EP453: The Grotto of the Dancing Deer

[eytanz]

EP453: The Grotto of the Dancing Deer

By Clifford Simak

Read by Norm Sherman

This story won the 1980 Nebula Award for Best Short Story and the 1981 Hugo Award for Best Short Story.
---

Listen to this week’s Escape Pod!

[Darwinist]

Man, that was great! Thanks! Simak is one of my all time favorites.   I loved the comparison to Norman Rockwell in the intro. 

BTW - the music was so loud over the outro and listener feedback that I couldn't make out what was being said. 

[TiDinzeo]

I'd never even heard of Clifford Simak before listening to this, but I'm going to have to look for some of his work now so that I can read more.

I too had the same problem with the outro and listener feedback that Darwinist had.  In fact that's what has lead me to finally sign up to the forums, something I've been meaning to do for quite some time.

[matweller]

Thanks for the heads-up. I'll see what I can do with the file.

[HeartSailor]

I love Clifford D. Simak.  Simak's "City" was one of my first SF reads ever, and has remained a thought provoking book for me through the years.

Simak used the machina of an Observer in both "City" and in "The Grotto of the Dancing Deer."  In the former it is the Jenkins character; in this story, it is Luis.  Similarly, in both tales, there is no real redemption for the Observer; we get the sense that Luis is not only lonely, but saddened by his fate to watch mankind.  Why?  

Preservation is the stated reason for Luis' self-imposed non-participatory, observational relationship with the world around him.  Yet one must wonder if this uninvolved life is really living.  A very deep rooted part of the human psyche which is necessary for existence is sense of being worthwhile, or worthy.  A sense of self-worth.  Without some acknowledgement of each others' contributions, our human sense of self-worth suffers.  This seems to be why Luis must, from time to time, try to reach out to someone who might recognize who he is and what he does.  

And this point, for me, is the rub.  What does he do?  Simply survive?  I'm not sure that would be enough to satisfy a sense of self looking for worth in the world.  Is he a repository of history?  Hmmm...not very good at either recording it or sharing it.  As evening falls on the human race, Luis will still be there.  How will he look back and assess his contribution?  He would indeed be the loneliest man.

And that's where this falls down for me.  I can't imagine anyone who, for over 20,000 years, would be content to just sit on the sidelines and watch.  The very act of conscious non-participation in the human race defines Luis, in my mind, as nonhuman.   That's the only way I can see this.  His loneliness is then also a longing for something that he can never have - the desire and the ability to be fully human.  

Interestingly, this is a similar characteristic of the Jenkins character in Simak's "City."  Jenkins is a sentient robot who struggles with the humanity issue.  He also gets to watch as the human race grows, changes, and evolves out of itself.  Jenkins is always alone, however, and while we may not know what he desires, we recognize that his separateness above all defines him as nonhuman.  

In a similar fashion Luis is just as separate.  The unanswered question is...why?

I also missed the outro- the above ramblings may have been covered already.  Apologies to the editors.

[Warren]

A good story. Luis's special, enduring connection to the site was predictable long before Boyd entered the shaft, given the genre, but I suspect this is either because the author was satisfied to make it so or because the story has frequently been imitated over the last thirty years.

I share HeartSailor's skepticism about Luis's spending 20,000 years just watching the world pass him by. Wouldn't he at least move on to a more developed pursuit of his enjoyment of music? 20,000 years (and a lot of fancy instrument-makers) later, and his flute hasn't changed. Sure, this is narratively important - but he could be shown playing the flute on the hilltop to give Boyd the clue, and playing a mean fiddle back in camp or some such.

One small, amusingly jarring note for me was in the middle though, when Boyd flies back to DC to visit John Roberts. What is the right thing to do in cases like this? When the story was written, "John Roberts of Washington DC" was a carefully, neutrally bland anglo-saxon name, suitable for a rather undefined well-connected guy in the seat of American power; now, "John Roberts of Washington DC" has a rather more specific meaning. Should you replace the name when re-issuing or recording the story?

(also, what others noted about the mixing in the outro and feedback sections)

[Father Beast]

I experienced some claustrophobia in the scene where he reached the end of the tunnel, turns over to see the way up, and then sits up in the elbow of the turn. That's just a personal freak out moment for me.

The story was just a lot of fun, and kept me hooked. Immortals are always interesting to imagine how they get along.

Too bad I couldn't hear the outro....

