The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1905-03-22
sAVAoEs AND BRUTsS


PriAes Kropofkin IN ne NiHsiSsAA csRiUrY.
For the primitive savage, animals are
mysterious, problsmAto beings, possessed
Of a wide knowledge OF the things Of nature.
They know much more than they are ready
to tell us. In some way or another, by the
aid Of senses much more refined than ours,
and by telling 10 each other all that they
notice In their rambles and flights, they
know everything for miles round. And
II man has been Just toward them, they
viii warn him Of a coming danger. as they
warn each other; but they will take no
heed OF him If he has not been straight
forward In bis actions Snakes and birds
(the owl is leader Of the enakes) mammals
and insects lizards and hshes-all under
stand each other, and continually communi-
cate their observations 20 one another.
inside this vast brotherhood there are,
Of course. the still closer brotherhoods OF
beings of one blood The monkeys, tho
bears, the wolves, the elephants and the
rhlhoceroses, most ruminants, the hares and
most Of the rodents, the crocodiles, and 80
on, perfectly know their own kin, and they
will not tolerate any one Of their relatives
10 be slaughtered by man without taking,
In one way or another honest revenge. This
conception must have had an extremely
remote origin.
Even now, when a savage IL hunting, he
is bound TO respect certain rules OF pro-
priety toward the animals, and he must
perform certain eIpiatory ceremonies after
his hunt Most Of these ceremonies are
vigorously enacted, even nowadays in the
savage clans, especially az regards those
species considered the allies Of man.
It Is we'll known that two men belonging
to two different clans or tribes can become
brothers by mixing the blood Of the two,
obtained from small incisions made for that
purpose But 1t was also quite habitual
for man 10 enter into brotherhood with
some animal, The tales continually men
ton II. An animal asks a hunter 10 spare
II. and IL the hunter aocedes to the demand
the two become brothers. And then the
monkey, the bear, the doe, the bird, tho
crocodile, or the bee-any one Of the sociable
animals-wil take all possible care Of the
man brother In the critical circumstances
Of his life, sending his or her animal broth
ers Of different tribes TO warn him OF help
him out Of a difficulty. And il the warning
comes too late, OF Is misunderstood, and he
loses his life, they all will try 10 bring him
back 10 life, and II they fail they will take
due revenge just as II the man had been
one Of their own kin.
When journeyed in Siberia l was often
struck without understanding IT, with the
care which my fungus or Mongol guide
would take not to uselessly kill any animal.
The fact is that ersrv life is respected by a
savage, or rather It was before he came In
contact with Eur opeans. II he kills an
animal, 1t is for food or for clothing; but
be does not destroy life. as the whites do.
for the mere excitement Of the slaughter.
True, the red Indians have done that with
the buffaloes; but It was only after they
bad been for long time in contact with the
whites and had got from them the rife
and the quick firing revolver, OF course,
there are rasoals among the animals
the hyenA, for instance, or the shrew-
mouse, or the man eating tiger; but these
do not count; they are outlaws. AS to the
great animal world as a whole, savage
children are taught to respect It and see
in II an extension Of their own kin.