http://wiki.lspace.org/api.php?action=feedcontributions&feedformat=atom&user=Ctesibius 2026-05-06T04:46:03Z User contributions MediaWiki 1.41.1 http://wiki.lspace.org/index.php?title=The_Fifth_Elephant_(legend)&diff=25655 2016-09-21T15:31:14Z

<p>Ctesibius: </p> <hr /> <div>On the back of Great [[A'Tuin]], supporting the [[Discworld (world)|Disc]], stand four [[World Elephant|elephants]]. There is a legend that in the early days, a fifth elephant stood on A'Tuin's back, but fell off. After a while it smashed into the surface of the Disc, depositing huge amounts of [[fat]], [[treacle]], [[gold]] and other resources.<br /> <br /> This story, and the [[The Fifth Elephant (expression)|metaphors]] derived from it, provide the title {{TFE}} for the novel about valuable deposits of eldritch elephant fat in [[Überwald]], things which do not exist, and things which are not as they seem.<br /> <br /> There is also the possibility that the Fifth Elephant came from the back of another Astrochelonian who interacted with Great A'Tuin in the distant past.<br /> <br /> The Fifth Elephant is a pune, or play on words, based on the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aether_(classical_element)#Fifth_element &quot;fifth element&quot;] of Roundworld cosmogony from classical Greek times to the mediæval period. It was theorised that terrestrial matter was made of the four elements earth, air, fire and water, but that celestial bodies were made of quintessence, a fifth element. Alchemists believed that small amounts of quintessence were also found terrestrially.<br /> <br /> <br /> [[Category:Discworld concepts|Fifth Elephant (legend),The]]</div>

Ctesibius