[Alasdair5000]

For those interested, the outro text (Which changed a little on air) is:




There are two elements of that story that fascinate me. The first is the idea of engagement being the price for immortality. Yes you can live forever but no, you can’t ever be public. It’s a compelling, very human response that speaks to compassion and fear in equal proportion. Compassion in the voluntary removal of yourself from a society that would forever be changed by your true nature being known, fear because of what that society might do when it discovered you. It’s the most grounded response to immortality I’ve seen in a long time, including Duncan Mcleod’s roaring trade as an antique collector. It’s also a hugely refreshing change from the sort of Vandal Savage/Xerxes esque decision to rule the world as a Godking just because you can’t be killed.

The second is the desire to leave something of yourself behind. The idea of adding to the cave art, of adding to history, is one that speaks to the core ideals of being creative. We want to be remembered. We want people after us to say ‘they were here’ and when that doesn’t work, it can break us in two. Being creative is immensely, soulcrushingly difficult, especially at the moment. Throw a rock at industry news for the last couple of weeks and you’ll see news of companies in trouble, books cancelled and lots of people scrabbling for not very much work. It’s tough out there, so if you get an opportunity to draw something on history, whether it’s a smiling face in an exploding warp core or a dancing deer near some cave paintings, do it. History is made by the people who make history, not the people who patiently wait for history to arrive so they can make an appointment.

Here’s to them. All of humanity contained in that glorious subversion of expectation, the thumb in the eye of fate. The smiley face. The Kilroy was here. The dancing deers of Clifford Simak’s mind. Thank you sir.

We’re doing some feed back! It’s back by popular demand! Come on Nathan won’t you strike up the band? Of feedback?

Okay, PSA time! Wooooo!

First off, let’s talk metacast. Don’t worry, we’re in great shape and that’s down to you. Seriously.  You rock and we thank you for your continued support today, yesterday, and of course tomorrow.    We’ve gotten amazing number new subscribers, but we’ve also run into a bit of a snag and have been getting notes from some of you wondering why your subscriptions have been cancelled.
The short version is this; we have absolutely no control over your subscriptions.  We cannot change your subscription amount.  We cannot change how often your subscription is paid, and we can not cancel your subscription.  It’s not possible.  The option does not exist and Paypal will not allow us to change your subscription in any way shape or form.
 Now this means two things; firstly, if you do have issues with your subscription, that’s where PayPal comes in. Secondly, us not having that control is a good thing. Every element of the process is in your control and that’s just how it should be.
Now, PayPal. We know they’re the 800-pound gorilla and we know some people don’t like them for very good reason. Anyone who may need help with their subscription maintenance email us and Paul the magnificent accounting genius will send you out a how to, he’s put to-gether. It’s got photo shopped arrows and everything.
Now, other sources of donations.  We’re actively looking at folding in new ways to donate because God forbid doors between us and donor money should ever be closed. If you don’t or can’t use PayPal but want to donate, please get in touch and we’ll see what can be sorted out. We’re hoping to have several new payment methods rolled out this year, none of which I’m going to name now because they’re not locked in. Once they are, you’ll know. 
Dwolla’s already online and that brings me to my next point; A handful of you have started sending us donations via Dwolla.  For that we thank you.  Some of you have been sending monthly donations via Dwolla since the metacast and are still owed premium content.  Here’s why: Dwolla REALLY values the privacy of its customers. That’s the good news.  The bad news is that Dwolla really likes to maintain the privacy of it’s customers.  Which means that the only things we get to see on our side is your name, your dwolla ID number and the amount you’ve donated.  We can’t even get your E-mail address.
 
And without your E-mail address… we can’t put you on our premium content listing.
 
So… if the handful of you who do use Dwolla would be so kind as to send our accountant a quick E-mail with the subject line of “Dwolla Subscriber E-mail” and include your name and Dwolla ID# in the body of the E-mail, we’ll get you cross referenced and get content to you right away.  You can reach him at Paul at Escape Artists dot Net.
 
So… there it is.  Thank you all for your continued support.  We apologize that these glitches are getting in the way of smooth operation but as we grow, we learn how to make next time better than the last time.

