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The Man Who Tamed a Man (Frag. 2)

Submitted by Ken Watts on Thu, 02/08/2007 - 10:23

One day, when Man was fishing in the stream, Woman was left alone with Baby. She was cooking the food, and Baby was laughing at the fire. Sometimes baby would reach for the fire, or try to crawl over the rocks around the fire's nest, and Woman would tell Baby "NO!" or pull Baby back.

Dog was also there, and Woman knew that dog would like some of the meat she was cooking, but Dog did not try to eat the meat, for Man and Woman had trained Dog to know Good from Evil.

It was hard for Woman to do the work she was trying to do, and keep baby from the fire, and she thought of this, and looked at Dog, who never tried to get the meat, and she wished in her heart that Baby could be as easy to control as Dog.

When Man came back from the stream, Woman turned to him and said, "I have had a thought."

And Man answered her and said, "What is your thought?"

And Woman said, "It is difficult for me to work and keep baby from the fire. But it is not difficult to keep Dog from the fire, for we have taught him to tell Good from Evil, and so he does our bidding."

And Man said, "You would like to trade Baby for another dog?"

And Woman said, "Sometimes I would trade you for another dog."

And Man laughed, and said, "I do not know about this thing. We would have to make our hearts hard toward Baby."

And Woman said, "I, too, have thought this. But which is worse: to make our hearts like stone toward Baby, or for Baby to be burned in the fire?"

So Man and Woman made their hearts hard toward baby, and taught baby to tell Good from Evil, and to treat them like a up-wolves, and to act like a down-wolf, and Baby did not get burned in the fire.

In this way Man and Woman tamed Baby. In this way they subdued baby's spirit, and shaped Baby's word.

Some say this was a mistake, that this was the beginning of the trouble. Some say that Baby was not there to be a down-wolf, or to know right from wrong. Others say that Man and Woman did a wise thing, that they used the ways of the wolf to tame the human, and to make the human safe.

This is a hard question, but I will tell you what I think.

I think that Man and Woman meant well, but that they were not wise in this.

They did not understand that Baby would no longer be able to listen to the voice within. They did not understand that Baby would no longer be free, acting without coercion, according to the nature of a human.

They did not understand that Baby's babies and their babies would all become like down-wolves, that they would all be slaves for the strongest or the cleverest to rule.

They did not understand that even though the strongest and the cleverest would decide what was Good and what was Evil that the strongest and cleverest would still be slaves themselves.

I think this was the beginning of the trouble.

I think this was the death of man and woman.