Such a clever story. I like clever stories. There is a timelessness to this tale. A plague wipes out a significant part of the population, and those left living rejoice with debauchery. What are the consequences of a life lived without a moral framework? Is the proper frame to live as if you could die at any moment? What do you help bring about as a result?

First published in Jyllands-Posten, 1889. Collected in The Plague in Bergamo, Gyldendal, 1890