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In my English class - 7 years ago - we had Isaac Asimov as topic, but this little story was not one of his.

It was about a single guy on a outpost. He tells about how normal his live is and how nice his lifestyle seems, and the end of story was that he was an alien with more than two arms.

He finds a human and says something like "and this creature has only two arms" or similar.

Can someone help me? I searched this story for my scout in a lesson of "point of view" but haven't found it on the internet so far.

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  • Do you remember on what planet this outpost was on? That could narrow it down by quite a bit :-)
    – Mac Cooper
    Sep 1, 2014 at 12:46
  • add story-recognition tag
    – Suman Roy
    Sep 1, 2014 at 12:47
  • @ mac Coop: it was in space i guess, it was a short story so nothing much to remember asside the core fact: U think the guy is a human until he mentioned that he has more than 2 Arms (or legs). btw: thanks for the correction, not an natvie english speaker as you can see ^^. @ suman roy: this tag dosnt work: it says "need 300 suggs..."
    – Fulli
    Sep 1, 2014 at 12:48
  • @Fulli, how old were you roughly when you read this? The tomato surprise (the kind of twist you speak of) is popular, but if we know what age it's for it gets easier.
    – Mac Cooper
    Sep 1, 2014 at 13:11
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    @ mac Coop: sorry did read that wrong. I was 21 at this time. In german School system i was in "fachhochschulreife"- class. Its something to go bevor the university.
    – Fulli
    Sep 1, 2014 at 13:19

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Are you sure it is by Asimov? I want to let you know that is really similar to Fredric Brown's (ultra)short story "Sentry" (but that could mean nothing, given the great amount of stories in Sci Fi).

This story would be easy to find just googling "Fredric Brown Sentry", and it goes "... Such repulsive creatures they were, with only two arms and two legs, ghastly white skins and no scales". http://www.lupinworks.com/glit6756/informant/sai3/sentry.pdf

Maybe if nobody can identify the Asimov's one you could make do with this to illustrate the "point of view".

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  • As i said - i wasnt sure if its one of Asimoves. But this ist the story i meant. No wonder i found nothing when i searched Outpost ^^ Thanks @ Deion
    – Fulli
    Sep 1, 2014 at 17:35
  • I wouldn't have been surprised if he (or any other author) had had a story so similar. The good thing is that you can tell if it was Brown's because it is ultra short story. Was it?
    – Kreann
    Sep 1, 2014 at 17:37
  • It is ultra short, there are you right. But: its still timeless XD
    – Fulli
    Sep 1, 2014 at 17:39
  • Brown was the master of the Uber Short Story with the twist ending :)
    – K-H-W
    Jan 19, 2018 at 21:56

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