From my wife:
Hoping the hive mind can help identify this:
During the mid-late 70s I read a paperback collection of short stories of which I remember only this:
A bartender feels sorry for the old down-and-out stranger in his bar and offers him a free drink (I think) which gets the stranger talking. He reminisces about how in the old days he used to be worshipped and offered ambrosia etc
The bartender thinks the old man is nuts but harmless, so out of curiosity he searches for a place that stocks this "ambrosia" drink he's never heard of and eventually ends up ordering some from some place in Greece.
Next time the old man comes in, the bartender offers him ambrosia.
Turns out the old man was the forgotten god Apollo and this small act of worship is like a sip of water to someone who's been lost in a desert.
From memory, the story concludes with the bartender half-anxious and half-curious what his future as Apollo's sole worshipper will be like.
PS It was the first time I'd encountered this story concept that gods depend on belief to exist, before Doug
... Show more...From my wife:
Hoping the hive mind can help identify this:
During the mid-late 70s I read a paperback collection of short stories of which I remember only this:
A bartender feels sorry for the old down-and-out stranger in his bar and offers him a free drink (I think) which gets the stranger talking. He reminisces about how in the old days he used to be worshipped and offered ambrosia etc
The bartender thinks the old man is nuts but harmless, so out of curiosity he searches for a place that stocks this "ambrosia" drink he's never heard of and eventually ends up ordering some from some place in Greece.
Next time the old man comes in, the bartender offers him ambrosia.
Turns out the old man was the forgotten god Apollo and this small act of worship is like a sip of water to someone who's been lost in a desert.
From memory, the story concludes with the bartender half-anxious and half-curious what his future as Apollo's sole worshipper will be like.
PS It was the first time I'd encountered this story concept that gods depend on belief to exist, before Douglas Adams, for example.
This was the only story that didn't go over my head. I was very young and just randomly reading whatever was on my Dad's shelves. He read a lot of Asimov, Clarke, and Heinlein, if that helps. Thanks in advance!
#Books #Reading #Stories
