Sifting through the Embers Summary and Analysis

Traveling the world looking at nearly-extinct species helps Adams appreciate the story of the Sybilline books, a tale that in boyhood disturbs him. A thriving ancient city is visited by a strange, old beggar woman who tries for a single sack of gold to sell the people twelve large books containing all of the knowledge and wisdom in the world. When they laugh, she burns half and leaves. After a hard winter she returns offering to sell the remaining six for two sacks of gold. When they find the inflated price outrageous, she burns half and leaves. The next winter brings famine and disease and the people refuse to pay four sacks of gold for three books. She burns two more and leaves. On her last visit, they pay 16 sacks of gold for one book...