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He
punctuated this last thought with such a deep sigh that a house sparrow
singing nearby stopped and rushed home to be with his family. |
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The sun was dropping slowly
from sight, and stripes of purple and orange and crimson and gold
piled themselves on top of the distant hills. The last shafts of light
waited patiently for a flight of wrens to find their way home, and
a group of anxious stars had already taken their place. |
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The last colours slowly faded
from the western sky, and as they did, one by one the instruments
stopped, until only the bass fiddles, in their sombre slow movement,
were left playing the night and a single set of silver bells brightened
the constellations. |
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'But what pleasure to lead
my violins in a serenade of spring green or hear my trumpets blare
out the blue sea and then watch my oboes tint it all in warm yellow
sunshine. And rainbows are the best of all -- and blazing neon signs,
and the soft, muted tones of a foggy day. We play them all.'
|
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'...everything from the tender
moss in a pavement crack to the glow of the farthest star...'
|
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'Have you ever heard a blind
octopus unwrap a Cellophane-covered bathtub?' he enquired again as
the air was filled with a loud, crinkling, snapping sound.
|
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'LOOK CAREFULLY
AND WE
WILL TELL YOU
OF OUR TERRIBLE MISFORTUNE'.
|
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'Now remember, they're not
for eating, but for listening, because you'll often be hungry for
sounds as well as food. Here are street noises at night, train whistles
a long way off, dry leaves burning, busy department stores, crunching
toast, creaking bedsprings, and, of course, all kinds of laughter.
There's a little of each, and in far-off lonely places I think you'll
be glad to have them.'
|
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'Certainly not! They're all
the wrong way. Just because you have a choice, it doesn't mean that
any of them has to be right.'
|
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And striding towards them
came a figure who could only have been a Mathemagician. |
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'One of the nicest things about mathematics, or
anything else you might care to learn, is that many of the things
which can never be, often are.'
|
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The Mathemagician nodded knowingly
and stroked his chin several times. 'You'll find', he remarked gently,
'that the only thing you can do easily is be wrong, and that's hardly
worth the effort.' |
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Milo tried very hard to understand
all the things he'd been told, and all the things he'd seen, and,
as he spoke, on curious thing still bothered him. 'Why is it,' he
said quietly, 'that quite often even the things which are correct
just don't seem to be right?' |
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'For you often learn more
by being wrong for the right reasons that you do by being right for
the wrong reasons.' |
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The late afternoon sun had
turned from a vivid yellow to a warm lazy orange, and it seemed almost
as tired as he was. |
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