Hfrhyu

What information about me do stores get via my credit card?

Is it correct to say the Neural Networks are an alternative way of performing Maximum Likelihood Estimation? if not, why?

Likelihood that a superbug or lethal virus could come from a landfill

What is preventing me from simply constructing a hash that's lower than the current target?

How to notate time signature switching consistently every measure

Can I have a signal generator on while it's not connected?

writing variables above the numbers in tikz picture

Getting crown tickets for Statue of Liberty

Why was M87 targeted for the Event Horizon Telescope instead of Sagittarius A*?

Geography at the pixel level

Is it possible for absolutely everyone to attain enlightenment?

Are spiders unable to hurt humans, especially very small spiders?

Accepted by European university, rejected by all American ones I applied to? Possible reasons?

How much of the clove should I use when using big garlic heads?

Is Astrology considered scientific?

Is Cinnamon a desktop environment or a window manager? (Or both?)

Cooking pasta in a water boiler

If I can cast sorceries at instant speed, can I use sorcery-speed activated abilities at instant speed?

Loose spokes after only a few rides

"as much details as you can remember"

Pokemon Turn Based battle (Python)

If I score a critical hit on an 18 or higher, what are my chances of getting a critical hit if I roll 3d20?

Dropping list elements from nested list after evaluation

Why can't devices on different VLANs, but on the same subnet, communicate?

Character reincarnated…as a snail

.everyoneloves__top-leaderboard:empty,.everyoneloves__mid-leaderboard:empty,.everyoneloves__bot-mid-leaderboard:empty margin-bottom:0;

18

1

I'm trying to hunt down a story (I think it's very early SF) about a character who tries to convince his friend that he will be reincarnated. He trains himself to trace a symbol--a Greek letter, can't remember but either "phi" or "theta"--so automatically that he does it all the time, unconsciously, telling the friend that this symbol is how he can be identified in his next life. The character dies, and one day the friend is walking down the sidewalk and observes a snail, slowly tracing the symbol with its slime as it crawls. It was a very chilling ending, as I recall. But I can't remember the title or author.

story-identification short-stories reincarnation

share|improve this question

asked Apr 5 at 22:06

Carol HuntCarol Hunt

912

New contributor

Carol Hunt is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.

• 
  
  
  

  
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  
  bbc.co.uk/mediacentre/proginfo/2019/05/reincarnathan
  
  – Valorum
  Apr 5 at 22:08
  

  
  
  
  


• 
  
  
  

  
  1
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  
  Hi, welcome to SF&F! You might want to check out the suggestions for asking story-id questions; there could be points there that trigger some additional memories, or just details you didn't think to add.
  
  – DavidW
  Apr 5 at 22:20
  

  
  
  
  


• 
  
  
  

  
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  
  If the question has been answered to your satisfaction, you can "accept" an answer by clicking on the check mark next to it.
  
  – user14111
  Apr 6 at 3:40
  

  
  
  
  

add a comment | 

18

1

I'm trying to hunt down a story (I think it's very early SF) about a character who tries to convince his friend that he will be reincarnated. He trains himself to trace a symbol--a Greek letter, can't remember but either "phi" or "theta"--so automatically that he does it all the time, unconsciously, telling the friend that this symbol is how he can be identified in his next life. The character dies, and one day the friend is walking down the sidewalk and observes a snail, slowly tracing the symbol with its slime as it crawls. It was a very chilling ending, as I recall. But I can't remember the title or author.

story-identification short-stories reincarnation

share|improve this question

asked Apr 5 at 22:06

Carol HuntCarol Hunt

912

New contributor

Carol Hunt is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.

• 
  
  
  

  
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  
  bbc.co.uk/mediacentre/proginfo/2019/05/reincarnathan
  
  – Valorum
  Apr 5 at 22:08
  

  
  
  
  


• 
  
  
  

  
  1
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  
  Hi, welcome to SF&F! You might want to check out the suggestions for asking story-id questions; there could be points there that trigger some additional memories, or just details you didn't think to add.
  
  – DavidW
  Apr 5 at 22:20
  

  
  
  
  


• 
  
  
  

  
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  
  If the question has been answered to your satisfaction, you can "accept" an answer by clicking on the check mark next to it.
  
  – user14111
  Apr 6 at 3:40
  

  
  
  
  

add a comment | 

I'm trying to hunt down a story (I think it's very early SF) about a character who tries to convince his friend that he will be reincarnated. He trains himself to trace a symbol--a Greek letter, can't remember but either "phi" or "theta"--so automatically that he does it all the time, unconsciously, telling the friend that this symbol is how he can be identified in his next life. The character dies, and one day the friend is walking down the sidewalk and observes a snail, slowly tracing the symbol with its slime as it crawls. It was a very chilling ending, as I recall. But I can't remember the title or author.

story-identification short-stories reincarnation

share|improve this question

asked Apr 5 at 22:06

Carol HuntCarol Hunt

912

New contributor

Carol Hunt is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.

share|improve this question

asked Apr 5 at 22:06

Carol HuntCarol Hunt

912

New contributor

Carol Hunt is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.

share|improve this question

asked Apr 5 at 22:06

Carol HuntCarol Hunt

912

New contributor

Carol Hunt is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.

asked Apr 5 at 22:06

Carol HuntCarol Hunt

912

New contributor

Carol Hunt is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.

asked Apr 5 at 22:06

Carol HuntCarol Hunt

912

1 Answer
1

active

oldest

votes

15

This is "The Sign" by Lord Dunsany. It's described on a message board as follows:

Another of Jorkens' tall tales from the billiard room, this one concerning the transmigration of the soul. Horcher, a walking superiority complex and habitual snail-stomper, promised Jorkens that, when he died, he'd leave a sign to inform him of his elevation to God-like status. In the event, it doesn't quite work out for him.

