This nodal document gives access to a special branch of short stories in the shape of fictional legends. The first paragraph of each of these legends always starts with the words The other day, after which an event or series of events is introduced which is intimately related to the initiator/originator of the neutral-inclusive Norm. Each event may have taken place in reality, but if not, it could or might have taken place. The last paragraph always starts with the words And this the initiator or originator of the Norm added.

The legends in this collection are not handed down by tradition but rather handed over to tradition, so that they may become part of future denominational literature and philosophy. Legends coming down from earlier times are usually not verifiable, let alone true. They may be partially true, partially false. The same applies to the present legendry: altho none of the stories is true from beginning to end, parts of these stories may have been inspired by real events experienced by the author 'imself or by others in the past, sometimes the recent past, sometimes the distant past.

Since they are presented as fiction, these legends give both the writer and the reader the freedom to fantasize. This does not only mean that the 'facts' may be combined in a way in time and space in which they cannot be found in the empirical realm. It also means that a description of these 'facts' may have different levels of interpretation. In addition to a more or less superficial literal interpretation there may be a metaphorical one in which things do not refer to what they are supposed to refer, but stand for something else. (Part of An organism with lungs? focuses on what it means to use metaphors or metaphorical language and should be of help to those who are not sufficiently familiar with this concept.)

It may be that no or hardly any portion of a story can be interpreted on different levels; it may be that almost the whole story has a deeper significance. Thus, the reader may simply consider Hoisting the holy Catena a story about a flag. However, the reader should wonder too, whether the story is perhaps about something else than just a flag, whether the flag and the fouling and the washing of the flag (and its hoisting at the end) represent not only themselves, but something much more important as well or instead.

The fictional legends can be read in any order. In reverse chronological order they are:

• An organism with lungs?, the longest story, beginning only
  (about the swimmer and the picker)
• Hoisting the holy Catena, beginning only
  (about the washer and the skater)
• Believing on the safe side, the shortest story, beginning only
• The light to personhood, beginning only
• The supernatural coin, beginning only
  (about the carpenter's child and the joiner)
• About dikes and damns, beginning only
• Barking up the wrong cosmic tree, beginning only
• Not one
  (about the sage and the two followers)
  since this story will/may be used as material for a novel, public access to it was discontinued on 64.48.3
• Forcibly converted
  since this story will/may be used as material for a novel, public access to it was discontinued on 64.50.1