Speaker 1: Hey, and welcome to the Spooky Halloween Podcast. I'm yeah
Speaker 1: very nice. I'm Joshua Lander and Clark. There's Bride of
Speaker 1: Chucky Bryant, and there's Jarifying Roland. Jerry said she has
Speaker 1: no time for us this year, so we have to
Speaker 1: make all our own sound effects with our own mouths.
Speaker 1: That sounds good, that's cool, we can do that. Watch this.
Speaker 1: That was terrifying. Yeah. All the spit, I think is
Speaker 1: what made it so terrifying. Um so, chuck, this is
Speaker 1: our annual Halloween episode. I don't know if anyone told
Speaker 1: you this yet. Are spook tacular? Yes, it's right. And
Speaker 1: uh for those of you who have just found the
Speaker 1: podcast recently and this is your first time, every Christmas
Speaker 1: and Halloween we present an ad free episode for your enjoyment.
Speaker 1: This has nothing to do with explaining anything. It's just
Speaker 1: some spooky stories that we like to read and then
Speaker 1: Jerry adds a little sound design. But apparently this year
Speaker 1: it's up to us. That's right, So do you want
Speaker 1: to do it? Let's do it? Okay, So I say
Speaker 1: that we start with my pick, the Algerin in Blackwood
Speaker 1: um story ancient lights, great dim the lights? Everybody get
Speaker 1: whatever you do to get into the spooky mood. Um.
Speaker 1: I don't know how you play it in your houses,
Speaker 1: but dim the lights you do. Maybe get a cat
Speaker 1: let it stare at you for a little while. It's
Speaker 1: pretty creepy. That's the sweetest thing ever, a cat staring
Speaker 1: at you. Sure. Maybe take the your witch's broom out
Speaker 1: of the closet. Oh yeah, then that'll set a mood. Um.
Speaker 1: Put up your cobwebs. Don't clean those out and put
Speaker 1: them up. Yeah, what are you doing cleaning them out?
Speaker 1: You need spiders to keep pesky bugs away, that's right,
Speaker 1: and then you keep lizards to eat the spiders. That's right. See,
Speaker 1: you did learn something today. I did. Okay, you're ready,
Speaker 1: allow me to start, please, Jerry, if you please, thank you, Jerry.
Speaker 1: Jerry's already asleep. This is ancient lights by Elgin and Blackwood.
Speaker 1: From South Water where he left the train. The road
Speaker 1: led due west that he knew for the rest he
Speaker 1: trusted to luck, being one of those born walkers who
Speaker 1: dislikes asking the way. He had that instinct, and as
Speaker 1: a rule it served him well. A mile or so
Speaker 1: due west along the Sandy Road till you come to
Speaker 1: a style on the right, then across the fields, you'll
Speaker 1: see the red house straight before you. He glanced at
Speaker 1: the postcard's instructions once again, and once again he tried
Speaker 1: to decipher the scratched out sentence, without success. It had
Speaker 1: been so elaborately inked over that no word was legible.
Speaker 1: Inked Out sentences in a letter were always enticing. He
Speaker 1: wondered what it was that had to be so very
Speaker 1: carefully obliterated. The afternoon was boisterous, with a tearing, shouting
Speaker 1: wind that blew from the sea across the Sussex wheeld
Speaker 1: have no idea what a wield This massive clouds with
Speaker 1: round had piled up edges cannoned across gaping spaces of
Speaker 1: blue sky far away. The line of downs swept the
Speaker 1: horizon like an arriving wave. Chuck, dumberry ring which I
Speaker 1: looked up. It's an old hill fort from years ago
Speaker 1: and a Celtic temple. Okay, bear that in mind. So
Speaker 1: this old hill fort, he's saying, rode the crest of
Speaker 1: the horizon like a wave. Okay, a scudding ship holed
Speaker 1: down before the wind. He took his hat off and
Speaker 1: walked rapidly, breathing great drafts of air with delight and exhilaration.
Speaker 1: This guy really liked walking. Man, he's the opposite of me.
Speaker 1: You would this would be chucking a segway this whole
Speaker 1: time right the road was deserted, no horseman, bicycles or motors,
Speaker 1: not even a tradesman's cart, no single walker. But anyhow,
Speaker 1: he would never have asked the way, keeping a sharp
Speaker 1: eye for the style. And by the way, chuck, his
Speaker 1: style is like a little thing that humans can use
Speaker 1: to get over, like a cattle fence, but like cattle
Speaker 1: can't get through, so like maybe steps on either side
Speaker 1: of a fence style. Okay, m hmm, stupid cows. I
Speaker 1: know I can't walk up steps. Keeping a sharp eye
Speaker 1: for the style, he pounded along while the wind tossed
Speaker 1: the cloak against his face and made waves across the
Speaker 1: blue puddles and the yellow road. The trees showed their
Speaker 1: under leaves of white, the bracken and the high new
Speaker 1: grass bent all one way. Great life was in the day,
Speaker 1: high spirits and dancing everywhere, And for a Croydon surveyor's
Speaker 1: clerk just out of an office, this was like a
Speaker 1: holiday at the sea. It was a day for high adventure,
Speaker 1: and his heart rose up to meet the mood of nature.
Speaker 1: His umbrella with the silver ring ought to have been
Speaker 1: a sword, and his brown shoes should have been top
Speaker 1: boots with spurs on the heels. Where hid the enchanted
Speaker 1: castle in the princess with the hair of sunny gold.
Speaker 1: His horse, the Style, suddenly came into view and nipped
Speaker 1: adventure in the bud. Everyday clothes took him prisoner again.
Speaker 1: He was a surveyor's clerk, middle aged, earning three pounds
Speaker 1: a week, coming from Croydon to see about a client's
Speaker 1: proposed alterations in a wood, something to ensure a better
Speaker 1: view from the dining room window. Across the fields, perhaps
Speaker 1: a mile away. He saw the red house gleaming in
Speaker 1: the sunshine, and resting on the Style a moment to
Speaker 1: get his breath, he noticed the copes of oak and
Speaker 1: horn beam on the right. Aha, he told himself, so
Speaker 1: that must be the wood he wants to cut down
Speaker 1: to improve the view. I'll have a look at it.
