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authorDavid Golden <dagolden@cpan.org>2010-05-19 12:20:40 -0400
committerDavid Golden <dagolden@cpan.org>2010-05-19 12:20:40 -0400
commit4363636da3405b18edb34fc8dfb44718062944b1 (patch)
tree704ab89b0f4303d515f92da935f28de72a8df561
parent142c3795604e17a31bf6c9e74242f4d464918df6 (diff)
downloadperl-4363636da3405b18edb34fc8dfb44718062944b1.tar.gz
document historical release epigrams
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+=head1 NAME
+
+perlepigrams - list of Perl release epigrams
+
+=head1 DESCRIPTION
+
+Many Perl release announcements included an I<epigram>, a short excerpt
+from a literary or other creative work, chosen by the pumpking or
+release manager. This file assembles the known list of epigrams for
+posterity.
+
+=head1 EPIGRAMS
+
+=head2 v5.13.0 - Jules Verne, "A Journey to the Centre of the Earth"
+
+=over
+
+The heat still remained at quite a supportable degree. With an
+involuntary shudder, I reflected on what the heat must have been
+when the volcano of Sneffels was pouring its smoke, flames, and
+streams of boiling lava -- all of which must have come up by the
+road we were now following. I could imagine the torrents of hot
+seething stone darting on, bubbling up with accompaniments of
+smoke, steam, and sulphurous stench!
+
+"Only to think of the consequences," I mused, "if the old
+volcano were once more to set to work."
+
+=back
+
+=head2 v5.12.1 - Kurt Vonnegut, "Cat's Cradle"
+
+=over
+
+"Now suppose," chortled Dr. Breed, enjoying himself, "that there were
+many possible ways in which water could crystallize, could freeze.
+Suppose that the sort of ice we skate upon and put into highballs—
+what we might call ice-one—is only one of several types of ice.
+Suppose water always froze as ice-one on Earth because it had never
+had a seed to teach it how to form ice-two, ice-three, ice-four
+...? And suppose," he rapped on his desk with his old hand again,
+"that there were one form, which we will call ice-nine—a crystal as
+hard as this desk—with a melting point of, let us say, one-hundred
+degrees Fahrenheit, or, better still, a melting point of one-hundred-
+and-thirty degrees."
+
+=back
+
+=head2 v5.12.1-RC2 - Kurt Vonnegut, "Cat's Cradle"
+
+=over
+
+San Lorenzo was fifty miles long and twenty miles wide, I learned from
+the supplement to the New York Sunday Times. Its population was four
+hundred, fifty thousand souls, "...all fiercely dedicated to the ideals
+of the Free World."
+
+Its highest point, Mount McCabe, was eleven thousand feet above sea
+level. Its capital was Bolivar, "...a strikingly modern city built on a
+harbor capable of sheltering the entire United States Navy." The principal
+exports were sugar, coffee, bananas, indigo, and handcrafted novelties.
+
+=back
+
+=head2 v5.12.1-RC2 - Kurt Vonnegut, "Cat's Cradle"
+
+=over
+
+Which brings me to the Bokononist concept of a wampeter. A wampeter is
+the pivot of a karass. No karass is without a wampeter, Bokonon tells us,
+just as no wheel is without a hub. Anything can be a wampeter: a tree,
+a rock, an animal, an idea, a book, a melody, the Holy Grail. Whatever
+it is, the members of its karass revolve about it in the majestic chaos
+of a spiral nebula. The orbits of the members of a karass about their
+common wampeter are spiritual orbits, naturally. It is souls and not
+bodies that revolve. As Bokonon invites us to sing:
+
+ Around and around and around we spin,
+ With feet of lead and wings of tin . . .
+
+=back
+
+=head2 v5.12.0 - Lewis Carroll, "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland"
+
+=over
+
+'Please would you tell me,' said Alice, a little timidly, for she was
+not quite sure whether it was good manners for her to speak first, 'why
+your cat grins like that?'
+
+'It's a Cheshire cat,' said the Duchess, 'and that's why. Pig!'
+
+She said the last word with such sudden violence that Alice quite
+jumped; but she saw in another moment that it was addressed to the baby,
+and not to her, so she took courage, and went on again:--
+
+'I didn't know that Cheshire cats always grinned; in fact, I didn't know
+that cats COULD grin.'
+
+'They all can,' said the Duchess; 'and most of 'em do.'
+
+=back
+
+=head2 v5.12.0-RC5 - Lewis Carroll, "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland"
+
+=over
+
+'Not QUITE right, I'm afraid,' said Alice, timidly; 'some of the words
+have got altered.'
+
+'It is wrong from beginning to end,' said the Caterpillar decidedly, and
+there was silence for some minutes.
+
+=back
+
+=head2 v5.12.0-RC4 - Lewis Carroll, "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland"
+
+=over
+
+'It was much pleasanter at home,' thought poor Alice, 'when one wasn't
+always growing larger and smaller, and being ordered about by mice and
+rabbits. I almost wish I hadn't gone down that rabbit-hole--and yet--and
+yet--it's rather curious, you know, this sort of life! I do wonder what
+can have happened to me! When I used to read fairy-tales, I fancied that
+kind of thing never happened, and now here I am in the middle of one!
