Saturday, January 3, 2009

Camel Attitude according to Arthur Weigall





I have an affinity with camels, and so does my grandson, A.J.. He met one in a family friend's stable when he was about 5 or so years old. Somewhere in my box of photos is the one I took of him communing with that young camel.

[The quoted material below is not my opinion but the author's.]
This is from Arthur Weigall's story Laura, A Camel with a Grievance 1932:

"All camels are discontented. They hate being camels, but they would hate to be anything else because in their opinion all other living creatures are beneath contempt, especially humans. The expression upon their faces when they pass you on the road indicates that they regard you as a bad smell.

"They nurse a perpetual grievance against mankind and ruminate upon their wrongs until they groan aloud. Yet when you go to them to find out what is the matter, they give you no hint of any specific trouble, but merely look at you with sad, reproachful eyes and groan more loudly, or, in certain cases when their sense of unbearable insult is overwhelming, try rather half-heartedly to bite you.

"The fact that a camel has yellow teeth, a harelip, a hump, corns and suffers from halitosis, places the poor creature beyond the range of ordinary sympathy: people ... never put their arms around camels, or stroke or kiss them; and yet their sorrowful eyes, fringed with long, languishing lashes are beautiful, and their whimpering is heart breaking.

"Camels do not ask for love or pity. They have been domesticated and enslaved for so long that they make no response whatsoever to overtures of that sort, but continue to loath and despise you no matter how kindly you treat them or how well you feed them. The very sight of you makes them feel sick and their one request seems always to be that they may be allowed to go away and die.

"Their days are irksome to them; they have no hope; unlike many animals, they have no rudiment of religion; they make no friends; they just complain and unwillingly submit.

"When they are being ridden they do not attempt to cooperate with their riders, and when they are being used as beasts of burden they protest indignantly but ineffectually against their loads, and try their best to make you feel a cad."