23 lines
1.4 KiB
Text
23 lines
1.4 KiB
Text
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy is an indispensable companion to
|
|
all those who are keen to make sense of life in an infinitely complex
|
|
and confusing Universe, for though it cannot hope to be useful or
|
|
informative on all matters, it does at least make the reassuring claim,
|
|
that where it is inaccurate it is at least definitively inaccurate. In
|
|
cases of major discrepancy it's always reality that's got it wrong.
|
|
|
|
This was the gist of the notice. It said "The Guide is definitive.
|
|
Reality is frequently inaccurate."
|
|
|
|
This has led to some interesting consequences. For instance, when the
|
|
Editors of the Guide were sued by the families of those who had died as
|
|
a result of taking the entry on the planet Tralal literally (it said
|
|
"Ravenous Bugblatter Beasts often make a very good meal for visiting
|
|
tourists: instead of "Ravenous Bugblatter Beasts often make a very good
|
|
meal of visiting tourists"), they claimed that the first version of the
|
|
sentence was the more aesthetically pleasing, summoned a qualified poet
|
|
to testify under oath that beauty was truth, truth beauty and hoped
|
|
thereby to prove that the guilty party in this case was Life itself for
|
|
failing to be either beautiful or true. The judges concurred, and in a
|
|
moving speech held that Life itself was in contempt of court, and duly
|
|
confiscated it from all those there present before going off to enjoy a
|
|
pleasant evening's ultragolf.
|