"I Wonder How Improbable a Thing Can Get Before It Becomes Impossible."

"The Other Tiger."

By Arthur C. Clarke (1917-2008; Wikipedia HERE; the ISFDb HERE; the SFE HERE; and the IMDb HERE).

First appearance: Fantastic Universe, June-July 1953.

Reprints page (ISFDb HERE).

Short short short story (3 pages).

Online at SFFaudio (HERE).

   "For as I said at the beginning, if the cosmos is infinite, then all possibilities must arise."

HAVE you ever considered how dangerous a pleasant stroll in the countryside can be? Just what are the odds that you might not survive it?

Principal characters:

~ Arnold and Webb.

References:

- "ponder parallel worlds" (HERE; Wikipedia).

- "the august British Interplanetary Society" (HERE; Wikipedia).

- "infinity" (HERE, HERE, and HERE; Wikipedia).

- "where Hitler won the War" (HERE; Wikipedia).

- "Columbus never discovered America" (HERE; Wikipedia).

- "the Roman Empire has lasted to this day" (WARNING! SPOILERS! HERE; Wikipedia).

Resources:

- A recent encounter with the multiverse concept, one of many that we've had, would be Ron Friedman's "A Matter of Antimatter" (HERE).

- Older multiverse stories include Ray Wood's "Schrödinger’s Gun" (HERE), Sam Merwin's "Third Alternative" (HERE), J. W. Armstrong's "Reversal of Misfortune" (HERE), Dwight V. Swain's "So Many Worlds Away . . ." (HERE), and Murray Leinster's "The Other Now" (HERE).

The bottom line:

Unless otherwise noted, all bibliographical data are derived from The FictionMags Index created by William G. Contento & edited by Phil Stephensen-Payne.

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