Project Gutenberg 2009-07-29 Public domain in the USA. 171 Sternbach, Richard A. Houlihan, Raymond F. 1923 1991 Houlihan, Ray The Hands Produced by Greg Weeks, Stephen Blundell and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net "The Hands" by Richard A. Sternbach is a short story written in the early 1950s. This piece of speculative fiction explores themes of creation and destruction through a cosmic lens, illustrated in a brief yet impactful narrative structure. The story contemplates the persistent cycle of human behavior against the backdrop of a vast and indifferent universe. In this poignant vignette, two figures are depicted atop a mountain—a gigantic, ancient father and his smaller, younger son. As they witness the fires of destruction ignited by humanity below, the son pleads for humanity to receive another chance, while the father is skeptical, knowing they might repeat their past mistakes. Ultimately, the father's choice to knead clay in his hands suggests a new creation, providing a sense of hope and possibility rather than despair. This story prompts reflection on the nature of existence, responsibility, and the potential for renewal amidst chaos. (This is an automatically generated summary.) Reading ease score: 77.8 (7th grade). Fairly easy to read. en Short stories PS Text Science Fiction Browsing: Literature Browsing: Science-Fiction & Fantasy Browsing: Fiction Category: Short Stories Category: Science-Fiction & Fantasy 28017 2025-06-12T08:59:28.014522 text/html 23694 2009-07-29T11:18:46 text/html; charset=iso-8859-1 170825 2009-07-29T11:18:46 text/html; charset=iso-8859-1 application/zip 240460 2025-06-12T08:59:32.497526 application/epub+zip 238805 2025-06-12T08:59:30.023579 application/epub+zip 77680 2025-06-12T08:59:28.706555 application/epub+zip 354576 2025-06-12T08:59:34.193522 application/x-mobipocket-ebook 347402 2025-06-12T08:59:31.637585 application/x-mobipocket-ebook 105246 2022-09-13T15:51:13.417662 application/x-mobipocket-ebook 21805 2025-06-12T08:59:27.744546 text/plain; charset=us-ascii 21706 2009-07-29T11:18:46 text/plain; charset=us-ascii 7996 2009-07-29T11:18:46 text/plain; charset=us-ascii application/zip 18539 2025-06-12T08:59:34.510491 application/rdf+xml 11501 2025-06-12T08:59:29.278575 image/jpeg 3018 2025-06-12T08:59:28.986528 image/jpeg 238049 2025-06-12T08:59:28.027531 application/octet-stream application/zip Archives containing the RDF files for *all* our books can be downloaded at https://book.klll.cc/wiki/Gutenberg:Feeds#The_Complete_Project_Gutenberg_Catalog