001 |10|
Francis, that skinny one talking to them,
002 |10|
barefoot, without staff or scrip, lived a life
003 |10|
in which animals were fellow-creatures.
004 |10|
The beasts on the land, the birds in the air.
005 |10|
the fish in the sea, the creeping things were
006 |10|
Francis' furry, feathered and finny friends.
007 |10|
As told in the tale In the Beginning
008 |10|
they and man had a common history.
009 |10|
If they but listened to the Word of God
010 |10|
they would feel at one with all Creation.
011 |10|
And listen to the Word of God they did:
"Yahweh saw
that the wickedness of man was great on Earth,
that human hearts contrived nothing but wicked schemes
day in, day out."
1
016 |10|
And the cattle and all the other beasts
017 |10|
that had been defenseless victims of man
018 |10|
thought it entirely true what Francis preached.
"Yahweh regretted
that He had made man on Earth
and was grieved at heart."
2
022 |10|
And the mice and the other creeping ones,
023 |10|
countless rodents and reptiles and insects,
024 |10|
felt sorry for the Lord of Creation.
"And Yahweh said,
'I shall rid the surface of
the Earth
of the human beings whom I created'
."
3
028 |10|
And the fowls and the other birds were shocked
029 |10|
by such things gone awry, and also shy,
030 |10|
but most did feel that it was man's own fault.
"
'Both man and beast,'
"
Francis added.
4
032 |09|
Here the beasts on the hill, in the fields
033 |11|
and in the dale nearby stopped playing,
034 |10|
for they suddenly saw the scythe of Death,
035 |10|
a punishment incredibly cruel.
"
'And the creeping things,'
"
Francis added.
5
037 |10|
Here the creeping things from the pebbled brook,
038 |10|
the grey rocks and the green lakeshore nearby
039 |10|
stopped creeping, for there were the soles of Death,
040 |10|
a punishment unbearably baleful.
"
'And the birds of the air,
for I regret having made them.'
"
6
043 |10|
Here the birds on the ground, in the tall trees
044 |10|
and in the air above stopped fluttering,
045 |10|
for they had not foreseen the fists of Death,
046 |10|
a punishment impossibly painful.
"God saw that the Earth was corrupt
and full of violence.
God looked at the Earth: it was corrupt,
for corrupt were the ways of all flesh on Earth."
7
051 |11|
The thoughts of most of them had wandered off,
052 |10|
when they paid heed again to Francis' sermon:
"God said to Noah,
'I have decided
that the end has come for all living beings,
since the Earth is full of lawlessness
because of human beings.
So I am now about to destroy them
and the Earth.'
"
8
060 |10|
Would He do it with His long, sharp scythe then?
061 |10|
Would He do it with His heavy soles then?
062 |10|
Would He do it with His wringing fists then?
"
'Behold Me,
I am going to send a flood of waters on Earth,
to destroy all flesh
wherein is the breath of life under heaven;
every thing on Earth is to perish.'
"
9
068 |10|
The beasts and the creeping things and the birds
069 |09|
did not know of any corruption
070 |11|
amongst themselves in the present or the past.
071 |10|
And if the Earth was filled with violence,
072 |10|
a global flood would not diminish it.
"
'Of every living thing of all flesh
you must take two of each sort into the ark,
to keep them alive with you;
they must be a male and a female.'
"
10
077 |09|
And, again, their thoughts wandered away,
078 |10|
while Francis was preaching the divine Word
079 |11|
that failed to satisfy their sense of justice.
080 |10|
It was this what the soft-haired horses heard:
081 |10|
'The Lord wished to take revenge on mankind,
082 |10|
and vented His fury on the hapless.
083 |10|
He made flow the Flood that spitefully slew
084 |10|
all the better beasts of the land but two.'
085 |10|
It was this what the hard-working ants heard:
086 |10|
'The Lord wished to take revenge on mankind,
087 |10|
and vented His fury on the hapless.
088 |10|
He made flow the Flood that spitefully slew
089 |10|
all tiny, diligent creepers but two.'
090 |10|
It was this what the wise, large-eyed owls heard:
091 |10|
'The Lord wished to take revenge on mankind,
092 |10|
and vented His fury on the hapless.
093 |10|
He made flow the Flood that spitefully slew
094 |10|
all the planet's innocent birds but two.'
"Yahweh said to Noah,
'Go aboard the ark, you and
all your household,
for you of this generation do I regard as upright.
Of every clean beast you must take seven pairs,
a male and its female;
of the unclean beasts you must take one pair,
a male and its female.'
"
11
102 |10|
How come this uncalled-for deviation
103 |10|
from what the Lord had just ordered before:
104 |10|
'You take two of each sort into the ark'?
105 |10|
But the dogs knew right away that this was
106 |10|
to distinguish them from the lazy cats.
107 |10|
It was a bad trait of human beings
108 |10|
with a persistent fear of filth or dirt
109 |10|
to place the absence of physical stains
110 |10|
above the presence of moral value.
111 |10|
Therefore the dogs were punished extra now
112 |10|
for having been the most loyal to man.
113 |10|
They barked with indignation, gnashed their teeth.
"
'Of the birds of the air
also seven pairs,
a male and its female,
to keep seed alive
upon the face of the whole Earth.'
"
12
118 |10|
The birds had reason for jubilation,
119 |10|
because they were respected as clean beasts.
120 |10|
Even of the human race, they counted,
121 |10|
only the four pairs of one house were saved,
122 |10|
putting man between the unclean and birds.
123 |10|
But the creepers noticed immediately
124 |10|
that they were not at all mentioned this time.
125 |10|
They were named in the Book everywhere,
126 |10|
always after cattle and the other beasts,
127 |10|
always before the fowls and the other birds.
