Terry Pratchett – Reaper Man

Ich bin ja noch nicht weit mit dem Buch – aber eine Stelle hat mich in Terry Pratchetts “Reaper Man” (auf Deutsch als “Gevatter Tot” erschienen) doch schon sehr, sehr amüsiert. Das will ich euch natürlich nicht vorenthalten und zitiere deswegen einen kleinen Ausschnitt, der – wie so oft bei Pratchett – über etwas sonderbare Protagonisten einen kleinen Einblick in das Wesen des Menschen gewährt:

… The sun was near the horizon. The shortest-lived creatures on the Disc were mayflies, which barely make it through twenty-four hours. Two of the oldest zigzagged aimlessly over the waters of a trout stream, discusssing history with some younger members of the evening hatching.

“You don’t get the kind of sun now that you used to get,” said one of them.

“You’re right there. We had proper sun in the good old hours. It were all yellow. None of this red stuff.”

“it were higher, too.”

“It was. You’re right.”"

“And nymphs and larvae showed a bit of respect.”

“They did. They did, ” said the other mayfly vehemently.

“I reckon, if mayflies these hours behaved a bit better, we’d be still be having proper sun.”

The younger mayflies listened politely.

“I remember,” said one of the oldest mayflies, “when all was fields, as far as you could see.”

The younger mayflies looked around.

“It’s still fields, ” one of them ventured, after a polite interval.

“I remember when it was better fields, ” said the old mayfly sharply.

“Yeah,” said his colleague. “And there was a cow.”

“That’s right! You’re right! I remember that cow! Stood right over there for, oh, forty, fifty minutes. It was brown, as I recall.”

“You don’t get cows like that this hours.”

“You don’t get cows at all.”

“What’s a cow?” said one of the hatchlings.

“See?” said the oldest mayfly triumphantly. “That’s modern Ephemeroptera for you.” …

(Terry Pratchett, Reaper Man. Harper Torch, pp. 6-7)