The Saturn
Presentation of this planet and its moons, including ring and creatures
- Chapter 30 -
The tame animals of Saturn. The most beneficial animal, the cow, Buka.
The first animal we shall observe is a large tame cow, which the Saturnites call buka. You might think: Why do we start with the cow and not with the bull? We are not dealing with a zoological account of the animal kingdom where, in accordance with the learned order of the so-called zoologists, the male must at all times precede the female. Instead, we are dealing with an account of the animals of the planet in the order of their usefulness and in accordance with their noteworthiness. Since the cow is much more useful and much more noteworthy, we shall deal with it first in its proper order; that means we shall deal with the cow before the bull.
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What kind of animal is the buka? What does it look like, how tall is it and where is its home?
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The buka or Saturn cow is a giant animal as far as its size is concerned; in spite of that, it is extremely tame. In accordance with its giant size it eats very little fodder, but drinks considerably more water.
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With its plentiful supply of slightly yellowish and exceedingly good-tasting milk, this animal is the most beneficial among the creatures of this planet. Its milk is the main source of nourishment for the Saturnites. Since the Saturn day is not much different from a day on earth, it should not come as too much of a surprise to you when I say that this cow's regular milk production is frequently as much as in one day.
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(N.B.: On earth such a cow would be quite welcome for some of your industrial tycoons, provided that it would not eat much more than a common cow on earth while it may drink as much water as it needs or wants. But since such very economical human beings would squander away too much if they were to possess such an animal, this animal shall therefore remain on Saturn regardless of the fact that it would not be completely impossible to create a Saturn cow on earth!)
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What does this cow look like? However, its size cannot be compared; the Saturn cow is so large that a common cow on earth would not be any bigger than a fly on the back of your earthly cows. After the mud, the male or bull is almost the largest animal on this planet. The cow, however, is considerably smaller than the bull. If such a cow were here on earth, and you were to stand on its back, you would have a much better view than if you were standing on top of , although the size of the cows on Saturn varies considerably.
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The largest species of these cattle can be found most of all on the continent we know as Herrifa, which was mentioned right at the beginning when we began with the unveiling of Saturn. In this country such a cow frequently reaches a height of 2,400 feet, and it has twice that length from the head to the tail. Its body is supported by four proportionately strong legs, which, when compared to the rest of the body, are much shorter than the feet of a cow on earth when compared to its body. An extraordinarily large udder with eight proportionately long teats is located right between the hind legs. When the cow stands up, these teats are still 240 feet above the ground.
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How can you milk such a large cow? You do not milk the buka like an earthly cow, because these cows give milk all by themselves. On account of their organism, the giving or the retention of their milk is controlled by the instinct-will of this animal. How do the Saturnites notice when this cow will give milk? They notice it by the puffed-up fullness of the udder and when the animal becomes quiet, which usually occurs after it has drunk a large quantity of water.
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When the cow is at rest, the Saturnites make haste and place large containers with wide openings under the teats; these containers are from the pumpkins which we discussed in a previous chapter. The milk is carefully gathered in these containers, which the cow gives voluntarily. Once the buka has discharged all its milk, it lets that fact be known with a thunderlike grumbling.
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When the milk gatherers hear this grumbling, they immediately take their containers and leave their station from underneath the abdomen of the cow, so that when the cow begins to move again no one gets trampled to death by the extremely giant and heavy foot of the buka. After a cow is several years old, you no longer have to worry about that, because an older cow will not move as long as there is a human being under its belly. But this does not apply to the younger cows; they are by nature much livelier, and therefore more caution has to be exercised.
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The Saturnites make quite a bit of butter, fat and cheese from this milk. They prefer to eat this type of food, especially butter and honey spread on cheese. On this planet, honey does not come from bees but from a species of flowers that have large calyxes and an exquisite fragrance; these calyxes are filled by more than half with honey.
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Now we know how the Saturnites enjoy their milk. Therefore, what remains to be described is the color of the cow. The body is blue-gray and the area of the belly is completely white. Beginning at the body, the legs gradually turn dark blue; this applies to the front legs as well as to the hind legs. The tail of this animal is also darker in color than the body and is adorned at the end with an extremely strong vermilion bushy tuft. The neck is more slender than it is massive in proportion to the body. Beginning from the head to the front legs and on each side there is a long strong vermilion mane, the length of which is often up to 3,000 feet long. The head has no horns and it is small in proportion to the rest of the body. The bull, however, has two small upright horns which are bent backward like those of a chamois.
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Something that accentuates the head of this animal are the ears, which have a length of 180 to 240 feet and a width a third of their length. The ears are dazzling white. The forehead of this animal is light bluish gray; in the area of the proportionately large eyes, this color is somewhat darker. The snout resembles that of a cow on earth; it is bare and dark gray. Everything else pretty well resembles the aurochs on earth.
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Is this animal kept in a barn? It is too large to build a stall for it.But it is kept in a living garden. On Saturn this is a large pasture fenced in with the wall tree. The cow cannot jump over this fence in spite of its size, because its legs are short and it cannot lift its feet any higher than 30 feet from the ground. This is, in other words, the stall for this cow. Naturally, such a fenced-in meadow is three times the size of Styria.
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How many cows does an inhabitant of Saturn usually have? I tell you, anyone who has ten cows and two bulls is considered to be the richest.
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That is pretty well everything which is noteworthy about this animal. Therefore, we shall now turn to another useful animal, the so-called domestic blue goat.