Archived Feghoots
1 - 50
51 - 100
101 - 150
151 - 200
201 - 250
251 - 300
301 - 350
351 - 400
401 - 450
451 - 500
501 - 550
551 - 600
601 - 650
651 - 700
701 - 750
751 - 800
801 - 850
851 - 900
901 - 950
951 - 1000
1001 - 1050
1051 - 1100
1101 - 1150
1151 - 1200
1201 - 1250
1251 - 1300
1301 - 1350
1351 - 1400
1401 - 1450
1451 - 1500
1501 - 1550
1551 - 1600
1601 - 1650
1651 - 1700
1701 - 1750
1751 - 1800
1801 - 1851
1851 - 1900
1901 - 1950
1951 - 2000
2001 - 2050
2051 - 2100
Feghoot a la Robinson
This Feghoot (based on a character by Reginald Bretner) was created by Spider Robinson, one of SF's great punsters. It is from his ANTINOMY collection (1980 Dell paperback, now permanently out of print). It may be the only triple Feghoot ever written.
Even Ferdinand Feghoot could be outpunned on occasion - but he always rose to the challenge. There was, for instance, the time he conducted a crew of new S.A.R.H. (Society for the Aesthetic Rearrangement of History -BJ) recruits - all from late twentieth-century Terra - on a training study of Carter's World, a newly established agricultural colony attempting to support itself by the export of edible nuts. Barely into their second generation, and having yet to show a profit, the colonists were technologically backward. Nevertheless, they showed a surprising ingenuity in the use of their few advantages. It was this resourcefulness that Feghoot was demonstrating to his rookies.
"Look at the perfection with which these streets are graded", exclaimed one student. "Earth-moving machinery on this scale is strictly high technology stuff. How can they do it?"
"A new alleyway is being constructed, nearby", said Feghoot. "Let us walk that way while I explain." As they strolled, he told his students that countless centuries before, the Carter's World system had been inhabited by a now-vanished race of giants. This very planet had served them for a nursery, and among the many artifacts they had left were thousands of childrens blocks, immense and precision-cut. You simply jack one up onto logs, bring it where you want it, put collapsible jacks underneath, snake out the logs, spread soil more or less evenly beneath, and collapse the jacks.
"I see", said the student. "It's not graded road at all; its a simple hammered-earth base."
"That's right," Feghoot went on smoothly. "You just hit the road jack and don't come back no mo."
His students registered dismay and anguish.
"Isn't that right, old-timer?," Feghoot demanded of an ancient Carterian standing by the mouth of the newly completed alley they had just reached.
"Ahm afraid not, suh", said the senior citizen, and the students giggled at Feghoots discomfiture. "Oh, we used to do it that way, but it was far too much trouble. It's the soil heah. You see, the very same soil which produced our famous cashews is so high in clay content that a child could roll out a road of it. Then, we simply use a system of lenses to bake it into hardness. Ahve just completed this alley mahself, and ahm just a retired professor of Sports History, much too old and feeble to handle hydraulic jacks.
"So you see," he finished, eyes twinkling, "Mah hammered alley is really cashews clay."
Howls of agony rose from the students, but Feghoot never hesitated. "And he", he said, turning to his students, "is clearly the gradist."
Served by Austin Web Publishing, Inc.
Sponsored by local SEO firm ionadas local, your source for local search and social marketing solutions.
Designed and maintained by Brian Combs (info@briancombs.net).
(c) 1996-2009 Alan B.
& Brian P. Combs,
All Rights Reserved