Free Aladdin's Problem by Ernst Jünger Page B

care to go into detail. Compared with their wishes, Marie Bashkirtseff's famous chapel was child's play. Since most of those people were very rich, we established a special department: Curiosities.
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    What Bertha had said about limbo gave me food for thought in other respects. It appeared as if we were assuming the role of a priesthood or at least an order. Nor was this contradicted by the fact that we were running a business. This was so from the very outset, but it was not the main thing, as Monsieur de Voltaire says. If we keep close tabs on a conjuror and expose his trick, there is nev ertheless something to it: he has performed manipulations bordering on miracles. A curtain rises, and someone appears in a tuxedo and a top hat; but behind him there are more curtains.
    We had recognized a profound need. The demand can barely be met. Every morning, stacks ofletters arrive and are distributed to the offices. Ever since my problem began gnawing at me, I have been idly daydreaming for hours on end. My eyes alight on the dark binders: an entire shelf is categorized under the label URN . This is an important object for us.
    I pull out a binder and leaf through it. A young ceramicist has handed in a suggestion. On the edge of the paper, Uncle Fridolin has written the word "Important!" The ceramicist points out that the traditional round shape of the urn, although age-old, is impractical. More than anything, one would like to find out whom this urn contains, and one would also wish to know the birth and death dates of the deceased and see a motto, a coat-ofarms, a symbolic ornament. A profile of the departed ought to be considered as well. This could lead to a new genre of artworks. Kornfeld had written on the edge of the paper: "Let's hope that collectors don't take it up?"
    All this, according to the ceramicist, could be read more easily on a flat surface than on a curve; he therefore proposed manufacturing urns in the shape of dominoes, and he submitted drawings. We might, he said, consider the outline of a house — something similar already existed in Peru.
    The correspondence about this matter fills a large volume. But why did Uncle Fridolin commit himself so deeply to this idea? Aesthetic considerations were the furthest thing from his mind. The old Pietas company was as tasteless an establishment as could be. However, an airplane could carry a lot more urns in this new shape than in the usual shape. They could also be stored together seamlessly along the wall of a columbarium without leaving any gaps. Thus Terrestra could offer a resting place ad perpetuitatem at a price below that of a normal Berlin funeral.
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    I note this detail as an example of blending religion and economics. One could write a book about the history of Terrestra — incidentally, several such books are already in progress. I will therefore be brief.
    Kornfeld had completed his reconnaisance within a year, after traveling through all continents and to such islands as Malta and Crete. Nor did he omit Easter Island. First, he had to cross out several possibilities — either because of the expense or because they were not consistent with piety. Regarding the latter, he found that it was especially pronounced among the Etruscans. They were intent on keeping a family together — they therefore set up chambers with comfortable resting places in large hills or under the ground. The walls were adorned with pictures showing the dead feasting and quaffing together, enjoying themselves at play and in love, or hunting. There was no pain, no judgment for the dead, no hell, nor any gravity at these subterranean banquets. However, this would have required moving great amounts of earth, which flouted Jersson's guidelines. Still, the mood was worth emulating. It had been preserved in the funeral towers that the Romans, as successors to the Etruscans, had built in their Asian provinces. There are also suggestions of that mood in the Kidron Valley.
    Furthermore,