There Is No Cat

What’s yellow and dangerous?

We are made:

The two mice sniffed irritably around the fragments of their glass transports where they lay shattered on the floor. "Damnation," muttered Frankie mouse, "all that fuss over two pounds of Earthling brain." He scuttled round and about, his pink eyes flashing, his fine white coat bristling with static. "The only thing we can do now," said Benjy, crouching and stroking his whiskers in thought, "is to try and fake a question, invent one that will sound plausible."

"Difficult," said Frankie. He thought. "How about What’s yellow and dangerous?"

Benjy considered this for a moment.

"No, no good," he answered. "Doesn’t fit the answer."

They sank into silence for a few seconds.

"Alright," said Benjy. "What do you get if you multiply six by seven?"

"No, no, too literal, too factual," said Frankie, "wouldn’t sustain the punters’ interest."

Again they thought.

Then Frankie said, "Here’s a thought. How many roads must a man walk down?"

"Ah!" said Benjy. "Aha, now that does sound promising!" He rolled the phrase around a little. "Yes," he said, "that’s excellent! Sounds very significant without actually tying you down to meaning anything at all. How many roads must a man walk down? Forty-two. Excellent, excellent, that’ll fox ’em. Frankie, baby, we are made!"

They performed a scampering dance in their excitement.

-- Douglas Adams, The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy

Posted at 6:28 AM