Now, all of that out of the way, let’s talk donations. Subscriptions work best for us and start at 2 bucks a month. Alternately you can donate any amount you want and that’s awesome but helps us a TEENY bit less than 2 bucks a month. In fact, let’s take that 2 bucks and add round it up to 5. What does that get you? Well, the 2 bucks gets you a subscription and the other 3?
Easy, pledge it to see Dead Girls put into print. Published by Terry Martin, the hardest work-ing man in genre fiction in the UK, Dead Girls is a cult classic cyberpunk graphic novel that William Gibson described as ‘Dark, edgy, and inflicted with just the right degree of lyricism.’
It’s crowdfunding right now and with ten days to go it needs a push. Please, if you can, go donate to them and us
https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/dead-girls-the-graphic-novel/

And that’s our show. Which as ever is a product of Escape Artists Incorporated and released under a creative commons attribution non commercial no derivatives license. Our closing quote this week comes from, of course, Fyodor Dostoyevsky

If you were to destroy the belief in immortality in mankind, not only love but every living force on which the continuation of all life in the world depended, would dry up at once.
Fyodor Dostoevsky

[albionmoonlight]

I imagine that the outtro music acted up because it really wanted to be the Highlander Theme Song instead.

[Thunderscreech]

Thanks, Alasdair!  Do you know if there is a transcript or separate audio of the story comments too? 

[Alasdair5000]

The ending story comments are in that. If you want the intro too, here you go:

Welcome to Escape Pod, the weekly science fiction podcast where in a sense we are ALL clones of Tatiana Maslany.

This week’s story comes to you from Clifford D Simak. Simak is one of the all time greats, writing science fiction that started off in the traditional superscience mold of the 1930s but which soon became far kinder and more rounded. He wasn’t quite the Norman Rockwell of science fiction but he could certainly see that position from where he was and remains as much a spiritual and thematic contemporary of Bradbury as anyone else. He was named the third Grand Master of the SFWA in 1977 and was one of the inaugural recipients the Bram Stoker Award for Lifetime Achievement along with Fritz Leiber and Frank Belknap Long. To borrow a quote from Bill Murray, euologizing the late, great Harold Ramis, he earned his place and then some.
•   This week’s story first appeared in Analog in 1980 and won both the Hugo and Nebul a for Best Short Story in 1981. His other career achievements include International Fantasy Award for best fiction book (1953) for City
•   Hugo Award for best novelette (1959) for The Big Front Yard
•   Hugo Award for best novel (1964) for Way Station
•   Jupiter Award for best novel (1978) for A Heritage of Stars
•   Hugo Award for best short story (1981) for Grotto of the Dancing Deer
•   Nebula Award for best short story (1981) for Grotto of the Dancing Deer[1]
•   Locus Award for best short story (1981) for Grotto of the Dancing Deer
•   Analog Analytical Laboratory award for best short story (1981) for Grotto of the Dancing Deer

[Frungi]

I think he meant Nathan’s feedback segment. I want to hear or read that, too!

So I’m guessing what’s done is done and the episode can’t be re-edited and re-uploaded. Shame. But thanks for the outro transcript!

[Thunderscreech]

I think he meant Nathan’s feedback segment.

I did indeed! 

[Alasdair5000]

Not my wheelhouse, I'm afraid folks. If it's to hand I'm sure it'll be put up though

[matweller]

Thank you for the heads-up all! An updated/corrected file is now available for download.

[Scattercat]

The feedback text is like ninety percent already posted in the relevant thread, you guys.  And half of what I write is a formula anyway.  ("And that's all for this week; join us next week when we [topically appropriate stupid joke].")

[Max e^{i pi}]

No, Nathan, you don't understand.
It's all about getting to hear your moniker on the internet. Remember call in radio from back before there was an internet? Where if you were very lucky you could call in and get a shout out, or maybe request a song? So this is replacing that.

[Thunderscreech]

Also, I enjoy hearing how you point-counterpoint the discussions.  Sometimes you juxtapose two comments that I didn't realize were connected because maybe I'm a little slow.  The episode comments add value, even to sinful forumites.  DEAL WITH IT. 

[Scattercat]

Oh, I curate the comments something fierce to suit my own purposes, never fear. :-)

[Varda]

No, Nathan, you don't understand.
It's all about getting to hear your moniker on the internet. Remember call in radio from back before there was an internet? Where if you were very lucky you could call in and get a shout out, or maybe request a song? So this is replacing that.

THE PEOPLE DEMAND THEIR FEEDBACK!

[benjaminjb]

I hope one day to write a story so meta that the end-joke to the feedback section is "join us next week when we [topically appropriate stupid joke]."

