As we all probably know, the librarian of the Unseen University turned orangutang due to a magic accident - and afterwards decided it was better to stay that way than return to his former human state.
That made me think: What if I had been turned into an ape of that kind? Would I have preferred the newfound simean morphology to my previous condition? To answer the question, let's view the pros and cons of orangutanhood:
Pros
Vast superhuman strength - The librarian is said to be three times stronger than a man, while animal books I've read state orangutan strength as seven or eight times greater than ours. I guess it all depends on how you measure it (I'm sure their lower body strenght is not as impressive, for example), as well as which orangutans and humans you actually compare.
Climbing - An orangutan's hands are bigger than ours, stronger, further reaching, and twice as many.
Clothes - Animals don't need them.
Instincts - While our libarian maintains his human intelligence in ape form, he loses some annoying, basic human instincts, such as our Freudian defence mehanisms and our general Weltschmerz (replacing them with a craving for peanuts and a tendency to eat them while hanging upside down by the feet).
Intimidation - A wild animal is generlly scarier than a human. A wild animal with mangy red fur, a huge yellow grin and arms twice as long as your own, is scarier than the general animal.
Cuteness - Even though they can be scary, apes can also be viewed as cute, which could come in handy at times.
Originality - An orangutan would definitely stand out in a crowd, which is nice if you want attention. And who doesn't sometimes?
Fame - An ape who's as smart as a human? You'd be on Leno in no time.
Cons
Age - An orangutan lives roughly half as long as a human. I don't know whether this will make the librarian age quicker and die sooner than he would if still human - but if it does, it's a huge con.
Language - An orangutan cannot talk - just ook.
Dating - Could become exceedingly difficult, should you keep fancying humans.
Jobs - Unlike the case of our librarian, chances are a species change would seriously hamper your business.
Scariness - As well as a pro, this is of course also a con. People who didn't know you would probably run away if you approached them on the street.
Social interaction - This has to do with previous cons, but still deserves a special mention. Imagine shopping, or going to the doctor. If the the word hadn't been spread about your condition, you wouldn't be able to do those things - people would just run away, or call the police, or both.
Hair - All that long red hair has got to be difficult to get out of the furniture.
Well, that was a few points. Before I answer whether I would like to be in the librarian's shoes... feet... hands, Id like to know what you think. Would you trade your present body for that of a five foot, twenty-stone, hairy beast? (cross that last part, I just realized all those things already apply to me).
Sorry 'bout the rambling. Cheers!