+
+=back
+
+=head2 v5.12.0-RC3 - Lewis Carroll, "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland"
+
+=over
+
+At last the Mouse, who seemed to be a person of authority among them,
+called out, 'Sit down, all of you, and listen to me! I'LL soon make you
+dry enough!' They all sat down at once, in a large ring, with the Mouse
+in the middle. Alice kept her eyes anxiously fixed on it, for she felt
+sure she would catch a bad cold if she did not get dry very soon.
+
+'Ahem!' said the Mouse with an important air, 'are you all ready? This
+is the driest thing I know. Silence all round, if you please! "William
+the Conqueror, whose cause was favoured by the pope, was soon submitted
+to by the English, who wanted leaders, and had been of late much
+accustomed to usurpation and conquest. Edwin and Morcar, the earls of
+Mercia and Northumbria—"'
+
+=back
+
+=head2 v5.12.0-RC2 - no epigram
+
+=head2 v5.12.0-RC1 - Lewis Carroll, "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland"
+
+=over
+
+So she was considering in her own mind (as well as she could, for the
+hot day made her feel very sleepy and stupid), whether the pleasure of
+making a daisy-chain would be worth the trouble of getting up and
+picking the daisies, when suddenly a White Rabbit with pink eyes ran
+close by her.
+
+There was nothing so VERY remarkable in that; nor did Alice think it so
+VERY much out of the way to hear the Rabbit say to itself, 'Oh dear! Oh
+dear! I shall be late!' (when she thought it over afterwards, it
+occurred to her that she ought to have wondered at this, but at the time
+it all seemed quite natural); but when the Rabbit actually TOOK A WATCH
+OUT OF ITS WAISTCOAT-POCKET, and looked at it, and then hurried on,
+Alice started to her feet, for it flashed across her mind that she had
+never before seen a rabbit with either a waistcoat-pocket, or a watch to
+take out of it, and burning with curiosity, she ran across the field
+after it, and fortunately was just in time to see it pop down a large
+rabbit-hole under the hedge.
+
+In another moment down went Alice after it, never once considering how
+in the world she was to get out again.
+
+=back
+
+=head2 v5.12.0-RC0 - no epigram
+
+=head2 v5.11.5 - Samuel Taylor Coleridge, "Christabel"
+
+=over
+
+ A little child, a limber elf,
+ Singing, dancing to itself,
+ A fairy thing with red round cheeks,
+ That always finds, and never seeks,
+ Makes such a vision to the sight
+ As fills a father's eyes with light;
+ And pleasures flow in so thick and fast
+ Upon his heart, that he at last
+ Must needs express his love's excess
+ With words of unmeant bitterness.
+ Perhaps 'tis pretty to force together
+ Thoughts so all unlike each other;
+ To mutter and mock a broken charm,
+ To dally with wrong that does no harm.
+ Perhaps 'tis tender too and pretty
+ At each wild word to feel within
+ A sweet recoil of love and pity.
+ And what, if in a world of sin
+ (O sorrow and shame should this be true!)
+ Such giddiness of heart and brain
+ Comes seldom save from rage and pain,
+ So talks as it's most used to do.
+
+=back
+
+=head2 v5.11.4 - Fyodor Dostoevsky, "Crime and Punishment"
+
+=over
+
+And you don't suppose that I went into it headlong like a fool? I went
+into it like a wise man, and that was just my destruction. And you
+mustn't suppose that I didn't know, for instance, that if I began to
+question myself whether I had the right to gain power -- I certainly
+hadn't the right -- or that if I asked myself whether a human being is a
+louse it proved that it wasn't so for me, though it might be for a man
+who would go straight to his goal without asking questions.... If I
+worried myself all those days, wondering whether Napoleon would have
+done it or not, I felt clearly of course that I wasn't Napoleon.
+
+=back
+
+=head2 v5.11.3 - Mark Twain, "The Adventures of Tom Sawyer"
+
+=over
+
+"Say -- I'm going in a swimming, I am. Don't you wish you could? But of
+course you'd druther work—wouldn't you? Course you would!"
+
+Tom contemplated the boy a bit, and said: "What do you call work?"
+
+"Why ain't that work?"
+
+Tom resumed his whitewashing, and answered carelessly: "Well, maybe it
+is, and maybe it aint. All I know, is, it suits Tom Sawyer."
+
+"Oh come, now, you don't mean to let on that you like it?"
+
+The brush continued to move. "Like it? Well I don't see why I oughtn't
+to like it. Does a boy get a chance to whitewash a fence every day?"
+
+That put the thing in a new light. Ben stopped nibbling his apple. Tom
+swept his brush daintily back and forth -- stepped back to note the effect
+-- added a touch here and there-criticised the effect again -- Ben
+watching every move and getting more and more interested, more and more
+absorbed. Presently he said: "Say, Tom, let me whitewash a little."
