Westerners and animals.
en français
The priest from Eastern Hill said unto
Cochonfucius: "Westerners
say that animals are a gift from
Heaven, and should be given back, at times. But "to give back", in this case, is to
destroy the animal."
Cochonfucius respectfully asked: "Are there examples?"
"Several of them. Recently, a certain patriarch from an arid land
believed it to be his duty to destroy his innocent child. As he was about to
perform
that murderous gesture, he found an old ram, which Heaven's will had guided there. So
he shed the animal's blood."
"The animal, said the Master, could have been a pig. What would the patriarch
have done?"
"He would have said Hoc est porcus and immolated the creature anyway."
"Do Westerners never show any kindness toward animals?"
"When they do, things can get worse. Near the place where the patriarch found
the ram, a shepherdess found a cat, which is a tiny tiger, kept by Westerners as a
pet. That one was very young, and crying for its mother.
The shepherdess lifted it from the ground and placed it against her breast. It
began to suckle, which she benevolently permitted.
People from her village, men and young boys at least, took an habit of
watching her instead of doing their duty. Be it the chieftain, the imperial messenger,
or even the innkeeper: none of them was faithful to the missions Heaven imparted them.
A sacrilege followed. Each seventh day, their witch-doctor uses to accomplish
a double transmutation, by means of which an aliment becomes the body of a man of the
past, while a goblet of wine becomes a chalice full of the blood he shed in agony.
They make of it a solemn meal. However, the transmutation requires very young boys to
be present in the sanctuary, to play a subsidiary role. When the shepherdess began to
feed her animal near that sanctuary, the boys deserted it, to enjoy the view. Rather
than to the solemn meal of Westerners, they were present to the joyous meal offered by
the shepherdess to the tiny tiger."
"Sacrilege, noted Cochonfucius, calls for punishment."
"Punishment, the priest added, was inflicted by the wives and virgins of the
village. In a large troop, and well-armed, they destroyed the animal, and, so the
Westerners say, gave it back to Heaven. The shepherdess, in her turn, became a wife.
Westerners have no commemorative ceremony for that episode."
"They could not have one, said the Master. The victim was a pet, therefore,
the sacrifice suffers from impurity. Moreover, if it was necessary to commemorate all
the cases of unjust destruction of an animal, there would be no end to it."