The Farmer And The Wild Mountain Boars
A sounder of wild boars lived their lives on the top of a hill. The land produced all that they needed to live fruitfully and procreate the next generation. Each adult boar handed off the foraging skill that were built up from a lifetime of executing upon that which their own parents handed down to them.
At the foot of the hill was an increasing amount of development of farm land by humans. Occasionally these humans attempted to take over and develop the very hill where the wild boars live. Each time the boars would wage an attack against them. As each successive farmer marched up the hill with his hoes, bags of seeds and plows – the sounder of wild boars would violently chase them away – biting them, sticking them with their tusks, trampling over any vegetation that a farmer might have been able to sneak in. Needless to say the title to this plot of land changed hands frequently. Most of the humans concluded that “It was not worth it. The boars are are dead set against anyone taking over their land”.
The deed to the land was transferred to one farmer who decided to take a different tact. He did not purchase farming supplies and immediately attempt to farm the land. He instead built a platform in a tree on the hill and simply sat back and watched these boars. His goal was to understand what made them tick and use this reconnaissance for his own purposes.
When the spring time came this farmer was seen hiking up the hill with two large sacks of “pig feed” on his shoulders. He reached the top of the hill, with sweat upon him. The wild boars looked upon him , ready to mount an attack against what they thought was yet another “seeding” attempt. He tore open these bags of feed, poured it upon the ground and then retreated back down the hill. The wild boars looked upon his actions with great curiosity.
A few hours past as they stayed in the high grass, looking at the mound of material that they saw birds swoop in to eat. One scout from the wild boars went over to the mound to check it out. He was careful to look out for snares, booby traps or poison. He walked up to the mound, sniffed it, detected that it appeared to be food that was in good standing and began to eat.
The other boars looking upon their friend eating an abundant share of the food look on him as he ate the “easy pickings” while their stomachs growled. A steady wave of the boars retreated from their positions in the grass and made their way to the mound of food and began to eat. They raised their head on occasion, to make sure that the farmer did not spring out of the bushes and blast them all with his shot gun. None of this happened.
Each successive week, the farmer returned and repeated the same task – dumping the food and departing. Over time he brought a third bag and then a forth as he noticed that two bags was not enough, now that more boars were feasting upon it and fights began to break out over the food shortage. He then switched from a weekly schedule of delivery to a daily schedule.
In the twelfth month of this venture something changed. Upon delivering the supply of food the farmer began to plant a wooden post into the ground each day. First one and then another was planted 10 feet away and then another was placed 10 feet away from the last one.
Upon seeing this changing situation some of the elders became concerned. One spoke out and made the case that he had always had concern about the farmer's intentions. He mentioned that of the other humans that he had heard about from his ancestors had the intention of taking their land and killing them off. Why is this one any different? Another elder noted that over the 12th months of them eating that which the farmer has left them they have gotten fatter. Upon initially eating the farmer's food it made up only a quarter of their diet. They still had to forage for their own food. As they got more dependent upon the farmer's food they began to fight. As more food was supplied they stopped seeking other food and now this food provides 95% of their nutrition. Yet another elder noted that they have gone through two complete breading seasons and that no one of their new generation of piglets have learned their traditional foraging methods. Instead they first nursed off of their mother as she at the farmer's food. Later on they stood beside their mother and ate the farmer supplied food just as they saw her eating. “What happens if the farmer decides to stop feeding us?” asked this elder.
Upon hearing all of this the young boars began to rebut them. “We have been eating this food for a year and we have eaten well. This farmer has not poised us. This farmer has not shot at us as did the other humans of the did, just as you tell us. We are now dealing with a different type of human than what you faced 'back in the day'. We cannot be bound to your old ways. We must progress forward. “
Another young boar stated “Look at the quality of the food that we now have access to. The old way of foraging had us looking for food all day long. We were forced to stick our snouts into bushes covered with thorns, being pricked as we sought to reach the fruit. Our teeth were ground down as we crunched on hard shells of nuts as we gained access to the edible portion inside. Today we have it much better. This enlightened farmer, who watched us upon his platform was empathetic about our fate in the while. He saw all that we struggled with. He was gracious enough to care to remove these challenges that we faced. I say that we continue eating this more nutritious food. These posts are likely put up as part of a shelter to keep our food from getting wet when it rains”.
The elders stopped consuming the farmer's food and went back to foraging. Over time the conflict with the elders subsided because they passed on with age.
Indeed the farmer completed the roof. He also began to fill in the spaces between each post with wood panels. The new leaders of the boars dismissed this as any sort of threat. They rationalized that these walls were being put up to keep the birds and the occasional fox from eating their food.
Over time the walls were complete. The entire building was complete but for one entrance that they could walk through to access “their food”. By this time they could be seen walking toward the food even before the farmer had departed from the scene. Their tails would wag upon seeing him come to feed them.
On the last fateful day they saw the farmer leave the food, depart and then come back as they were inside of the feeding pen as they ate. Since they had grown comfortable with him his presence was of no concern to them. They looked up, saw it was him and continued to eat, their tails wagging.
The farmer erected the final enclosure to the feeding house. It was a hinged gate.
All fears held by the boars were put at bay as one of their leaders told them: “No worried. Our friend the farmer must have seen a fox on his walk down off of our hill. He came back to put up the last section up so that this fox would not steal our food.
As they finished feeding and pushed their snouts upon the new gate – it did not swing open. At this point they knew that they were trapped per their dependency.
After his investment the farmer obtained the farmland that many men prior to him had failed to obtain. He also had access to a sounder of fat pigs upon which the humans feasted upon in celebration of the newly expanded farmland.
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