A giant headache

"Be he alive or be he dead /

I'll grind his bones to make my bread."

Commentary

I sometimes fantasize about grinding a man's bones to make my bread.

But then I think about how to actually grind a man's bones, and you know what?

It's an enormous amount of work! And specialized tools!

Strip the flesh from the bones, dry the bones, grind the bones …

... not to mention *baking* the bread ...!

Granted, I'm not going to each a loaf of calcium carbonate.

But the spirit of fairy tales has an internal logic which we transgress at our own peril.

Fiction cross-reference

• Gnomon algorithm
• Gnomon Chronicles

Nonfiction cross-reference

• Gnomon Chronicles (nonfiction)

External links

• Post @ Twitter (31 January 2023)