And when our previous sheep couldn't give milk anymore, when their wool became coarse and sparse and unusable, she beckoned them close as she held the knife and held them tenderly as she bled them dry. She wept as she salted their meat, and tanned their skins, and boiled their bones for soup. She said it was a sin to butcher an animal that you didn't love first.

— Crane Husband by Kelly Barnhill (Page 8)