tribute: Mort
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268
dat/tribute
268
dat/tribute
@@ -800,11 +800,260 @@ shelves, but not to prevent them being stolen....
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%title Mort (1)
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%title Mort (11)
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# p. 136 (Signet edition; passage is a footnote;
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# Vetinari doesn't show up as recurring Patrician until /Sourcery/)
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%passage 1
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Ankh-Morpork had dallied with many forms of government and hand ended up
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with that form of democracy known as One Man, One Vote. The Patrician was
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the Man; he had the Vote.
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Ankh-Morpork had dallied with many forms of government and had ended up
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with that form of democracy known as One Man, One Vote. The Patrician was
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the Man; he had the Vote.
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[Mort, by Terry Pratchett]
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%e passage
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# p. 11
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%passage 2
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Mort was getting interested in the rock. It had curly shells in it, relics
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of the early days of the world when the Creator had made creatures out of
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stone, no-one knew why.
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Mort was interested in lots of things. Why people's teeth fitted together
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so neatly, for example. He'd given that one a lot of thought. Then there
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was the puzzle of why the sun came out during the day, instead of at night
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when the light would come in useful. He knew the standard explanation,
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which somehow didn't seem satisfying.
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In short, Mort is one of those people who are more dangerous than a bag
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full of rattlesnakes. He was determined to discover the underlying logic
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behind the universe.
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Which was going to be hard, because there wasn't one. The Creator had a
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lot of remarkably good ideas when he put the world together, but making it
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understandable hadn't been one of them.
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[Mort, by Terry Pratchett]
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%e passage
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# p. 18
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%passage 3
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"But you're Death," said Mort. "You go around killing people!"
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I? KILL? said Death, obviously offended. CERTAINLY NOT. PEOPLE /GET/
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KILLED, BUT THAT'S THEIR BUSINESS. I JUST TAKE OVER FROM THEN ON. AFTER
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ALL, IT'D BE A BLOODY STUPID WORLD IF PEOPLE GOT KILLED WITHOUT DYING,
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WOULDN'T IT?
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[Mort, by Terry Pratchett]
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%e passage
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# p. 25
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%passage 4
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"Is it magic?" said Mort.
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WHAT DO YOU THINK? said Death. AM I REALLY HERE, BOY?
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"Yes," said Mort slowly. "I... I've watched people. They look at you but
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the don't see you, I think. You do something to their minds."
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Death shook his head.
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THEY DO IT ALL THEMSELVES, he said. THERE'S NO MAGIC. PEOPLE CAN'T SEE ME,
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THEY SIMPLY WON'T ALLOW THEMSELVES TO DO IT. UNTIL IT'S TIME, OF COURSE.
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WIZARDS CAN SEE ME, AND CATS. BUT YOUR AVERAGE HUMAN... NO, NEVER. He blew
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a smoke ring at the sky, and added, STRANGE BUT TRUE.
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[Mort, by Terry Pratchett]
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%e passage
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# pp. 48-49 (Binky is Death's white horse, who was left 'parked' on a
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# castle's roof; Mort is Death's novice apprentice)
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%passage 5
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They were on the roof before he spoke again.
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YOU TRIED TO WARN HIM, he said, removing Binky's nosebag.
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"Yes, sir. Sorry."
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YOU CANNOT INTERFERE WITH FATE. WHO ARE YOU TO JUDGE WHO SHOULD LIVE AND
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WHO SHOULD DIE?
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Death watched Mort's expression carefully.
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ONLY THE GODS ARE ALLOWED TO DO THAT, he added. TO TINKER WITH THE FATE OF
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EVEN ONE INDIVIDUAL COULD DESTROY THE WHOLE WORLD. DO YOU UNDERSTAND?
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Mort nodded miserably.
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"Are you going to send me home?" he said.
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Death reached down and swung him up behind the saddle.
