Paul the Octopus

Ahmedinejad has said Paul represented everything decadent in Western society

One obituary to Paul the Octopus, who on 26 October passed away peacefully at night, expressed relief at there being no foul play. Football fundamentalists from countries like Holland, Germany and England—all correctly prophesied by Paul to perish in World Cup fixtures— had not got to the octopus.

An Octopus has an average life span of three years. Paul died at the ripe old age of two years and 10 months. No animal oracle has become as famous as Paul. The football World Cup is one of the world’s biggest events, and Paul had an eerie knack of picking the winning team before a match was played.

This he did from his tank in Sea Life Centre, an amusement place in Oberhausen, Germany. Two plastic boxes with mussels in them and the flags of competing countries were placed in the tank. The mussel Paul went for indicated which team would win. And it won.

But Paul has been wrong. In Euro 2008, when he effectively started his oracular career, he picked Germany for all its six matches. He got two incorrect and Germany lost the final.

Paul made quite a few enemies from the losing side. When fans got angry with him, they usually wanted to eat him. One Argentinian chef even detailed how he would do it. It involved clubbing Paul to make the meat tender.

One man who was least interested in the World Cup and yet looked with deep animosity towards Paul was Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmedinejad. In one speech, he said Paul represented everything decadent in Western society. He accused Paul of spreading Western propaganda. How he arrived at this conclusion is still a mystery.

Paul has already been replaced at his former home. The new octopus is also called Paul. The old Paul will have a shrine built for him.

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