74 - Genuine tragedies in the world are not conflicts between right and wrong

The good residents of Hay-on-Wye sigh with relief at the end of the Autumnal Bookfest of their little neighbour Gwair. The chaotic festival is over and the clear-up begins. Volunteers fan out through the streets of the town, and across the surrounding fields. In the course of this operation Wilfriede Organdy (from the Frabjous Tea Rooms) finds the stone. It seems to be an ancient piece of pottery. She puts it in her apron pocket, and later shows it to her brother, Alphonse Callooh, the taxidermist. He takes it home and sits up all night tracing its intricate designs onto paper. It is a cuneiform critique of Hegelianism as irrational.