+
+=back
+
+
+=head2 v5.11.2 - Michael Marshall Smith, "Only Forward"
+
+=over
+
+The streets were pretty quiet, which was nice. They're always quiet here
+at that time: you have to be wearing a black jacket to be out on the
+streets between seven and nine in the evening, and not many people in
+the area have black jackets. It's just one of those things. I currently
+live in Colour Neighbourhood, which is for people who are heavily into
+colour. All the streets and buildings are set for instant colourmatch:
+as you walk down the road they change hue to offset whatever you're
+wearing. When the streets are busy it's kind of intense, and anyone
+prone to epileptic seizures isn't allowed to live in the Neighbourhood,
+however much they're into colour.
+
+=back
+
+=head2 v5.11.1 - Joseph Heller, "Catch-22"
+
+=over
+
+Milo had been caught red-handed in the act of plundering his countrymen,
+and, as a result, his stock had never been higher. He proved good as his
+word when a rawboned major from Minnesota curled his lip in rebellious
+disavowal and demanded his share of the syndicate Milo kept saying
+everybody owned. Milo met the challenge by writing the words "A Share"
+on the nearest scrap of paper and handing it away with a virtuous disdain
+that won the envy and admiration of almost everyone who knew him. His
+glory was at a peak, and Colonel Cathcart, who knew and admired his
+war record, was astonished by the deferential humility with which Mil
+presented himself at Group Headquarters and made his fantastic appeal
+for more hazardous assignment.
+
+=back
+
+=head2 v5.11.0 - Mikhail Bulgakov, "The Master and Margarita"
+
+=over
+
+Whispers of an "evil power" were heard in lines at dairy shops, in
+streetcars, stores, arguments, kitchens, suburban and long-distance
+trains, at stations large and small, in dachas and on beaches. Needless
+to say, truly mature and cultured people did not tell these stories
+about an evil power's visit to the capital. In fact, they even made fun
+of them and tried to talk sense into those who told them. Nevertheless,
+facts are facts, as they say, and cannot simply be dismissed without
+explanation: somebody had visited the capital. The charred cinders of
+Griboyedov alone, and many other things besides, confirmed it. Cultured
+people shared the point of view of the investigating team: it was the
+work of a gang of hypnotists and ventriloquists magnificently skilled in
+their art.
+
+=back
+
+
+=head2 v5.10.1 - Right Hon. James Hacker MP, "The Complete Yes Minister: The Diaries of a Cabinet Minister"
+
+=over
+
+'Briefly, sir, I am the Permanent Under-Secretary of State, known as
+the Permanent Secretary. Woolley here is your Principal Private
+Secretary. I, too, have a Principal Private Secretary, and he is the
+Principal Private Secretary to the Permanent Secretary. Directly
+responsible to me are ten Deputy Secretaries, eighty-seven Under
+Secretaries and two hundred and nineteen Assistant Secretaries.
+Directly responsible to the Principal Private Secretaries are plain
+Private Secretaries. The Prime Minister will be appointing two
+Parliamentary Under-Secretaries and you will be appointing your own
+Parliamentary Private Secretary.'
+
+'Can they all type?' I joked.
+
+'None of us can type, Minister,' replied Sir Humphrey smoothly. 'Mrs
+McKay types - she is your Secretary.'
+
+I couldn't tell whether or not he was joking. 'What a pity,' I said.
+'We could have opened an agency.'
+
+Sir Humphrey and Bernard laughed. 'Very droll, sir,' said Sir
+Humphrey. 'Most amusing, sir,' said Bernard. Were they genuinely
+amused at my wit, or just being rather patronising? 'I suppose they
+all say that, do they?' I ventured.
+
+Sir Humphrey reassured me on that. 'Certainly not, Minister,' he
+replied. 'Not quite all.'
+
+=back
+
+=head2 v5.10.1-RC2 - no epigram
+
+=head2 v5.10.1-RC1 - no epigram
+
+=head2 v5.10.0 - Laurence Sterne, "Tristram Shandy"
+
+=over
+
+He would often declare, in speaking his thoughts upon the subject, that
+he did not conceive how the greatest family in England could stand it
+out against an uninterrupted succession of six or seven short
+noses.--And for the contrary reason, he would generally add, That it
+must be one of the greatest problems in civil life, where the same
+number of long and jolly noses, following one another in a direct line,
+did not raise and hoist it up into the best vacancies in the kingdom.
