AbstractsLanguage, Literature & Linguistics

This is a story about a Goat, who is an Animated & a Talking Goat, unusually, for an Architect. There are also other Talking Animals, such as a Moose, a Butterfly by the name of Bill, a Beaver, and a Jackalope—the Jackalope is a bit scary, but perhaps they are all friends. In any case, there are also Buildings, or this would not be a Master’s Thesis in Architecture. So they definitely build many things, I will say that, and drink a great deal of Tea, and eat many Cookies, as well, and if sometimes things get a bit Serious, why: I should not pay any Serious attention at all, simply follow the story along, remembering that it will all end up alright in the end—in these kind of stories, of course, it always does. I will tell you now, however, that it might be a bit dangerous to allow Goats inside your understanding of architecture, because once a Goat is inside your Understanding, who knows what trouble he might get up to, and what renovations he should make inside your mind—what Rooms he might make for a butterfly here; or what Labyrinth of Understanding he might place in a Doorway hidden There, for you to stumble into—what Small House for himself with a view to a Garden of Very Pretty Understanding, he might build, perhaps in a far-off Nook you had forgotten about entirely—why, you might be left with Whole Fields renovated inside your Understanding, and I do not know if a Goat could be Qualified for such. So I cannot quite recommend you to reading this, although it is an excessively good story, and I should not like you to miss it. I will reassure you, quite as a side-note, that I have written an accompanying essay on the Use of the Imagination in architecture, to stand as a Defense of Goat, and as a Proof of Goat’s very existence—for the Doubters among us who might not believe, in the end, since he is not in front of us, that we have seen a little Talking Goat: for such Persons who might allow Doubt to Prevail even on Sundays, and who might thereby cause us to begin to forget the little doorways and rooms, that a Small White Goat has placed carefully in our own Heart, so that we may have Adventures there.