MIXED COMPANY

By ANNE K JACQUES

GENESIS

The exact age of the planet earth is still a matter for research and argument; a
figure much favoured at present is sixty thousand million years. In Chapter One
of the first book of the Authorised Version of the Bible there is an
astonishingly brief account of the earth's beginning and early development.
Providing that the word `day' be taken to mean not twenty-four hours, but a
period of time, then the chronological order is probably accurate. Each period
could have been many millions of years' duration. Territorial animals did not
eventuate until the sixth `day', or period, and homonids were the last animals
to develop, Homo sapiens being a comparatively recent arrival. Early man had no
illusions of grandeur – he was just one of earth's creatures, bigger than some,
smaller than others and glad of the friendship of any.
The rat was one of man's earliest friends; both were creatures of no fixed
abode and together they wandered in search of food and shelter, the rat acting
as scout and guide. He could always lead man to the finest grains and seeds, to
the best nuts and berries and the sweetest fruits. Both enjoyed the occasional
meal of grubs and insects. The rat had, and still has an uncanny capacity for
sensing potential dangers such as poisonous fruits or unstable soils. This very
useful ability earned for him a reputation for great wisdom and discretion. It
seems that man was much less self-sufficient than were other creatures, and his
greatest need had always been to gain the friendship of those mysterious spirits
whom he believed to be the controllers of the universe and men's lives. These
strange powers became his gods. The original meaning of the word `god' was `one
to whom gifts must be offered'. He erected tables or altars in high places on
which he laid offerings – gifts of the fruits of the earth. These were holy
gifts or `sacrifices'. Thus the gods were born of man's childish hopes and
fears.
But to say that man was childish dose not imply that he was stupid, for had
he been stupid he would not have survived in those difficult days. The gods he
created were curiously like himself. They loved and hated, suffered pain and
died and were buried. Zeus, the greatest of all the gods, was reputed to have a
tomb on the island of Crete, but the gods had a habit of rising from the grave
and walking and talking with holy men and kings and so continued to govern the
world through them. The animals most generally connected with the marvellous
wonders of nature were held to be the visible representatives of the spirits who
controlled those wonders. The rat was no doubt one of the first creatures to be
so regarded.







In the very earliest records of early civilisations of the Middle East and
Asia the rat had honourable mention as a Corn Spirit and a well-established
deity. In Phrygia the rat was held to be the personification of Persephone, the
goddess of germinating seeds, and fertility. The women of that country used to
embroider outlines of rats on their ceremonial veils as symbols of good fortune.
Phrygia ceased to be a kingdom of importance in the third century AD but until
that time it had been a land of considerable importance, as the roads through
its great river valleys were the main trade routes between India and the Far
East and the western world. This fact made Phrygia a `sorting house' for the
cults and customs of many ancient civilisations.
In Egypt the rat was sacred, and even to injure one was a punishable crime.
Both Egypt and Phrygia were grain-growing areas, their soils and climates making
them ideally suited to such crops. Monoculture always attracts large numbers of
selective insects, and without any form of control the harvests can be seriously
affected, but the recognised Corn Spirit enjoyed meals of grubs, larvae and
small insects and so established himself as the great non-toxic insecticide, and
earned every grain of corn he ate.

Rats are not mentioned in the Old Testament, but there are three references
to mice. The word `mus', and its plural `mies', were used in olden times to
cover a great range of rodents and even a few small animals which were not
rodents, such as the `sorex' or shrew-mouse. The word `rat' did not come into
the language of the western world until many centuries later. It is certain that
the Black Rat abounded in the Middle East in Biblical times, being indigenous to
North Africa and Phrygia. The episode related in the First Book of Samuel is an
early reference to an outbreak of plague, and the `fifty thousand and three
score and ten' citizens of the five towns of the Philistines whom `the Lord
smote with a great slaughter' were victims of an epidemic of bubonic plague. The
`trespass' offering exacted off the Philistines consisted of five golden mice
and five golden emerods. Emerodes were glandular swellings on the groin and were
symptomatic of the bubonic type of plague.
It is quite evident that the Hebrews regarded the `mies' as the instruments of
the wrath of Yahweh, their god. It would be simple enough to produce replicas of
emerods and doubtless the five golden mice would have been stylized flat
castings, as was the Golden Calf which Aaron devised to appease the malcontents
in the desert whilst Moses was away up the mountain chipping at the tablets of
the Ten Commandments.








Rats were also very numerous in Ancient Greece and when their numbers were
so great that it was feared they might endanger the harvest, the Greeks used to
issue quite solemn edicts against them. In `The Golden Bough', Sir James Frazer
gives this account of those legal documents. He says they were generally phrased
along the following lines:

`I adjure you, ye mice here present, that ye neither injure me nor permit any
other mouse to do so. I give you yonder field (indicating exact area), but if I
ever catch you here again, then by the Mother of All the Gods, I swear I will
rend you in seven pieces.'