Speaker 1: There were boards up, of course, but there was an
Speaker 1: inviting little path as well. I'm not a trespasser, he said,
Speaker 1: It's part of my business. This is he scrambled awkwardly
Speaker 1: over the gate and entered the copes. A little round
Speaker 1: would bring him to the field again. My turn, take
Speaker 1: it away, chuckers. All right, here we go. Should we
Speaker 1: catch people up? What's this guy doing? He's walking a lot,
Speaker 1: he's walking. He's walking, and he's going to be a
Speaker 1: client who wants to cut down some woods. And he
Speaker 1: thinks he's just now found the woods. All but the
Speaker 1: moment he passed among the trees, the wind ceased shouting,
Speaker 1: and a stillness dropped upon the world. So dense was
Speaker 1: the growth that the sunshine only came through and isolated patches.
Speaker 1: The air was close. He mopped his forehead, but his
Speaker 1: green felt hat on, but a low branch knocked it
Speaker 1: off again at once, and as he stooped, an elastic
Speaker 1: twig swung back and stung his face. There were flowers along, sorry,
Speaker 1: there were flowers along both edges of the little path,
Speaker 1: glades open on either side, Ferns curved about in damper corners,
Speaker 1: and the smell of earth and foliage was rich and sweet.
Speaker 1: It was cooler here. What an enchanting little wood, he thought,
Speaker 1: turning down a small green glade where the sunshine flickered
Speaker 1: like silver wings. How it danced and fluttered and moved about.
Speaker 1: He put a dark blue flower in his button hole.
Speaker 1: M whatever floats your boat foal again? His hat caught
Speaker 1: by an oak branch as he rose, was knocked from
Speaker 1: his head, falling across his eyes. This guy's a mess,
Speaker 1: and this time he did not put it on again.
Speaker 1: Swinging his umbrella, he walked on with uncovered head, whistling
Speaker 1: rather loudly as he went. But the thickness of the
Speaker 1: trees hardly encouraged whistling, and something of his gaiety and
Speaker 1: high spirit seemed to leave him. He suddenly found himself
Speaker 1: treading circumspectly and with caution. The stillness in the wood
Speaker 1: was so peculiar. There was a rustle among the ferns
Speaker 1: and leaves, and something shot across the path ten yards ahead.
Speaker 1: Stopped abruptly. An instant with head cocked sideways to stare,
Speaker 1: then dived again beneath the underbrush with the speed of
Speaker 1: a shadow. He started like a frightened child, laughing the
Speaker 1: next second that a mere pheasant could have made him jump.
Speaker 1: In the distance, he heard wheels upon the road and
Speaker 1: wondered why the sound was pleasant good Old Butcher's Cot,
Speaker 1: he said to himself, his accent changed. I guess I
Speaker 1: like it. I'm not. I'm not sure where he's from.
Speaker 1: Good Old Butcher's Cot, he said to himself. Then realized
Speaker 1: that he was going in the wrong direction and had
Speaker 1: somehow got turned round, for the road should be behind him,
Speaker 1: not in front, and he hurriedly took another narrow glade
Speaker 1: that lost itself in greenness to the right. That's my direction,
Speaker 1: of course, he said. How he's show connor. I think
Speaker 1: so all right. The trees has mixed me up a bit,
Speaker 1: it seems. Then found himself abruptly by the gate he
Speaker 1: had first climbed over. He had merely made a circle.
Speaker 1: Surprise became almost discomfiture. Then it's a new one for me.
Speaker 1: And a man dressed like a gamekeeper in brownie green
Speaker 1: leaned against the gate, hitting his legs with a switch.
Speaker 1: I'm making for Mr Lumley's farm, explained the walker. This
Speaker 1: is his wood, I believe, then stopped dead because it
Speaker 1: was no man at all, but merely an effect of
Speaker 1: light and shade and foliage. He stepped back to reconstruct
Speaker 1: the singular illusion, but the wind shook the branches roughly
Speaker 1: here on the edge of the wood. The foliage refused
Speaker 1: to reconstruct the figure, leaves all rustled strangely. Just then
Speaker 1: the sun went behind a cloud, making the whole would
Speaker 1: look otherwise. Yet how the mind could be thus doubly
Speaker 1: deceived was indeed remarkable, for it almost seemed to him
Speaker 1: the man had sward spoken, or was this the shuffling
Speaker 1: noise the branches made, and had pointed with this switch
Speaker 1: to the notice board upon the nearest tree. The words
Speaker 1: rang on in his head, but of course he had
Speaker 1: imagined them. No, it's not his wood, it's ours. That's
Speaker 1: good stuff. And some village wit moreover had changed the
Speaker 1: lettering on the weather beaten board, for it read quite plainly,
Speaker 1: trespassers will be persecuted. Teenagers no skateboarding either. And while
Speaker 1: the astonished clerk read the words and chuckled, he said
Speaker 1: to himself, thinking what a tale he'd have to tell
Speaker 1: his wife and children later. The blooming wood has tried
Speaker 1: to chuck me out. But I'll go in again. Why
Speaker 1: it's only a matter of a square acre at most.
Speaker 1: I'm bound to reach the fields on the other side
Speaker 1: if I keep straight on here This guy's really all
Speaker 1: over the place of ny. I feel like he's kind
Speaker 1: of settled into a real weird accent. But I like it.
Speaker 1: He remembered his position in the office. He had a
Speaker 1: certain dignity to maintain. So he's he's freaking out a
Speaker 1: little bit, like the woods are like playing tricks on him.
Speaker 1: It seems like the lst is kicking in for sure.
Speaker 1: He's like, I shouldn't have plucked that weird mushroom from
Speaker 1: that cow poop, okay, m The cloud passed from below
Speaker 1: the sun and light splashed suddenly in all manner of
Speaker 1: unlikely places. The man went straight on. He felt a
Speaker 1: touch of puzzling confusion somewhere this way the copes had
Speaker 1: of shifting from sunshine into shadow doubtless troubled site a little.
Speaker 1: To his relief, at last a new glade open through
Speaker 1: the trees and just closed the fields with the glimpse
Speaker 1: of the red house in the distance at the far end.