+
+=back
+
+=head2 v5.10.0-RC2 - no epigram
+
+=head2 v5.10.0-RC1 - no epigram
+
+=head2 v5.9.5 - no epigram
+
+=head2 v5.9.4 - no epigram
+
+=head2 v5.9.3 - no epigram
+
+=head2 v5.9.2 - Thomas Pynchon, "V"
+
+=over
+
+This word flip was weird. Every recording date of McClintic's he'd
+gotten into the habit of talking electricity with the audio men and
+technicians of the studio. McClintic once couldn't have cared less
+about electricity, but now it seemed if that was helping him reach a
+bigger audience, some digging, some who would never dig, but all
+paying and those royalties keeping the Triumph in gas and McClintic
+in J. Press suits, then McClintic ought to be grateful to
+electricity, ought maybe to learn a little more about it. So he'd
+picked up some here and there, and one day last summer he got around
+to talking stochastic music and digital computers with one
+technician. Out of the conversation had come Set/Reset, which was
+getting to be a signature for the group. He had found out from this
+sound man about a two-triode circuit called a flip-flop, which when
+it turned on could be one of two ways, depending on which tube was
+conducting and which was cut off: set or reset, flip or flop.
+
+"And that," the man said, "can be yes or no, or one or zero. And
+that is what you might call one of the basic units, or specialized
+`cells' in a big `electronic brain.' "
+
+"Crazy," said McClintic, having lost him back there someplace. But
+one thing that did occur to him was if a computer's brain could go
+flip or flop, why so could a musician's. As long as you were flop,
+everything was cool. But where did the trigger-pulse come from to
+make you flip?
+
+=back
+
+=head2 v5.9.1 - Tom Stoppard, "Arcadia"
+
+=over
+
+Aren't you supposed to have a pony?
+
+=back
+
+=head2 v5.9.0 - Doris Lessing, "Martha Quest"
+
+=over
+
+What of October, that ambiguous month
+
+=back
+
+=head2 v5.8.9 - Right Hon. James Hacker MP, "The Complete Yes Minister: The Diaries of a Cabinet Minister"
+
+=over
+
+Frank and I, unlike the civil servants, were still puzzled that such a
+proposal as the Europass could even be seriously under consideration by
+the FCO. We can both see clearly that it is wonderful ammunition for the
+anti-Europeans. I asked Humphrey if the Foreign Office doesn't realise
+how damaging this would be to the European ideal?
+
+'I'm sure they do, Minister, he said. That's why they support it.'
+
+This was even more puzzling, since I'd always been under the impression
+that the FO is pro-Europe. 'Is it or isn't it?' I asked Humphrey.
+
+'Yes and no,' he replied of course, 'if you'll pardon the
+expression. The Foreign Office is pro-Europe because it is really
+anti-Europe. In fact the Civil Service was united in its desire to make
+sure the Common Market didn't work. That's why we went into it.'
+
+This sounded like a riddle to me. I asked him to explain further. And
+basically his argument was as follows: Britain has had the same foreign
+policy objective for at least the last five hundred years - to create a
+disunited Europe. In that cause we have fought with the Dutch against
+the Spanish, with the Germans against the French, with the French and
+Italians against the Germans, and with the French against the Italians
+and Germans. [The Dutch rebellion against Phillip II of Spain, the
+Napoleonic Wars, the First World War, and the Second World War - Ed.]
+
+In other words, divide and rule. And the Foreign Office can see no
+reason to change when it has worked so well until now.
+
+I was aware of this, naturally, but I regarded it as ancient history.
+Humphrey thinks that it is, in fact, current policy. It was necessary
+for us to break up the EEC, he explained, so we had to get inside. We
+had previously tried to break it up from the outside, but that didn't
+work. [A reference to our futile and short-lived involvement in EFTA,
+the European Free Trade Association, founded in 1960 and which the UK
+left in 1972 - Ed.] Now that we're in, we are able to make a complete
+pig's breakfast out of it. We've now set the Germans against the French,
+the French against the Italians, the Italians against the Dutch... and
+the Foreign office is terribly happy. It's just like old time.
+
+I was staggered by all of this. I thought that the all of us who are
+publicly pro-European believed in the European ideal. I said this to Sir
+Humphrey, and he simply chuckled.
+
+So I asked him: if we don't believe in the European Ideal, why are we
+pushing to increase the membership?
+
+'Same reason,' came the reply. 'It's just like the United Nations. The
+more members it has, the more arguments you can stir up, and the more
+futile and impotent it becomes.'
+
+This all strikes me as the most appalling cynicism, and I said so.
+
+Sir Humphrey agreed completely. 'Yes Minister. We call it
+diplomacy. It's what made Britain great, you know.'
+
+=back
+
+=head2 v5.8.9-RC2 - Right Hon. James Hacker MP, "The Complete Yes Minister: The Diaries of a Cabinet Minister"
+
+=over
+
+There was silence in the office. I didn't know what we were going to do
+about the four hundred new people supervising our economy drive or the
+four hundred new people for the Bureaucratic Watchdog Office, or
+anything! I simply sat and waited and hoped that my head would stop
+thumping and that some idea would be suggested by someone sometime soon.
+
+Sir Humphrey obliged. 'Minister... if we were to end the economy drive
+and close the Bureaucratic Watchdog Office we could issue an immediate
+press announcement that you had axed eight hundred jobs.' He had
+obviously thought this out carefully in advance, for at this moment he
+produced a slim folder from under his arm. 'If you'd like to approve
+this draft...'
