Myth Making

 Victory City by Salman Rushdie is a mythical fantasy.  The story involves a little girl who witnesses her mother's tragic death.  The little girl wanders alone into a hermit who takes her in.  Somehow the gods, this is India, bless or curse (depends on how you look at it) the little girl with tremendous power.  

She builds a city out of her mind.  She imagines it.  A good city, it is.  Of course, people spoil it.  Some are bad; some are good.  The girl is Pampa Kampana.  She also has a long life and outlives husbands, lovers, and children.

The story has a narrator.  He tells the story.  It is a good fable.

The Blood of Goats will Shatter Diamonds

                                                          Greek bronze bust of Aristotle by Lysippos,

                                                                  c. 330 BC, with modern alabaster mantle

Aristotle once said that the fresh warm blood of a goat would shatter a diamond.  It's a famous quote, but why I don't know.  I can't find what it means on google.  

It's nonsense, is it not?  Diamonds don't shatter.  They can only be cut with diamond precision tools, certainly not a liquid.  

What did Aristotle mean?  

How would anyone test this?  Diamonds aren't readily available.  Who would kill a goat and pour its blood over a diamond.  

This is just nonsense.  We don't have the context that Aristotle was using.  Maybe he was using it as a simile.  

Trying to empty the ocean of salt is akin to shattering a diamond with the fresh warm blood of a goat.

Well?