Animal Farm Ancestors
They were natural-born nomads grazing their way across the great prairie. Although they appeared brainless and bullheaded the bovid ungulates understood with perfect clarity the wicked and wonderful ways of the world. They even understood human linguistics and had a language of their own.
Bold Moomba, 26 years old and still very much in her prime, had been leading the herd of 65 cows, 61 bulls, 12 heifers, and 10 bull calves across the Montana grasslands for as long as she could remember. As their leader and matriarch, Bold Moomba had raised her right hoof at The Boulder Batholith and taken the Oath of Snowball, a pledge to lead and protect her family for as long as she could.
"We're going to Sawtooth Ridge," she informed her two closest confidants. "Follow me, my lovelies. To Sawtooth Ridge!"
The young, pretty heifers at Bold Moomba's side, Mag Tillian and Jag Brasky, were stoically munching on mouthfuls of tall grass, yet immediately began bellowing out Moomba's message to the rest of the throng.
"Move on, move on!" They mooed in unison.
Even though their throats were dry, dusty, and full of masticated grass, Mag and Jag continued to spread Moomba's command.
"To Sawtooth Ridge, sayeth Bold Moomba!" They ordered.
Bold Moomba stepped in the direction of the ridge and began trotting briskly towards the jagged peaks of Fairview Mountain. Breathing heavily through her nasal septum, the massive she cow greedily inhaled the scintillating scent of the Sun River, its pristine waters filling her moist nose with the sweet promise of survivance.
How good our mother earth is, she thought gleefully, glancing back to make sure the rest of the herd had stepped in line. How good and gracious and giving!
Bold Moomba new many truths about life on earth. She knew the earth and the sun and the stars represented scientific truth, that all creatures great and small came from and shared the same atoms, and that no gods or deities had ever existed. She grasped the folly of humankind's belief in such religious fairytales, the illogical and irrational thought process behind the God myths.
As a result, Bold Moomba and all other descendants of the animal farm had always followed one simple truth: there were no gods; only science. She saw these verities of equalness as sure and deep as the driven snows in winter and fertile bottomlands in summer.
Despite her keen intellect and natural understanding of the world, Bold Moomba knew that human beings had always looked down upon her kind, seeing them mostly as stupid cattle and unintelligent dairy cows. Truth be told, cows like her didn't know everything! She knew very little about certain things including maps and geography. Unbeknownst to her, the herd she had sworn to guide and defend roamed on what the humans called The Sun River Wildlife Management area.
