The Saturn
Presentation of this planet and its moons, including ring and creatures
- Chapter 25 -
The Blue Bear, Ihur. Its structure, character and nourishment. Its usefulness as a cultivator of the soil.
After we have learned about these two giant animals of this large planet, we shall turn our attention to a few other animals, which are not as enormous. They are, however, important enough to deserve some thought.
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The first animal in this order is ihur; in your language it translates into "blue bear." When the ihur is fully-grown it is almost as tall as a human being on Saturn, that is, if this animal stands upright on its hind legs, which they usually do. The name of the animal discloses its color, which is light blue throughout.
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What does this animal otherwise look like? In general it looks like a golden bear on earth, but the structure of its head is entirely different.
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What does the head look like? It will be a little difficult to describe it in order that you may get a proper picture of this animal, because you do not know any animals on earth which have a head similar to that of the Saturnian bear. Nevertheless, we shall describe a shape by which you can view its head.
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Imagine a fairly round skein of wool having a diameter of 9 feet, and on both sides, approximately in the middle, there are two long ears which have a length of 9 feet and a width of 6 feet. Imagine furthermore two long winding horns at the uppermost part of this skein, each being 18 feet long and approximately 3 feet apart from each other. The color of these horns is a lusterless gold, and approximately 5 feet below them are two proportionately large eyes which have exactly the appearance of a human eye. Below the eyes imagine a proportionately large mouth like that of a lion. Furthermore, this head is connected to its body by a proportionately massive, long, strong neck.
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In addition behind its horns on both sides of the neck this bear has a 12 to 18 foot long mane of a darker blue color; there you have the entire shape of this animal. The ihur has no tail, however in its place there is a little longer and darker hair.
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If you compose everything that has been given in the proper manner, you will be able to imagine this animal if you add to this that the ihur often measures several times 300 feet beginning with the horns and ending with the hind legs, and when this animal stands on its four feet it measures almost 120 feet from the ground to the upper back, and each foot has a length of 36 feet and a thickness of a barrel that surpasses a volume of 566 liters. The paws are like that of a bear; they have the same shape, only the size and color are in accordance with the size and color described here.
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Hopefully, it will not be necessary to describe this animal's size and shape in any more detail. Let us therefore describe its character, its mode of life and its usefulness.
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The ihur is usually good-natured; however, it should not be provoked or pursued. If provoked, it soon changes its goodnatured character and becomes quite vicious and enraged; while in this condition nothing is safe. Whatever crosses its path will be immediately attacked and totally destroyed. Although this animal is not any taller than a human being on Saturn, it has the strength of ten men; that is the reason why a malicious person on Saturn would not fare well if he came in conflict with such an incensed animal by himself.
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The Saturnites shy away from this animal despite its good nature; they try to chase it away with all kinds of means and drive it from areas populated by human beings. That is why this animal is very rarely seen by anyone.
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What is the nourishment of this animal? It nourishes itself with grass, roots and young branches from trees and shrubs. It never eats flesh, not even in an emergency. If provoked, it tears apart humans and animals, then lets them lie there and leaves.
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A very peculiar characteristic about this Saturnian bear is that it has a very peculiar fear of its own anger. For this reason this animal, guided by its own instinct, carefully avoids, wherever possible, any situation where it might become enraged. Such an instinct would be a blessing for many human beings on earth, especially those who are ambitious quarrelers and belligerent patrons, who do their utmost to find situations where they can quarrel. This information should suffice. We shall now turn to the usefulness of this animal.
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The ihur can rightfully be considered the cultivator of wilderness areas; in a very short time it loosens up large areas of soil with its extraordinarily strong claws, and it does this so well that even the Saturnites with their good tools would not be able to match it. What does this animal do after it has loosened the soil? It looks for the fruitful areas and searches for all kinds of edible root vegetables and places them into the loosened furrows. The intent, of course, is not to cultivate a field, but rather to gather a supply of food. But it happens that some of these roots that are placed in these furrows are not eaten by the bear and then they begin to sprout and grow. In this manner a field that is wild and barren becomes fruitful, and even more so when this animal has filled its storage abundantly, because under those circumstances it will not leave until the supply is almost consumed.
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Because it has walked about in an area, as long as it has found something to eat it leaves its droppings everywhere, and by so doing it unintentionally fertilizes this area for years.
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When human beings on their frequent travels in these large countries find such places, they know that they are in the neighborhood of such an animal. They wait for extended periods of time to find out if this animal will make further use of such a field. Should this not be the case, that is proof to them that the ihur has left this place; and then they will take possession of this field.
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It does happen occasionally that the bear returns because of the roots; then the inhabitants either do nothing and allow the bear to dig its furrows again and, in so doing, destroy the crop they have planted, or else they have to attack the unwelcome guest with force; such a confrontation always has a dubious outcome. The animal will always fight for its prerogative and will not easily leave. As for the human beings, it is not easy for them to leave such a new fertile land either.
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Should such an animal be conquered or driven out, then the inhabitants do not have to fear any further disturbance or its return. Even if they are not able to kill this animal, by pursuing it they get the animal to the point that it notices it has been hunted. And since this animal, when in a quiet state, fears its own anger, it will not return to the place where it has been provoked.
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This is everything which is noteworthy about this animal; we shall now continue with another animal that inhabits this planet.