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"By the Waters of Babylon" is a post-apocalyptic short story by Stephen Vincent Benét first published July 31, 1937, in ''The Saturday Evening Post'' as "The Place of the Gods".〔The term ''post-apocalyptic'' paraphrases Izzo.() Date of publication is from ("BENÉT, STEPHEN VINCENT" ), in ''Miscellaneous Story Anthologies'' Benét changed the title when selecting works for ''Thirteen O'Clock''. (Fenton, 1958)〕 It was republished in 1943 in ''The Pocket Book of Science Fiction'',〔(Book Information: Pocket Book of Science Fiction, the. Donald A. Wollheim, ed. (1943). Steven Jeffery / IBList.com, 2007 )〕 and was adapted in 1971 into a one-act play by Brainerd Duffield.〔(Description from the play catalog of Dramatic Publishing. ) The adaption is distinct from the 2003 play of the same name by Robert Schenkkan.〕 ==Plot summary== Set in a future following the destruction of industrial civilization, the story is narrated by a young man〔Wagar, p. 163, who also calls him a "young savage" (p. 25). Macdonald, p. 267-268, who calls him a "young brave". In the play adaptation, he appears as a young man and, in a non-speaking part, as a boy. (Duffield, 1971)〕 who is the son of a priest. The priests of John's people (the hill people) are inquisitive people associated with the divine. They are the only ones who can handle metal collected from the homes (called the "Dead Places") of long-dead people whom they believe to be gods. The plot follows John’s self-assigned mission to get to the Place of the Gods. His father allows him to go on a spiritual journey, but does not know he is going to this forbidden place. John journeys through the forest for eight days and crosses the river Ou-dis-sun. Once John gets to the Place of the Gods, he feels the energy and magic there. He sees a statue of a "god"—in point of fact, a human—that says "ASHING" (George Washington) on its base. He also sees a building marked "UBTREAS" (Sub Treasury). After being chased by dogs and climbing the stairs of a large building, John sees a dead god. Upon viewing the visage, he has an epiphany that the gods were humans whose power overwhelmed their good judgment. After John returns to his tribe, he tells his father of "the place New York." His father warns him against recounting his experiences to others in the tribe, for sometimes too much truth is a bad thing, that it must be told little by little. The story ends with John stating his conviction that, once he becomes the head priest, "We must build again." 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「By the Waters of Babylon」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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