A. L. Kaplan

Tag: cow

  • Post 8: My Trip to Scotland: Part 8 – Culloden and Highland Coos

    Post 8: My Trip to Scotland: Part 8 – Culloden and Highland Coos

    We left Ullapool on August 6 after a nice breakfast.

    The first stop was Culloden, site of the Battle of Culloden which took place on April 16, 1746. The Jacobite army under Charles Edward Stuart (Bonnie Prince Charlie) was defeated by the British army, ending the Jacobite uprising. In less than an hour, around 1,300 men were slain – about 1,250 of them Jacobites. Many highland clans were in the Jacobite army. After Culloden, the wearing of tartan and highland garb was forbidden, as was carrying weapons in the Highlands, and the Clan system was abolished.

    There are markers for the clans that fought and died. They had to put a fence around the marker for Clan Fraser to keep the Outlander fans back.

    Of course, I couldn’t leave the Highlands without seeing a wee Highland Coo.

  • Greener Pastures

    Swallows flitted across the meadow on the far side of the fence. Henrietta leaned her head on the barrier and watched them soar. It was so much greener over there. Of course everything else looks greener when you’re stuck in prison. Gertrude and Mildred didn’t care. They were too dumb to notice, but Henrietta noticed. Ever since the night those strange creatures flew down from the stars and poked at her, Henrietta had begun to look at her life in ways she never even considered. It was as if a door had opened in her mind.

    Most of the other cows thought only of chewing their cud, content to be herded to the machine that stole milk meant for their children. They didn’t even realize they were in a prison camp. All the other cows saw was limitless food. No matter that their children were taken away. Even Henrietta had forgotten about her calf until the strangers helped remind her.

    And when the cows stop producing milk, what then? There was no happy retirement for their lifetime of slave labor. Dried up cows got trucked away, never to be seen again.

    Well, Henrietta wasn’t going to wait to be taken to the slaughterhouse. She was going to escape and fly free like the swallows, maybe even find her calf. The plan was ready. Her rabbit friends had loosened the fence post. All she needed to do now was convince the bear to yank it down. Shouldn’t be hard at all.