CHAPTER 3
LAURASLAND
Pater was now a long way from his family. He had managed to swim to the separated section of Pangea that was floating to the east at a rapid clip. Now it was really growing difficult to send the messages home. The chickens had to build family relay stations along the way, very high in the mountains. They could only glide to Pangea when the prevailing winds were opportune, and it was a one-way trip. The messages would be repeated from one chicken to the next before they reached Mater. The piece of Pangea that was now Pater’s earthly ship was on a collision course with another island that had popped up out of nowhere. As the edge of his earthly ship was pushed under the other island, the shore of the new island was being lifted high and mountains started to form. He scrambled ashore and climbed the rising shoreline of the island. As he looked inland from his new, higher vantage point, he could see nothing but land for miles and miles. This was no island. As he explored more of the expanse, he found this new land to be full of other animals and a variety of plants. Some of the animals were benevolent and some were hostile. Some of the plants were delicious and edible, some were bitter, and some were deadly. Pater would pay close attention and survive. He sent word back to his family by way of the Pollo Express. “Come join me in this new land, free of ice.” It was a simple message.
Mater and Babi would settle in the middle of their island and the family would grow as Babi would find a mate that was very compatible with her beliefs and got along well with Mater. Her mate’s name was Oenopides. He and Babi would chat for hours about their individual observations, especially the cold air coming from the north and south that seemed to be changing each millennium. In those days, pig life spans were measured in what we now call millennia. They were smart pigs and realized that from their vantage point they seemed to be rotating around the sun on a somewhat regular basis but with some anomalous behavior that repeated in an orderly fashion. They also noted that their reference point at the top of the tallest peak on Pangea seemed to point at a different star every so often. Oenopides concluded that their island must be floating on a ball of water and maybe the island was just moving around. Babi thought her mate was on to something but needed to see more facts. She would help him draw a map of the stars.
Chorley would settle in the southern wooded plains of the island. She would call her new homestead Chorley’s Woods. Here she could raise her family with little regard to the ice forming offshore. There were plenty of plants to eat and the weather was more moderate. She felt that the best way to survive would be to blend in with the nature around her, making very few changes and keeping her family small. Each family member could only produce one piglet. Mistakes were quickly and quietly corrected. Plants were food and were not to be burned for fuel. Water from rainfall would be conserved and eventually would be used as a source of power by damming the rivers and creeks and using the flowing water to turn water mills. Even the wind would be harnessed near the end of that first millennium.
Porcus’ family on the western coast continued to expand in a prolific way. They could burn plants for heat and would continue to use the dead animals for fuel since the number of these creatures found dead along the western shoreline seemed to be increasing.
The families continued to propagate, with the exception of Chorley’s herd, and all was well. One day, a chicken brought Pater’s message to Mater and Babi’s village. The message was a bit garbled. “The land is joined, come.” Since Pater was still the patriarch, Mater and Babi rounded up their family and set out for the east with the assumption that it would be a land journey.
Porcus received his message. “The free land is ice.” Best to stay put, he thought. But what about this ice? Were things going to get worse? Maybe he should move his family to the southern plains, the area settled by Chorley. Decision made; he would just move to the south of the island. Chorley would surely welcome him and if that was a problem, he would just go northwest along the coast and join up with Sus and her family.
Chorley’s Pollo Express message read “Join the Land.” Chorley took this to mean to continue to do what she was doing, living in harmony with nature. She just thought her dad was encouraging her in her chosen life style. When Porcus showed up with his family, dragging along dead oily animals and burning them and the plants, including Chorley’s cultivations that he could cut and burn, Chorley sent him packing. His life philosophy was the opposite of her tranquil merging with nature. Saddened by the lack of welcome, Porcus headed northwest to join Sus’s family.
Sus’s message from Pater read “Come, free land.” She didn’t want to leave her wonderful southern coast but when Porcus arrived and started his slashing and burning, she decided that the southern coast was not big enough for the two families. She decided it would be easier for her to go east than to stay in close proximity to Porcus. Along the way, she would join up with her mother and Babi and they would reach the eastern shore together. They soon discovered there was no land bridge to the new land that Pater had found. But it was getting colder, much colder. The ocean froze into a solid surface. Sus, Mater, Babi and Oenopides just walked across the ice to the new land.
Now Pangea would just be occupied with Chorley on the southern tip and Porcus on the west coast. Chorley and her family would try to blend with the land while Porcus would burn anything he could find. It was getting colder. The ground was rumbling.
