The sage Vyasa needed someone clever enough to write down the longest story in the world as he spoke it. He asked Ganesha, the wisest of scribes.
“I will write,” said Ganesha, “but only if you never stop speaking.” “Agreed,” said Vyasa, “but you must understand each line before you write it.” So Vyasa sometimes spoke a tricky verse to win a moment's rest while Ganesha puzzled it out.
Midway, Ganesha's pen broke. Rather than pause and lose a single word, he snapped off one of his own tusks and wrote on with that. The great epic was never interrupted.