The First Descent of Beelzebub upon the Planet Earth

CHAPTER XV

The First Descent of Beelzebub upon the Planet Earth

UPON that planet Earth,” Beelzebub began to relate, “I descended for the first time on account of a young being of our tribe who had had the misfortune to become deeply involved with a three-brained being there, as a consequence of which he had got himself mixed up in a very stupid affair.

“There once came to my house on the planet Mars a number of beings of our tribe, also dwelling there on Mars, with the following request:

“They told me that one of their young kinsmen, 350 Martian years before, had migrated to exist on the planet Earth, and that a very disagreeable incident for all of us, his kinsmen, had recently occurred to him there.

“They told me further:

“ ‘We, his kinsmen, both those existing there on the planet Earth and those existing here on the planet Mars, intended at first to deal with the unpleasant incident ourselves, with our own resources. But notwithstanding all our efforts and the measures we have adopted we have been unable so far to accomplish anything.

“ ‘And being now finally convinced that we are unable to settle this unpleasant affair by ourselves independently, we venture to trouble you, your Right Reverence, and urgently beseech you to be so kind as not to withhold from us your wise advice how we may find a way out of our unhappy situation.’

“They told me further in detail in what the misfortune which had befallen them consisted.

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