"I don't quite understand this idea of yours", the angel admitted as he stood watching how the first couple sowed the seeds of wheat in the ground.
"Really? I think it's quite simple", the demon replied, not even bothering to hide the self-praise in his voice.
"But don't this give them small guarantee of survival, if they don't manage to find and gather enough roots and nuts and so on, or have no fortune at hunt?" The angel said.
"I would say so."
"So it's beneficial to them?"
"That's what it looks like."
The angel frowned. "Then I really don't understand. Are you, demon, really claiming that you actually want to help these poor humans?"
The demon looked at his companion with disturbed impression on his face. "That was a discourtesy!"
Angel actually blushed. "I'm sorry. I did not mean to imply that you would have done good deed."
"Well, that's what it sounded like!" the demon snapped.
"I'm sorry", the angel repeated.
They stood silent for a moment observing the humans. The couple's small daughter toddled swaying behind her parents until she fell down and began to eat the mold. Her mother lifted her in her arms, laughing while she pulled the toddler's little fist away from her mouth and kissed her palm.
The angel smiled and turned towards his partner. "Maybe you could explain your idea to me", he suggested with a conciliatory tone.
The demon grinned. "With pleasure! Well, the point of this whole thing was that this couple will continue getting more children?"
"True…"
"And those children will need food. The more children they get, the more they also need grain."
The angel shook her head. "I still do not understand what precisely…"
"I'm coming to that! You see, the more they need the grain, the more they get to eat, and the more they eat, the more likely they are to have children, right? And the more they have children, the more they need grain to feed them. "
"Um…"
"Finally, we come to the point where they are forced to cultivate the land, so that they can feed their children, and they are forced to do more children, so that they have more manpower which they need to cultivate the land, so that they get enough to harvest to feed them all." The demon stopped and looked at his mate, smiling proudly.
The angel looked at him in puzzlement.
The demon sighed. "It's a trap, got it! The more they work, the more they need to work, do you understand?"
The angel gave him a smile which looked just a tad strained. "Oh. Well, that sounds really… twisted and… bad…?"
The demon sighed in frustration. "You know what? Just forget it."
This fic was inspired by Yuval Noah Harari's book Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind, and more basically Chapter 5, which reflects the beginning of agriculture and it's causes and consequences. It sounded like the scam worth of the demon we all know... I recommend to check out that book, it's really amazing!
