Mr. James Joyce famously spent many years composing his Finnegans Wake, during which time he occasionally released passages of it to the world under the title Work in Progress. This was apparently enough to justify his existence during that time. Dr. Boli has decided to imitate that example. Once in a while, extracts from a novel in progress will appear here. For this first short extract, Dr. Boli had intended to write a brief introduction explaining the idea of the story, the characters involved, the style of narration, the important ideas addressed; but then, instead, he decided not to, so you get the very short extract entirely without context. Furthermore, it may be years before the work is finished. Is this not a pointless endeavor? It therefore fits perfectly with the mission of this Magazine, which is to provide a small dose of pointless irrelevance with every new article.

Unicorns

“Unicorns are rather naughty and require a firm hand to prevent mischief. They are forever poking their horns into things with no other motive (to all appearances, at least) than to see what will happen. A single unicorn may be discouraged by loud noises or quick movements, but unicorns gathered in groups (for they do not exhibit any principle of organization, and therefore forfeit the name of herds) may be destructive and require the prompt attention of a determined virgin. It is best not to allow the beasts to gather in the first place; and if a collection of unicorns must be maintained, each animal is to have his own individual stall with room for at least limited frolicking.”

So we find in De Unicornu, lib. IX, cap. VII; but only in the posthumous edition, which was in press when Schenckelius departed this world. I have found a proof sheet among Schenckelius' papers, in which the word virginis is struck out, and the word feminae written (in the hand of the author) in the margin; but the sheets were never returned to the printer, and the error remains uncorrected in that edition.