Having read this in middle or high school (back in the 90s), and having picked up a copy of the book years later when I saw it at a Half Price Books, this comme

Having read this in middle or high school (back in the 90s), and having picked up a copy of the book years later when I saw it at a Half Price Books, this comment makes me really sad. A 5 sentence version of this story would not have stayed with me the same way this did. Just like Aesop's Fables, or the Brothers Grimm, wouldn't have the impact on people/civilization in general if they had been just the moral of the story.