Macrolog
Elephants and Turtles
Tonight I read a short story by Donald Barthelme, entitled See The Moon?, and came upon a passage that seemed strangely familiar (from Sixty Stories, p.105):
“”Upon what does the world rest?” I asked.
“Upon an elephant,” he said.
“Upon what does the elephant rest?”
“Upon a tortoise.”“
As my cerebral cogs turned, a nimble search with Google brought up the following description of Terry Pratchett’s famous (infamous?) Discworld:
“The world travels through space on the backs of four elephants that stand on the back of a giant turtle.”
Mere coindicence?
Maybe so, as both - upon further hasty research - appear to have been influenced by Hindu mythology.
One should learn something new like this every day.
Mon 20 Jan 2003 at 23:00 ·
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This is the personal website of MacDara Conroy, a twenty-something journalist, editor and all-round creative type living in Dublin, Ireland.
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You are reading Elephants and Turtles, a Macrolog entry by MacDara Conroy. It is filed under Culture & Society, and was published in January 2003.
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