Ari (Child of the Beastman Goddess)

He also instructed the hunting team to catch live small animals we can breed and create cages to contain them as they observe them and learn how to breed them.

The plan was successful so during the time for winter, we had an abundant amount of food so there was no report of death due to starvation during winter.

There are no restrictions in this world about food so as long as it has no poison, it is edible. Beastmen are omnivores, meaning they eat both plants and meat, because of their passive forms no matter what race they are.

So technically speaking, they can eat anything, the problem is the availability of food in each season especially during winter.

I never asked what type of meat was included in each meal cooked by the tribe females who were assigned to cook the food of the whole tribe. I was just thankful that beastmen cook their food unlike the primitive era of humanities.

Imagine going to a primitive world setting where the fire was yet to be discovered and foods were eaten raw. I may become a vegetarian if that ever happens to me.

The spring is slowly approaching its end as the temperature starts to rise day by day.

The hunting group already started to bring in some prey to breed. However, my father struggled with choosing the animals we should keep in the beginning, but it didn’t take long for him to decide.All text © NôvelD(r)a'ma.Org.

He decided to keep only three types of animals for the meantime so he decided to keep the wild chickens, quails and rabbits since those animals reproduce frequently.

In our tribe young ones are taught about animal behaviors and its habitats for hunting and survival purposes. Even a cub should be knowledgeable about animals in the wild. Therefore, it should not be a problem if we keep the animals as livestock.

My father initially allotted a cage in the tribal territory to contain the animals.

One day, he was having trouble with the animals. The chickens and quails started to get sick, the tribesmen who were assigned to that were panicking and went to the elder healer to ask for help.

Elder healer was not well versed with animal sickness, but she still tried to check if she could help.

I went to look for my father who was currently under the dilemma due to the sudden sickness of the animals.

He usually stayed in the elder healer’s house ever since his relationship with my mother was estranged, but I couldn’t find him there.

I looked all over the tribal territory when I saw him in front of the altar. He was simultaneously kneeling while bowing and mumbling as he prayed sincerely to the goddess that he didn’t even look back to me as if he didn’t feel my presence so I waited for him to finish while I stood quietly from a distance.

“Ari….” He called as soon as he was done praying before looking back in my direction.

He approached me then picked up my small body carrying me as he walked away from the praying hall.

“Father, the animals got sick because they are inside a cage. I saw them and they looked so shocked inside their cages as if they were so sad due to the changes in their environment. Even Ari would be sad if I were captured and confined inside a cage as if I was kidnapped by bad people. Can we make a wider area at the back of the tribal territory like a small house for each type of animal and design the interior similar to their original habitat? We can collect their eggs and hatchlings and relocate them to an area where we can freely tame them since they are still young so they can easily adjust to the changes of environments.” I suggested eagerly.

“Is that why the animals were sick?” He asked while smiling at me dearly kissing my forehead before hugging me tightly guiding my head to rest on his chest.

I can hear his calm heartbeat as he strokes my wavy locks. It was so comfortable that I suddenly felt sleepy and dozed off.

When I woke up, I was already on the bed and the sun was already setting down and it’s almost time for dinner.

I went outside my room and found my father and elder healer setting up the table to eat.

The next morning, my father did as I said. He, along with the other tribesmen, expanded the tribal territory to accommodate the livestock breeding and possible expansion.

Another reason for their expansion was to make new houses for the future younglings since the population of the tribe is slowly growing.

Housing for the animals was made according to its original habitat. We separated the chicken and the quails to prevent the chicken from killing the quails.

Chickens usually stayed in rainforests, bamboo forests, shrubby areas, forest edges and tall grass to call home. They move between habitats, depending on the location of their food sources. With that information in mind, the tribesmen built several nests using dried grasses to create a cushion for their eggs inside a big wooden coop surrounded by bushes. Female chickens don’t like being disturbed when they are laying eggs so they like to hide in shaded locations while laying and hatching their eggs. Male chickens love to roam around and most of the time fight one another, especially during mating season so a huge bare ground space was allotted for them to roam around.

Quails love to stay in shrubby areas in a low growing grassy meadow. These small creatures feed on insects that are attracted by the grass.

Rabbits live in meadows, woods, forests, grasslands, deserts and wetlands. They live in family groups in underground burrows or rabbit holes. A group of burrows is called a warren.

Recreating those kinds of habitats was tricky, so my father decided to simulate the original habitats of those animals in a small area, then placed a fence around with a door for the tribesmen to enter when feeding the animals and collecting the eggs or cubs.

My father also instructed the tribesmen to make a separate housing for the new hatchlings and cubs for domestication.

They also created a smaller version of the incubation room of the tribe for the incubation of the animal eggs with controlled temperature management.

The incubation room is a hut with a stone made fireplace to heat the room especially during autumn and winter. The fireplace was constantly checked by the elders to ensure the safety of the eggs while keeping them warm.

Everything went smoothly after that and so the livestock were slowly domesticated by the tribe.