These edicts were taken by the husbandmen and read to the rats in the
cornfields. The scrolls were then placed on unhewn stones and left in the fields
overnight for all the rats to inspect. There are no records of the nasty threats
ever having been put into operation, but the rat has a reputation for being
quick to take a hint.
The Greeks were gentle and considerate to all animals. They believed that
the gods would avenge the wrongs done to defenceless creatures. When it was
proposed that the Roman-style gladiatorial games be staged to entertain the
people, the Athenians rejected the offer, saying that such displays would make a
mockery of the altar to the God of Mercy which stood in the marketplace.
The Roman Empire was city-orientated and most of its grain requirements
were imported from Egypt. The enormous rat population of Italy most probably
stemmed originally from stowaways on the Egyptian grain ships. It is thought
that it was from Italy that the black rat fanned out and very gradually
infiltrated into every part of Europe.
Unlike the Greeks, the Romans were not a compassionate people. Their
paramount god was Mars, and Mars was not a god of mercy. Many Roman philosophers
spoke strongly against hunting and other cruel sports, but the Roman legionaries
were not students of philosophy and most of the cruel types of sport in Europe
today are legacies of Roman military occupation. The Greek and Cretan bull dance
was debased by the Romans and became bull-fighting. The English sports of
fox-hunting and bull-baiting were Roman souvenirs, and even football is a Roman
legacy. It started as a free-for-all when a human head was kicked around the
camp and district vied with district for possession of the grisly trophy.










Rats and men conduct their affairs on much the same lines. Unlike other
creatures, neither of them has a set breeding season, although in the springtime
the thoughts of both ` do lightly turn to thoughts of love'. The female rat can
have several litters a year and there are generally between six to ten young in
each litter. The gestation period is twenty-one days and the young are born
blind, deaf and hairless. They become sexually mature at the age of three to
four months; one rat year is equal to thirty human years and their expectation
of life is proportionately the same as that of man – thus a three-year-old rat
would be the equivalent of a man aged ninety.
Most animals are good to their offspring so long as they are entirely
dependant on their parents, but as soon as the progeny are capable of foraging
for their own food and shelter, the family ties terminate and it is doubtful if
so much as recognition occurs at a later date. This casual attitude is quite
foreign to the rats, who are remarkably good parents. Their family ties are as
close as those of human families. They cherish their sisters and brothers and
aunts and uncles, cousins and grandparents too. The maternal instinct is so
strong that the mother rats who have lost their own young have been known to
capture mice and carry them off to their nests, believing that they were
adopting young, orphaned rats. The mice are never very cooperative about this
transaction, for in spite of their great similarity, rats and mice do not
fraternise readily and rarely choose to settle in close proximity. They can and
do interbreed, but that is far from being a common occurrence. The progeny of
such unions are not sterile and are known variously as `mats' or `rice'.
Scientists do not seem to have definitely decided whether rats are in fact
big mice or that mice are a small type of rat. In a very fascinating book called
`Rats, Lice and History' the writer, Hans Zinsser, suggests that perhaps mice
may have developed out of rats under circumstances which made it less desirable
to be large and ferocious than to be able to hide in a small hole. However, the
implication of Zinsser about the ferocity of rats is quite misleading, for rats
are peace-loving creatures and seldom fight amongst themselves. Even fights with
strangers only occur under stress or great provocation. When fighting becomes
inevitable, the actual killing is generally the work of the females, who inflict
a bite on the neck of the victim which so damages an artery that death results
from internal haemorrhage.
In any rat colony the rising generation is treated with great kindness and
consideration by the entire community, and they are always encouraged to eat
first whenever food is being shared out. The older males make no claim to
privileges over the youngsters in matters sexual, and there is no driving out of
young males such as occurs in many other animal species.





Both man and rat have derived great benefit from the observation of the
precept `honour thy father and thy mother'. This has made it easy for the stored
experiences of a long life to be passed on by the elders to the oncoming
generations for their help and guidence. In the case of `Homo sapiens', this
benefit has been strengthened by the development of the art and craft of
writing. By this clever device the thoughts can be transferred from the human
brain to inanimate and less easily destructable material. The thinker dies, but
the thoughts live on for the benefit of posterity.
Rats have not developed this ability, unless the device of strategic urine
sprinkling could be so designated. By this procedure rats are able to pass on
important information about traps, poisons, natural disturbances and other
possible hazards. These messages are picked up by members of the clan and passed
on to neighbouring colonies until there can be a countrywide alert. The saying
that the rat deserts a `sinking ship' is inaccurate. It originated in the days
of wooden ships, when the slightest seepage of moisture in the lower reaches of
the hull would warn the alert rats of a possibility of a greater intake
resulting in discomfort and danger. A few discreetly placed urine messages
around the jetty would result in every rodent booking on that ship being
promptly cancelled. Rats do not embark on likely sinkers.

To club members - I was given a copy of extracts of MIXED COMPANY which
contained the pages of information about rodents only. For a copy of the
complete version of MIXED COMPANY by Anne K Jacques, please visit the following
web-sites to make your enquiries –
New Zealand Anti-Vivisection Society
http://www.nzavs.org.nz/
New Zealand Vegetarian Society
http://www.ivu.org/nzvs/
Royal New Zealand SPCA
http://www.rspcanz.org.nz/


Yours sincerely Rebekah Blackwolf Mitchell-Matthews
Club founder.