posted on January 17, 2001 07:33:39 AM new
For those of you who thought that eBay is a recent phenomenon, here is the true story
Bill
An old, bearded shepherd with a crooked staff walks up to a stone pulpit and says...
And lo, it came to pass that the trader by the name of Abraham Com did take unto himself a young wife by the name of Dot. And Dot Com was a comely woman, broad of shoulder and long of leg. Indeed, she had been called Amazon Dot Com.
And she said unto Abraham, her husband, "Why doth thou travel far, from town to town with thy goods, when thou can trade without ever leaving thy tent?"
And Abraham did look at her as though she were several saddlebags short of a camel load, but simply said, "How, Dear?"
And Dot replied, "I will place drums in all the towns and drums in between to send messages saying what you have for sale, and they will reply telling you which hath the best price. And the sale can be made on the drums and delivered by Uriah's Pony Stable (UPS)".
Abraham thought long and decided he would let Dot have her way with the drums.
And Dot said, "There will be a lot of banging in the land".
And Abraham replied, "It is my most fervent wish that this be so".
So the drums rang out and were an immediate success. Abraham sold all the goods he had, at the top price, without ever moving from his tent.
But his success did arouse envy. A man named Maccabia even secreted himself inside Abraham's drum and was accused of insider trading.
And the young people did take to Dot Com's trading as doth the greedy horsefly to camel dung. They were called Nomadic Ecclesiastical Rich Dominican Siderites, or NERDS for short.
And lo, the land was so feverish with joy at the new riches and the deafening sound of drums that no one noticed that the real riches were going to the drum maker, one Brother William of Gates, who bought up every drum company in the land. And, indeed, he did insist on making drums that would only work if you bought Brother Gates' drumsticks.
Dot did say, "Oh, Abraham, what we have started is being taken over by others".
And as Abraham looked out over the Bay of Ezekiel (or, as it came to be known, "eBay" ), he said, "We need a name for a service that reflects what we are".
posted on January 17, 2001 07:47:38 AM new
MORE, MORE, GIVE US MORE.
I read much and post little. Mainly because I do not have much of intelligence to say. But I thoroughly enjoyed this story. Can you continue it?Editted by me to correct unbelievably poor typing!
[ edited by grumteach on Jan 17, 2001 07:48 AM ]
posted on January 17, 2001 08:56:59 AM new
And so it came to pass that the trust busters noted this emonopoly. They crucified Meg & went looking for Pierre. Broke ebay up and for sellers gave not a care. In the distance we heard "Have Faith.........we will return".
posted on January 17, 2001 01:03:37 PM new
I've read this lots of times in the past couple years on several other boards. Who did make this up, by the way? Anyone know?
posted on January 17, 2001 01:44:51 PM new
Sorry guys, didn't mean to suggest that I wrote it. I received it via email yesterday, cleaned up a line and posted it. I just thought that the AW gang would enjoy it.
posted on January 17, 2001 07:02:52 PM new
cdnbooks YOU add to it, Bill!!!
Thanks for posting it for us, that was REALLY REALLY funny. Now add another chapter!! Come on, you can do it!!
Rocker
Rocker