(Got so distracted, I forgot to talk about the story...)

I like Simak. The Rockwell comparison is not off: a lot of Simak's stories have a sort of hazy, small-town positivity to them. (Or if you want to get all biographicall, we could talk about his Wisconsin roots, shared with other regionalist writers like Hamlin Garlin.)

Besides that, I think Simak's other big theme is "contact" or maybe even "companionship": humans uplifting dogs so we have someone to talk to in City; the lonely human caretaker in Way Station dealing with aliens just passing through; the guy realizing he can trade with aliens from his home in "Big Front Yard."

In that way, this story fits with his work: not a lot of conflict or danger and two vastly different people communicate and drink together as friends.

(Unrelated, anyone else read his weird invasion novel They Walked Like Men? Aliens invade by buying up the earth!)

[skeletondragon]

I agree with some of the other commenters who thought Luis was kind of an inhuman character who didn't seem to have changed or done as much as you'd expect in an immortal life. This story was decent enough but didn't really make me think about anything in a new way. Survival seemed to be a major theme, but I feel like everything Luis said was kind of cliche, as there are countless characters in scifi and fantasy who survive on their own in dangerous worlds by abandoning human attachment and only looking out for number one.

History might've been another theme, and the thing that got to me is that it is the protagonist's approach to and understanding of history that most dates the story. He makes a lot of assumptions about the cave painters that have since been questioned or overturned, beginning with the assumption that they were men. I didn't really hold this against the story, which accurately portrayed the archaeological attitudes of its time. I just like the way time has given a new dimension to a story about time, showing that even history is not set in stone, so to say.

[Thunderscreech]

I had a sinking feeling when Luis described all the traits required to survive.  I both reviled them and...  recognized them.  How many of us unconsciously use Luis's techniques every day we trudge into a 'safe' job we don't really like?  Or decide to skip pursuing a 'wild' business idea because the risk to our savings?  How many of us say 'that's none of my business' when we see something we don't like and keep walking because it's safe?

It felt Simak was using Luis to tell me to stop just surviving and start living.  It's a frightening directive, compellingly delivered. 

I'm physically uncomfortable by what feel like stark truths.  It was well written.

[Kaa]

I thoroughly enjoyed the story, as I have all of Simak's work that I've read. My only "gripe" (and it's a small complaint, really) is with the narration. Norm is, as usual, awesome, but...did anyone else feel like he was whispering? I realized at some point that I was hunched over the steering wheel, leaning in because it felt like he was whispering a secret into my ear. The volume was fine, but I felt like I kept wanting to turn it up.

[matweller]

Norm is, as usual, awesome, but...did anyone else feel like he was whispering?

You know this is Norm…Sherman, right? Are you sure you've heard him speak at all before? That dude couldn't whisper more if you actually removed his voice box.

[Richard Babley]

The feedback text is like ninety percent already posted in the relevant thread, you guys.  And half of what I write is a formula anyway.  ("And that's all for this week; join us next week when we [topically appropriate stupid joke].")

This weeks comments are for The Grotto of the Dancing Deer.  This was a happy little story about a twenty thousand year old caveman's invention of Disney kitsch.  Comments about the story were mostly positive, with several complainy old listeners telling us to turn the monster surf rock down so they can hear if I curated their comments into something worthwhile.  Well, thats all for this week, please join us again next week when we crank it up to 11 and sing the story as lyrics to Daikaiju.

[Thunderscreech]

That was perfect.

[meggzandbacon]

I thoroughly enjoyed the story, as I have all of Simak's work that I've read. My only "gripe" (and it's a small complaint, really) is with the narration. Norm is, as usual, awesome, but...did anyone else feel like he was whispering? I realized at some point that I was hunched over the steering wheel, leaning in because it felt like he was whispering a secret into my ear. The volume was fine, but I felt like I kept wanting to turn it up.

I actually loved Norm's narration, although I've yet to hear him read a thing I didn't love.  He's probably the best narrator in audio fiction IMO, even the pro books on tape people (books on CD I guess now... or mp3 hah.)  Some of his narrations are kinda softer or "camp-firey" at Drabblecast but I didn't have any problems hearing this one.

About the story:  FANTASTIC.  Lius did seem inhuman but of course he pretty much had to be, I think that was the point.  And the chilling thing was juxtaposing his philosophies on survival behavior with the ways that many "humans" live their regular lives today.  Or groups of humans, corporations, nations and governments... entities that live longer than normal human life spans.

