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Ah, Sweet Mystery of Life

Roald Dahl

First published 1990
Type Short Fiction
Length Short Story

Rummins the farmer explains how it is that he can control whether matings with his bull produce male or female calves.

Speculative in the manner of a ribald tall tale: the farmer controls whether male or female calves are produced by facing the bull toward or away from the sun during sex, and claims that it works for humans too. First published in the New York Times, September 14, 1974.

Date Publication Publisher Type Page
1990 Cover Ah, Sweet Mystery of Life Penguin Books Collection 1
April 1990 Cover Ah, Sweet Mystery of Life Alfred A. Knopf Collection 1
September 1991 The Collected Short Stories of Roald Dahl Michael Joseph Omnibus 705
August 1997 Cover The Flying Sorcerers: More Comic Tales of Fantasy Souvenir Press Anthology 159
November 1998 Cover The Flying Sorcerers Ace Books Anthology 174
1999 Cover The Flying Sorcerers: More Comic Tales of Fantasy Orbit Anthology 213
1999 Cover Scheibenwahn Heyne Anthology 250
February 1999 Cover The Flying Sorcerers: More Comic Tales of Fantasy Orbit Anthology 213
2001 Cover The Flying Sorcerers: More Comic Tales of Fantasy Orbit Anthology 213
October 2006 Cover Collected Stories Alfred A. Knopf Collection 777