Chapter 7, The round God is coming (Part 2)
As a kind of pet with a long history of domestication, the status of cats in human society has also gone through several ups and downs - sometimes they are lifted up to the clouds and respected as sacred beasts to worship, sometimes they fall into hell and are reduced to being beaten by everyone. Demon.
Cats once had a very noble status - in ancient Egypt, where domestic cats were first domesticated, the ancient Egyptians not only regarded cats as important family members, but also as rodent exterminators and excellent stewards of the Nile River barns. Because the importance of cats to grain hoarding is self-evident, as time went by, the ancient Egyptians gradually deified cats and created Bastet, the cat goddess with a cat head and a body. Every spring, the ancient Egyptians A grand sacrificial event will be held in the city, gathering hundreds of thousands of people to sing praises to the cat goddess Bastet. It can be called the oldest cat girl cosplay show.
But the problem is that as Christian forces gradually took control of the European continent, the sacred worship of cats quickly became history in the Western world - some "stupid humans" began to vaguely feel that there seemed to be something wrong with cats, and they always brought... A little evil. Especially in the late Middle Ages, many Europeans began to firmly believe that according to the Bible, God created all things to serve and be ruled by humans. However, cats do not obey human commands like dogs or other domestic animals. It is an elusive creature that hovers between the familiar and the unfamiliar. In addition, it happens to be a nocturnal animal, so the Christian fanatics at that time associated cats with things like devils and witches. .
In Western fantasy cartoons or movies in the modern world, the reason why evil witches often have a black cat lying next to them, or the witch herself turns into a black cat. Then they engage in various evil activities in the dark... It was originally a feudal superstition that originated in medieval Europe.
——No matter what the relationship between the two is, witches and cats are both reflections of Satan and the incarnation of evil, and must be judged and killed!
As a result, a vigorous national cat-killing movement was staged in various European countries in the Middle Ages with a strong religious atmosphere.
Initially, this was just a spontaneous act among the people. But about half a century before the arrival of the Black Death, a certain pope who seemed to be possessed by "Schrödinger, the cat-torturer" actually came out to join in the fun and publicly declared that cats were an "un-Christian evil animal" and one of those terrible witches. Partners, ask all Christians to use the same vigor as the Chinese in the future to eliminate the four pests, and work together to drive out cats from the land of Europe! ! !
At this point, the cat-killing movement received official encouragement and became a de facto legal obligation. According to the teachings of God, cats are evil, and anyone - especially a woman - who shows affection for cats is suspected by everyone of being a heretic or a witch, and is in danger of being burned alive!
In that terrifying era of cat abuse, if a devout Christian encountered a kitten when he went out at night, he would use all kinds of cruel methods to kill the cat. If the cat was left alive or the cat was killed, If the method is not cruel enough, it is considered disrespectful and disrespectful to Christ Jesus! Many devout Christians will pile up the carcasses of slaughtered cats on the walls of buildings to show that they are always at odds with the devil!
During every grand festival, European Christians in the fourteenth century would kill cats to death in various bizarre ways to show that they had successfully killed "Satan/Devil" and to increase their mission to God. It not only adds joy to the grand festival, but also expresses a high degree of respect for the gods in which they believe. What makes people feel even more dizzy is that in order to please the gods, all kinds of elaborate cat abuse techniques have been invented.
For example, some Christians will imitate the method of executing heretics, tie the captured cat to a miniature burning rack, and burn it alive to show their hatred and disgust for "Satan/Devil"; others They will prepare a large bowl of water, put the cat into the bowl and drown it alive; some people will disembowel the cat alive and dig out its heart; some people will Cat abusers with the most twisted personalities like very complicated methods of killing cats. They use various sharp and hard objects to cut the cat's throat, and then insert iron objects into the cut throat to block the cat's throat. They would then forcefully squeeze out the cat's tongue and then cut it off, and finally hang the dying cat high, allowing the tortured cat to die slowly and painstakingly.
——Until the 21st century, the custom of "roasting cats" still existed in some areas of Belgium. During every festival, cats were burned and played with...
To be honest, almost all European Christians at that time were unprecedented cat abusers. When European scholars in the future accused the Mayans and Aztecs of the Americas of being inhumane with their various killing techniques to worship gods, they forgot that they seemed to have just used all the above-mentioned murderous methods on the poor cat. I have practiced this on myself countless times... Of course, a cat's life is always not as valuable as a human's life.
