A clumsy goblin economist has saved the country from financial ruin by accident. While consulting the Oracle on the matter of percentages, the economist, known only as Gnargleflop, tripped over his own feet and plummeted into the bottomless, non-Euclidean pit from which the Oracle's spirit manifests.
The Oracle was delighted. It accepted the fall as "a worthy offering of clumsiness and incompetence" and, in return, bestowed upon the Goblin Nation the knowledge of percentages, in a series of cryptic riddles and interpretive dance moves.
After some confusion over the dancing, the economists deciphered the message. Armed with a working understanding of the "%" symbol, they recalculated the unemployment rate, analyzed economic trends and produced a set of somewhat sensible policies.
Gnargleflop is, by the economists' new reckoning, 100% still falling. The pit is bottomless. He waves when anyone looks down.
"Gnargleflop's sacrifice was not in vain," said Elder Gnarltooth. "His clumsiness may have cost him the ground beneath his feet, but it saved our economy. We shall erect a statue in his honor, preferably one that shows him tripping face-first into a pile of gold coins."
GNN hailed him as a "hero" and a "martyr for economic enlightenment" in a special broadcast, and released a jingle, "Gnargleflop the Clumsy, Savior of the Goblin Economy."
The nation is celebrating with a week-long festival of clumsiness, with competitions in tripping, spilling and accidentally setting things on fire. Unemployment is slowly falling and the Goblin Stock Exchange has staged a modest rebound. A carrier pigeon reached Gnargleflop on the eleventh day with news of the statue. He asked that it show him landing.
