Around 400000 years later when a leader of a large settlement of early Homo sapiens commanded to attack a neighbouring village to seize vital resources in conditions of a deadly drought that drained rivers and robbed trees of fruits, he was guided by a legend about a man whom gods instructed to murder the majority his own tribe so that the at least a small fracture of it survived. This legend had been passed down from generation to generation in the northern part of what is now known as Europe.

Back in the days when the legend was created, it described a courageous rebellion of wisdom against the subordination to instincts and surrounding environment. It happened in one small tribe of Homo heidelbergensis, chinless people with protruding browridges that survived by hunting gigantic mammoths, fearful herds of hoofed animals, ferocious cave predators, by gathering fruits, berries and mushrooms. That tribe was headed by the strongest man with robust muscles and hot temper who refused to nourish his mind, one of the greatest gifts given to his kind by nature. His silent enemy was a feeble man who was as lean as a reed and extraordinarily wise.

Whenever the group of hunters from the tribe endeavored to hunt, the leader ordered to attack animals without any strategy, relying on the precision of spear throwing, speed of running and courage to not retreat. This method of hunting costed many lives. One day several men died because the leader commanded them to attack a herd of reindeers while it was observed by a group of cave lionesses. The hunters saw the predators, however, no one dared to disobey the order. The leader’s muscles tensed and enlarged like a hood of cobra when he watched the men being gnawed by lions and reindeers galloping away into the open plain.

Meanwhile, every time when the group of hunters spotted a potential prey, the wise man designed the strategy for an effective attack, such as driving a herd of reindeers down a canyon. However, he never shared the visions of the brighter end of a hunt. He did not dare to advice the leader who lost his temper after unsuccessful hunts and blamed his fellow hunters for the failure.

Apart from the ability to plan ahead, the wisdom of the man extended to manufacture of new tools and careful observation after the tribe. While he sat on a cold rock in a cave, striking stones together, his eyes that glittered in the dusk watched the relationships between the members of the tribe. Through meticulous surveillance the man knew exactly who was loyal to the leader and who was ready to double-cross him. This information was reflected in the length of intimate interactions, such as grooming and food sharing, between the leader and the subordinates, as well as in the number of sexual relationships that the members of the tribe were allowed to have. Furthermore, the wise man noted with which women the leader spent most of his time, which women he spared from hard work and endowed with the most food.

The day came when the wise man decided to replace the leader. He arrived to this decision gradually, through bearing the constant intimidation until the ancient emotion of hatred and instinctive craving for power intensified to the scale that they could be hold back no longer. The final resolution braced his heart when he imagined himself organizing a hunt. At that moment, he gained authority over the laws of nature by arriving to the conclusion that physical strength was not the only deciding factor in the pyramid of hierarchy.

The murder took place during the period of cold and rainy weather, which forced the whole tribe to leave the cave daily in desperate search for food. Furthermore, the flows of rainy water into the upper chambers of the cave drove humans into the lower ones. The upper and lower chambers were connected by a narrow path that could be blocked by a pile of large rocks.

One night the wise man woke up those members of the tribe who were against the leader according to months-long observations and instructed them to block the path between chambers by carrying and rolling large rocks. It was a loud storm outside with constant thunder and lightnings that muffled the noise of rocks being dropped on top of each other. When the wall was finished, the rebellious part of the tribe slept on the muddy ground of the upper chamber. At the dawn when the storm ended, they went away, dooming 28 individuals in the lower chamber on death from thirst and hunger.

The associates of the wise man passed down the story to their children, who passed it to their children. This way the legend about a wise man whom gods granted the incredible power to move large rocks was born. He turned against the leader of the tribe to ensure its survival.

Now as the leader of the settlement of Homo sapiens steeled his heart against citizens of a village that possessed resourced during the period of severe drought, he remembered the old legend as justification for the murder. As he and his warriors were killing men, women, and children by piercing them with spears and butchering them with axes, new legends about enemies who insulted gods and thus deserved slaughtering were formed. Storytellers immortalized justifications for the gruesome consequences of the increasing wisdom.