Project Gutenberg 2010-04-29 Public domain in the USA. 240 Clifton, Mark 1906 1963 Clifton, Mark Irvin Emshwiller, Ed 1925 1990 Emsh Emsh, Ed Alexander, Ed Emshwiller, Edmund A. Willer EMSH Do Unto Others Produced from If Worlds of Science Fiction June 1958. Produced by Sankar Viswanathan, Greg Weeks, and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net "Do Unto Others" by Mark Clifton is a science fiction novella that reflects on themes of morality and cultural misunderstanding, written in the late 1950s. The story revolves around the protagonist, Hapland "Happy" Graves, who accompanies his formidable Aunt Mattie and her committee from the Daughters of Terra on a mission to the distant planet Capella IV. Their mission is sparked by a concern over the treatment of the native inhabitants, whom they believe to be living in a state of ignorance and sin. The narrative explores the complex relationships between humans and alien life, framed by the philosophy of the Golden Rule, "do unto others as you would have them do unto you." As the characters engage with the octopus-like natives, they come to humorous and troubling realizations about their perceptions and actions. Aunt Mattie is determined to impose her values on the inhabitants, resulting in an unintended cultural imposition. The story escalates into a comedic mishap as Aunt Mattie's good intentions lead to the unexpected return of the native's greeting—covering the Daughters of Terra's home in salt, a substance that symbolizes the natives' own values and environment rather than the benevolence intended by the protagonists. Ultimately, the novella serves as a critique of colonial attitudes, questioning the efficacy of moral absolutism in the context of varied cultural frameworks, and leaves the reader reflecting on the nature of good and evil in a universe filled with diverse lifeforms. (This is an automatically generated summary.) http://book.klll.cc/files/32181/32181-h/images/cover.jpg Reading ease score: 83.4 (6th grade). Easy to read. en Science fiction Human-alien encounters -- Fiction Aunts -- Fiction PS Text Science Fiction Browsing: Literature Browsing: Science-Fiction & Fantasy Browsing: Fiction Category: Science-Fiction & Fantasy Category: Humour 78263 2025-06-13T08:26:02.686899 text/html 74487 2021-01-06T13:37:27 text/html; charset=iso-8859-1 146516 2021-01-06T13:37:27 text/html; charset=iso-8859-1 application/zip 139059 2025-06-13T08:26:04.852894 application/epub+zip 138987 2025-06-13T08:26:03.112913 application/epub+zip 79347 2025-06-13T08:26:02.871895 application/epub+zip 181769 2025-06-13T08:26:06.432905 application/x-mobipocket-ebook 173271 2025-06-13T08:26:04.629902 application/x-mobipocket-ebook 114429 2022-09-14T16:44:44.168527 application/x-mobipocket-ebook 69727 2025-06-13T08:26:02.510910 text/plain; charset=us-ascii 69597 2021-01-06T13:37:27 text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1 26992 2021-01-06T13:37:27 text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1 application/zip 69588 2021-01-06T13:37:27 text/plain; charset=us-ascii 26974 2021-01-06T13:37:27 text/plain; charset=us-ascii application/zip 22690 2025-06-13T08:26:06.589878 application/rdf+xml 28236 2025-06-13T08:26:02.951899 image/jpeg 4605 2025-06-13T08:26:02.910904 image/jpeg 151968 2025-06-13T08:26:02.711912 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 en.wikipedia en.wikipedia