1st Stroller: And what, my good fellow, is that?
2nd Stroller: That is the Lithuanian ruin. A battle, see? How our lot fought the Lithuanians.
1st: And what's that when it's at home, Lithuania?
2nd: Well, it's Lithuania, and that's all there is to it.
1st: They do say, my good fellow, that it fell on us from the sky.
2nd: I can't rightly tell you. From the sky, then, if you say so.
“The Storm”, A.N. Ostrovsky, 1859
At the close of the Strugatskys' "Roadside Picnic" the Golden Sphere is asked for this: "Happiness for everybody, free, and let nobody go away unsatisfied!" I do not promise to leave no one aggrieved, but the digest really does come free. So, here is the
Frederic Leighton. “Daedalus and Icarus”, 1869 Daedalus warns his son not to climb too high: the heat of the sun may melt the wax, but Icarus is already gazing into the distance, and the lamentations of a foolish old man interest him not in the least
