In the jungle, leaves, leaves, leaves and stays. They traveled slowly, ducking and diving, holding branches back for the one who came after, oh thank you. Ouch, you missed that one, sorry.
Have you found a hammer yet?
No, Sphinx going in front, no, but I’ve found a Shield Bug on a leaf.
No, you haven’t, you can’t see me. So, no, no Shield Bugs to see here, said the Shield Bug.
I can see you sitting upon that leaf.
No, no you can’t, I am virtually invisible due to my clever camouflage and anyway if you could see me then I would be a complete failure in evolutionary terms and as I do exist, I am not a failure but a great success. So, no, you cannot see me.
Who are you talking to, asked Sheba, I can’t see anything but leaves.
There is a Shield Beetle sitting on a leaf and I was asking if it had seen a hammer.
Must have excellent camouflage, I can’t see it at all, said Sheba, craning her neck to look past the Sphinx’s paw.
Thank you for that, said the Shield Bug, see, I have excellent camouflage and you cannot see me.
Don’t get worried, said the Sphinx, I am an immortal and have immortals vision, i.e. pretty much super vision. I can see things that no mortal would see.
OK, reassuring I suppose, said the Shield Bug, that does make me feel a little better about the whole thing. What were you saying about a hammer?
Well, said the Sphinx, we, here the Sphinx indicated Sheba and the woman with the goat and the short end of a stick, are searching low and high for a hammer which we are led to believe has extraordinary properties.
And those properties are? Asked the Bug
We are told that it can help to solve problems, said the Sphinx, and everyone, surely can get on board with that.
And you have not questioned the likelihood that there exists a hammer, one of those heavy metal tools to hit things with, that can somehow, in some way, not as yet defined, solve problems? Does it come with a calculator side-kick by any chance, or has it been furnished with a shock proof hard drive which can somehow provide answers to tricky questions?
Now that you mention it, said the Sphinx thoughtfully, I did take the whole, solving problems thing on trust. Stay there a moment, I’ll ask the woman with the goat and the short end of a stick, she seem to know all about it.
OK, said the Shield Bug, If you find out I’d love to know.
The Sphinx inquired of the woman and she said, well, with this hammer you could, reupholster old furniture, tap down a sharp nail head that might snag your finger. Should you need to block your front door and you have some nails and planks, you can nail them in place in a criss-cross fashion to keep out zombies or marauding marauders. If something gets bent, you could flatten it out again.
Before she could continue the Sphinx asked, yes, yes, but does it have any properties that you would not expect of a hammer? Can it boil a kettle, talk an upset person down from a ledge, trim the hooves of a cart horse, change the wheel of a car, bring down inflation, improve productivity, predict the weather?
No, said the woman, I’m sorry if I lead you to believe otherwise.
No problem, sighed the Sphinx, I’m going to look for the hammer in the sea, special powers or no.
The Guardians of the Cave 