# Just discovered a long-lost short story!

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-discovered-a-long-lost-short-story/687684>\
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\
**Created:** [May 5, 2014, 1:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-discovered-a-long-lost-short-story/687684 "2014-05-05T01:49:07Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![FasterThanMeerkats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/278dde/32.png) [@FasterThanMeerkats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FasterThanMeerkats)\
**Post date:** [May 5, 2014, 1:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-discovered-a-long-lost-short-story/687684/1 "2014-05-05T01:49:07Z")

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So when I was a kid in middle school we read a short story about a would-be hero who think he’s found a villain-in-hiding and can defeat him because the hero knows the villain’s true name. Turns out the villain is a dragon and knowing his true name is not good enough, so the guy gets eaten. All in all a pretty great story for middle school lit class.

The particulars of that story were lost in time and I’ve haphazardly tried to remember the title from time to time to no avail. Lo, twenty years later I’ve been on a sci-fi fantasy kick and was recommended to read the Earthsea books of Ursula Le Guin. Wouldn’t you know it, much of the plot mechanisms involve knowing the true names of things. A little googling and we have “_The Rule of Names_”!!!

Mundane, yes, pointless, well to you the readers probably, but it must be shared nonetheless.🙂

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**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\
**Post date:** [May 5, 2014, 2:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-discovered-a-long-lost-short-story/687684/2 "2014-05-05T02:11:47Z")

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Stories where people get eaten “by mistake” are fun!

This thread had another one, see post #6 for a link to the story.

> **[I'm looking for a short sci-fi/horror story titled "Hello Down There"...](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=681194)**
>
> …At least I think that was the title. I remember reading it around 1990-1991 in a thick book as part of a compilation of horror/sci-fi stories. It told the story of a farmer and his wife who discover intelligent, humanoid creatures living...