XPost: rec.arts.sf.written   
   From: djheydt@kithrup.com   
      
   In article ,   
   Drak Bibliophile  wrote:   
   >"Gerry Quinn"  wrote in message   
   >news:MPG.2381327da21cdf07989a19@news.indigo.ie...   
   >> In article , jclarke.usenet@cox.net   
   >> says...   
   >>> Every search I've been able to come up with gives me a huge number of   
   >>> hits for everything from insurance agencies to manufacturers of horse   
   >>> blankets, but not the story I'm looking for.   
   >>>   
   >>> The story title was "Quality".  The story was that an extraterrestrial   
   >>> ambassador, who was more or less a centaur in general conformation,   
   >>> was to be presented at the Court of Saint James, and, per his people's   
   >>> custom, needed to be attired in clothing made on the planet he was   
   >>> visiting.  An elderly tailor was approached, with instructions from   
   >>> the government to create a "horse blanket".  He refused, and came up   
   >>> with something much more suitable, by which action humanity passed a   
   >>> test.   
   >>   
   >> Nobody asked the diplomatic staff to check out what these aliens   
   >> normally wore and make an Earth equivalent?   
   >>   
   >   
   >The alien custom was to wear clothing appropriate for the world they were   
   >visiting.   
      
   Cf. Goldin and wossname, _Jade Darcy and the Zen Pirates._  Two   
   humans are visiting an alien planet, normally *very* hard for   
   non-natives to get at, for an important festival which involves   
   dozens of costume changes, and among other things one's clothes   
   proclaim one's rank.  The humans solve the problem by wearing   
   human-fitted clothes, very elaborate, in snazzy fabrics, suitable   
   for the festivities but still fitting humans.   
   >   
      
   Dorothy J. Heydt   
   Vallejo, California   
   djheydt@kithrup.com	   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)