Filing System of the Gods, Part I

(A Fable of Project Management)

So one day Hugin & Munin* are sitting on Odin’s shoulders, digesting corpses and crapping down Odin’s back, when Hugin turns to Munin and says, “Why does it take you so Garmr-awful long to remember the most trivial of things?”

Munin snaps his beak at this. “So long? So long? Caw! Odin the All-Father has lived long and his memories, both glorious and shameful, are as numerous as the stars! Do you think I can find the specific memory among the fields of the fallen the way a maiden picks daisies? Caw!”

This peaks Hugin’s interest. “The fields of the fallen–?”

But Munin is too angry for human speech and ends up cursing in Raventongue. “Caw! A-caw! Caw!”

At first, Hugin tries to explain. But this always happens whenever Hugin has an idea. Hugin patiently explains what Munin could be doing better, and Munin devolves into caw-cussing and doesn’t even listen. So Hugin loses patience, too. “Caw! Caw! Caw!”

And then Odin loses patience and shoos them both away, calling for Peace and Quiet,** who are too timid to appear when Hugin and Munin are around.

*Which, if you don’t know, are Odin’s ravens. “Hugin” means “thought,” and “Munin” means “Memory.” I always get them mixed up.

**Adumbian and Astillian, Odin’s goldfish.

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