Notes

This story started with a bad pun in Dutch. The Dutch title is “Koeikast” (which you can guess to mean “Cow Refridgerator”), which is only one letter away from the Dutch word for refridgerator itself: “Koelkast”.

I didn’t think much of it, until I started to specify my ideas for this cycle and realized it was actually perfect for this second cycle (The Chain of Food). I envisioned a story on a farm, which discussed how dairy and meat would arrive on our plates. The only issue, of course, was the matter of turning such a silly idea into an actual tense story.

The original version

The first draft of the story was as follows.

• The animals on the farm are badly treated. Kuku is done and “betrays” Harry.
• Kuku has to hide from Harry’s wrath now, in many different places.
• But by the end, he’d be convinced to take better care of the animals.
• But Kuku still doesn’t want back, so he lets her go.

Once I wrote this, however, it proved a bit simplistic.

• It was repetitive. Every story Kuku had to run again, and then Harry would almost catch her again, and that for ~8 chapters in a row.
• It was predictable.
• It was unrealistic: someone who’s badly treated animals for years and views them as mere products, will not suddenly turn their entire mindset around. It takes time and multiple large steps. (Especially if the story gives reasons for this perspective, such as money troubles. Something which usually doesn’t vanish overnight too, unless you sprinkle some magic over your story …)
• I needed a bigger climax.
• I wanted to include a few more themes. (For example, the Heavenmatter has been introduced this cycle and I vowed to make one appear in every story.)

That’s how this story received a bit of a … special climax. As you seem to build to a confrontation between Kuku/Elize and Harry, that actually happens earlier, and the real climax is when the aliens come down and what happens afterward. I don’t know if this feels like an anti-climax to some, but I found it an interesting approach.

Additionally, it gave me the opportunity to let this story talk about the “chain of food” a bit more. Whereas humans think they’re firmly at the top … powerful aliens appear. The way Harry treated his animals, that’s how he is suddenly treated himself. (And this already prepares you for the final story of this cycle, in which we take the chain of food to new extremes …)

This story has, therefore, seen one major revision to actually make it work like that.

Other notes

Otherwise, this story is not much special. It’s not based on true history and the educational value is meager. I had no space to truly explain or show the life of a farmer or dive deeper into that. I’d already planned to do a second story (muuuch later) to focus on this.

The general message, though, is probably clear.

On many farms the animals are treated horrible. One reason for that is the pressure society applies on them. The pressure to create as much feed as possible, as cheap and as fast as possible. The price that farmers are offered for a liter of milk is often outrageous.

From a distance, it can be hard to imagine how anyone would treat living beings this badly. Put them in cages all day, which are way too small. Kill them for meat. How dare they!? Surely you don’t become a farmer because you hate animals!? In practice, this is all more of a gray area. Many circumstances can arise in which this becomes the norm or farmers think they have no choice.

The real issue is the fact that humans eat a lot, and a lot of the same thing. It’s natural for us to eat some meat; it’s not natural to eat this much of it, every day, and the environment simply can’t sustain it.

(The early cavemen didn’t find several new elephants to kill and eat every single day. They’d only hunt when they needed, score a single big animal, and feast on it for a long time. If they had killed that many animals every day, then all our food would have gone extinct within a few months, and with it humans too.)

We were made to eat some meat if available, but otherwise fill our bellies with fruit, vegetables, nuts, etcetera. We are, unsprisingly, made to live in a natural way and have a natural diet. If you do that, you are healthier and the environment can actually keep up.

For example, the idea of “three fixed eating moments” during the day (breakfast, lunch and dinner) is just something we made up. I propose you eat when you’re hungry, and you don’t eat when you’re not hungry ;) Sticking to fixed eating moments or lunch breaks, even when you’re not hungry or don’t actually need the calories, is one of the subtle reasons that more and more people are obese.

Finally, in some countries it is a serious issue that children are used—from an incredibly young age—to run their parent’s farm. (This is much less an issue in the Netherlands; moreso in, for example, America.) This causes them to drop out of school, to be unable to play and be a kid, and usually leads to serious health issues before they’re even an adult. It’s child labor, but somewhat accepted on the lousy argument that it’s just “household chores for the family”.

As usual, the Saga of Life aims to talk about life. I grab topics that matter to me, or that seemed extraordinary to me, and try to combine them with a good story. I can never tell everything or cover all perspectives. I can surely not give answers. As soon as a question has a clear answer … I lack the motivation the write a story about it!

Hopefully you read these stories, have fun, and then start to form your own opinions about it.

Characters

• Kuku (young cow): has a (growing) hatred for being locked up and treated poorly. Is the only one who understands that kind daughter Elize is their way forward. (In speaking, often replaces similar-sounding words with “mooh”. Also yells “Mooh!?” if afraid or surprised.) Small, white-pink skin, barely any spots.
• Hess: the Hespryhound of Feria, but now old and mostly without magic.
• Elize (human): young daughter, long red curls, is exceptionally proud and happy to be a farmer’s daughter. Helps out so much that she basically runs the entire farm. Is more open to contact with animals and nature and aims to help them, mostly by convincing father to change his ways.
• Harry (human): the last living descendent of the Chef family true, which bestowed upon him the duty to maintain this legendary farm. It’s too much for him. He lacks the energy or time to do things well and care for the animals, which has made him eternally grumpy over the years.
• Beatrix (delja): plays inspector and tries to close the farm so they can dig up the Stone of Destinydust. Scarily thin and tall woman on heels, who always seems nice at first. She is part of the Delja, an organisation that’s been collecting Heavenmatter for years, eager to conquer the world with that. Her “real form” is a gigantic bird; most eye witnesses doubt if she was actually born on Somnia at all.