The truth is that Trout, like Vonnegut and Ray Bradbury and many others, writes parables. These are set in frames which have become called, for no good reason, science fiction. A better generic term would be 'future fairy tales'. And even this is objectionable, since many science fiction stories take place in the present or the past, far and near.

By this he meant that all events, therefore, all men, are interconnected in an unbreakable web. What man does, no matter how seemingly insignificant, vibrates through the strands and affects every man.

Confucius once said that a bear could not fart at the North Pole without causing a big wind in Chicago.

Give us power, give us light To holdall love within our breast's small space.

This story is about love, which means that it is also about hate.

There are Universes begging for Gods, yet he hangs around this one looking for work.

As science pushes forward, ignorance and superstition gallop around the flanks and bite science in the rear with big dark teeth.