The presumption that sheep are unintelligent can be found as far back as Aristotle, who asserted in about 350 bce that the sheep is said to be naturally dull and stupid. Of all quadrupeds it is the most foolish: it will saunter away to lonely places with no object in view; oftentimes in stormy weather it will stray from shelter.
Sheep. Philip Armstrong. Reaction books
Yet just a couple of paragraphs later, he remarks that ‘shep-herds train sheep to close in together at a clap of their hands’, so that ‘when a thunderstorm comes on’, they can summon their flocks back to the sheepfold. The contradictions here resound throughout history: sheep are stupid because they follow obediently, but also because they stray disobediently; they are too dull to know what they are doing, but they can learn to come on command (like dogs, in whom we consider this to be evidence of human-like cleverness).
I find the story familiar. It’s like saying women are horrid but praising men for getting two or three. Saying women are stupid but counting on them to manage the house ( sometimes one big enough to count as a company). Fiction is used to convenience when the ones below the story allow it.
Are you to use this feature in your stories? Do it wisely. Pasto kalo.
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