PodCastle Miniature 011: The Fable of the Moth
Show Notes
Rated G. Contains philosophical meanderings.
The Fable of the Moth
by Peter S. Beagle
Once there was a young moth who did not believe that the proper end for all mothkind was a zish and a frizzle. Whenever he saw a friend or a cousin or a total stranger rushing to a rendezvous with a menorah or a Coleman stove, he could feel a bit of his heart blacken and crumble. One evening, he called all the moths of the world together and preached to them. “Consider the sweetness of the world,” he cried passionately. “Consider the moon, consider wet grass, consider company. Consider glove linings, camel’s hair coats, fur stoles, feather boas, consider the heartbreaking, lost-innocence flavor of cashmere. Life is good, and love is all that matters. Why will we seek death, why do we truly hunger for nothing but the hateful hug of the candle, the bitter kiss of the filament? Accidents of the universe we may be, but we are beautiful accidents and we must not live as though we were ugly. The flame is a cheat, and love is the only.”
About the Author
Peter S. Beagle
Peter Soyer Beagle is an American novelist of fantasy literature, and a screenwriter and musician. His best-known works are is A Fine and Private Place, I See By My Outfit, The Last Unicorn, The Innkeeper’s Song, and The Rhinoceros Who Quoted Nietzsche, During the last twenty-five years he has won many literary awards, including a World Fantasy Award for Life Achievement in 2011. He lives and writes in the San Francisco Bay Area.
About the Narrator
Serah Eley
Serah Eley is a software developer and writer who once, under the name Steve Eley, started a little science fiction podcast called Escape Pod. You might have heard of it. She was the original founder of Escape Artists, our parent company, before retiring from podcasting in 2010. She’s spent much of the past ten years exploring the frontier territories of multiple-identity and gender, and is just starting to write home about what she’s found. You can follow her exploits at seraheley.com.
