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Authors: Ursula K. Le Guin
Tags: Fiction
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the North Face of 2647 Lovejoy
Street and returned to Calcutta.
In 1980 a Japanese party of Izutsu employees with four Sherbet guides attained the summit by a North Face route, rappelling
across the study windows and driving pitons clear up to the eaves. Occupant protest was ineffective.
No one has yet climbed the Chimney.
T HE R OCK T HAT C HANGED T HINGS
A nurobl called Bu, working one day with her crew on the rockpile of Obling College, found the rock that changed things.
Where the obls live, the shores of the river are rocky. Boulders, large stones, small stones, pebbles, and gravel lie piled
and scattered for miles up and down the banks. The towns of the obis are built of stone; they hunt the rock-coney for their
meat feasts. Their nurobls gather and prepare stonecrop and lichen for ordinary food, and build the houses and the colleges,
and keep them neat, for the obis grow nervous and unhappy when things are not kept in order.
The heart of an obl town is its college, and the pride of every college is its terraces, which shelve down towards the river
from the high stone buildings. The stones of the terraces are arranged according to size: boulders make the outer walls, and
within them are rows of large rocks, then banks of small stones, and at last the inner terraces of pebbles set in elaborate
mosaics and patterns in gravel. On the terraces the obis stroll and sit in the long, warm days, smoking ta-leaf in pipes of
soapstone, and discussing history, natural history, philosophy, and metaphysics. So long as the rocks are arranged in order
of shape and size and the patterns are kept clear and tidy,the obls have peace of mind and can think deeply. After their conversations on the terraces, the wisest old obls enter the
colleges and write down the best of what was thought and said, in the Books of Record that are kept neatly ranged on the shelves
of the college libraries.
When the river floods in early spring and rises up the terraces, tumbling the rocks about, washing the gravel away, and causing
great disorder, the obls stay inside the colleges. There they read the Books of Record, discuss and annotate, plan new designs
for the terraces, eat meat feasts, and smoke. Their nurs cook and serve the feasts and keep the rooms of the colleges orderly.
As soon as the floods pass, the nurs begin to sort the rocks and straighten up the terraces. They hurry to do so because the
disorder left by the floods makes the obis very nervous, and when they are nervous they beat and rape the nurs more harshly
than usual.
The spring floods this year had broken through the boulder wall of the town of Obling, leaving branches and driftwood and
other litter on the terraces and disturbing or destroying many of the patterns. The terraces of Obling College are notable
for the perfect order and complex beauty of their pebble-patterns. Famous obis have spent years of their lives designing the
patterns and choosing the stones; one great designer, Aknegni, is said to have worked with his own hands to perfect his creation.
If a single pebble is lost from such a design, the nurobls will spend days hunting through the rockpiles for a replacement
of precisely the right shape and size. On such a task the nurobl called Bu was engaged, along with her crew, when she came
upon the stone that changed things.
When replacement rocks are needed, the rockpile nurs often make a rough copy of that section of the terrace mosaic, so that
they can test pebbles in it for fit without carrying them all the way up to the inner terraces. Bu had placed a trial stone
in a test pattern in this fashion, and was gazing at it to be sure the size and shape were exact, when she was struck by a
quality of the stone which she had never noticed before: the color. The pebbles of thispart of the design were all large ovals, a palm-and-a-quarter wide and a palm-and-a-half long. The rock Bu had just set into
the test pattern was a
Street and returned to Calcutta.
In 1980 a Japanese party of Izutsu employees with four Sherbet guides attained the summit by a North Face route, rappelling
across the study windows and driving pitons clear up to the eaves. Occupant protest was ineffective.
No one has yet climbed the Chimney.
T HE R OCK T HAT C HANGED T HINGS
A nurobl called Bu, working one day with her crew on the rockpile of Obling College, found the rock that changed things.
Where the obls live, the shores of the river are rocky. Boulders, large stones, small stones, pebbles, and gravel lie piled
and scattered for miles up and down the banks. The towns of the obis are built of stone; they hunt the rock-coney for their
meat feasts. Their nurobls gather and prepare stonecrop and lichen for ordinary food, and build the houses and the colleges,
and keep them neat, for the obis grow nervous and unhappy when things are not kept in order.
The heart of an obl town is its college, and the pride of every college is its terraces, which shelve down towards the river
from the high stone buildings. The stones of the terraces are arranged according to size: boulders make the outer walls, and
within them are rows of large rocks, then banks of small stones, and at last the inner terraces of pebbles set in elaborate
mosaics and patterns in gravel. On the terraces the obis stroll and sit in the long, warm days, smoking ta-leaf in pipes of
soapstone, and discussing history, natural history, philosophy, and metaphysics. So long as the rocks are arranged in order
of shape and size and the patterns are kept clear and tidy,the obls have peace of mind and can think deeply. After their conversations on the terraces, the wisest old obls enter the
colleges and write down the best of what was thought and said, in the Books of Record that are kept neatly ranged on the shelves
of the college libraries.
When the river floods in early spring and rises up the terraces, tumbling the rocks about, washing the gravel away, and causing
great disorder, the obls stay inside the colleges. There they read the Books of Record, discuss and annotate, plan new designs
for the terraces, eat meat feasts, and smoke. Their nurs cook and serve the feasts and keep the rooms of the colleges orderly.
As soon as the floods pass, the nurs begin to sort the rocks and straighten up the terraces. They hurry to do so because the
disorder left by the floods makes the obis very nervous, and when they are nervous they beat and rape the nurs more harshly
than usual.
The spring floods this year had broken through the boulder wall of the town of Obling, leaving branches and driftwood and
other litter on the terraces and disturbing or destroying many of the patterns. The terraces of Obling College are notable
for the perfect order and complex beauty of their pebble-patterns. Famous obis have spent years of their lives designing the
patterns and choosing the stones; one great designer, Aknegni, is said to have worked with his own hands to perfect his creation.
If a single pebble is lost from such a design, the nurobls will spend days hunting through the rockpiles for a replacement
of precisely the right shape and size. On such a task the nurobl called Bu was engaged, along with her crew, when she came
upon the stone that changed things.
When replacement rocks are needed, the rockpile nurs often make a rough copy of that section of the terrace mosaic, so that
they can test pebbles in it for fit without carrying them all the way up to the inner terraces. Bu had placed a trial stone
in a test pattern in this fashion, and was gazing at it to be sure the size and shape were exact, when she was struck by a
quality of the stone which she had never noticed before: the color. The pebbles of thispart of the design were all large ovals, a palm-and-a-quarter wide and a palm-and-a-half long. The rock Bu had just set into
the test pattern was a
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