Project Gutenberg 2009-07-29 Public domain in the USA. 64 Sternbach, Richard A. Houlihan, Raymond F. 1923 1991 Houlihan, Ray The Hands Reading ease score: 77.8 (7th grade). Fairly easy to read. Produced by Greg Weeks, Stephen Blundell and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net "The Hands" by Richard A. Sternbach is a short story written in the early 1950s. This piece of speculative fiction explores themes of creation and destruction through a cosmic lens, illustrated in a brief yet impactful narrative structure. The story contemplates the persistent cycle of human behavior against the backdrop of a vast and indifferent universe. In this poignant vignette, two figures are depicted atop a mountain—a gigantic, ancient father and his smaller, younger son. As they witness the fires of destruction ignited by humanity below, the son pleads for humanity to receive another chance, while the father is skeptical, knowing they might repeat their past mistakes. Ultimately, the father's choice to knead clay in his hands suggests a new creation, providing a sense of hope and possibility rather than despair. This story prompts reflection on the nature of existence, responsibility, and the potential for renewal amidst chaos. (This is an automatically generated summary.) en Short stories PS Text Science Fiction Browsing: Literature Browsing: Science-Fiction & Fantasy Browsing: Fiction 27894 27901 2024-10-12T16:04:49.515465 2023-09-13T06:55:13.737208 text/html text/html 23694 2009-07-29T11:18:46 text/html; charset=iso-8859-1 170825 2009-07-29T11:18:46 text/html; charset=iso-8859-1 application/zip 240390 2024-10-12T16:04:53.912482 application/epub+zip 238810 2024-10-12T16:04:51.571464 application/epub+zip 77685 2024-10-12T16:04:50.311473 application/epub+zip 354582 2024-10-12T16:04:55.524469 application/x-mobipocket-ebook 347404 2024-10-12T16:04:53.062506 application/x-mobipocket-ebook 105246 2022-09-13T15:51:13.417662 application/x-mobipocket-ebook 21805 21705 2024-10-12T16:04:49.248479 2023-09-13T06:55:13.576227 text/plain; charset=us-ascii text/plain 21706 2009-07-29T11:18:46 text/plain; charset=us-ascii 7996 2009-07-29T11:18:46 text/plain; charset=us-ascii application/zip 19531 2024-10-12T16:04:55.684447 application/rdf+xml 11501 2024-10-12T16:04:50.852498 image/jpeg 3018 2024-10-12T16:04:50.581467 image/jpeg 238009 2024-10-12T16:04:49.527487 application/octet-stream application/zip Archives containing the RDF files for *all* our books can be downloaded at https://www.gutenberg.org/wiki/Gutenberg:Feeds#The_Complete_Project_Gutenberg_Catalog