"Mike Resnick - A Little Knowledge" - читать интересную книгу автора (Resnick Mike)

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A Little Knowledge
by Mike Resnick
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Copyright (c)1994 by Mike Resnick
Hugo Award Nominee

Fictionwise Contemporary
Science Fiction


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THERE WAS a time when animals could speak.
Lions and zebras, elephants and leopards, birds and men all shared the
earth. They labored side by side, they met and spoke of many things, they
exchanged visits and gifts.
Then one day Ngai, who rules the universe from His throne atop
Kirinyaga, which men now call Mount Kenya, summoned all of His creations to
meet with Him.
"I have done everything I can to make life good for all My creatures,"
said Ngai. The assembled animals and men began to sing His praises, but Ngai
held up His hand, and they immediately stopped.
"I have made life too good for you," He continued. "None among you has
died for the past year."
"What is wrong with that?" asked the zebra.
"Just as you are constrained by your natures," said Ngai, "just as the
elephant cannot fly and the impala cannot climb trees, so I cannot be
dishonest. Since no one has died, I cannot feel compassion for you, and
without compassion, I cannot water the savannah and the forest with my tears.
And without water, the grasses and the trees will shrivel and die."
There was much moaning and wailing from the creatures, but again Ngai
silenced them.
"I will tell you a story," He said, "and you must learn from it.
"Once there were two colonies of ants. One colony was very wise, and
one colony was very foolish, and they lived next to each other. One day they
received word that an aardvark, a creature that eats ants, was coming to their
land. The foolish colony went about their business, hoping that the aardvark
would ignore them and attack their neighbors. But the wise colony built a
mound that could withstand even the efforts of an aardvark, and they gathered
sugar and honey, and stockpiled it in the mound.