Michael Lampasona

This story is about a lottery that takes place in Babylon. At first, the lottery seems like any other lottery - whoever wants to enter must pay a fee and is granted a chance to win a pooled prize. This lottery is run by "the Company." Eventually the lottery evolved, and those who entered were given a chance to win a pooled some or be penalized. More and more people ended up entering the lottery, because if a man did not buy a ticket he was considered to have no spirit of adventure. Eventually, the picked "loser" of the lottery was forced to serve jail time. The lottery gained popularity, and in time the reward became not being penalized - with death.

I thought this story was interesting. Borges talks about his common theme of infinity towards the end of the story. I certainly would not like to participate in this lottery, but then again if I lived in Babylon I wouldn't have a choice.