My grandfather used to tell me a story about chopsticks.
One night Confucius dreamt that he was taken to visit the damned in hell. He was very surprised to see that hell was a beautiful banqueting room, with the damned sitting around the table, groaning under the weight of the most delicious food he had ever seen.
They were allowed to eat anything they liked, but they had to use chopsticks, and the chopsticks were five foot long.
The damned were starving, staring in agony at the uneaten food before them, knowing that even with all eternity in which to solve the problem, it could not be done.
And then Confucius is taken to heaven.
And heaven is an identical banqueting hall, full of delicious food. The people around the tables are happy and well-fed, but they, too, must obey the same rule. The food can only be eaten with chopsticks that are five foot long.
Only in heaven, they're feeding each other.
Από τη «νεοβαμπιρική» ταινία The Wisdom of Crocodiles του 1998 (Jude Law, Elina Löwensohn, Timothy Spall).