Great Book

This is the Discworld, which travels through space on the back of four elephants which in themselves stand on the shell of the Great A'Tuin, the sky turtle.
Once upon a time such a universe was considered unusual and, possibly impossible.
But then...it used to be so simple, once upona time.
Because the universe was full of ignorance all around and the scientists panned through it like a prospector crouched over a mountain stream, looking for the gold of knowledge among the gravel of unreason, the sand of uncertainty, and the little whiskery eight-legged swimming things of superstition.
Occasionally he would straighten up and say things like 'Hurrah, Ive discovered Boyles Third Law' And everyone knew where they stood. But the trouble was that ignorance became more interesting, especially big fascinating ignorance about huge and impodrtant things like matter and creation, and people stopped patiently building their little houses of rational sticks in the chaos itself- partly because it was a lot easier to be an expert on chaos, but mostly because it make really good pattern that you could put on a t-shirt.
And instead of getting on with proper science ( like finding that bloody butterfly whose wings cause all these storms) scientists suddenly went around saying how impossible it was to know anything, .........

Up on the mountain, the sabbat had settled down a bit.
Artists and writers have always had a rather exaggerated idea about what goes on at a witches sabbat. This comes from spending too much time in small rooms with the curtains drawn, instead of getting out in the healthy fresh air.
For example, there's the dancing around naked. In the average temperate climate there are very few nights when anyone would dance around at midnight with no clothes on, quite apart from the question of stones, thistles, and sudden hedgehogs.............

And finally there's the sabbats themselves. Your average witch is not, by nature, a social animal as far as other witches are concerned. Theres a conflict of dominant personalities. Theres a group of ringleaders without a ring. Theres a basic rule of witchcraft, which is 'Dont do what you will, do what I say' The natural size of a coven is one. Witches only get together when they cant avoid it.