Speaker 1: But a little wicked gate that stood across the path
Speaker 1: had to first be climbed, and as he scrambled heavily
Speaker 1: over it for it would not open, he got the
Speaker 1: astonishing feeling that it slid off sideways beneath his weight
Speaker 1: toward the wood like the moving staircases at Herod's in
Speaker 1: Earl's Court, and I think he's talking about escalators. It
Speaker 1: began to glide off with him. It was quite horrible,
Speaker 1: and he made a violent effort to get down before
Speaker 1: it carried him into the trees. But his feet became
Speaker 1: entangled with the bars and umbrella, so that he fell
Speaker 1: heavily upon the farther side. Arms spread across the grass,
Speaker 1: and nettles boots clutched between the first and second bars. Suddenly,
Speaker 1: Benny Hill came around the corner. Maybe Jerry will add
Speaker 1: yakety sacks to that part. Oh, that'd be great. He
Speaker 1: lay there a moment like a man crucified upside down,
Speaker 1: and while he struggled to get disentangled, feet, bars and
Speaker 1: umbrella formed a regular net. He saw the little man
Speaker 1: in Brownie Green go past him with extreme rapidity through
Speaker 1: the wood. The man was laughing. He passed across the
Speaker 1: glades some fifty yards away, and he was not alone
Speaker 1: this time. A companion like himself went with him. The clerk,
Speaker 1: now upon his feet again, watched them disappear into the
Speaker 1: gloom of green beyond. You want to take this quote
Speaker 1: that tramps not gamekeepers. He said to himself, half mortified,
Speaker 1: half angry, apparently half deranged. But his heart was thumping dreadfully,
Speaker 1: and he dared not utter all his thought. He examined
Speaker 1: the wicket gate, convinced it was a trick gate somehow,
Speaker 1: then went hurriedly on again, disturbed beyond belief to see
Speaker 1: that the glade no longer opened into the fields, but
Speaker 1: curved away to the right. What in the world had
Speaker 1: happened to him? His sight was so utterly at fault again.
Speaker 1: The sun flamed out abruptly and lit the floor of
Speaker 1: woods with pools of silver, And at the same moment
Speaker 1: a violent gust of wind passed, shouting overhead. Drops fell
Speaker 1: clattering everywhere upon, the leaves making a sharp pattering as
Speaker 1: of many footsteps. The whole coat shuddered and went moving
Speaker 1: chuck brain by. George thought the clerk, and, feeling for
Speaker 1: his umbrella, discovered he had lost it. He turned back
Speaker 1: to the gate and found it lying on the farther side.
Speaker 1: To his amazement, he saw the fields at the far
Speaker 1: end of the glade. The red house too, shine in
Speaker 1: the sunset. He laughed, then, for of course and his
Speaker 1: struggles with the gate, he had somehow got turned around,
Speaker 1: had fallen back instead of forwards. Climbing over this time
Speaker 1: quite easily, he retraced his steps. The silver band he
Speaker 1: saw had been torn off of the umbrella, no doubt,
Speaker 1: his foot, a nail or something had caught in it
Speaker 1: and ripped it off. The clerk began to run. He
Speaker 1: felt extraordinarily dismayed. But while he ran, the entire wood
Speaker 1: ran with him round him, to and fro, trees shifting
Speaker 1: like living things, leaves folding and unfolding, trunks darting backwards
Speaker 1: and forwards, and branches disclosing enormous empty spaces and then
Speaker 1: closing up again before he could look into them. There
Speaker 1: were footsteps everywhere, and laughing, crying voices, and crowds of
Speaker 1: figures gathering just behind his back, till the glade he
Speaker 1: knew was thick with moving life. The wind in his ears,
Speaker 1: of course, produced the voices in the laughter, while the
Speaker 1: sun and clouds plunging the copes alternately in shadow and
Speaker 1: bright dazzling light, created the figures. But he did not
Speaker 1: like it. And when as fast as ever his sturdy
Speaker 1: legs could take it, he was frightened. Now this was
Speaker 1: no story for his wife and children. He ran like
Speaker 1: the wind, but his feet made no sound upon the soft,
Speaker 1: mossy turf. Oh boy, it's getting real. It's getting surreal. Then,
Speaker 1: to his horror, he saw that the glade grew narrow,
Speaker 1: nettles and weeds stood thick across it. It dwindled down
Speaker 1: into a tiny path, and twenty yards ahead it stopped
Speaker 1: finally and melted off among the trees. What the trick
Speaker 1: gate had failed to achieve, this twisting glade accomplished easily
Speaker 1: carried him in bodily among the dense and crowding tree
Speaker 1: You you wanna take his home? It s get freaky, Chuck.
Speaker 1: There was only one thing to do. Turned sharply and
Speaker 1: dash back again, run headlong into the life that followed
Speaker 1: at his back, followed so closely too, that now it
Speaker 1: almost touched him, pushing him in. And with reckless courage,
Speaker 1: that was what he did. It seemed a fearful thing
Speaker 1: to do. He turned with a sort of violent spring,
Speaker 1: head down and shoulders forward, hands stretched before his face.
Speaker 1: He made the plunge like a hunted creature. He charged
Speaker 1: full tilt the other way, meeting the wind, and now
Speaker 1: in his face. Good Lord, the glade behind him and
Speaker 1: closed up as well. There was no longer any path
Speaker 1: at all, Turning round and round like an animal at bay.
Speaker 1: He searched for an opening, a way of escape, searched frantically, breathlessly,
Speaker 1: terrified now in his bones. But foll leyad surrounded him.
Speaker 1: Branches blocked the way. The tree stood close and still,
Speaker 1: unshaken by a breath of wind, and the sun dipped
Speaker 1: that moment behind a great black cloud. The entire wood
Speaker 1: turned dark and silent, had watched him. Is not good
Speaker 1: when the woods are watching you. That's bad news. It's
Speaker 1: worse than a cat. That's like that Jodie Foster movie
Speaker 1: from the seventies, The Watcher in the Woods. Was that
Speaker 1: Jodie Foster? Yeah, I was so scary. I remember that one,
Speaker 1: and Betty Davis I think too. That's right, we should
Speaker 1: have just played that instead of doing this. I feel
Speaker 1: like we just broke all the tension we'd built over
Speaker 1: the last ten minutes. Okay, here we go, Everyone al right,
Speaker 1: the woods are watching. Perhaps it was this final touch
Speaker 1: of sudden blackness that made him act so foolishly, as
Speaker 1: though he had really lost his head at any rate.
