Drowning by Numbers

100 Stars

The Skipping-Girl counts and names the stars with confidence. They have Greek, Latin and Arabic names, and names conjured up by the astronomical classifiers of the nineteenth century - names which the professionals have difficulty pronouncing. There are four ways to pronounce Betelgeuse and at least five different spellings of Formalhaut. Where did she learn them? There is some evidence that she is an only child compensating her solitude by prodigious feats of memory. The Skipping-Girl makes the stars her own. Her count becomes a recitation. She is playing a counting skipping-game - of which there are a great many - whose object is to reach the full count without faltering - come what may. No trip or slip of the rope is allowed. The ambition of her number count is one hundred. And to count only a hundred stars is to mock the millions of other stars in the Universe - to mock Science and Mathematics and Counting itself.

The Skipping-Girl, counting 100 stars, of which the names are: