Mephisto and Pheles

When the Mephisto-Pheles case became more widely known in the Hell’s scientific circles (and indeed to the Hell’s general populace, through the formidable efforts of The Fifth Estate), a special colloquium was called to evaluate the case. The experts, as could have been expected, were not unanimous in their opinions and their explanations of the phenomenon. The psychologists who had examined the siblings (and this term is being used here only for lack of any other more suitable one) have come up with some interesting discoveries. The main one was the evident difference between the two, so far as the functioning of their brains was concerned. Mephisto showed a distinct inclination towards using the right side of his brain, making him the more creative, artistic type. Pheles, on the other hand, presented himself mainly as the left-brain type, which made him a more practical, technically orientated person.

The greatest contemporary psychologist Rararbotrusiel Hameltesipinionwas gave his opinion on what had actually happened in the process of transformation, which followed the alleged amputation of Mephistopheles’ tail by Brigitte Annemarie Hiltraud. In a short lecture, Hameltesipinion had made a surprising statement that the serpent power Cundalahini was the main force behind the transformation. The existence of this hidden force is currently only generally recognised by those experts who find themselves on the outside of mainstream science, which still tends to view Cundalahini with a great deal of suspicion. The Hell’s general population is not aware of it at all. Cundalahini is normally dormant and remains coiled like a serpent at the base of the devil’s spine. Only when aroused by some stimulation, often, but not necessarily of a sexual nature, it would move into the tail of the organism it controls. In this particular case however, while a sexual desire must have been present in some form, after the tail had been so suddenly amputated it was no longer available to receive and accommodate the Cundalahini serpent power. The latent force therefore had only one direction in which it could have moved – it rushed up along the spinal column, reaching the brain of the devil now known as Mephisto.

‘Gutenberg’s Bible’, Faust said to himself. The first title that had left the press of this man, apparently. 'How much? The blighter had the audacity to have a hundred and eighty of these printed, or so I heard, just fancy that; with this many copies around, could this one really have any value? When on top of this, that idiot Martin Luther scribbled it all over in the margins! He had even put his name there, and quite prominently too!’

"Hollywood, what’s that?"

"That’s a place in America, where in future they will be shooting motion pictures. If you ask me, they should be shooting some actors too, especially those with the facelifts."

"You mean, shooting them with arquebuses? And would they be killing the singers too?"

"No, the motion pictures are being shot with cameras. And no one gets killed, except an odd critic or two. You see, motion pictures are all make-belief, similar to the theatre, but instead of being on stage the actors and everything else is seen on a canvas."

"And all this will be happening in America? The place those Spaniards claim to have recently discovered? I never believed what they said about it, I always say: never trust the Spanish!"