Page 162 - Russian History Viewed through Distorted Mirrors, Vol. 1

Nicolai Levashov. Russian History Viewed through Distorted Mirrors. Vol. 1

ing thing that they see as they leave the egg is their parent who will feed them.

It is much easier to prepare forage for the live-stock for winter, than to chase a
wild beast in deep snow far from the house. Besides, in the case of a successful hunt,
the hunter would have to drag the carcass on his shoulder and if it was a red deer or
an auroch, he would unable to pull the whole piece through the forest of wind-fallen
trees. Even if a hunter hung up the rest of the carcass on a tree, there was no guaran-
tee that he would find everything “safe and sound” on his return. There are a lot of
predatory animals in the forests of the Temperate Zone which are more “at home” in
trees than on land. They are bear, lynx, marten and sable, not to mention predatory
birds and seemingly inoffensive creatures like ants. A horse could help, but in the
forest without good roads it becomes useless, besides, horses cannot be found in for-
ests.

Thus, life itself compels man to domesticate animals. Besides, it was never a
problem to get the wild animals’ young, especially birds’ nestlings. Killing their
mother or a protective father, one can easily catch them by throwing a net. One way
or another, bringing up the young offspring of wild animals, the man of the Temper-
ate Zone got the possibility of having a permanent nearby source of fresh meat, milk,
wool, hides, etc. But the presence of the live-stock brought new tasks. It was neces-
sary to build a farmyard for the domesticated animals which would not only keep
them on a certain territory, but its walls must be a reliable protection from forest
predators which have an especially hard time in winter. In addition, man was forced
to store up forage for home animals for the whole period of cold times.

And again life demanded that man be engaged in an absolutely new type of ac-
tivity. Cutting down the trees necessary for building a house and household edifices
and their heating, man cleared plots of land in the forest. Unlike the equatorial for-
ests, these glades became overgrown pretty slowly due to the reasons indicated earli-
er. The number of these glades increased with every year, especially close to home.
One fine day someone decided to use the land cleared from trees for growing plants
which can be used both for food and other needs right near the house. As a conse-
quence, man needed instruments for soil cultivation and harvesting. At first, people
dug up the earth with a burnt stick, but using such a “progressive” tool one was una-
ble to dig out much – in order to loosen his vegetable garden, man spent a lot of time
and effort.

Therefore, sooner or later, a person, warming up beside the fire in his warm
house during a long and cold winter, with the storm raging outside the door and the
house covered with snow almost up to the roof, asked himself an appropriate ques-
tion: what could be done in order to loosen his vegetable garden much quicker and
better? The food supplies which he made in summer allowed him to pull up and rest
from the everyday fight for survival. And during short winter days and long evenings
someone could have an idea to invent something more effective for digging the earth
than a burnt stick.

Man was pushed by the desire to lighten hard work and shorten the time for cul-
tivation of his piece of land. Using the method of trial and error, imitating and taking

Back to contents 162