come join us, we are playing at the river bank.”
“Grandpa, I have to run to the river bank to say hi to Big Circle! I’ll meet you in the village!”



Small Number took his cell phone from a pocket and turned the flashlight on. His wide-open eyes followed the beam of light. “Wow,” said Small Number looking at a vertical pole that was supporting the wooden dome-like structure above him. He was inside an enclosed space.


Small Number’s cell phone started ringing.
It was Grandpa: “Where are you, Small Number?”
“I fell into a huge underground house,” replied Small Number. “I’ll be there right away,” said Grandpa.


When Grandpa entered the room, Small Number ran towards him and hugged him very tightly. “I love you so much, Grandpa!” “I love you very much too, but don’t scare me like this again! You were very lucky that you didn’t get injured. The hole must be at least three meters above the floor,” replied Grandpa.


“So, those posts are about five meters long,” quietly said Small Number pointing to the roof. “I wonder how our ancestors knew how many posts they needed to build the roof.”


“Our people had their ways,” answered Grandpa, a bit surprised by Small Number’s question. “And now let’s hurry back to the village because I would like to tell our visitor a story about the abandoned pit house.”
Question: Why did Small Number think that the posts used to build the roof were about five meters long each?
