Rahu and Wotan

"So you released the demon Rahu after he was thawed out?" Amadeus Emanon asked Renfield.

"Yes," Renfield replied, "after I got him to sign a contract saying that if Osiris returns to Earth, Rahu will side with our boss Set in any war against Osiris."

"I wonder if he'll honour that contract the same way you honour your contracts," Amadeus bit into his marmalade covered crumpet.

"Hm, I should have somehow made it more binding," Renfield started scratching his hamster like whiskers which always started to emerge whenever he was agitated.


* * *

In an architect's office in Berlin, an American architectural school graduate was waiting for a job interview with his perspective German employer.

He looked at the model of the city he saw under glass before him.

"Wow," Ralph thought to himself, "this really looks ostentatious."

Herr Wotan came out to greet him.

The man had white hair, a white beard and only one eye.

What sort of architect was he that he only had one eye?

"Um... I've just been admiring your city," Ralph coughed, "or rather your design of one."

Ralph pointed to the ostentatious display under glass.

"Unfortunately it wasn't my design," Herr Wotan smiled, "but rather that of a young and promising young architect Albert Speer. The city was to be called Welthaupstadt Germania- the rebuilt Berlin had the Third Reich won the war."

"Oh," said Ralph.

"This was to be the City's North-South Axis," Herr Wotan proudly pointed it out, "known as the Prachtstrasse or Street of Magnificence a three mile long grand boulevard stretching from the Volkshalle a huge assembly hall with a 700 foot dome and floor space for 180,000 people all the way down to a 400 foot triumphal arch at the southern end of the boulevard. Paris's much smaller Arc de Triomphe would have been able to fit inside its opening."

"I see," Ralph gulped when he saw Wotan's one good eye practically bursting with joyful enthusiasm.

"A lot of people are still unaware today how technologically advanced the Third Reich was," Wotan rubbed his hands together with glee, "did you know they invented colour television? They had colour television in Berlin in 1937- it only broadcast for 6 hours each day but still they had it. The rest of the world was still bumbling along with radio. And colour television didn't appear on a full scale in North America until some 30 years later- 1967."

"They may have been technologically advanced," Ralph pointed out, "but what about the Holocaust and World War II that led to the deaths of millions of people?"

"You can't make an omelette without breaking a few eggs," Herr Wotan laughed as he waved Ralph into his office.

Ralph felt queasy as he entered the office.

He didn't think he'd enjoy working for Herr Wotan.

To be continued.