I read the story myself and remember the details from your query that aren't in this description: Horcher training himself to draw the phi sign automatically, and the snail drawing the sign after Horcher's death. (If I recall correctly, Horcher doesn't literally expect to attain God-like status, but he does expect to be a Very Important Person.)

share|improve this answer

edited Apr 6 at 17:05

FuzzyBoots

95.7k12294457

answered Apr 6 at 2:44

Adam SAdam S

2263

add a comment | 

Your Answer

StackExchange.ready(function()
var channelOptions =
tags: "".split(" "),
id: "186"
;
initTagRenderer("".split(" "), "".split(" "), channelOptions);

StackExchange.using("externalEditor", function()
// Have to fire editor after snippets, if snippets enabled
if (StackExchange.settings.snippets.snippetsEnabled)
StackExchange.using("snippets", function()
createEditor();
);

else
createEditor();

);

function createEditor()
StackExchange.prepareEditor(
heartbeatType: 'answer',
autoActivateHeartbeat: false,
convertImagesToLinks: false,
noModals: true,
showLowRepImageUploadWarning: true,
reputationToPostImages: null,
bindNavPrevention: true,
postfix: "",
imageUploader:
brandingHtml: "Powered by u003ca class="icon-imgur-white" href="https://imgur.com/"u003eu003c/au003e",
contentPolicyHtml: "User contributions licensed under u003ca href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/"u003ecc by-sa 3.0 with attribution requiredu003c/au003e u003ca href="https://stackoverflow.com/legal/content-policy"u003e(content policy)u003c/au003e",
allowUrls: true
,
noCode: true, onDemand: true,
discardSelector: ".discard-answer"
,immediatelyShowMarkdownHelp:true
);



);

Carol Hunt is a new contributor. Be nice, and check out our Code of Conduct.

draft saved

draft discarded

Sign up or log in

StackExchange.ready(function ()
StackExchange.helpers.onClickDraftSave('#login-link');
);

Sign up using Google

Sign up using Facebook

Sign up using Email and Password

Post as a guest

Name

Email

Required, but never shown

StackExchange.ready(
function ()
StackExchange.openid.initPostLogin('.new-post-login', 'https%3a%2f%2fscifi.stackexchange.com%2fquestions%2f208585%2fcharacter-reincarnated-as-a-snail%23new-answer', 'question_page');

);

Post as a guest

Name

Email

Required, but never shown

15

This is "The Sign" by Lord Dunsany. It's described on a message board as follows:

Another of Jorkens' tall tales from the billiard room, this one concerning the transmigration of the soul. Horcher, a walking superiority complex and habitual snail-stomper, promised Jorkens that, when he died, he'd leave a sign to inform him of his elevation to God-like status. In the event, it doesn't quite work out for him.

I read the story myself and remember the details from your query that aren't in this description: Horcher training himself to draw the phi sign automatically, and the snail drawing the sign after Horcher's death. (If I recall correctly, Horcher doesn't literally expect to attain God-like status, but he does expect to be a Very Important Person.)

share|improve this answer

edited Apr 6 at 17:05

FuzzyBoots

95.7k12294457

answered Apr 6 at 2:44

Adam SAdam S

2263

add a comment | 

15

This is "The Sign" by Lord Dunsany. It's described on a message board as follows:

Another of Jorkens' tall tales from the billiard room, this one concerning the transmigration of the soul. Horcher, a walking superiority complex and habitual snail-stomper, promised Jorkens that, when he died, he'd leave a sign to inform him of his elevation to God-like status. In the event, it doesn't quite work out for him.

I read the story myself and remember the details from your query that aren't in this description: Horcher training himself to draw the phi sign automatically, and the snail drawing the sign after Horcher's death. (If I recall correctly, Horcher doesn't literally expect to attain God-like status, but he does expect to be a Very Important Person.)

share|improve this answer

edited Apr 6 at 17:05

FuzzyBoots

95.7k12294457

answered Apr 6 at 2:44

Adam SAdam S

2263

add a comment | 

This is "The Sign" by Lord Dunsany. It's described on a message board as follows:

Another of Jorkens' tall tales from the billiard room, this one concerning the transmigration of the soul. Horcher, a walking superiority complex and habitual snail-stomper, promised Jorkens that, when he died, he'd leave a sign to inform him of his elevation to God-like status. In the event, it doesn't quite work out for him.

I read the story myself and remember the details from your query that aren't in this description: Horcher training himself to draw the phi sign automatically, and the snail drawing the sign after Horcher's death. (If I recall correctly, Horcher doesn't literally expect to attain God-like status, but he does expect to be a Very Important Person.)

share|improve this answer

edited Apr 6 at 17:05

FuzzyBoots

95.7k12294457

answered Apr 6 at 2:44

Adam SAdam S

2263

share|improve this answer

edited Apr 6 at 17:05

FuzzyBoots

95.7k12294457

answered Apr 6 at 2:44

Adam SAdam S

2263

edited Apr 6 at 17:05

FuzzyBoots

95.7k12294457

edited Apr 6 at 17:05

FuzzyBoots

95.7k12294457

answered Apr 6 at 2:44

Adam SAdam S

2263

answered Apr 6 at 2:44

Adam SAdam S

2263