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BECAUSE YOU SHOWED COMPASSION? NO. I MIGHT HAVE DONE IF YOU HAD SHOWN
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PLEASURE. BUT YOU MUST LEARN THE COMPASSION PROPER TO YOUR TRADE.
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"What's that?"
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A /SHARP/ EDGE.
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[Mort, by Terry Pratchett]
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%e passage
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# pp. 59-61 (in Ankh-Morpork, Mort has accidentally walked through a wall
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# into an immigrant Klatchian family's dining room; 'the creature
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# who was not there' refers to Death during an earlier event)
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%passage 6
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"I'm no demon! I'm a human!" he said, and stopped in shock as his words
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emerged in perfect Klatch.
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"You're a thief?" said the father. "A murderer? To creep in thus, are you
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a /tax-gatherer/?" His hand slipped under the table and came up holding a
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meat cleaver honed to paper thinness. His wife screamed and dropped the
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plate and clutched the youngest children to her.
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Mort watched the blade weave through the air, and gave in.
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"I bring you greetings from the uttermost circles of hell," he hazarded.
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The change was remarkable. The cleaver was lowered and the family broke
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into broad smiles.
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"There is much luck to us if a demon visits," beamed the father. "What is
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your wish, O foul spawn of Offler's loins?"
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"Sorry?" said Mort.
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"A demon brings blessing and good fortune on the man that helps it," said
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the man. "How may we be of assistance, O evil dogsbreath of the nether
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pit?"
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"Well, I'm not very hungry," said Mort, "but if you know where I can get a
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fast horse, I could be in Sto Lat before sunset."
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The man beamed and bowed. "I know the very place, noxious extrusion of the
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bowels, if you would be so good as to follow me."
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Mort hurried out after him. The ancient ancestor watched them go with a
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critical expression, its jowls rhymically chewing.
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"That was what they call a demon around here?" it said. "Offler rot this
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country of dampness, even their demons are third-rate, not a patch on the
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demons we had in the Old Country."
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The wife placed a small bowl of rice in the folded middle pair of hands of
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the Offler statue (it would be gone in the morning) and stood back.
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"Husband did say that last month at the /Curry Gardens/ he served a creature
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who was not there," she said. "He was impressed."
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Ten minutes later the man returned and, in solemn silence, placed a small
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heap of gold coins on the table. They represented enough wealth to
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purchase quite a large part of the city.
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"He had a bag of them," he said.
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The family stared at the money for some time. The wife sighed.
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"Riches bring many problems," she said. "What are we to do?"
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"We return to Klatch," said the husband firmly, "where our children can grow
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up in a proper country, true to the glorious traditions of our ancient race
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and men do not need to work as waiters for wicked masters but can stand tall
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and proud. And we must leave right now, fragrant blossom of the date palm."
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"Why so soon, O hard-working son of the desert?"
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"Because," said the man, "I have just sold the Patrician's champion
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racehorse."
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[Mort, by Terry Pratchett]
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%e passage
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# p. 139-140 (passage ends mid-sentence)
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%passage 7
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"You don't know much about monarchy, do you?" said Keli.
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"Um, no?"
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"She means better to be a dead queen in your own castle than a live
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commoner somewhere else," said Cutwell, [...]
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[Mort, by Terry Pratchett]
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%e passage
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# p. 158
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%passage 8
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"You mean you won't help?" said Mort. "Not even if you can?"
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"Give the boy a prize," growled Albert. "And it's no good thinking you can
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appeal to my better nature under this here crusty exterior," he added,
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"'cos my interior's pretty damn crusty too."
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[Mort, by Terry Pratchett]
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%e passage
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# p. 159-160 (Death has come to an employment agency--a new concept in
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# Ankh-Morpork--looking for a job)
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%passage 9
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"And what was your previous position?"
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I BEG YOUR PARDON?
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"What did you do for a living?" said the thin young man behind the desk.
