"Magnificent Maurice, or the Flowers of Immortality" by Rati Mehrotra

It's Storytime with Wil Wheaton

Wil Wheaton

Fiction

4.9 • 664 Ratings

🗓️ 28 January 2026

⏱️ 48 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

"Magnificent Maurice, or the Flowers of Immortality" by Rati Mehrotra, narrated by Wil Original Publication Credit: Lightspeed Magazine, November 2020 / Previous audio version: Audio reprint in CatsCast episode 6, September 2022 To learn more about the author, please visit: https://ratiwrites.com/ It's Storytime was produced in 2025 by Traveler Enterprises, Inc., who holds the copyright. Our producer is Harris Lane. Our Story Producer and Director is Gabrielle de Cuir. Our Content Editor is Michael Thomas. Our Podcast is mixed, edited, and mastered by Alex Barton of PhaseShift AV. Special thanks to Wes Stevens and Christopher Black. It's Storytime is recorded at Skyboat Media in the beautiful San Fernando Valley, California. If you'd like to support the show and get an ad-free feed, visit ⁠patreon.com/storytime⁠ I'm your Creator, Executive Producer, and host, Wil Wheaton. You can find me online at ⁠wilwheaton.net⁠. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	You didn't start a business just to keep the lights on.
0:02.8	You're here to sell more today than yesterday.
0:05.8	You're here to win.
0:08.5	Lucky can you.
0:09.7	Shopify built the best converting checkout on the planet.
0:12.7	Like the just one tapping, ridiculously fast acting, sky high sales stacking, championed
0:18.6	checkouts.
0:19.5	That's the good stuff right there.
0:21.6	So if your business is in it to win it, win with Shopify.
0:25.6	Start your free trial today at shopify. Hi, friends. Hi, friends, I am Will, and it is story time. I am so glad you're here.
1:00.9	About 10,000 years ago, some cats in, I guess, Mesopotamia or thereabouts,
1:08.5	looked at a bunch of humans in a village, and those cats thought,
1:14.4	I bet we could trick those stupid humans into giving us food and shelter for the rest of our
1:22.2	lives, and we wouldn't even have to do anything for it. And they domesticated themselves. Now speaking as a dog owner,
1:31.0	who is a member of my cat Watson's staff, I would say that this is working out pretty well for cats.
1:39.0	This week, oh, this week, it is such a privilege. I am so excited to tell you this story about one of the
1:47.2	greatest cats who has ever lived. You can ask him, and he will tell you, he is a very special cat
1:56.0	with a very special job. Now, I am going to straighten my collar, make sure my hair is just so out of respect,
2:06.1	as I tell you the tale of magnificent Maurice or the flowers ofortality.
2:28.9	Magnificent Maurice, or the Flowers of Immortality, by Rati Marotra,
3:01.0	originally published in Lightspeed magazine, issue 126, November 2020. The tree has many names in many languages.
3:07.5	Igdrasil, Kaupavriksha,innu, Ushvuttha.
	...

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