Both of these are lifted from Dave Snowden’s presentation on contextual complexity.
Nasrudin found a weary falcon sitting one day on his window-sill. He had never seen a bird like this before. “You poor thing” he said, “how ever were you to allowed to get into this state?” He clipped the falcon’s talons and cut its beak straight, and trimmed its feathers. “Now you look more like a bird”, said Nasrudin Shah, Idries (1985) The exploits of the Incomparable Mulla Nasrudin
It is now impossible for the third and youngest son of any king, if he should embark on a quest which has so far claimed his older brothers, not to succeed. Stories don’t care who takes part in them. All that matters is that the story gets told, that the story repeats. Or, if you prefer to think of it like this: stories are a parasitical life form, warping lives in the service only of the story itself.Terry Pratchett, Witches Abroad