128 |10|
Here they were treated on a par with pigs,
129 |10|
rather than with oxen and ostriches.
"Every living being on the face of the Earth
was destroyed,
both man and beast, and creeping things and birds;
they were wiped off the Earth
and only Noah remained alive,
and those that were with him in the ark."
13
136 |10|
And soon after the animals were told:
"Yahweh smelt a sweet savour."
14
138 |10|
However, the brown bears and other beasts,
139 |10|
and the lizards and other creeping ones,
140 |10|
and the white doves and birds of other sorts,
141 |10|
they smelled anything but a sweet savor.
142 |10|
They smelled the stench of rotting carcasses,
143 |10|
the equally strong stench of injustice.
144 |10|
Francis saw the deep gloom in the beasts' eyes,
145 |10|
the dark gloom in the creeping creatures' eyes,
146 |10|
even the gloom in most of the birds' eyes.
147 |10|
"Do not despair," he pleaded, "for the Lord,
He said to Himself,
'Never again will I curse
the Earth for man's sake,
because man's heart contrives evil from his infancy.
Never again will I smite every living being
as I have done.'
"
15
153 |10|
This was cold comfort for the animals,
154 |10|
it only confirmed that they had been drowned
155 |10|
because of evil committed by man.
156 |10|
And one who smites them once on such a scale
157 |10|
could bring the same disaster twice or thrice,
158 |10|
in spite of his present promising words,
159 |10|
for those who can kill animals with ease
160 |10|
can lie to all with so much greater ease.
161 |10|
Nonetheless, they did not bolt in terror,
162 |10|
trusting Francis, who had never hurt them.
"God blessed Noah and his sons and said to them,
'Breed, multiply and fill the Earth.'
"
16
165 |10|
And they were soothed considerably,
166 |10|
all the beasts with among them the mammals,
167 |10|
the creeping ones with among them the moles,
168 |10|
and the birds with among them the mallards,
169 |10|
for they had been fruitful and multiplied,
170 |10|
as nature had given or denied them.
171 |10|
But did these words apply to them as well?
172 |10|
They were sure of their friendship with Francis,
173 |10|
who would not have asked them to praise and love
174 |10|
their Creator, if not for a good cause.
175 |10|
And they waited in hope, rather than fear.
"
'Be the terror and the
dread
of all the beasts on the land
and all the birds of the air,
of all that moves on the ground
and all the fishes of the sea;
they are placed in your hands.'
"
17
182 |10|
And they listened in fear, rather than hope.
"
'Every living thing that moves
shall be meat for you,
precisely as the foliage of the plants.
I give you everything.'
"
18
187 |09|
There followed a deafening silence
188 |10|
at the brook, where no flesh chirped anymore;
189 |10|
in the fields, where no flesh lowed anymore;
190 |10|
in the trees, where no flesh sang anymore.
191 |10|
There was only one in the entire crowd
192 |09|
who was not stunned into speechlessness:
193 |09|
"The fear of man and the dread of man
194 |12|
was to be upon everything on the ground,
195 |09|
and in the air, and in the water.
196 |09|
Into the hands of human beings
197 |10|
was everything to be delivered.
198 |12|
And the life and death of every animal
199 |10|
was to be subject to His exclusive use,
200 |10|
by such a creed to any man's abuse."
201 |11|
Never had the animals felt so betrayed
202 |11|
and so fiendishly threatened like this before.
203 |11|
Almost all birds on the ground and in the trees
204 |10|
and in the air above fled from Francis.
205 |10|
All creepers from the pebbled brook, the rocks
206 |10|
and the lakeshore nearby fled from Francis.
207 |10|
Almost all beasts on the hill, in the fields
208 |10|
and in the dale nearby fled from Francis.
"
'Every living thing
that moves
will be meat for man,
no less, no more than the leaves of plants.'
",
19
it reverberated.
213 |10|
All the animals now abandoned Francis,
214 |10|
the birds scurried off, like the creeping ones,
215 |10|
the cats and dogs ran hither and thither;
216 |10|
all left, except part of the beasts that bleat,
217 |10|
all except part of the birds that gobble.
"
'Be fruitful then and multiply,
teem over the Earth and subdue it!'
"
20
220 |09|
But no-one listened any longer,
221 |09|
other than the sheep and the turkey fowls,
222 |10|
who smiled with delight and prayed on demand,
223 |10|
unaware that such mighty godly words
224 |10|
were definitely not to them addressed.
225 |10|
One rabbit, tame as a chick, was there too,
226 |10|
with the turkeys who did not scent danger.
227 |10|
Francis spoke about Jesus, whom they liked,
228 |10|
and they went on to celebrate Christmas.
229 |10|
(Only the rabbit was heard of later.)
230 |10|
One wolf, gentle as a lamb, was there too,
231 |10|
with the sheep who now felt a sacred fire.
232 |10|
A shepherd spoke of Mohammed instead
233 |10|
and they joined the Feast of the Sacrifice.
234 |10|
(Only the lone wolf was heard of later.)
235 |10|
A simple life with sinless Poverty
236 |10|
is what the older Francis liked to live.
237 |10|
But simple-mindedness doesn't serve the weak:
238 |10|
versed in texts that put blind faith over fact
239 |10|
this person did not see that the 'oneness'
240 |11|
of Creation was a man-made chimera.
241 |10|
Preaching to all the animals that morn
242 |10|
was an attempt to include them as kin,
243 |10|
but with intent to convert them, in vain.
244 |10|
After Francis' miserable failure
245 |10|
no-one preached to animals anymore,
246 |10|
that is, not to all of them together.
247 |10|
They preached to turkey fowls and sheep for sure.
248 |10|
Some managed to convert whole flocks of these.
249 |10|
It continues on this earth to this day.
