Goats Know Nothing

March 28, 2010

Stemco stood looking out over the yard chewing something. What it was he didn’t know. All he knew was that every once in a while some thing he didn’t know, would enter the space he was in and fill the…he didn’t know what, with stuff he ate. Was it good? He didn’t know. It was simply something he was compelled to eat.

Stemco had no sense of fenced in pens or how the thing would move and  pass the barrier that kept him from going farther into the yard.  Once in awhile, a smaller version of that thing that moved around and  entered the space would come out and utter sounds that he didn’t understand and touch him on the head. It kinda smelled though he had no idea what those smells were. That smaller thing once left a space in the barrier that he simply walked through. He walked around the yard and ate something that was in what a human would call a laundry basket but he didn’t have any concept of what that was. All he knew was that a large thing came out and starting making loud sounds. That thing hit him with something and pushed him back into his area and the space in the barrier was gone. He never had a clue was that was about.

Another time, the small thing came into the area he was in and moved toward him. He put his head down and tried to butt the thing. The thing made a loud sound and moved away quickly. When it was gone there was something laying on the ground which kind of smelled like the thing but kind of not.  Stemco looked at it and then ate it. Part of it was kind of hard, part of it was stringy and some of it was chewy. He didn’t know if he had ever eaten anything like it before because he had no particular memory of anything.  He just ate it.  Later a larger moving thing came out and looked around and then made some loud noises.  If Stemco had any concept of language or shoes he could have told the thing that he just ate one.

While Stemco stood there thinking about nothing, Hammer walked up next to him and uttered a gutteral sound.  Humans might think it some kind of goat language but it was just a noise to indicate that he was there.  Stemco could recognize the sound as being from Hammer  since different goats sound different.  Stemco did not of course associate that sound with Hammer, just with another goat.  Goats know nothing of names, wouldn’t understand them as other than sounds if they ever heard them.

Sometimes, perhaps a couple times a day (though they didn’t know what a “day” was) the moving thing would come into their space with something they could eat. The thing would make a sound, then a movement and there would be food. They never knew what the sounds or movements meant other than afterward there would be food. Sometimes there would be food, sometimes not. They didn’t really know or care what the sounds or movements were because they could smell the food when the moving thing showed up.

This occurred during a time when Stemco and Hammer could see things and activity around them.  Sometimes they couldn’t see very well. They had no idea why they could see better sometimes and not other times. When they couldn’t see very well, they closed their eyes.  Sometimes when they opened their eyes they couldn’t see at all, sometimes they could sort of see and sometimes they could see quite well. They did not know why this was and they didn’t care.

Stemco and Hammer simply  ate and waited. Sometimes they got thirsty and drank water, though they didn’t know what water was, all they knew was that they were compelled to drink it once in awhile. Once in awhile they would walk around and wait some more. Sometimes they would feel compelled to climb up the wooden ramp to the top  or jump up on top of the little house that was in their space. They didn’t know what wood ramps or little houses were, they simply felt compelled to use them. Occasionally they would smell something that would  compel them to locate the source of that smell which was always a female goat.  For reasons unknown, they would seek out the female to satisfy that compulsion. They didn’t know why that happened and they didn’t care. They had no control over it.

Humans think goats  know stuff. Goat know nothing.  Humans know nothing…about goats.

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