But it was a play thing, nothing more.

And yet, it was not long after this that the using of gourds for storing water became the general practice of the horde.

But I was not the inventor.

The honor was due to old Marrow-Bone, and it is fair to assume that it was the necessity of his great age that brought about the innovation.
At any rate, the first member of the horde to use gourds was Marrow-Bone.

He kept a supply of drinking-water in his cave, which cave belonged to his son, the Hairless One, who permitted him to occupy a corner of it.