Page 4 - Fables volume 1

How his Son-in-Law Earned the Great Lizard’s Displeasure

continued, “Of course, it was to no avail. The sheer number of
nuclear weapons made war inevitable. Intelligence built the missiles—
but it did not launch them.”
“Bah! That’s no excuse. Even if you hadn’t the wit to predict this
so-called irreversible flow of events, you still could have prevented the
final catastrophe.”
Son-in-law looked around for support. The others were studiously
avoiding his gaze. “But, how?” he said, and started to creep backward
surreptitiously toward the mouth of the cave.
“It’s obvious, you young numbskull. If your creatures are stupid
enough to engineer their own destruction, then you have to put some
real fear into them.”
“You mean—”
“Yes! Reveal our power. Put on a show in the sky. Shake the earth
and raise the waters. Make them know the Great Lizard is displeased.”
“But they didn’t believe in you anymore,” whined Son-in-law
miserably.
That remark so enraged the Old One that he leapt from his rock
with jaws snapping. But the miscreant had planned his escape well,
and dashed out of the cave wondering what strange curse would soon
follow to transform him out of all recognition.

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