The Grandmother's Tale

A woman had finished her baking, so she asked her daughter to take a fresh galette and a pot of cream to her grandmother who lived in a forest cottage. The girl set off, and on her way she met a bzou [a werewolf].

The girl set off, the bzou set off, and the bzou reached Grandmother's cottage first. He quickly killed the old woman and gobbled her up, flesh, blood, and bone - except for a bit of flesh that he put in a little dish on the pantry shelf, and except for a bit of blood that he drained into a little bottle. Then the bzou dressed in Grandmother's cap and shawl and climbed into bed.

Illustration by Charles Robinson

Now the bzou reaches the river, and he bids the women help him cross. They spread a sheet over the water — but as soon as he is halfway across, the laundresses let go. The bzou falls into the water and drowns.

Future Humans May Divide Into Two Species

Technology may alter the evolution of the human race over the next 100,000 years, dividing society into a genetically wealthy upper class, and a goblin-like lower class consisting of mostly undesirable features.

According to evolutionary theorist Oliver Curry of the London School of Economics, the human race will improve genetically over the next thousand years, until a reliance on technology and other factors instill a gradual decline in Homo Sapien genetics. The report, which will be featured on a Bravo TV documentary, suggests the tendency for human beings to be increasingly selective about sexual partners will create a sharp divide in humanity, with the cream rising to the top and hideous goblin-like individuals falling to the bottom.

The alleged genetic upper class will be between 6 and 7 feet tall, said Curry. These members of society will embody all that is valued both physically and mentally in other human beings. These people will be slim, healthy, attractive, and intelligent, with lifespans as long as 120 years. Men will have sharp jaws, lower voices, better athletic skills, and bigger penises. Women, on the other hand, will have smooth, hairless skin, larger eyes, pert breasts and glossy hair. Racial differences will also continue to disappear as a result of continuous inter-breeding, with all humans eventually adopting a light brown, coffee-colored skin hue.

Curry also suggested that those who display fewer attractive features than undesirable ones will progress a genetic lower-class, which eventually could split into a whole sub-species of human. These individuals would be short, squat, ugly and dim-witted, not unlike the Morlock creatures foretold in H.G. Wells' 1895 novel The Time Machine.

And while this divide may increase over the next 10,000 years or so, Curry predicts that both genetic classes, dubbed Gracile and Robust, will be negatively affected by an increasing reliance on technology. Increased reliance on medicines could gradually weaken the human immune system, while the prevention of cancers and other diseases could perpetuate and enhance the likelihood of such traits within the species. Said Curry:

While science and technology have the potential to create an ideal habitat for humanity over the next millennium, there is a possibility of a monumental genetic hangover over the subsequent millennia due to an over-reliance on technology reducing our natural capacity to resist disease, or our evolved ability to get along with each other, said Dr Curry.