The Hands - Richard Sternbach

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
The Hands by Richard Sternbach. The story of Creation in
all its majesty was written in six hundred words. Will
the Destruction be told as briefly? He was a gigantic
figure sitting there atop the mountain. He could have leaned
over and damned the river below with a finger. He
sat on top of the mountain, and his beard in

(00:21):
the wind was a white flag. Across the plains. As
he watched, there were fires glowing, and the mountain under
him trembled from explosions a thousand miles away. He bent
his head, and a muffled cry reverberated down the hillside
and through the valley. A smaller figure appeared beside him,
looking sad. Try again, father, the smaller one said. The

(00:46):
old one shook his head. It would be the same.
Give them another chance. They would do it again, just
once more. The old one shook his head again, and
for a while they sat, and they watched the destruction.
The fires burned higher, and the explosions shook their mountain
more roughly. At last, at the end, the old one

(01:10):
reached down and scooped up some clay from the bank
of the river. He held it in a huge gentle hand,
and the younger one smiled. You are good to give
them another chance. Father, not them, said the old one.
What do you mean, the sun asked wonderingly, something else,

(01:31):
the majestic figure answered, starting to knead the clay. What
shall it be? End of the Hands by Richard Sternbock