THREE BROTHERS ⋅ A NEW GOD ⋅ CITY OF SALT ⋅ LAKE OF DREAMS ⋅ SUSPENDED! ⋅ THE TWO STREETS ⋅ ON THE EDGE OF THE MARSHS ⋅ BLACKSUN ⋅ DEMON ⋅ GAZELLE ⋅ THE HARDRIIM ⋅ RIDER ⋅ THE FLYER ⋅ ARABIAN NIGHTS ⋅ THE EMPTY MIRROR ⋅ THE SOLDIER ⋅ THE BICYCLE ⋅ THE CROCODILE ⋅ THE THREE TRAVELERS ⋅ OCEANSONG ⋅ THE FLUTE ⋅ THE TREE ⋅ THE TOWER

Herders and barnsmen have spent generations keeping watch over their various four-legged charges, ensuring that the docile only rut with the docile. Bred-in: to be shorn easily, to be ridden long, to be slaughtered deftly; bred out: to bite, to wander off, to jump the fence. Bled-in: fear of the dark, dependence on man for food, obedience to the crook and the whip; bled-out: the ability to navigate by the light of the moon, the nose that can scent young grass two-days’ trot away, a hoof that quickens its pace away from the man calling after it. It is true that now, were a herd of cattle to be abandoned in their fields, six generations forward the calves would still amble towards a man who might approach with thoughts of tender flesh for his supper; were the shepherd to meet his end down a precipice whilst driving his sheep to market, a century later the descendents of the flock would be grazing the same slopes, and their milk would still be sweet. But there are three types of beasts whose feral, cunning, ways are a birthright they will not let be stolen from their offspring: the goat, the cat, and the boar. Any one of these creatures, even one who has known the warmth of the stable on a winter night, the caresses and saucer of milk at the hearth, or worn the padded, belled, collar around his neck, will willingly abandon these supposed comforts of domesticity when given the first chance. But Herders and barnsmen have great pride, and the disobiedient ones are not tolerated. Cats are put into sacks with stones and thrown into the river, or cast upon a bonfire. Goats are cudgeled if slow, or chased to the edge of a cliff and pelted with stones until they cast themselves off into the void. Boars are the most difficult of all, because of their great size and sharp tusks. The boar is intricately restrained and repeatedly beaten until it submits to bearing a great weight, which limits its available strength. The man thinks he has won when he sits astride; the boar thinks he has not yet lost so long as he is not yet turning on a spit. Thus do the herders and the boars spend generations keeping watch over one another in an uneasy truce. -home-