The monument was beautiful.
It moved and talked. It resembled its builder in every way.
It would not perish.
The builder began to worship the monument.
Every day at dawn he knelt before it and prayed:
"Do for me what I cannot. Then I will know that I have created something
that I can never be."
Each morning the monument replied: "You have built me in your own image and
so I am limited by your imagination".
This became tiresome for the builder, so he said to the monument: "Tell me
how you see the world so I might remove the limitations of my own existence
from yours."
The monument replied: "I see the world as you do and so can only describe
the world in your words".
The builder became angry: "I am tired of my limitations. I did not build
you so that my limitations would be yours. Do for me what I cannot!", he
shouted.
The monument became tired of the builder's behaviour: "If you did not wish
me to be as you are, why did you build me in your image?"
"I thought", said the builder, "that if I built you from more durable
material than I, and if you did not have to endure the pain of growing, you
would be better than me."
The monument thought for a moment and asked: "Are you filled with
self-loathing?"
The builder killed the monument because of its impertinence.
After a short while the builder realised he had actually killed himself,
and he was suddenly very happy.
"It was a useless monument anyway", he said.
He went home and ate cabbages with his family and lived happily ever after.
Phil Graham
Student
Queensland University of Technology