Explore "The Moral Principle and the Material Interest" by Ambrose Bierce on Textopian. Read with annotations and highlights.
A Moral Principle met a Material Interest on a bridge wide enough for but one.
"Down, you base thing!" thundered the Moral Principle, "and let me pass over you!"
The Material Interest merely looked in the other's eyes without saying anything.
"Ah," said the Moral Principle, hesitatingly, "let us draw lots to see / which shall retire till the other has crossed."
The Material Interest maintained an unbroken silence and an unwavering / stare.
"In order to avoid a conflict," the Moral Principle resumed, somewhat / uneasily, "I shall myself lie down and let you walk over me."
Then the Material Interest found a tongue, and by a strange coincidence / it was its own tongue. "I don't think you are very good walking," it / said. "I am a little particular about what I have underfoot. Suppose / you get off into the water."
It occurred that way.