Now we shall give the foreign devils short shrift, We shall destroy the railroads: Rain will pour down in heavy torrents, People and spirits will be revived, Cockerels and dogs will be pacified. So kill one when you see him, Kill him straightaway! As often as you meet him, Kill him every day! ‘The foreign devils, dear reader,’ the reporter continued in his report, ‘are subhuman heathens with dogs’ heads. We are the foreign devils. ‘We have disrupted the universal harmony. We are like holes in a perfect universe, through which warmth and meaning escape and an icy cosmic draught blows in. Call the universal harmony feng shui if you wish, call it the general service regulations, it makes no difference, the important thing is that it contains everything in plenty: life and death and – most important of all – human warmth. ‘Let me try to put this more simply. The universal harmony is the general service regulations, which are intended to teach new recruits that everything rhymes.
