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The Jovian Jest
By Lilith Lorraine
| There came to our pigmy planet a radiant wanderer with a message—and a jest—from the vasty universe. |
CONSTERNATION reigned in Elsnore village when the Nameless Thing was discovered in Farmer Burns' cornpatch. When the rumor began to gain credence that it was some sort of meteor from interstellar space, reporters, scientists and college professors flocked to the scene, desirous of prying off particles for analysis. But they soon discovered that the Thing was no ordinary meteor, for it glowed at night with a peculiar luminescence. They also observed that it was practically weightless, since it had embedded itself in the soft sand scarcely more than a few inches.
By the time the first group of newspapermen and scientists had reached the farm, another phenomena was plainly observable. The Thing was growing!
Farmer Burns, with an eye to profit, had already built a picket fence around his starry visitor and was charging admission. He also flatly refused to permit the chipping off of specimens or even the touching of the object. His attitude was severely criticized, but he stubbornly clung to the
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