Speaker 1: Without pausing to think, he dashed headlong in among the trees. Again,
Speaker 1: there was a sensation of being stifling lye surrounded and entangled,
Speaker 1: and that he must break out at all costs, out
Speaker 1: in a way into the open of the blessed fields
Speaker 1: and air. He did this ill considered thing, and apparently
Speaker 1: charged straight into an oak that deliberately moved into his
Speaker 1: path to stop him. He saw it shift across a
Speaker 1: good full yard, and being a measuring man accustomed to
Speaker 1: theodolite and chain, he ought to know, do you know
Speaker 1: what that is? No? Do you the chain? I think
Speaker 1: I mean he's a surveyor, says gut has something to
Speaker 1: do with that. But who knows what the light is?
Speaker 1: And I think it's a measuring compound. Sure he fell,
Speaker 1: saw stars and felt a thousand tiny fingers tugging and
Speaker 1: pulling in his hands and neck and ankles. The stinging nettles,
Speaker 1: no doubt, were responsible for this, he thought of it later.
Speaker 1: At the moment it felt diabolically calculated. But another remarkable
Speaker 1: illusion was not so easily explained. For all, in a moment,
Speaker 1: it seemed the entire wood went sliding past him with
Speaker 1: a thick, deep rustling of leaves and laughter, myriad footsteps
Speaker 1: and tiny little active energetic shapes. Two men in brownie
Speaker 1: green gave him a mighty hoist, and he opened his
Speaker 1: eyes to find himself lying in the meadow beside the
Speaker 1: style where first his incredible adventure had begun. The wood
Speaker 1: stood in its usual place and stared down upon him
Speaker 1: in the sunlight. There was the red house in the
Speaker 1: distance as before above him grinned the weather beaten noticeable
Speaker 1: word trespassers will be prosecuted, disheveled in mind and body,
Speaker 1: and a good deal shaken in his official soul. The
Speaker 1: clerk walked slowly across the fields, but on the way
Speaker 1: he glanced once more at the postcard of instructions and
Speaker 1: saw with dull amazement that the inked out sentence was
Speaker 1: quite legible after all. Beneath the scratches made across it,
Speaker 1: there is a shortcut through the wood. The would I
Speaker 1: want to cut down if you care to take it?
Speaker 1: Only care was so badly written it looked more like
Speaker 1: another word. The sea was uncommonly like d. That's the
Speaker 1: copes that spoils my view of the downs. You see,
Speaker 1: His client explained, to him, later, pointing across the fields
Speaker 1: and referring to the ordinance map beside him. I want
Speaker 1: to cut down in a path made so and so
Speaker 1: it's precise. His finger indicated direction on the map. The
Speaker 1: fairy Wood, it's still called, and it's far older than
Speaker 1: this house. Come now, if you're ready, Mr Thomas, we
Speaker 1: might go out and have a look at it. Oh boy.
Speaker 1: So basically the shot, Oh yeah, there you got the end.
Speaker 1: So basically the upshot of this one, Chuck, is that
Speaker 1: this guy is very lucky that the possessed would spit
Speaker 1: him out and didn't keep him in there forever like
Speaker 1: that island did it too, Amelia Earhart, that's right? And
Speaker 1: Rowse Beers man bringing the civil engineering horror that was
Speaker 1: Algernon Blackwood. Would I say, Ambrose Beers, that's a common mistake,
Speaker 1: it really. I like I like the I like Algernon Blackwood. Yeah,
Speaker 1: he's great. He did the Empty House, which we read
Speaker 1: once a few years back. So there you go. How
Speaker 1: scared is everybody? Raise your hand if you're scared me.
Speaker 1: That's not bad, not bad. Two out of three people
Speaker 1: isn't bad. All right, So we're gonna move on to
Speaker 1: Ed Garland Poe and uh, because it's in the public
Speaker 1: don't main, dude, there's there. It's true, it is true,
Speaker 1: it's in the public domain. I'm gonna get started in
Speaker 1: my searching earlier next year. Yeah, or we could just
Speaker 1: start saving up um and just like buy the rights
Speaker 1: to read one. Yeah, I mean there are there are stories.
Speaker 1: It's about getting in touch with the authors that are
Speaker 1: still living. Sure, it's like I found a good Joyce
Speaker 1: Carol oateswin and all she all she writes is the
Speaker 1: best horror ever. For my money, I would say that
Speaker 1: she's probably my favorite author in general, but I would
Speaker 1: say she's probably the greatest horror writer of all time. Too. Well,
Speaker 1: I'm gonna get in touch with her. We're gonna buddy
Speaker 1: up over the next year. Oh good, we'll loot me
Speaker 1: into that. Yeah, for sure, we're gonna bring the oats
Speaker 1: next year. Okay, Yeah. I tweeted to her wants to
Speaker 1: ask her, and she just ignored it. Really Yeah that
Speaker 1: was before your big shot. No, this is like last year,
Speaker 1: which I guess that that's the hole's true. So yes,
Speaker 1: you're right. All right. Here we go with a story
Speaker 1: by Edgar Allen Poe. Uh, noted drunk and drug addict
Speaker 1: died in the street. Really, Oh yeah, Baltimore, right in
Speaker 1: front of Powers Station Live. Yeah, is there a marker? Yes,
Speaker 1: it's actually not right in front of it. It's like
Speaker 1: a street or so over. And I don't remember if
Speaker 1: it's this house or if it is the place where
Speaker 1: he died. I think it is the spot where he died.
Speaker 1: It's like a street or two over in Baltimore. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it's worth visiting for sure. All right. So this is
Speaker 1: a post short story called hop Frog silly name, ghoulish content.
Speaker 1: Yes you ready? Do you want to start? You go ahead? No?
