In Persia people flew falcons. The falcons captured animals and other birds and brought them back. Their eyes were fierce. Their brains were trained towards those eyes. Everything else was almost an afterthought and operated automatically.
To make the sheikh's favourite falcon more efficient, a clever mechanist devised a third eye which he attached to the bird's forehead.
Everything in the bird's new field of vision became monumentally tiny and detailed.
The falcon lost the ability to dream, and also its appetite. It began bringing back plants instead of animals. Then it brought back clouds. Then the thoughts of people who lived in the city. Then the thoughts of people in other parts of the country. Then the thoughts of foreigners.
The sheikh put all of these things in a cage and charged the equivalent of five dollars to anyone who wanted to look at them.
This was the first zoo in that city.
After a time the falcon drowned in a thunderstorm.
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