“You rascal,” I would say. “You know about love, don’t you? Do you like love?”

       Animals know about love. Have you ever seen a mother hen sitting on her eggs until they hatch? The hen will keep her eyes open and stamp her foot on the ground so no one can go near it. I would go in and out of the chicken coop, knowing it would make the hen angry. When I would go into the coop, the hen would straighten its neck and try to threaten me. Instead of backing away, I would also act in a threatening manner toward the hen. After I went into the coop a few times, the hen would just pretend not to see me. But she would keep herself bristled up and her claws long and sharp. She looked like she wanted to swoosh over and attack me, but she couldn’t move because of the eggs. So she just sat there in anguish. I would go near and touch her feathers, but she wouldn’t budge. It seemed that it was determined not to move from that spot until her eggs had hatched, even if it meant letting someone pluck all the feathers from her bosom. Because it is so steadfastly attached to its eggs through love, the hen has an authority that keeps even the rooster from doing whatever it wants. The hen commands complete authority over everything under heaven, as if to say, “I don’t care who you are. You had better not disturb these eggs!”

       There is also a demonstration of love when a pig gives birth to piglets. I followed a mother pig around so I could watch it give birth to its litter. At the moment of birth, the mother pig gives a push with a loud grunt and a piglet slips out onto the ground. The pig lets out another loud grunt and a second piglet comes out. It was similar with cats and dogs. It made me very happy to see these little baby animals that hadn’t even opened their eyes come into the world. I couldn’t help but laugh with joy.