Speaker 1: I finished that one. Don't you start this one? Okay? Uh, okay,
Speaker 1: I don't have my imparstell either. We'll just wing it. Okay,
Speaker 1: just uh just go coco cocoa or wink or something.
Speaker 1: I don't know. All right, you're ready. H I never
Speaker 1: knew anyone so keenly alive to a joke as the
Speaker 1: King was. He seemed to live only for joking. To
Speaker 1: tell a good story of the joke kind, and to
Speaker 1: tell it well, was the surest road to his favor.
Speaker 1: Thus it happened that his seven ministers were all noted
Speaker 1: for their accomplishments as jokers. They all took after the
Speaker 1: King too, in being large, corpulent, oily men, as well
Speaker 1: as inimitable jokers. Whether people grow fat by joking, or
Speaker 1: whether there is something in fat itself which p disposes
Speaker 1: to joke, I've never been quite able to determine, But
Speaker 1: certainly it is that a lean joker is a rara
Speaker 1: avis in terrorists, said the heroin addict about the refinements, or,
Speaker 1: as he called them, the ghost of wit. The King
Speaker 1: troubled himself very little. He had an especial admiration for
Speaker 1: breadth in a jest, and would often put up with
Speaker 1: length for the sake of it. Over niceties wearied him.
Speaker 1: He would have preferred, Man, this is gonna make zero
Speaker 1: sense to anybody, but here we go. He would have
Speaker 1: preferred Rabelais Gargantua to the Zadig of Voltaire, and upon
Speaker 1: the whole, practical jokes suited his taste far better than
Speaker 1: verbal ones. Getting a bit of a picture of this king,
Speaker 1: he's a pull finger guy. Yeah, oh man, that's a
Speaker 1: good one. At the date of my narrative, professing jesters
Speaker 1: had not altogether gone out of fashion at court several
Speaker 1: of the great continental powers still retain their fools, who
Speaker 1: were motley with caps and bells, and who were expected
Speaker 1: to be always ready with sharp witticisms at a moment's notice.
Speaker 1: In consideration of the crumbs that fell from the royal table.
Speaker 1: Our king, as a matter of course, retained his fool.
Speaker 1: The fact is he required something in the way of folly,
Speaker 1: if only to counterbalance the heavy wisdom of the seven
Speaker 1: wise men, who were as ministers. Not to mention himself
Speaker 1: his fool or professional jester. Was not only a fool, however,
Speaker 1: his value was trebled in the eyes of the king
Speaker 1: by the fact of his also being a dwarf and
Speaker 1: a cripple. And it's about here they wanted to just
Speaker 1: apologize on behalf of Beggar Allan Poe for some of
Speaker 1: the descriptive terms that he uses throughout the short story.
Speaker 1: But please bear with him and us. Yes, what he
Speaker 1: meant to say was he was also a little person
Speaker 1: who was handy, capable. That's right, nice nicely put again. Sorry,
Speaker 1: Dwarfs were as common at court in those days as fools,
Speaker 1: and many monarchs would have found it difficult to get
Speaker 1: through their days. Days are rather long at court than elsewhere,
Speaker 1: without both the jester to laugh with and a dwarf
Speaker 1: to laugh at. But as I have already observed, your jesters,
Speaker 1: in cases out of a hundred, are fat, round and unwieldy,
Speaker 1: so that it was no small source of self congratulation
Speaker 1: with our King that in hop Frog this was the
Speaker 1: fool's name. He possessed a triplicate treasure in one person.
Speaker 1: All right, me, let's do it, all right. I believe
Speaker 1: the name hop Frog was not that given to the
Speaker 1: doroth by his sponsors of baptism. That's probably a good guess.
Speaker 1: I think that's a weird way to put parents. But
Speaker 1: it was conferred upon him by general consent of the
Speaker 1: several ministers on account of his inability to walk as
Speaker 1: other men do. In fact, hop Frog could only get
Speaker 1: along by a sort of interjectional gait, something between a
Speaker 1: leap and a wriggle, a movement that afforded man that
Speaker 1: word illimitable. I think he nailed it illimitable. Amusement, and
Speaker 1: of course consolation to the king, for notwithstanding the protuberance
Speaker 1: of his stomach and a constitutional swelling of the head,
Speaker 1: the King, by his whole court was accounted a capital figure,
Speaker 1: and galant Poe is super judge. Oh yeah, he had
Speaker 1: so great looking he didn't Oh no, that's true. No
Speaker 1: he wasn't, but he wasn't oily, I don't think. Okay,
Speaker 1: But although hop Frog, through the distortion of his legs,
Speaker 1: could move only with great pain and difficulty along a
Speaker 1: road or floor, the prodigious muscular power which nature seemed
Speaker 1: to have bestowed upon his arms by way of compensation
Speaker 1: for deficiency in the lower limbs, enabled him to perform
Speaker 1: many feats of wonderful dexterity where trees or ropes were
Speaker 1: in question, or anything else to climb. At such exercises,
Speaker 1: he certainly much more resembled a squirrel or a small
Speaker 1: monkey than a frog. Alright, so this this guy uh
Speaker 1: is h His legs don't work as well, but he's
Speaker 1: got super strong upper body. Is that right? That's what
Speaker 1: I'm getting, And he's a great climber as a result.
Speaker 1: That's right. Here we go. I am not able to
Speaker 1: say with precision from what country hop Frog originally came.
Speaker 1: It was from some barbarous region. However, that no person
Speaker 1: ever heard of a vast distance from the court of
Speaker 1: our king, hop Frog and a young girl very little
Speaker 1: less dwarfish than himself, although of exquisite proportions and a
Speaker 1: marvelous dancer, had been forcibly carried off from their respective
Speaker 1: homes in adjoining provinces and sent as presents to the
Speaker 1: King by one of his ever victorious generals. Boy, this
Speaker 1: is terrible. It's pretty dark. But I mean again, we're
Speaker 1: talking Poe here. Yeah, that's right, and just wait, just
Speaker 1: wait for it, everyone, just just wait. Under these circumstances,
Speaker 1: it is not to be wondered at that a close
Speaker 1: intimacy arose between the two little captives. Indeed, they soon
Speaker 1: became sworn friends. Hop Frog, who, although he made a
Speaker 1: great deal of sport, was by no means popular, had
Speaker 1: it not in his power to render Trippetta many services.
