Borges Classification Of Animals
EditHint: note TheOrderOfThings
This passage quotes "a certain chinese encyclopedia", the (completely fictional) "Celestial Emporium of Benevolent Knowledge", in which it is written that animals are divided into:
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those that belong to the Emperor,
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embalmed ones,
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those that are trained,
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suckling pigs,
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mermaids,
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fabulous ones,
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stray dogs,
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those included in the present classification,
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those that tremble as if they were mad,
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innumerable ones,
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those drawn with a very fine camelhair brush,
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others,
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those that have just broken a flower vase,
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those that from a long way off look like flies.