I find myself wondering if I would keep Lius's secret myself. 

[InfiniteMonkey]

What this story reminded me most of was a little movie called "Jerome Bixby's The Man From Earth" about a similar immortal (I think Bixby also wrote a similar story for The Twilight Zone, and of course there was a story along these lines on the original Star Trek).

For me Simak brings up memories of the many "quest" stories he wrote in the 1980s. This was quite different, and I liked it. I'm also curious as to how someone handles this tale; how believable the reveal is, how plausible a character's bio is.

(also, yes, I too was annoyed at the music playing over the exit; and now I'm not sure I'm still subscribed)

[adrianh]

Loved it. Simak is one of my all time favourite authors. City, Way Station and All Flesh is Grass have all been re-read multiple times (Way Station is another slant on isolation and sort-of-immmortality, among other things, if this story gave you a taste for it)

A classic short, well read. Thank you.

Personally I never read Luis as being a non-participant in humanity though. This is somebody who went to university in Paris & Cambridge after all. Somebody who wandered the world — saw Sparta, etc. Despite what he tells us, his actions reveal that he did a lot more in the world than his stated philosophy would drive him to.

For me his isolation was much more personal. This was somebody who couldn't / wouldn't really be honest with anybody. Who always had to keep aspects of themselves private. That was the harrowing thing about the way he decided to live.

[Unblinking]

I was a bit surprised in the comments here when people complained that Luis seemed inhuman.  Well, yes he was.  The fact that he's lived so long says that by itself even if that were the only change.  And that's a change that would cause other changes over the substantial period of time--are you the same now as you were five years ago?  Ten?  Fifteen?  He has no peers that we can compare him to, and has aged so far beyond what should be possible that there's no one even near that magnitude of age, so of course he seems alien.

I thought his behavior over the years was plausible.  By definition, anyone who lives that long has to have traits of a survivor.  Idealism, heroism, hunger for glory, these are all things that are liable to get you killed especially if you display during many points of world history.  Maybe there were other immortals out there and they had heroic traits, and so died at a younger age, maybe never living beyond 100.

Haha, throughout the story I felt certain that JJ Abrams must have read this story and been a fan because I had a memory of him naming an immortal character on Lost Luis.  But when I looked it up, it turns out that character was not named "Luis", though there was a tenuous multi-step connection to the name "Luis".  The character's name on Lost was Richard Alpert, who was played by the actor Nestor Carbonell.  I first saw Nestor Carbonell on the sitcom Suddenly Susan in which he played a character called Luis.  I didn't even particularly care about Suddenly Susan, but I saw a few episodes here and there, and I think that was the first place I ever heard the name "Luis" and to me it sounded like the woman's name "Louise" and I thought it was strange.  (Yes, I know it's a non-English man's name, but didn't know at the time). 

[Dem]

Of its time and now of conceptual rather than literary interest I think. I found it clunky, long-winded, and bloke-ily tedious.

[Devoted135]

What an excellent episode. I agree with Unblinking that the few hints of his life Luis lets slip betray him as someone who has been way more involved in history than he would like to let on. For some reason Luis is extremely reticent to share any of his knowledge or experience with Boyd, but in just a few minutes we learn that he: didn't care for Athens, loved Sparta, went to many if not most of the major European universities in their individual heydays, was present for at least part of Charlemagne's career, and so on. I didn't understand why Luis was so unwilling to talk about these things, but he certainly hasn't led the life of a secluded hermit for 20,000 years. Maybe as Boyd and Luis get to know each other better Luis will be willing to open up more about his life history.


As soon as I heard the volume of the outro music go up I knew that by this time Mat would have fixed it and uploaded a new version (I downloaded the original file immediately but only got around to listening yesterday). Sure enough, there it was. Thanks Mat!

[matweller]

It's all for you, Devoted135.

[Unblinking]

I agree with Unblinking that the few hints of his life Luis lets slip betray him as someone who has been way more involved in history than he would like to let on.

I don't think my comments are what you're referring to. adrianh's maybe?

[Devoted135]

It's all for you, Devoted135.

Haha, thanks!

I agree with Unblinking that the few hints of his life Luis lets slip betray him as someone who has been way more involved in history than he would like to let on.

I don't think my comments are what you're referring to. adrianh's maybe?

Whoops, you're totally right!

