The Pointed Man - Nilsson

Finally, the two travellers reached what appeared to be the entrance to the

Pointless Forest.

It was a huge stony barrier with a small sign at its base which read '

THIS WAY'.

Once on the other side of the barrier, Oblio and Arrow had their first

encounter.

..

with the Pointless Man or the Pointed Man.

..

depending on your point of view.

You see, the Pointless Man did have a point.

In fact, he had hundreds of them, all pointing in different directions.

But as he so quickly pointed out.

..

a point in every direction is the same as no point at all.

And, speaking of points, I don’t know if you’ve ever been to the Pointless

Forest but a forest is a forest and one of the first things Oblio and Arrow

noticed about the Pointless Forest was — that all the leaves on the trees had

points and all the trees had points.

In fact, even the branches on the trees pointed in different directions,

which seemed a little strange for a Pointless Forest.

And when the Pointed Man disappeared Oblio and Arrow were left alone wondering

what to do next when suddenly, they were aware of a strange sound coming in

from the north.

And when they looked up they saw a giant swarm of bees headed straight for them.

So, to seek cover they jumped inside a hollow log.

But when the bees attacked.

..

the log was jarred loose and it tumbled down a steep hill and careened and

crashed into the base of an unusual rock pile.

In fact, the Rock Man.

And the Rock Man said, «Say — what’s happening with you boys.

..

it looks like you’re pretty shook up, been goofing with the bees»?

And Oblio told the Rock Man that they had been banished and asked him if this

was the Pointless Forest.

And the Rock Man said, «Say there’s nothing pointless about this gig …

the thing is.

..

you see what you want to see and you hear what you want to hear — dig.

Did you ever see Paris?" — Oblio said, «No». «Did you ever see New Dehli?"

— Oblio said «Well, no».

«Well that’s it — you see what you want to see and you hear what you want to

hear», said the Rock Man and with that the Rock Man fell soundly asleep leaving

Oblio and Arrow once again all alone.

So they continued on through the Pointless Forest until suddenly,

Arrow — who was running a few yards ahead of Oblio — disappeared into a

bottomless pit.

..

to the point of no return.