Speaker 1: Is that is that the lady Trippetta? Yeah, that's that's
Speaker 1: the lady Okay. But she, on account of her grace
Speaker 1: and exquisite beauty, although a dwarf, don't forget, just completely unnecessary. Oh,
Speaker 1: her grace and exquisite was universally admired and petted. So
Speaker 1: she possessed much influence and never failed to use it
Speaker 1: whenever she could for the benefit of hop Frog. So
Speaker 1: she's still a good friend. I like that. Oh yeah,
Speaker 1: And and he to her even though he didn't really
Speaker 1: have any power, that's right, which is surprising because a
Speaker 1: lot of jesters were very powerful in the court. Yeah,
Speaker 1: that's true. Didn't we do one on jesters? I think? So? Okay,
Speaker 1: all right, on some grand state occasion, I forget what
Speaker 1: the king determined to have a masquerade, And whenever a
Speaker 1: masquerade or anything of that kind occurred at our court,
Speaker 1: then the talents both of hop Frog and Trippetta were
Speaker 1: sure to be called into play. Hot Frog, in a
Speaker 1: special was so inventive in the way of getting up pageants,
Speaker 1: suggesting novel characters and ray costumes for masked balls that
Speaker 1: nothing could be done, it seems, without his assistance. So
Speaker 1: hot Bro can throw a great party, he can't, and
Speaker 1: apparently so cantrapet it too. All right, let me, I'll
Speaker 1: do this one more. Ohh, I see. The night appointed
Speaker 1: for the fete had arrived, A gorgeous hall had been
Speaker 1: fitted up, under Trepetta's eye with every kind of device
Speaker 1: which could possibly give eclat to a masquerade. The whole
Speaker 1: court was in a fever of expectation, for costumes and characters.
Speaker 1: Might well be supposed that everybody had come to a
Speaker 1: decision on such points. Many had made up their minds
Speaker 1: as to what roles they should assume a week or
Speaker 1: even a month in advance. And in fact there was
Speaker 1: not a particle of indecision anywhere except in the case
Speaker 1: of the King and his seven ministers. Why they hesitated
Speaker 1: I could never tell, unless they did it by way
Speaker 1: of a joke. More probably, they found it difficult, on
Speaker 1: account of being so fat to make up their minds
Speaker 1: at all events. Time flew and as a last resort
Speaker 1: they sent for Trippetta and hop Frog. Oh boy, all right,
Speaker 1: so the deal is they're throwing this big ball. Everyone's
Speaker 1: dressed up, everyone put a lot into it, except for
Speaker 1: the King's seven ministers and his seven ministers, right right.
Speaker 1: So they sent for Trippetta and hop Frog to say,
Speaker 1: what should we do? Guys? We need some help here,
Speaker 1: So can I start again? Okay? Mm hmmm mm hmm.
Speaker 1: When the two little friends obeyed the summons of the King,
Speaker 1: they found him sitting at his wine with the seven
Speaker 1: members of his cabinet council. But the monarch appeared to
Speaker 1: be in very ill humor. He knew that hop Frog
Speaker 1: was not fond of wine, for it excited the poor
Speaker 1: cripple almost to madness, and madness is no comfortable feeling.
Speaker 1: But the King loved his practical jokes and took pleasure
Speaker 1: in forcing hop Frog to drink. And as the King
Speaker 1: called it to be merry and I just made air quotes. Everybody,
Speaker 1: come here, hop Frog, said he as the jester and
Speaker 1: his friend entered the room. Swallow this bumper to the
Speaker 1: health of your abs and friends here hop Frog's side,
Speaker 1: and then let us have the benefit of your invention.
Speaker 1: We want characters, characters, man something novel out of the way.
Speaker 1: We are wearied with this everlasting sameness. Come drink the
Speaker 1: wine will brighten your wits. How's that for a king?
Speaker 1: I mean, I'm no Chuck Bryant. That's okay. Hop Frog endeavored,
Speaker 1: as usual to get up a jest in reply to
Speaker 1: these advances from the king, but the effort was too much.
Speaker 1: It happened to be the poor dwarf's birthday, and the
Speaker 1: command to drink to his absent friends forced tears to
Speaker 1: his eyes. Many large bitter drops fell into the goblet
Speaker 1: as he took it humbly from the hand of the tyrant.
Speaker 1: Ha ha ha, roared the ladder, as the dwarf reluctantly
Speaker 1: drained the beaker. See what a glass of good wine
Speaker 1: can do while your eyes are shining already, poor fellow,
Speaker 1: his large eyes gleamed rather than shown, for the effective
Speaker 1: wine on his excitable brain was not more powerful than instantaneous.
Speaker 1: He placed the goblet nervously on the table and looked
Speaker 1: around upon the company with a half insane stare. They
Speaker 1: all seemed highly amused at the success of the King's joke.
Speaker 1: You want me keep going, keep going? And now to business,
Speaker 1: said the prime Minister of very fat man. Yes, said
Speaker 1: the King, Come lend us your assistants characters, My fine fellow,
Speaker 1: we stand in need of characters, all of us. Ha
Speaker 1: ha ha. And as this was seriously meant for a joke,
Speaker 1: his laugh was coursed by the seven nice hot frog
Speaker 1: also laughed, although feebly and somewhat vacantly. I think he
Speaker 1: did that, calm calm, said the king impatiently. Are you
Speaker 1: nothing to suggest? I am endeavoring to think of something novel,
Speaker 1: replied the dwarf abstractedly, for he was quite bewildered by
Speaker 1: the wine. I know how I know what that's about. Yeah, alright,
Speaker 1: go King Endeavoring, cried the tyrant fiercely, What do you
Speaker 1: mean by that? I perceive your sulky and one more wine? Here,
Speaker 1: drink this, And he poured out another gobletful and offered
Speaker 1: it to the cripple, who merely gazed at it, gasping
Speaker 1: for breath. Drink, I say, shouted the monster. Or by
Speaker 1: the fiends, The dwarf hesitated. The king grew purple with rage.
