A NEW YEAR'S FABLE
235
third the owl selected me. It was a remarkable bird, that. It
would not be a bad idea to study its habits and to include its
portrait in books of ornithology.
By that time I had already published several scientific
works about certain aspects of solar light. I had a degree, acted
as consultant to several commissions, and was in a hurry to make
a solid reputation for myself. Modeling my behavior on that of
our venerable scientists, I learned, like them, to hold my head
high; in the same way, I deliberately weighed every problem
presented to me and, like them, raising an eyebrow, I gave my
precious, well-pondered answer in a sing-song voice. One other
trait: I grew accustomed to taking care of my expensive over–
coat. We had closets in our offices and, imitating the older
scientists, I hung in my closet a wooden coat hanger with my
initials on it.
As
a person endowed with a few modest accomplishments,
I trained myself, on the advice of a certain academician, to
jot down any ideas that unexpectedly entered my head.
As
we
all know, our most valuable ideas are not those we painfully
labor over at a desk but rather those that descend upon us like
a gust of wind, most often when we are strolling in the street. I
would jot down these ideas and then forget all about them.
But our stove-woman was well aware that she could always find
in the drawers of my desk magic scraps of paper which flared
like gunpowder. She got into the habit of emptying my desk and
using these scraps to kindle all the stoves in the laboratory.
Behind my solid exterior there lurked a naive child (it also
lurked within my chief, who had his doctorate). This chubby–
cheeked child would sometimes emerge into the open, especially
during those evening hours when we, the unmarried men, would
settle down in our quarters in front of the TV set and goggle–
eyed, immobilized, as if preserved in alcohol, stare for hours
at the rapidly flashing legs of football players on the bluish
screen.
As you can see, I am not sparing myself here at all. Quite
