points, and Gud remembered
also that this was the truth.

And the truth that was in the straight line mocked Gud. So he took hold
of the straight line and bent it until it was no longer straight. But as
he bent the straight line another took its place, and truth was still in
the straight line; for it was still the shortest distance between two
points. So Gud struck off one of the points that was at one end of the
straight line. But straightway another point came at the end of that
which remained of the line, and truth was still in the line, for it was
still the shortest distance between two points.

And Gud became heated with wrath. So he picked up a palm leaf fan and
fanned himself. Then Gud said: "That which I cannot destroy I will
change." And he set about to make a curved line between two points that
should be shorter than a straight line.

Gud toiled diligently at the task for for what would have been a long
time if there had been any time. After he had made an infinite number of
curves between the two points, all of which were longer than the
straight line, he chanced to make a curve which he fitted between the
two points. When he felt it Gud was filled with pride--for the last
curve which he had made was a shorter distance between two points than a
straight line, and thus was truth destroyed.

But this curve which Gud had made was a changing curve, and it continued
to change. And Gud became frightened so that his knees smote one against
the other. The curve ceased not in its changing and presently it had
changed so much that it became impossible, and Gud said: "This thing
which I have made is impossible." So he took the impossible curve and
swung it about his head with a mighty swing and hurled it out of space.

When Gud had hurled the impossible curve out of space he felt again
between the two points and found that the straight line had returned,
and was again the shortest distance between the two points. And Gud
said: "Let it be so. Old truth is better than new fiction."

And the eyes of Gud were opened, and he knew that there was much truth
all about him, and that all space was full of truths and that the truths
of space were mathematics. And Gud said: "It is good, for lo, here is
something out of which I can fashion me the tools of creation!"

So Gud took a circle and a square, and, with the square, Gud squared the
circle. Then he took a plane and planed off the sides of the circle he
had squared and s