In The King of the Fields by Isaac Bashevis Singer, there's this scene early on in the book - the section "Cybula and Nosek" - where Cybula, who is on his way with his daughter for a peace meeting with the invaders, muses about some birds:
The birds had all settled down on branches of trees, except for two, which flew about squwaking at each other — a couple that could not find a fitting branch on which to bed down. But why? There were so many trees and so many branches! Cybula understood these creatures' behavior no better than he could understand the behavior of men. Some songbirds ceased singing, while others warbled and trilled. They slept in pairs close to each other, kissed each other with their little beaks, groomed each other's feathers and plucked out vermin. Yet he saw males attack the females, even peck them to death.
Is this a metaphor for human behavior - such as the farmers invading the hunters? How can this be interpreted as a metaphor for human behavior?
