Tuesday, December 6, 2011

Underfables: A Square Deal

            A Square Deal


           
          Once upon a time, a poor but ambitious man prayed for easy riches. A dark angel appeared, and offered the man a golden treasure, right then and there, provided that he agree to just one thing:

          That two plus two is five.

          The man thought this condition was meaningless, so he agreed to the deal, and the golden treasure was his.  But he soon learned, too late, that if two plus two is five, then a golden treasure is nothing.

          Moral:  Two plus two is four.


           Commentary on the Underfable:
           By this Undermoral I reveal yet again that though I am a skeptic and an ironist, yet I am also a moralist, and even a kind of puritan. To me, 2+2=4 is not just an arithmetical truth; it is a moral commitment. Would you trust any accountant who denied it? Or anyone willing to hire such an accountant?

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