Closer to home, according to relevant documents from the European Middle Ages, more than one million cats were burned to death on the eve of the Black Death. Countless cats have died from other cruel and killing methods. Especially when the Black Death broke out in 1348, the performance of the cat slaughter movement had reached its peak, and there were almost no domestic cats in Europe! Only a few areas still have some wild cats surviving.
——On the eve of the arrival of the plague that devoured all living beings, the medieval Europeans who sought death personally eliminated their natural savior!
Under such circumstances, even if poor traveler Levi wanted to get some cats to catch mice, he had no place in Europe to purchase them.
In addition to the endless cat-killing campaign, medieval Europeans also had a very disgusting attitude towards another kind of rat exterminator - owls, because they haunted the night and were easily associated with evil witches and devils. Hateful, often culled. Moreover, owls generally live in the countryside and rarely appear in densely populated medieval cities lacking vegetation. It is impossible to expect them to replace cats.
Although there are other ways to eliminate rats, it is also very difficult to promote them these days, such as the spring-loaded traps that often appear in the cartoon "Tom and Jerry" ("Tom and Jerry"). The mousetrap would actually not be invented until 1899 - blacksmiths in medieval Europe simply could not mass-produce that kind of spring steel!
As for the so-called "mousetrap" used by Europeans in the Middle Ages, it was actually a heavy log lifted up with a thin branch and a little food sprinkled underneath - just like the trap he played as a child in Lu Xun's novels. Bird stuff - when an unlucky mouse comes to steal the bait, if it moves clumsily, it may accidentally push the branch away and be crushed to death by a falling log. Of course, this is only a theoretical application effect. As for the actual situation...well, although such a stupid mouse is rare, at least it has a little psychological comfort.
Another common way to get rid of rats in later generations is to sprinkle some toxic rat poison near the house. But the problem is that now the Black Death has broken out, and there are rotting dead people everywhere. There are unattended food stores and abandoned kitchens full of flour and bacon. You think that with all kinds of delicious meals at your fingertips, Will those smart rats still take a fancy to your poison-laced bait?
In Levi's opinion, the most realistic way to eliminate rats at the moment is to mobilize everyone to kill rats in person. But this will lead to a paradox: if you don't tell people the real reason for killing rats, then people who are used to being dirty and slovenly will probably think that you are mentally ill. But if you find a way to convince them that rats are the source of the Black Death, and then order them to catch the rats with their own hands... When the Black Death has become widespread, wouldn't this mean that people are actively attacking them? Going to die next to the source of infection? Who is willing to sacrifice his life?
In short, in the absence of specific medicines and the inability to carry out a "patriotic health campaign", even time travelers were helpless against the Black Death.
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Watching his uncle's coffin being slowly lowered into the grave, then filled with soil and a cross erected, Levi couldn't help but feel helpless and confused.
——How long will this unprecedented pandemic last? Will my wife and I make it through this alive?
When my uncle died, we came to the funeral. If I die, will anyone be able to organize my funeral?
Unfortunately, it seems that only God knows the answers to these questions.
He stood silently in the cemetery for a long time, until the sun set, and then turned around and left. However, he did not return directly to the manor. Instead, he walked a long way along a cobblestone path and came to a building with the same hanging hospital. Outside the door of the tall stone house with the red eight-pointed white cross flag of the Knights.
Then, at the reminder of the personal servant, Knight Levi took out a handkerchief from his pocket, dipped it in the water tank at the door of the stone house, covered his mouth and nose, and then walked in.
After entering the door, Levi looked around. The cold iron bars were dragged by the beating torches to create shaking shadows. On the stained limestone floor, a dozen patients in ragged clothes slept. This originally spacious room was filled to the brim. Many people still had yellow-green pus flowing on their bodies, and some of the most serious ones had even lost consciousness, were incontinent, and had stinky feces and urine flowing all over the floor. Therefore, the floor of the room was covered with pus and blood, phlegm marks, feces, vomit and garbage, and the pungent smell of blood and putrefaction could be smelled from a long distance away.
Listening to these painful moans like miserable and resentful spirits, even though he was mentally prepared, Knight Levi couldn't help but shudder. ——This dark stone house filled with the smell of death is the charity hospital opened by the Knights Hospitaller's office in Marseille.