A feather quill hovers over a blank unrolled scroll beside books, an inkwell, dried stems and a candle.

Original artwork, not a still

So Long, and Thanks For All the Fish ‧ 1984

Douglas Adams

There was a point to this story, but it has temporarily escaped the chronicler’s mind.

Behind the line

What it means

Our interpretation.

The narrator admits that the story had a point which has now slipped away. That confession interrupts the expectation that a storyteller knows where the tale is going. The joke makes forgetting part of the story instead of quietly trying to hide it.

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