+
+I couldn't believe the impertinence of the suggestion. Axed eight
+hundred jobs? 'But no one was ever doing these jobs,' I pointed out
+incredulously. 'No one's been appointed yet.'
+
+'Even greater economy,' he replied instantly. 'We've saved eight hundred
+redundancy payments as well.'
+
+'But...' I attempted to explain '... that's just phony. It's dishonest,
+it's juggling with figures, it's pulling the wool over people's eyes.'
+
+'A government press release, in fact.' said Humphrey.
+
+=back
+
+=head2 v5.8.9-RC1 - Right Hon. James Hacker MP, "The Complete Yes Minister: The Diaries of a Cabinet Minister"
+
+=over
+
+A jumbo jet touched down, with BURANDAN AIRWAYS written on the side. I
+was hugely impressed. British Airways are having to pawn their Concordes,
+and here is this little tiny African state with its own airline, jumbo
+jets and all.
+
+I asked Bernard how many planes Burandan Airways had. 'None,' he said.
+
+I told him not to be silly and use his eyes. 'No Minister, it belongs to
+Freddie Laker,' he said. 'They chartered it last week and repainted it
+specially.' Apparently most of the Have-Nots (I mean, LDCs) do this - at
+the opening of the UN General Assembly the runways of Kennedy Airport are
+jam-packed with phoney flag-carriers. 'In fact,' said Bernard with a sly
+grin, 'there was one 747 that belonged to nine different African airlines
+in a month. They called it the mumbo-jumbo.'
+
+While we watched nothing much happening on the TV except the mumbo-jumbo
+taxiing around Prestwick and the Queen looking a bit chilly, Bernard gave
+me the next day's schedule and explained that I was booked on the night
+sleeper from King's Cross to Edinburgh because I had to vote in a
+three-line whip at the House tonight and would have to miss the last
+plane. Then the commentator, in that special hushed BBC voice used for any
+occasion with which Royalty is connected, announced reverentially that we
+were about to catch our first glimpse of President Selim.
+
+And out of the plane stepped Charlie. My old friend Charlie Umtali. We
+were at LSE together. Not Selim Mohammed at all, but Charlie.
+
+Bernard asked me if I were sure. Silly question. How could you forget a
+name like Charlie Umtali?
+
+I sent Bernard for Sir Humphrey, who was delighted to hear that we now
+know something about our official visitor.
+
+Bernard's official brief said nothing. Amazing! Amazing how little the FCO
+has been able to find out. Perhaps they were hoping it would all be on the
+car radio. All the brief says is that Colonel Selim Mohammed had converted
+to Islam some years ago, they didn't know his original name, and therefore
+knew little of his background.
+
+I was able to tell Humphrey and Bernard /all/ about his background.
+Charlie was a red-hot political economist, I informed them. Got the top
+first. Wiped the floor with everyone.
+
+Bernard seemed relieved. 'Well that's all right then.'
+
+'Why?' I enquired.
+
+'I think Bernard means,' said Sir Humphrey helpfully, 'that he'll know how
+to behave if he was at an English University. Even if it was the LSE.' I
+never know whether or not Humphrey is insulting me intentionally.
+
+Humphrey was concerned about Charlie's political colour. 'When you said
+that he was red-hot, were you speaking politically?'
+
+In a way I was. 'The thing about Charlie is that you never quite know
+where you are with him. He's the sort of chap who follows you into a
+revolving door and comes out in front.'
+
+'No deeply held convictions?' asked Sir Humphrey.
+
+'No. The only thing Charlie was committed too was Charlie.'
+
+'Ah, I see. A politician, Minister.'
+
+=back
+
+=head2 v5.8.8 - Joe Raposo, "Bein' Green"
+
+=over
+
+ It's not that easy bein' green
+ Having to spend each day the color of the leaves
+ When I think it could be nicer being red or yellow or gold
+ Or something much more colorful like that
+
+ It's not easy bein' green
+ It seems you blend in with so many other ordinary things
+ And people tend to pass you over 'cause you're
+ Not standing out like flashy sparkles in the water
+ Or stars in the sky
+
+ But green's the color of Spring
+ And green can be cool and friendly-like
+ And green can be big like an ocean
+ Or important like a mountain
+ Or tall like a tree
+
+ When green is all there is to be
+ It could make you wonder why, but why wonder why?
+ Wonder I am green and it'll do fine, it's beautiful
+ And I think it's what I want to be
+
+=back
+
+=head2 v5.8.8-RC1 - Cosgrove Hall Productions, "Dangermouse"
+
+=over
+
+ Greenback: And the world is mine, all mine. Muhahahahaha. See to it!
+
+ Stiletto: Si, Barone. Subito, Barone.
+
+=back
+
+=head2 v5.8.7 - Sergei Prokofiev, "Peter and the Wolf"
+
+=over
+
+And now, imagine the triumphant procession: Peter at the head; after him the
+hunters leading the wolf; and winding up the procession, grandfather and the
+cat.
+
+Grandfather shook his head discontentedly: "Well, and if Peter hadn't caught
+the wolf? What then?"
