Monday, February 6, 2012

L Sprague de Camp's "The Inspector's Teeth" (short story, humor)

There are two things here that were very alien for me, & will likely make story more accessible to those better acquainted:
  1. English language: A lot of dialogs are in a twisted form of it. Someone natively English will likely have less hard time comprehending.
  2. Idea of "fraternities" in US universities.
I could follow the story, but it wasn't as much fun as it might have been.

Story summary.

A baby-dinosaur like alien, from a world called Osiris, was welcomed & accepted by many at the university he attended on earth during his younger years. Now, as ambassador of Osiris, he's returning earth a favor by signing a treaty that he knows is loaded in earth's favor.

Most of the main text is actually devoted to his funny life at the university.

Notes.

  1. "Inspector's Teeth" refers to false teeth stolen by the first human explorer on Osiris that later found way to a museum on earth. Teeth belonging to a major hero of aliens. Teeth the alien protagonist of the story will steal from the museum during his student days & return them back home to their rightful place.

Collected in.

  1. "The Best of L Sprague de Camp".

Fact sheet.

First published: Astounding, April 1939.
Rating: B.
Among the stories from Astounding/Analog issues edited by John Campbell.
Related: Stories of L Sprague de Camp.

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