"'Khr-r-r-r.' The throat-noise yanked Holm out of his reverie. 'You stare.'
"'Oh. Sorry.' To a true-born carnivore that was more rude than it was among omnivorous humans. 'My mind wandered.'"
-Poul Anderson, The People Of The Wind IN Anderson, Rise Of The Terran Empire (Riverdale, NY, 2011), pp. 437-662 AT II, p. 459.
"[A human being] gave Spots a hard glare; that was extremely bad manners by kzinti standards, but the felinoid stared over her head."
-"The Hall of the Mountain King," CHAPTER NINE, p. 77.
Defeated kzinti living among their conquerors must endure "Stares, jostling and tobacco smoke..." (ibid.) They are neither enslaved nor eaten, if only because human beings want neither slaves nor kzinti meat, but they do encounter suspicion and hostility. Still, it would be good if we could get that close to an alien species.
5 comments:
Kaor, Paul!
I also remember reading in one story of how Kzinti on Earth showed truly incredible stoicism by remaining resolutely calm amidst human crowds, jostling, and "rudenesses" of the kind carnivorous intelligent species would find gravely offensive. So Kzinti can learn, if only with difficulty.
Ad astra! Sean
Sean,
On the Ringworld, a human child jumps onto Speaker's back and clings to his fur. Speaker's claws come out. His entire body and evolution tell him that he is under attack. He urgently asks Louis what he should do...
Shortly afterwards, children are climbing all over him.
Paul.
Kaor, Paul!
A good example of intelligence mastering one's instincts!
Ad astra! Sean
Lion cubs do that all the time with adult lions, btw, and the lions put up with it -- sometimes you can hear them sigh as they do. (Personal observation in Masai-Mara).
Kaor, Mr. Stirling!
I am not surprised. I have read about things like that, adult lions putting up with the antics of their pride's cubs.
I've also read about how, when an upstart male kills the dominant male and takes over its predecessor's harem, the new Alpha Male kills any cubs not sired by it.
Ad astra! Sean
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