Once was born Cassandra, a little girl who could have changed the world, if she'd been permitted, or at least, that was how she would come to see it, many years later.
Cassandra had been given many gifts at birth by Apollo and other Supernatural Beings (SB's) which abounded in that part of the multiverse, in those days. Among her many gifts was that of a big, juicy brain with lots of neurons and dendrites, all of which were of course invisible from outside her skull. Another gift was that of an extra brain lobe, which was well and truly visible from outside her skull. In fact only a blind person could have failed to notice the big, fat bulge on the side of her head.
As I was saying, Cassandra could have changed the world, had she been permitted to make full use of her extra brain lobe, in which was to be found a special if almost but not quite unique re-entrant network/circuit (neurons that wire together fire together) pattern that when activated gave rise to the power of true prophecy.
Who would not permit her to use her power of true prophecy? Why, the bookmakers of course, bookies for short. Clearly, they would be bankrupt in no time at all if the future could be accurately predicted and the prediction acted upon, ie bet upon.
So the bookies hired a huntsperson (these days we call them hitpersons or hitpeople depending on how stupid one wishes to be) to kidnap Cassandra and get rid of her. Which ze did: the hitperson grabbed her on her way back from her local Ladbrokes, bundled her up into zer car, and sped away, heading for the hills. The drove for hours and hours, until they were well and truly in the Wilderness. Then the hitperson tossed Cassandra out of the car and left her in the Wilderness to die.
Now, naturally enough, Cassandra was quite upset at this turn of events. She was upset, scared, and hungry. And there were no locusts or wild honey within a thousand miles. So what did Cassandra do? Well, first she sobbed a little, then she whined for a while, and then, as the true hopelessness of her position dawned on her, she began to cry, loudly and long. No-one heard her sobbing. No-one heard her whining. Nor did anyone hear her voice crying in the Wilderness.
Two days later she was dead, and ants and scorpions feasted on her extra brain lobe. Did she see it all coming? You betcha! And what about the bookies? Well, to this day, bookies continue to prophet. From people who could change the world, if they were only permitted to do so.
