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Fantascience Digest, v. 3, issue 3, whole no. 15, November-December 1941
Page 4
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Page 4 Fantascience Digest Fable & Fantascience by Fred W. Fischer Leslie Stone wrote a story about men with wings. Robert E. Howard equipped men with wings. Ray Cummings wrote of women with wings. Even the golden Amazons of Venus have wings. This might present a syllogism: Major premise, men have wings; minor premise, women have wings; conclusion, all God's chilluns got wings. That is, according to various authors. Had they ever heard of Daedalus and Icarus? If not, this could scarcely be plagiarism on the part of the authors. Daedalus, you might know, was famous centuries before scienti-fiction. According to Greek fantasy writers, he fashioned wings for himself and Icarus, and they flew high, wide, and handsome over the Aegaean Sea from Crete to Italy. Icarus, according to several accounts, so fascinated himself with his ability to execute power-dives, loop-the-loops, barrel-rolls, and tight spins, that he forgot his father's admonitions and flew rater close to the sun, which melted the wax on his wings and caused him to fall to his death. Besides fathering Icarus and the interests of aviation, Daedalus was also creator of the wooden cow of Pasiphae, Pasiphae being the lady who indiscreetly gave birth to the Minotaur, for whom Daedalus constructed the labyrinth at Gnossus. Theseus later killed the Minotaur, which brings on another cross-blanding of fable and fantascience, to be touched upon later. Before leaving Daedalus, let us mention in passing that he was also reputed to be quite a fellow in the fields of sculpture and architecture. Modern scientists utilize the principle of the labyrinth in studying animal intelligence and recation time. Psychologists refer to their intricate labyrinths as "mazes". Traveling circuses call them "fun houses" -- building equipped with confusing mirrors and blind alleys and twisting corridors. It is doubtful if either modern scientists or modern circuses have ever considered the possibility that Greek fantasy writers invented the maze. Present-day authors, for their part, write thousands of stories concerning robots and hybrids. The Minotaur was nothing if not a hybrid. It may be assumed from the facts that Pasiphae's wooden wedding present from Daedalus might have been some sort of a robot. But the classics mention robots with great frequency; idols that talked, wooden animals that walked, statues which came to life. Perhaps you've read tales recently in which mad scientists
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Page 4 Fantascience Digest Fable & Fantascience by Fred W. Fischer Leslie Stone wrote a story about men with wings. Robert E. Howard equipped men with wings. Ray Cummings wrote of women with wings. Even the golden Amazons of Venus have wings. This might present a syllogism: Major premise, men have wings; minor premise, women have wings; conclusion, all God's chilluns got wings. That is, according to various authors. Had they ever heard of Daedalus and Icarus? If not, this could scarcely be plagiarism on the part of the authors. Daedalus, you might know, was famous centuries before scienti-fiction. According to Greek fantasy writers, he fashioned wings for himself and Icarus, and they flew high, wide, and handsome over the Aegaean Sea from Crete to Italy. Icarus, according to several accounts, so fascinated himself with his ability to execute power-dives, loop-the-loops, barrel-rolls, and tight spins, that he forgot his father's admonitions and flew rater close to the sun, which melted the wax on his wings and caused him to fall to his death. Besides fathering Icarus and the interests of aviation, Daedalus was also creator of the wooden cow of Pasiphae, Pasiphae being the lady who indiscreetly gave birth to the Minotaur, for whom Daedalus constructed the labyrinth at Gnossus. Theseus later killed the Minotaur, which brings on another cross-blanding of fable and fantascience, to be touched upon later. Before leaving Daedalus, let us mention in passing that he was also reputed to be quite a fellow in the fields of sculpture and architecture. Modern scientists utilize the principle of the labyrinth in studying animal intelligence and recation time. Psychologists refer to their intricate labyrinths as "mazes". Traveling circuses call them "fun houses" -- building equipped with confusing mirrors and blind alleys and twisting corridors. It is doubtful if either modern scientists or modern circuses have ever considered the possibility that Greek fantasy writers invented the maze. Present-day authors, for their part, write thousands of stories concerning robots and hybrids. The Minotaur was nothing if not a hybrid. It may be assumed from the facts that Pasiphae's wooden wedding present from Daedalus might have been some sort of a robot. But the classics mention robots with great frequency; idols that talked, wooden animals that walked, statues which came to life. Perhaps you've read tales recently in which mad scientists
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