collected

“What is seven times six?”

Rabbit wondered what to say. “Forty-two” was the right answer. But the King, who could do no wrong, even in arithmetic, might decide, for the purposes, that “fifty-four” was an answer more becoming to the future of the country. Was it, then, safe to say “Forty-two”?

“Your Majesty,” he said, “there are several possible answers to this extraordinarily novel conundrum. At first sight the obvious solution would appear to be ‘forty-two.’  The objection to this solution is that it lacks originality. I have long felt that a progressive country such as ours might well strike out a new line in the matter. Let us agree that in future seven sixes are fifty-four.”

The King scratched his head. “The correct answer,” he said, “is, or will be in the future, fifty-four.”

“Make a note of that,” whispered the Chancellor to the Chief Secretary.

—A. A. Milne, “Prince Rabbit,” 1924, a little altered