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I USHERED SOULS INTO THE NEXT WORLD. I WAS THE GRAVE OF ALL HOPE. I WAS
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THE ULTIMATE REALITY. I WAS THE ASSASSIN AGAINST WHOM NO LOCK WOULD HOLD.
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"Yes, point taken, but do you have any particular skills?"
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I SUPPOSE A CERTAIN AMOUNT OF EXPERTISE WITH AGRICULTURAL IMPLEMENTS? he
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ventured after a while.
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The young man shook his head firmly.
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NO?
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[Mort, by Terry Pratchett]
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%e passage
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# p. 205
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%passage 10
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Death raised his skull and sniffed the air.
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The sound cut through all the other noises in the hall and forced them
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into silence.
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It is the kind of noise that is heard on the twilight edges of dreams,
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the sort that you wake from in the cold sweat of mortal horror. It was
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the snuffling under the door of dread. It was like the snuffling of a
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hedgehog, but if so then it was the kind of hedgehog that crashes out of
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the verges and flattens lorries. It was the kind of noise you wouldn't
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want to hear twice; you wouldn't want to hear it /once/.
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[Mort, by Terry Pratchett]
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%e passage
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# p. 207
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%passage 11
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"Well, that was a lesson to all of us," the bursar continued, brushing dust
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and candle wax off his robe. He looked up, expecting to see the statue of
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Alberto Malich back on its pedestal.
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"Clearly even statues have feelings," he said. "I myself recall, when I
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was but a first-year student, writing my name on his... well, never mind.
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The point is, I propose here and now we replace the statue."
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Dead silence greeted this suggestion.
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"With, say, an exact likeness cast in gold. Suitably embellished with
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jewels, as befits our great founder," he went on brightly.
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"And to make sure no students deface it in any way I suggest we then erect
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it in the deepest cellar," he continued.
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"And then lock the door," he added. Several wizards began to cheer up.
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"And throw away the key?" said Rincewind.
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"And /weld/ the door," the bursar said. He had just remembered about The
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Mended Drum. He thought for a while and remembered about the physical
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fitness regime as well.
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"And then brick up the doorway," he said. There was a round of applause.
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"And throw away the brick layer!" chortled Rincewind, who felt he was
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getting the hang of this.
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The bursar scowled at him. "No need to get carried away," he said.
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[Mort, by Terry Pratchett]
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%e passage
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@@ -6390,7 +6639,7 @@ IF YOU ASK ME, said Death, NOBODY COULD DO ANY BETTER THAN THAT...
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# Used for interaction with Death.
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#
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%section Death
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%title Death Quotes (17)
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%title Death Quotes (19)
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%passage 1
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WHERE THE FIRST PRIMAL CELL WAS, THERE WAS I ALSO. WHERE MAN IS, THERE AM I. WHEN THE LAST LIFE CRAWLS UNDER FREEZING STARS, THERE WILL I BE.
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%e passage
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@@ -6443,7 +6692,8 @@ I HAVE COME FOR THEE.
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# including them here wouldn't fit with the rest)
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%passage 14
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DARK IN HERE, ISN'T IT?
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# p. 14 (Equal Rites; 2nd sentence continues 'said the deep, heavy voice...')
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# Equal Rites, p. 14 (Signet edition; second sentence continues
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# 'said the deep, heavy voice...')
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%passage 15
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THERE IS NO GOING BACK. THERE IS NO GOING BACK.
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# p. 15 (contradicts later descriptions of Death as existing outside of time;
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@@ -6453,6 +6703,12 @@ I HAVEN'T GOT ALL DAY, YOU KNOW.
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# p. 15 (same page)
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%passage 17
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LIFE IS FOR THE LIVING.
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# Mort, p. 148 (Signet edition)
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%passage 18
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NO-ONE EVER WANTED TO TALK TO ME BEFORE.
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# p. 149
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%passage 19
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I HAVEN'T GOT A SINGLE FRIEND. EVEN CATS FIND ME AMUSING.
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%e title
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%e section
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#
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