Mater and her newly rejoined family started their search for Pater. This new land was vast and very intimidating. They would discover the same wonderful and dangerous plants and creatures that Pater had encountered. The cautious Babi would make sure that they all made safe and sound decisions. This was important to her since she was now expecting a new piglet. Oenopides was excited about the coming addition and looking forward to discussing all of his spatial analyses, maps and charts with the new piglet. But their first priority was to find Pater.
Pater’s explorations had taken him deep into the northern interior of the new land. With each new clearing and shoreline encountered, he thought he had finally reached the ocean. But the water was fresh and the new ocean was in fact, a great lake. “Why explore further?” he thought. The land is plentiful, the rivers are both slow and swift, teaming with fish and edible plants. He visited with the new manager of the Pollo Express, Lil’ Redhenny. She was one of the most intelligent chickens to be found and had risen to the top of the organization. “Lil’, take this message to Mater. Tell her to join me at the west side of the Great Lake,” he said in very clear tones. The message relay began. Now all Pater could do was wait and prepare a homestead for his family.
Mater saw the chicken messenger as he came over the horizon. “Come to the east side of the Grape Loch.” The message was wonderful. Grapes were a favorite food for her family and lochs were both beautiful to behold and served as wonderful gateways to the ocean’s bounty. She would send a message back, “We are on our way, Babi and Oenopides have a new piglet, they named him Epler K. after your father, Kupernicus Hogg.” She knew that would please Pater greatly. His father was a famous pig of great intelligence, a renowned member of the Hogg family having made many discoveries in astronomy.
Mater called the family together to plan their excursion to the east. They decided that they would go south of the Great Mountain chain that divided the land from west to east since the southern lowlands were fairly flat and appeared to be easier to traverse. The lay of the land north of the Great Mountain chain was unknown. Mater felt it would be unwise to risk climbing the southern slope just to see what lay beyond. It would obviously be colder since you could see the snow and ice on the mountain tops.
They would go due east, using Oenopides’ new star map to guide them. He would read the great works of Kupernicus Hogg to his son every chance he got. Epler loved those stories. He would retell them to his father over and over, making what he thought were improvements with each retelling. Oenopides was impressed with his son’s imagination. There were many other tales that Oenopides would relate to Epler, who was always ready to hear more. Some of the most interesting stories involved the great pigs Fig and Leo.
As the story goes, Fig had discovered that when he climbed a hill, he would grow tired and that it was easier to go downhill. He described it as a rope pulling on his harness. Going up he had to work against the rope. Going down, the rope’s pull seemed to help. He would describe it as an invisible force that he could not see but could sure feel. Now Leo felt that Fig’s force was based on how fat Fig had become. If he would lose some of that fat, the force pulling on him would be less. He said he could prove it by how fast the force would pull a heavy rock and a lighter rock downhill. Surely the heavy rock would go faster down the hill. But when he tested his theory, he found he was wrong. The rocks reached the bottom at nearly the same time.
He then tried the experiment from the Leaning Tower of Pizza. The result was the same. He scratched the bristles on his chin and wondered what he had missed. He went to find his friend, knowing that he would certainly have an observation to offer on Leo’s dilemma.
He found Fig gazing up at an apple hanging from a tree branch, wondering why the apples only fell in one direction, down. That was where the story always ended. Epler usually went to sleep before the end of the story.
As Mater started east with her family, Pater decided to explore further north. He would return to greet Mater when she arrived, but that time was undetermined. So, perhaps it would be best to explore instead of making a homestead just yet. He set out up the mountain slope and over the highest ridge. After cresting the ridge, he came upon a new civilization of pigs. They lived in large pens with stone walls that they called cities. They had created ponds on the slopes of the mountains and ridges that surrounded the walls of the cities. They called the ponds “terraces” and grew a grass they called “rice.”
The cities were warm and well lighted. The early settlers had found that the black honey substance that collected in some of their terraces would burn and give off light. They would gather the stuff in buckets and eventually built cane pipelines that brought the black honey to the cities.
Now the citizens had more time to experiment with things they had discovered about the land, how to improve their crops, and entertain themselves when the eventual snows came and travel outside the cities was too difficult to attempt. Pater made notes of his observations for future use but decided that the living quarters in the confines of the cities were just too close for his taste. His wanderlust took over once again. He set out towards the north once more. He decided to call this new vast continent, Laurasland, named after his mother who had always encouraged his explorations, even when he was a young piglet.