Speaker 1: The courtier smirked. Trippetta, pale as a corpse, advanced to
Speaker 1: the monarch seat, and, falling on her knees before him,
Speaker 1: implored and to spare her friend. The tyrant regarded her
Speaker 1: for some moments, and evident wonder at her audacity. He
Speaker 1: seemed quite at a loss what to do or say,
Speaker 1: how most becomingly to express his indignation. At last, without
Speaker 1: uttering a syllable, he pushed her violently from him, and
Speaker 1: through the contents of the rimming goblet in her face.
Speaker 1: The poor girl got up best she could, and, not
Speaker 1: even daring to sigh, resumed her position at the foot
Speaker 1: of the table. Man, I know it's hard out there
Speaker 1: for a court minster. There was a dead silence for
Speaker 1: about a half minute, during which the falling of a
Speaker 1: leaf or of a feather might have been heard. It
Speaker 1: was interrupted by a low, but harsh and protracted, grating sound,
Speaker 1: which seemed to come out at once from every corner
Speaker 1: of the room. What what what are you making that noise?
Speaker 1: For the king? Michael Scott doing his weird voice. I
Speaker 1: just realized that's great, demanded the King, turning furiously to
Speaker 1: the dwarf. The latter seemed to have recovered in great
Speaker 1: measure from his intoxication. That was quick and looking fixedly
Speaker 1: but quietly into the tyrant's face, merely ejaculated. I I
Speaker 1: how could it have been me? The sound appeared to
Speaker 1: come from without, observed one of the courtiers. I fancy
Speaker 1: it was the parrot at the window, whetting his bill
Speaker 1: upon his cage wires. True, replied the monarch, as if
Speaker 1: much relieved by the suggestion. But on the honor of
Speaker 1: a night, I could have sworn that it was the
Speaker 1: gritting of this vagabond's cheek. Here upon the dwarf laughed
Speaker 1: the king. The king was too confirmed a joker to
Speaker 1: object to anyone's laughing, and displayed a set of large, powerful,
Speaker 1: and very repulsive teeth. Moreover, he avowed his perfect willingness
Speaker 1: to swallow as much wine as desired. The monarch was pacified,
Speaker 1: and having drained another bumper with no very perceptible ill effect,
Speaker 1: hop Frog entered at once, and with spirit, and too
Speaker 1: the plans for the masquerade. Take it away. Okay, well
Speaker 1: this is a Hopfrog quote. Okay, you've been nailing it.
Speaker 1: I cannot tell what the association of idea. More observed,
Speaker 1: he very tranquil, and as if he had never tasted
Speaker 1: wine in his life. But just after your majesty had
Speaker 1: struck the girl and thrown the wine in her face,
Speaker 1: just after your majesty had done this, and while the
Speaker 1: parrot was making that odd noise out the window, there
Speaker 1: came into my mind a capital diversion, one of my
Speaker 1: own country frolics, often enacted among us at our masquerades.
Speaker 1: But here it will be new altogether. Unfortunately, however, it
Speaker 1: requires a company of eight persons and war or here
Speaker 1: we are, cried the king, laughing at his acute discovery
Speaker 1: of the coincidence. Eight to a fraction, I and my
Speaker 1: seven ministers, come, what is the diversion? We call it
Speaker 1: the eight chained orangutangs, and it really is excellent sport
Speaker 1: of well inactive work. We will enact it, remarked the King,
Speaker 1: drawing himself up and lowering his eyelids. The beauty of
Speaker 1: the game lies in the fright it occasions among the women,
Speaker 1: capital roared in chorus. The monarch in his ministry, I
Speaker 1: will equip you as a rangutangs, proceeded the dwarf. Leave
Speaker 1: all that to me. The resemblance shall be so striking
Speaker 1: that the company of masquerados will take you for real beasts,
Speaker 1: and of course they will be as much terrified as astonished.
Speaker 1: Boor Oh, this is exquisite, exclaimed the King hop Frog.
Speaker 1: I will make a man of you. I don't know
Speaker 1: what's going on with the king. This is just how
Speaker 1: excited he is. He's speaking through me right now. It's
Speaker 1: very interesting to see everyone. Josh's eyes roll back in
Speaker 1: his head every time he does it. The change for
Speaker 1: the purpose of increasing the confusion by their jangling. You
Speaker 1: are supposed to have escaped on mass from your keepers, boys,
Speaker 1: really setting us up. Your majesty cannot conceive the effect
Speaker 1: produced at a masquerade by eight chang to rangutangs imagine
Speaker 1: to be real ones by most of the company, and
Speaker 1: rushing in with savage cries among the crowd of delicately
Speaker 1: and gorgeously habited men and women. The contrast is inimitable,
Speaker 1: it must be said. The King and the council arose hurriedly,
Speaker 1: as it was growing late, to put in execution the
Speaker 1: scheme of hop frog alright, my turn, your turn. His
Speaker 1: mode of equipping the party as orangutanks was very simple,
Speaker 1: but effective enough for his purposes. The animals in question had,
Speaker 1: at the epoch of my story very rarely been seen
Speaker 1: in any part of the civilized world, and as the
Speaker 1: imitations made by the drawer force sufficiently beast like and
Speaker 1: more than sufficiently hideous, their truthfulness to nature was thus
Speaker 1: thought to be secured. The King and his ministers were
Speaker 1: first encased in tight fitting stocking net, shirts and drawers
Speaker 1: like um uh, what are those called onesies? They were
Speaker 1: then saturated with tar. This is where it gets kind
Speaker 1: of painful. Really. At this age of the process, someone
Speaker 1: of the party suggested feathers, but the suggestion was at
Speaker 1: once overruled by the dwarf, who soon convinced the eight
Speaker 1: by ocular demonstration that the hair of such a brood
Speaker 1: as the orangutank was much more efficiently represented by flax.
Speaker 1: A thick coating of the ladder was accordingly plastered upon
Speaker 1: the coating of tar. A long chain was now procured.
Speaker 1: First it was passed about the waist of the king,
Speaker 1: and tied then about another of the party, and also
Speaker 1: tied then about all successively in the same manner. When
Speaker 1: this chaining arrangement was complete, and the parties stood as
Speaker 1: far apart from each other as possible, they formed a circle.