+
+=back
+
+=head2 v5.8.7-RC1 - Sergei Prokofiev, "Peter and the Wolf"
+
+=over
+
+And now this is how things stood: The cat was sitting on one branch. The
+bird on another, not too close to the cat. And the wolf walked round and
+round the tree, looking at them with greedy eyes.
+
+In the meantime, Peter, without the slightest fear, stood behind the
+gate, watching all that was going on. He ran home,got a strong rope and
+climbed up the high stone wall.
+
+One of the branches of the tree, around which the wolf was walking,
+stretched out over the wall.
+
+Grabbing hold of the branch, Peter lightly climbed over on to the tree.
+Peter said to the bird: "Fly down and circle round the wolf's head, only
+take care that he doesn't catch you!".
+
+The bird almost touched the wolf's head with its wings, while the wolf
+snapped angrily at him from this side and that.
+
+How that bird teased the wolf, how that wolf wanted to catch him! But
+the bird was clever and the wolf simply couldn't do anything about it.
+
+=back
+
+=head2 v5.8.6 - A. A. Milne, "The House at Pooh Corner"
+
+=over
+
+"Hallo, Pooh," said Piglet, giving a jump of surprise. "I knew it was
+you."
+
+"So did I,", said Pooh. "What are you doing?"
+
+"I'm planting a haycorn, Pooh, so that it can grow up into an oak-tree,
+and have lots of haycorns just outside the front door instead of having
+to walk miles and miles, do you see, Pooh?"
+
+"Supposing it doesn't?" said Pooh.
+
+"It will, because Christopher Robin says it will, so that's why I'm
+planting it."
+
+"Well," aid Pooh, "if I plant a honeycomb outside my house, then it will
+grow up into a beehive."
+
+Piglet wasn't quite sure about this.
+
+"Or a /piece/ of a honeycomb," said Pooh, "so as not to waste too much.
+Only then I might only get a piece of a beehive, and it might be the
+wrong piece, where the bees were buzzing and not hunnying. Bother"
+
+Piglet agreed that that would be rather bothering.
+
+"Besides, Pooh, it's a very difficult thing, planting unless you know
+how to do it," he said; and he put the acorn in the hole he had made,
+and covered it up with earth, and jumped on it.
+
+=back
+
+=head2 v5.8.6-RC1 - A. A. Milne, "Winnie the Pooh"
+
+=over
+
+"Hallo!" said Piglet, "whare are /you/ doing?"
+
+"Hunting," said Pooh.
+
+"Hunting what?"
+
+"Tracking something," said Winnie-the-Pooh very mysteriously.
+
+"Tracking what?" said Piglet, coming closer.
+
+"That's just what I ask myself, I ask myself, What?"
+
+"What do you think you'll answer?"
+
+"I shall have to wait until I catch up with it," said Winnie-the-Pooh.
+"Now, look there." He pointed to the ground in front of him. "What do
+you see there?"
+
+"Track," said Piglet. "Paw-marks." He gave a little squeak of
+excitement. "Oh, Pooh!" Do you think it's a--a--a Woozle?"
+
+=back
+
+=head2 v5.8.5 - wikipedia, "Yew"
+
+=over
+
+Yews are relatively slow growing trees, widely used in landscaping and
+ornamental horticulture. They have flat, dark-green needles, reddish
+bark, and bear seeds with red arils, which are eaten by thrushes,
+waxwings and other birds, dispersing the hard seeds undamaged in their
+droppings. Yew wood is reddish brown (with white sapwood), and very
+hard. It was traditionally used to make bows, especially the English
+longbow.
+
+In England, the Common Yew (Taxus baccata, also known as English Yew) is
+often found in churchyards. It is sometimes suggested that these are
+placed there as a symbol of long life or trees of death, and some are
+likely to be over 3,000 years old. It is also suggested that yew trees
+may have a pre-Christian association with old pagan holy sites, and the
+Christian church found it expedient to use and take over existing sites.
+Another explanation is that the poisonous berries and foliage discourage
+farmers and drovers from letting their animals wander into the burial
+grounds. The yew tree is a frequent symbol in the Christian poetry of
+T.S. Eliot, especially his Four Quartets.
+
+=back
+
+=head2 v5.8.5-RC2 - wikipedia, "Beech"
+
+=over
+
+Beeches are trees of the Genus Fagus, family Fagaceae, including about
+ten species in Europe, Asia, and North America. The leaves are entire or
+sparsely toothed. The fruit is a small, sharply-angled nut, borne in
+pairs in spiny husks. The beech most commonly grown as an ornamental or
+shade tree is the European beech (Fagus sylvatica).
+
+The southern beeches belong to a different but related genus,
+Nothofagus. They are found in Australia, New Zealand, New Guinea, New
+Caledonia and South America.
