Shame of Man by Piers Anthony

male, but often men did feed women at the same time. So his gesture had been taken the opposite way intended.
    Hue clarified the matter the simplest way: he turned from her and walked on down the path. He had peered closely at her only because of his curiosity about her odd lack of scratching, and had given the meat as much from compassion as interest. He was glad that he had no such defect of fur.
    He returned to the camp, his mind still not settled. Now Fae approached him intellectually. “Hue sad,” she said. “Say Fae.”
    To this approach he was receptive. “Big ape yes,” he said. “Joe say yes. Ape tall man yes. Ape hunt no. Ape eat bamboo. Ape touch Hue head hand. Ape hurt Hue no. Hue hunt ape no.”
    Fae considered that, but did not comment. Instead she changed the subject by spreading her legs and drawing him into her. This time he was sufficiently interested to complete the act. His discussion and clarification of the issue had eased his mind.
    The others wanted to hunt and kill the big apes. Hue did not. He felt a kind of camaraderie with the huge creatures, now that he had learned that they were harmless to his kind. How could he hunt them, as if they were mere animals?
    Next day the entire band went out in pursuit of the huge apes. Hue went along, of course, but remained doubtful. He almost hoped that they would not find the creatures; that the apes had fled to some distant place and would not be seen again. But that was not to be. They quickly found thetracks, and followed them to the place where the giants were grazing on bamboo.
    The members of the band were duly amazed and impressed. They had never seen creatures like these before.
    But there was something else there: two other people. “Bub Sis!” Hue said, recognizing them. “Tell Bub band.”
    Bil nodded grimly. The two were clearly spying in local territory, and would bring their band to hunt the apes, stealing what belonged to the local band. Perhaps they had been following the hunting party before, so had learned of the apes through no virtue of their own.
    This had been planned as an exploratory excursion, to show off the discovery to the women and children. But now it became serious. “Hunt ape,” Joe said. “Now.” He meant that they could do it before Bub's band got here. Of course Bub's band would come anyway and poach some of the apes, but at least there would be good meat here.
    “No,” Hue said. “Ape hunt no.”
    Bil looked at him. “Why no?”
    “Ape harm band no,” Hue explained. But then he stumbled over a concept that the words were not adequate to address. How could he say that it was wrong to hunt a creature merely because it represented no threat to them? The rabbits were no threat, the pandas weren't, in fact most of what they killed and ate were not threats. It was clear that the other people did not share the affinity he felt for the apes.
    Bil looked at Rae, who was with them today.
    “Hunt ape,” Rae said.
    “Hunt ape yes,” Bil decided. “Now.”
    But Hue couldn't do it. “No,” he said.
    Bil looked at him, not understanding. “Band yes,” he pointed out reasonably enough. The consensus had been achieved; all but Hue wanted to hunt the apes.
    “Hue no,” Hue said, feeling bad. “Hunt animals yes, apes no.” He wished he could get his feeling across to them, but he hardly understood it himself.
    “Band hunt,” Bil said. It was clear that the others agreed: once the decision was made, all of them should participate. What was the matter with Hue? For one thing, they normally used a formation of four or five when hunting big game: one ahead to block its escape, two on the sides to close it in, and one or two to pursue it. Otherwise it would break out on the sector not guarded, and they could lose it, or have a long chase. They needed Hue.
    But still he could not. “Ape no,” he repeated.
    To make it worse, Bub had evidently been listening. Now he came forward, his hands lifted without weapon, the