The premise of this story is a little unusual: what if every subspecies of Fluffy, gone feral, was transported all over the World during the year 1000 BC? This series will be a global tour of their effects on cultures both ancient and medieval, written in a style mimicking the writers of old. Here, we begin with the Chinese.
Excerpt from Chapter 94 of the “Classified Collection Based on the Classics and Other Literature”; or, Yi Wen Lei Ju.
“The Classic of Mountains and Seas says, ‘There is a horse here which looks like a pony; it is colorful and has a single horn on its head. It can cause bloodlust with its babble. Its name is the dwarf color. If you eat it, you will cure impotence, and its horn is effective for curing all kinds of illnesses.’”
Excerpt from Leng Fei, travel writer from the Tang Dynasty (Circa. 715), only existing fragment of work.
"Among the Northern Hu (Barbarians), they also have a kind of pygmy horse. They lack horns and are reared for meat and their sweet milk and their colorful pelts which are softer than even silk. They are known to babble incessantly, and are fed with wild grasses, vegetables, roots, and berries and are herded on the plains in great number by riders on horseback. A mare will give birth to a litter of five to ten foals, but has only two teats from which to feed her young. She will carry them on her back until they are too heavy to carry. The darkest colored foal is shunned and consigned to a most disgusting fate; the brightest colored foal is treasured and fed very well. It is through this that they have kept their bright and colorful countenance.
"During the spring, their numbers swell to over ten thousand; during the winter their numbers are culled to but a few hundred. Their meat is a delicacy when smoked or broiled, and is so soft that when dried can be eaten without soaking in water. When butchered, they must be corralled a good distance away from the herd, for the sights of slaughter disquiets the herd and leads to its dismemberment. When serving guests of honor, the Northern Hu have the strange custom of presenting the loudest and biggest of the herd to him, before flaying it alive on an altar of stone. They sing their odd songs, and dance around the dwarf horse as it weeps while chanting and beat drums of horse hide until it finally expires. Then the horse is eviscerated, its bowels are emptied and cleaned, and its bones are removed. The meat is chopped into fine chunks, and its skin is sewn into a bag, into which goes the meat and its organs and penis along with several roots. The bag is then roasted over hot stones, and served in its own skin.
"The pygmy horse is an unclean creature; its back is always stained with its own excrement. The dung is collected and dried for fuel, or is spread among the plains as fertilizer. They are a favorite food of predators, and much of the herd is lost to their natural stupidity. They will often approach predators of their own volition and when eaten are shocked still. But in great herds, they will panic and trample each other to pieces, or, sometimes, will instead suffocate the beast with their filth.
"They are, however, oddly friendly to men, and are smart enough to mimic certain behaviors.