+
+=back
+
+=head2 v5.8.5-RC1 - wikipedia, "Pedunculate Oak" (abridged)
+
+=over
+
+The Pedunculate Oak is called the Common Oak in Britain, and is also
+often called the English Oak in other English speaking countries It is a
+large deciduous tree to 25-35m tall (exceptionally to 40m), with lobed
+and sessile (stalk-less) leaves. Flowering takes place in early to mid
+spring, and their fruit, called "acorns", ripen by autumn of the same
+year. The acorns are pedunculate (having a peduncle or acorn-stalk) and
+may occur singly, or several acorns may occur on a stalk.
+
+It forms a long-lived tree, with a large widespreading head of rugged
+branches. While it may naturally live to an age of a few centuries, many
+of the oldest trees are pollarded or coppiced, both pruning techniques
+that extend the tree's potential lifespan, if not its health.
+
+Within its native range it is valued for its importance to insects and
+other wildlife. Numerous insects live on the leaves, buds, and in the
+acorns. The acorns form a valuable food resource for several small
+mammals and some birds, notably Jays Garrulus glandarius.
+
+It is planted for forestry, and produces a long-lasting and durable
+heartwood, much in demand for interior and furniture work.
+
+=back
+
+=head2 v5.8.4 - T. S. Eliot, "The Old Gumbie Cat"
+
+=over
+
+ I have a Gumbie Cat in mind, her name is Jennyanydots;
+ The curtain-cord she likes to wind, and tie it into sailor-knots.
+ She sits upon the window-sill, or anything that's smooth and flat:
+ She sits and sits and sits and sits -- and that's what makes a Gumbie Cat!
+
+ But when the day's hustle and bustle is done,
+ Then the Gumbie Cat's work is but hardly begun.
+ She thinks that the cockroaches just need employment
+ To prevent them from idle and wanton destroyment.
+ So she's formed, from that a lot of disorderly louts,
+ A troop of well-disciplined helpful boy-scouts,
+ With a purpose in life and a good deed to do--
+ And she's even created a Beetles' Tattoo.
+
+
+ So for Old Gumbie Cats let us now give three cheers --
+ On whom well-ordered households depend, it appears.
+
+=back
+
+
+=head2 v5.8.4-RC2 - T. S. Eliot, "Macavity: The Mystery Cat"
+
+=over
+
+ Macavity's a Mystery Cat: he's called the Hidden Paw --
+ For he's the master criminal who can defy the Law.
+ He's the bafflement of Scotland Yard, the Flying Squad's despair:
+ For when they reach the scene of crime -- /Macavity's not there/!
+
+ Macavity, Macavity, there's no one like Macavity,
+ He's broken every human law, he breaks the law of gravity.
+ His powers of levitation would make a fakir stare,
+ And when you reach the scene of crime -- /Macavity's not there/!
+ You may seek him in the basement, you may look up in the air --
+ But I tell you once and once again, /Macavity's not there/!
+
+=back
+
+=head2 v5.8.4-RC1 - T. S. Eliot, "Skimbleshanks: The Railway Cat"
+
+=over
+
+ There's a whisper down the line at 11.39
+ When the Night Mail's ready to depart,
+ Saying 'Skimble where is Skimble has he gone to hunt the thimble?
+ We must find him of the train can't start.'
+ All the guards and all the porters and the stationmaster's daughters
+ They are searching high and low,
+ Saying 'Skimble where is Skimble for unless he's very nimble
+ Then the Night Mail just can't go'
+ At 11.42 then the signal's overdue
+ And the passengers are frantic to a man--
+ Then Skimble will appear and he'll saunter to the rear:
+ He's been busy in the luggage van!
+ He gives one flash of his glass-green eyes
+ And the the signal goes 'All Clear!'
+ And we're off at last of the northern part
+ Of the Northern Hemisphere!
+
+=back
+
+=head2 v5.8.3 - Arthur William Edgar O'Shaugnessy, "Ode"
+
+=over
+
+ We are the music makers,
+ And we are the dreamers of dreams,
+ Wandering by lonely sea-breakers,
+ And sitting by desolate streams; --
+ World-losers and world-forsakers,
+ On whom the pale moon gleams:
+ Yet we are the movers and shakers
+ Of the world for ever, it seems.
+
+=back
+
+=head2 v5.8.3-RC1 - Irving Berlin, "Let's Face the Music and Dance"
+
+=over
+
+ There may be trouble ahead,
+ But while there's music and moonlight,
+ And love and romance,
+ Let's face the music and dance.
+
+ Before the fiddlers have fled,
+ Before they ask us to pay the bill,
+ And while we still have that chance,
+ Let's face the music and dance.
+
+ Soon, we'll be without the moon,
+ Humming a different tune, and then,
+
+ There may be teardrops to shed,
+ So while there's music and moonlight,
+ And love and romance,
+ Let's face the music and dance.
+
+=back
+
+=head2 v5.8.2 - Walt Whitman, "Passage to India"
+
+=over
+
+ Passage, immediate passage! the blood burns in my veins!
+ Away O soul! hoist instantly the anchor!
+ Cut the hawsers - hall out - shake out every sail!
+ Have we not stood here like trees in the ground long enough?
+ Have we not grovel'd here long enough, eating and drinking like mere brutes?
