How Eris Upstaged Pluto
Once upon a time, the gods and goddesses threw a party. Mercury was there, and Venus, Gaia, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune; and even tiny Pluto, spirit of the underworld.
Suddenly Eris appeared. The troublemaking spirit of Strife demanded admission. Eris said, “If Pluto, that dwarf, is a god, then I am a goddess, for I am greater than he is!”
The gods and goddesses got out scales and rulers and calipers, to measure Eris and Pluto. Lo and behold, Eris was right; the spirit of chaos and confusion was just a bit bigger, and just a bit heavier, than the spirit of money and death.
Thus Eris upstaged Pluto; but instead of letting her into the pantheon, both she and Pluto were expelled!
For the gods and goddesses said to each other, “Strife is greater than Money, and Strife is greater than Death; but Strife is not a goddess; therefore Money is not a god; nor is Death.”
Commentary on the Underfable:
Another Underfable with implicit moral; this one given by the gods. I was inspired to write this by the semantic dispute over Pluto's and Eris's planethood. Alas, now I learn that Eris is smaller than Pluto after all! - but brighter, so I stand by this Underfable.
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