Two Monks Build the Tower of Babel

MONK #1: realistically how tall do you suppose a tower could get

MONK #2: thats sort of hard to say

so many things are realistic because so many things are real

MONK #1: gosh you can say that again

MONK #2: i suppose the height of one man? a single man? or one and a half?

MONK #1: then why do you suppose it would have troubled God so, by its height?

MONK #2: well

if man is made in the image of God

which he is

then a building as tall as a man is in another way as tall as God

so i suppose that might be way

MONK #1: in that case we had better get out of here because this ceiling is several feet above our heads!!

MONK #2: ahahaah

no no no

this building wasnt made with hubris

MONK #1: you can see that for this version ive added some treadwell cranes and ladders

MONK #2: i do!

MONK #1: which i quite like because i think it adds to the sense that they're really putting a building together but im afraid the tower itself has suffered as a result

MONK #2: surely not!

MONK #1: it doesnt look like a bunch of little helmets to you? because im worried it looks like a stack of helmets and not like a building at all

MONK #2: i suppose if you are very worried you could draw a door or a window on it to really drive home the fact that it is a building

MONK #1: oh gosh i knew it was missing something

now ill have to start over

MONK #2: they probably said that a lot making the tower! hahaha

because of their hubris

MONK #1: hahaha

MONK #1: and this time i wanted to show God confounding their plans when they started getting too close to Heaven

MONK #2: oh my goodness so you did

look at him go!

is that him at the top, I mean? the floating head? it looks like him but you can never be sure, for he cometh like a thief in the night and all that

MONK #1: yes thats God at the top and everyone else is below him

MONK #2: and look at how many stories youve built here! how many stories is this tower?

MONK #1: oh gosh let me see

more than two, certainly

MONK #2: i thought it was more than two!

MONK #1: ...three, four...

MONK #2: as many as four!!

MONK #1: six stories, just about

MONK #2: now wherever in the world did you come up with the idea for a tower with six stories in it! this must be as tall as six men, at least

MONK #1: oh it just came to me

MONK #2: ill say!!!

MONK #1: now this one isn't as tall as the last one

MONK #2: i thought there were fewer stories here! i mean there are four people, so it can't be bigger than four, of course, but ill need more time to count how many stories this one has

MONK #1: thats right i wanted to avoid recommitting the sin of Babel

because whos to say that God might not also dislike it if we were to draw a tower so big it could reach Heaven

MONK #2: gosh thats a good point

he might not like that at all

MONK #1: right

better not risk it, i think

so i just drew more of Heaven above it

and the little red lines are prayers for all the saints telling God "oh no this tower is getting too big please invent Hungarian"

MONK #2: and Dutch?

MONK #1: yes and Dutch and so on

MONK #1: now this one i think is pretty interesting

as you can see ive included a sort of tired-looking fellow leaning out of the middle part of the tower

MONK #2: he does look tired!

MONK #1: as if to say, "whats it all for, this tower"

"how big ought a tower really to be"

"what if we upset God with this great big tower and then I have to learn Occitan"

MONK #2: quite right too!

MONK #1: i hope you dont think ive taken liberties with this one

MONK #2: i hope the same!!

MONK #1: but i put the ark next to the tower here

MONK #2: !!!!

THE ark??

MONK #1: thats exactly right, the ark from all the water before

MONK #2: oh my gosh this is so exciting!!

do you think they knew each other??

ahahha what a silly question of course they knew each other

wow!!!

MONK #1: and here ive returned to the treadwheel theme

plus ive added some more heads of God

MONK #2: theres three of them!!

MONK #1: yes i thought that would be a nice number since there are three of God

MONK #2: but also one!!!

MONK #1: ohmigosh yes haha

but also very much one

and ive kept the motif of the tired guy who thinks this is a bad idea

only now hes moved into a corner and sort of putting his hand over his face

which i think is a pretty handy non-verbal way of signaling "i dont think this is a very good idea"

MONK #2: yes i like that a lot

im going to try that myself next time someone has a bad idea

MONK #1: not me i hope!!!

MONK #2: of course not!!!!!

[Images 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7]