Recursion

They read every page, but could not find the answer. Some of them examined the book closely. Debates ensued. Wars started. People died. They were divided, but everyone wanted to know the answer. So they went back to the book. Scrutinized pages after pages. This time their strategy was different. They sat together. Spoke for hours, days, months and years. Halley’s Comet kept passing by, they lost count at some point. Disputes ensued. Wars began..

“No! We can’t go on like this!” – exclaimed one of them.

An old man asked, “what do you suggest?”

“Burn The Book! It is the source of all evil!”

Everyone agreed.

The book was torn apart and thrown into fire. Smoke and fire shrouded the book, everyone looked at the mess with disbelief, pain, anger and frustration. A page was spit out from the ruin by the wind, almost burned but the text was legible. The old man went ahead and picked it up. He read the seven sentences written on the page, and suddenly realized what the answer was.

The very first page contained the answer that human beings forever sought to know.

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