To continue the 'Back in My day theme begun by my last post, here are the best words written on the subject, if not the most oft quoted.*
The following extract has been lovingly and reverently copied from 'Reaper Man' by Terry Pratchett.
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| Acknowledgement: http://ecotime.blogspot.co.nz/ |
The sun was near the horizon.
The shortest-lived
creatures on the Disc were mayflies, which barely make it through twenty-four
hours. Two of the oldest zigzagged aimlessly over the waters of a trout stream,
discussing history with some younger members of the evening hatching.
“You don’t get the
kind of sun now that you used to get,” said one of them.
“You’re right there.
We had proper sun in the good old hours. It were all yellow. None of this red
stuff.”
“It were higher, too.”
“It was. You’re
right.”
“And nymphs and larvae
showed you a bit of respect.”
“They did. They did,”
said the other mayfly vehemently.
“I reckon, if mayflies
these hours behaved a bit better, we’d still be having proper sun.”
The younger mayflies
listened politely.
“I remember,” said one
of the oldest mayflies, “when all this was fields, as far as you could see.”
The younger mayflies
looked around.
“It’s still fields,”
one of them ventured, after a polite interval.
“I remember when it
was better fields,” said the old mayfly sharply.
“Yeah,” said his colleague.” And
there was a cow.”
“That’s right! You’re right! I remember that cow! Stood right over there
for, oh, forty, fifty minutes. It was brown, as I recall.”
“You don’t get cows
like that these hours.”
“You don’t get cows at
all.”
“What’s a cow?” said
one of the hatchlings.
“See?” said the oldest
mayfly triumphantly. “That’s modern Ephemeroptera for you.” It paused.” What
were we doing before we were talking about the sun?”
“Zigzagging aimlessly
over the water,” said one of the young flies; This was a fair bet in any case.
“No, before that.”
“Er... you were
telling us about the Great Trout.”
“Ah. Yes. Right. The
Trout. Well, you see, if you’ve been a good mayfly, zigzagging up and down
properly –”
“– taking heed of your
elders and betters –”
“– yes, and taking
heed of your elders and betters, then eventually the Great Trout –”
Clop
Clop
“Yes?”
said one of the younger mayflies.
There was no reply.
“The Great Trout
what?” said another mayfly, nervously.
They looked down at a
series of expanding concentric rings on the water.
“The holy sign!” said
a mayfly. “I remember being told about that! A Great Circle in the water! Thus
shall be the sign of the Great Trout!”
The oldest of the
young mayflies watched the water thoughtfully. It was beginning to realise
that, as the most senior fly present, it now had the privilege of hovering
closest to the surface.
“They say,” said the
mayfly at the top of the zigzagging crowd, “that when the Great Trout comes for
you, you go to a land flowing with... flowing with...”
Mayflies don’t eat. It
was at a loss. “Flowing with water,” it finished lamely.
“I wonder,” said the
oldest mayfly.
“It must be really
good there,” said the youngest.
“Oh? Why?”
“ ’Cos no-one ever
wants to come back.”
* most oft quoted being, of course, the 'When I was Young' Yorkshiremen skit from Monty Python. Here.**
** Dutch subtitles may be useful or distracting, but it's a better version than the other on youtube.