+ Have we not darken'd and dazed ourselves with books long enough?
+
+
+ Sail forth - steer for the deep waters only,
+ Reckless O soul, exploring, I with the and thou with me,
+ For we are bound where mariner has not yet dared to go,
+ And we will risk the ship, ourselves and all.
+
+ O my brave soul!
+ O farther farther sail!
+ O daring job, but safe! are they not all the seas of God?
+ O farther, farther, farther sail!
+
+=back
+
+=head2 v5.8.2-RC2 - Eric Idle/John Du Prez, "Accountancy Shanty"
+
+=over
+
+ It's fun to charter an accountant
+ And sail the wide accountan-cy,
+ To find, explore the funds offshore
+ And skirt the shoals of bankruptcy.
+
+=back
+
+=head2 v5.8.2-RC1 - Edward Lear, "The Jumblies"
+
+=over
+
+ They went to sea in a Sieve, they did,
+ In a Sieve they went to sea:
+ In spite of all their friends could say,
+ On a winter's morn, on a stormy day,
+ In a Sieve they went to sea!
+ And when the Sieve turned round and round,
+ And everyone cried, "You'll all be drowned!"
+ They cried aloud, "Our Sieve ain't big,
+ But we don't care a button, we don't care a fig!
+ In a Sieve we'll go to sea!"
+
+ Far and few, far and few,
+ Are the lands where the Jumblies live;
+ Their heads are green, and their hands are blue,
+ And they went to sea in a Sieve.
+
+=back
+
+=head2 v5.8.1 - Terry Pratchett, "The Color of Magic"
+
+=over
+
+"What happens next?" asked Twoflower.
+
+Hrun screwed a finger in his ear and inspected it absently.
+
+"Oh,", he said, "I expect in a minute the door will be
+flung back and I'll be dragged off to some sort of temple
+arena where I'll fight maybe a couple of giant spiders
+and an eight-foot slave from the jungles of Klatch and then
+I'll rescue some kind of a princess from the altar and then
+I'll kill off a few guards or whatever and then this girl
+will show me the secret passage out of the place and we'll
+liberate a couple of horses and escape with the treasure."
+Hrun leaned his head back on his hands and looked at the
+ceiling, whistling tunelessly.
+
+"All that?" said Twoflower.
+
+"Usually."
+
+=back
+
+=head2 v5.8.1-RC5 - Terry Pratchett, "Lords and Ladies"
+
+=over
+
+No matter what she did with her hair it took about
+three minutes for it to tangle itself up again,
+like a garden hosepipe in a shed [Footnote: Which,
+no matter how carefully coiled, will always uncoil
+overnight and tie the lawnmower to the bicycles].
+
+=back
+
+=head2 v5.6.2 - Sterne, "Tristram Shandy"
+
+=over
+
+When great or unexpected events fall out upon the stage of this
+sublunary word--the mind of man, which is an inquisitive kind of
+a substance, naturally takes a flight, behind the scenes, to see
+what is the cause and first spring of them--The search was not
+long in this instance.
+
+=back
+
+=head2 v5.6.2-RC1 - Sterne, "Tristram Shandy"
+
+=over
+
+"Pray, my dear", quoth my mother, "have you not forgot to wind up the clock?"
+
+=back
+
+=head2 5.005_05-RC1 - no epigram
+
+=head2 5.005_04 - no epigram
+
+=head2 5.005_04-RC2 - Rudyard Kipling, "The Jungle Book"
+
+=over
+
+The monkeys called the place their city, and pretended to despise
+the Jungle-People because they lived in the forest. And yet they
+never knew what the buildings were made for nor how to use
+them. They would sit in circles on the hall of the king's council
+chamber, and scratch for fleas and pretend to be men; or they would
+run in and out of the roofless houses and collect pieces of plaster
+and old bricks in a corner, and forget where they had hidden them,
+and fight and cry in scuffling crowds, and then break off to play up
+and down the terraces of the king's garden, where they would shake
+the rose trees and the oranges in sport to see the fruit and flowers
+fall.
+
+=back
+
+=head2 5.005_04-RC1 - Lewis Carroll, "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland"
+
+=over
+
+Either the well was very deep, or she fell very slowly, for she had
+plenty of time as she went down to look about her and to wonder what was
+going to happen next. First, she tried to look down and make out what
+she was coming to, but it was too dark to see anything; then she looked
+at the sides of the well, and noticed that they were filled with
+cupboards and book-shelves; here and there she saw maps and pictures
+hung upon pegs. She took down a jar from one of the shelves as she
+passed; it was labelled 'ORANGE MARMALADE', but to her great
+disappointment it was empty: she did not like to drop the jar for fear
+of killing somebody, so managed to put it into one of the cupboards as
+she fell past it.
+
+=back
+
+=head1 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
+
+This document was originally compiled based on a list of epigrams
+on L<Perl Monks|http://perlmonks.org> titled
+L<Recent Perl Release Announcement|http://perlmonks.org/?node_id=372406>
+by ysth.
+
+=cut
+# vim:tw=72: