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Fantastic Fables
Contents:
The Moral Principle and the Material Interest
A MORAL Principle met a Material Interest on a bridge wide enough for but one.
"Down, you base thing!" thundered the Moral Principle, "and let me pass over you!"
The Material Interest merely looked in the other’s eyes without saying anything.
"Ah," said the Moral Principle, hesitatingly, "let us draw lots to see which shall retire till the other has crossed."
The Material Interest maintained an unbroken silence and an unwavering stare.
"In order to avoid a conflict," the Moral Principle resumed, somewhat uneasily, "I shall myself lie down and let you walk over me."
Then the Material Interest found a tongue, and by a strange coincidence it was its own tongue. "I don’t think you are very good walking," it said. "I am a little particular about what I have underfoot. Suppose you get off into the water."
It occurred that way.
Contents:
Chicago: Ambrose Bierce, "The Moral Principle and the Material Interest," Fantastic Fables in Fantastic Fables (New York: The Century Co., 1899), Original Sources, accessed November 23, 2024, http://originalsources.com/Document.aspx?DocID=V93FETM47QI7LUG.
MLA: Bierce, Ambrose. "The Moral Principle and the Material Interest." Fantastic Fables, in Fantastic Fables, New York, The Century Co., 1899, Original Sources. 23 Nov. 2024. http://originalsources.com/Document.aspx?DocID=V93FETM47QI7LUG.
Harvard: Bierce, A, 'The Moral Principle and the Material Interest' in Fantastic Fables. cited in 1899, Fantastic Fables, The Century Co., New York. Original Sources, retrieved 23 November 2024, from http://originalsources.com/Document.aspx?DocID=V93FETM47QI7LUG.
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