God made mud.
God got lonesome. So God said to some of the mud, “Sit up!”. “See all I’ve made,” said God, “the hills, the sea, the sky, the stars.” And I was some of the mud that got to sit up and look around.
Lucky me, lucky mud.
I, mud, sat up and saw what a nice job God had done.
Nice going, God!
Nobody but You could have done it, God! I certainly couldn’t have. I feel very unimportant compared to You. The only way I can feel the least bit important is to think of all the mud that didn’t even get to sit up and look around. I got so much, and most mud got so little.
Thank you for the honour!
Now mud lies down again and goes to sleep. What memories for mud to have! What interesting other kinds of sitting-up mud I met!
I loved everything I saw!
Good night.
I will go to heaven now. I can hardly wait… To find out for certain what my wampeter was… and who was in my karass… And all the good things our karass did for you.
Amen.
— Bokononist last rites
If you haven’t read any Vonnegut, now would be a good time. If you have, go back and re-read an old favourite.
2 Comments
Somewhere between the 3rd or 4th layer of conversation: I just checked your blog and noticed that I was not the one to inform you first for his death… You posted this before my email. I have read ”cat’s cradle” but some years ago and in greek so it would be nice if I can borrow it from you some day and read it again, this time in english. I have recently bought the ”Jailbird” if you are interested (haven’t read it yet so no personal reviews are available…)
Yeah, I check the news when I get to the office (anything to delay the moment of actually starting work…). Sure you can borrow Cat’s Cradle, it’s in the bookcase. I’ve read Jailbird some years ago, I’d like to read it again sometime. Mainly though I want to get back to Slaughterhouse 5, it’s really a long time since I read it and it’s sort of his defining novel as I understand it.