[Nfidel]

I really enjoyed this Simak story. I had previously read his novel "City" and it too is an excellent read.
Also, as with InfiniteMonkey, the Grotto of the Dancing Deer reminded me of Bixby's "The Man From Earth".
It's an interesting film, unless you require explosions and such, as this is dialogue driven.

[Fenrix]

My positive reaction to the story was just like Thunderscreech's

I had a sinking feeling when Luis described all the traits required to survive.  I both reviled them and...  recognized them.  How many of us unconsciously use Luis's techniques every day we trudge into a 'safe' job we don't really like?  Or decide to skip pursuing a 'wild' business idea because the risk to our savings?  How many of us say 'that's none of my business' when we see something we don't like and keep walking because it's safe?

It felt Simak was using Luis to tell me to stop just surviving and start living.  It's a frightening directive, compellingly delivered. 

I'm physically uncomfortable by what feel like stark truths.  It was well written.

A couple things bothered me about this story. Maybe I've been reading too many environmental reports, but it seemed a bit insane that an archaeologist is just going to tear apart something that is clearly man-made masonry and dive in headlong without any documentation. No sketches of how the stones fit together or photos of the in situ condition. I understand being excited, but he was there on an archaeological expedition to document the cave paintings and prehistoric culture. I don't know why he didn't stop at the first stone where he learned there was an opening behind it and get the whole team to come back. In the end he got to trade this site for another dig site, but I didn't get the hint in his personality setup that made him dive in headfirst without following good preservation and documentation practices.

Also, maybe I wasn't listening close enough, but I thought there was a mummified severed hand found in the first chamber? And this matched Luis's bottle prints and the paint prints but Luis still had his hand? What did I miss? I went looking for the text of this story but didn't find it.

[TrishEM]

A couple things bothered me about this story. Maybe I've been reading too many environmental reports, but it seemed a bit insane that an archaeologist is just going to tear apart something that is clearly man-made masonry and dive in headlong without any documentation. No sketches of how the stones fit together or photos of the in situ condition. I understand being excited, but he was there on an archaeological expedition to document the cave paintings and prehistoric culture. I don't know why he didn't stop at the first stone where he learned there was an opening behind it and get the whole team to come back. In the end he got to trade this site for another dig site, but I didn't get the hint in his personality setup that made him dive in headfirst without following good preservation and documentation practices.

Also, maybe I wasn't listening close enough, but I thought there was a mummified severed hand found in the first chamber? And this matched Luis's bottle prints and the paint prints but Luis still had his hand? What did I miss? I went looking for the text of this story but didn't find it.

The archaeological vandalism really bothered me too -- he didn't even have the motivation of treasure-hunting, it seemed he just wanted to hug the discovery all to himself. If he had pointed it out to the team, surely he would have been mentioned in the papers even if it was credited as a team effort, but instead he kept it secret and so would have raised fraud suspicions whenever he had tried to make it public (even without the issue of the eternal survivor). It just seemed senseless for him to do it that way.

And yeah, the severed hand seemed like a Chekhov's gun that never went off. Before we found out about the ancient who survived, I was expecting this to be the penalty for heresy that the dancing-deer artist paid for lighthearted paintings, imposed by the serious religious painters. As it was, I don't think it had anything to do with Luis or the fingerprints; it appeared to be a pointless mystery that distracted from the main story.

[hardware]

Classic stuff.  And yes, Luis not living a full life was kind of the point of the story (a point perhaps more relevant than ever in our risk-aversion obsessed culture). In fact, if I have any problem it's that this point was hammered in a little too much on the nose, but you get that a lot with older short form sci-fi, and it can be kind of charming to hear in our time, where ambiguity is the rule of the land.

[Unblinking]

ambiguity is the rule of the land.

Or is it?

[Scattercat]

ambiguity is the rule of the land.

Or is it?

Ambiguity may or may not be the rule of the land, depending on where your land is located and the relative importance of local traditions in shaping laws.

[davidthygod]

My simplistic review:  This was good but slow.  Interesting, but a little boring. 

Also, the guy has been alive for 20,000 years, I think I would have asked him some specific history-nerd questions.  Simak should have teased some details about how wrong our history books are, or something cliche like that. 

[CryptoMe]

Sorry, this did not work for me. It wasn't bad, it just didn't get me very interested in the characters, which is sad considering that one of them is 20,000 freaking years old.