Speaker 1: And to make all things appear natural, hot Frog passed
Speaker 1: the residue of the chains in two diameters at right
Speaker 1: angles across the circle, after the fashion adopted at the
Speaker 1: present day by those who captured chimpanzees or other large
Speaker 1: apes in borneo. The story just keeps on given, doesn't it.
Speaker 1: He got weirdly specific there, like Captain that one time
Speaker 1: should I keep going. The grand saloon in which the
Speaker 1: masquerade was to take place was a circular room, very
Speaker 1: lofty and receiving the light of the sun only through
Speaker 1: a single window at top at night, the season for
Speaker 1: which the apartment was especially designed. It was illuminated principally
Speaker 1: by a large chandelier, depending by a chain from the
Speaker 1: center of the skylight, and lowered or elevated by means
Speaker 1: of a counterbalance as usual, but in order not to
Speaker 1: look unsightly, this ladder passed outside the cupola and over
Speaker 1: the roof. So he got that okay. The arrangement of
Speaker 1: the room had been left to Treppeta's superintendence, but in
Speaker 1: some particulars it seems she had been guided by the
Speaker 1: calmer judgment of her friend the dwarf, at his suggestion.
Speaker 1: It was that on this occasion the chandelier was removed
Speaker 1: it's wax and drippings, which, in weather so warm it
Speaker 1: was quite impossible to prevent, would have been seriously detrimental
Speaker 1: to the rich dresses of the guests, who, on account
Speaker 1: of the crowded state of the saloon, could not all
Speaker 1: be expected to keep from out at center, that is
Speaker 1: to say, from under the chandelier. Additional scouces were set
Speaker 1: in various parts of the hall out of the war,
Speaker 1: and a flambeaux emitting a sweet odor was placed in
Speaker 1: the right hand of each of the caryatids carryat caryatids
Speaker 1: Carrie car Caryatids. What do you think it is? Uh, Carriot, Caryatides, Caryatids. Okay,
Speaker 1: there you go. That stood against the wall, some fifty
Speaker 1: or sixty altogether. So they got rid of this giant
Speaker 1: chandelier that hung from a chain in the center of
Speaker 1: the place where the masquerade ball was going to be held.
Speaker 1: And now there's basically just a hole in the center
Speaker 1: of the roof where the chain that held up the
Speaker 1: this chandelier would have been. Writing tells me the King
Speaker 1: and his guys are in for a surprise. Yeah, think
Speaker 1: you might be right? All right, I can take it
Speaker 1: away here, please do. The eight orangutangs, taking hop Frog's advice,
Speaker 1: waited patiently until midnight, when the room was thoroughly filled
Speaker 1: with masqueraders, before making their appearance. No sooner had the
Speaker 1: clock sea striking, however, than they rushed, or rather rolled
Speaker 1: in all together, for the impediments of their chains caused
Speaker 1: most of the party to fall and all to stumble
Speaker 1: as they entered. The excitement among the masqueraders was prodigious
Speaker 1: and filled the heart of the king with glee. As
Speaker 1: had been anticipated, there were not a few of the
Speaker 1: guests who supposed the ferocious looking creatures to be beast
Speaker 1: of some kind in reality, if not precisely orangutangs. Many
Speaker 1: of the women swooned with a fright, and had not
Speaker 1: the king taken the precaution to exclude all weapons from
Speaker 1: the saloon, his party might soon have expiated their frolic
Speaker 1: in their blood. Wow, so they looked so much like
Speaker 1: orangutang's he feared he would have been killed. People are
Speaker 1: expiating their blood as it was. A general rush was
Speaker 1: made for the doors, but the king had ordered them
Speaker 1: to be locked immediately upon his entrance, and at the
Speaker 1: dwarf suggestion, the keys had been deposited with him while
Speaker 1: the tumult was at its height, and each masquerader attentive
Speaker 1: only to his own safety, for in fact it was
Speaker 1: much real danger from the pressure of the excited crowd.
Speaker 1: The chain by which the chandelier ordinarily hung, and which
Speaker 1: had been drawn up on its removal, might have been
Speaker 1: seen very gradually to descend until his hooked extremity came
Speaker 1: within three feet of the floor. So there's a hubbub
Speaker 1: going on, and no one notices this chain's being lowered
Speaker 1: from the ceiling, right, Yeah, and it sounds like not
Speaker 1: a lot of chivalry either, just a lot of pushing
Speaker 1: and shoving, and every person for themselves. Okay, here we go.
Speaker 1: Soon after this, the king and his seven friends, having
Speaker 1: reeled about the hall in all directions, found themselves at
Speaker 1: length in its center, and of course, in immediate contact
Speaker 1: with the chain. While they were thus situated, the door,
Speaker 1: who had followed noiselessly at their heels, inciting them to
Speaker 1: keep up the commotion, took hold of their own chain
Speaker 1: at the intersection of the two portions which crossed the
Speaker 1: circle diametrically and at right angles. Here, with a rapidity
Speaker 1: of thought, he inserted the hook from which the chandelier
Speaker 1: had been wont to depend, and in an instant, by
Speaker 1: some unseen agency, the chandelier chain was drawn so far
Speaker 1: upward as to take the hook out of reach, and
Speaker 1: as an inevitable consequence, to drag the orangutangs together in
Speaker 1: close connection and face to face. The masqueraders, by this
Speaker 1: time had recovered in some measure from their alarm, and
Speaker 1: beginning to regard the whole matter as a well contrived pleasantry,
Speaker 1: set up a loud shout of laughter. Predicament of the
Speaker 1: apes lead them to me. Now, screamed hop Frog, his
Speaker 1: shrill voice making itself easily heard through all the din
Speaker 1: lead them to me. I fancy I know them. If
Speaker 1: I can only get a good look at them, I
Speaker 1: can soon tell who they are. Broad take us home.
Speaker 1: Oh jeez, I was not expecting us here. Scrambling over
Speaker 1: the heads of the crowd, he managed to get to
Speaker 1: the wall when seizing a flambeaux. I think a torch
Speaker 1: from from one of the let's just say torchy sconce
Speaker 1: on the wall. Okay, he returned, and as he went
Speaker 1: to the center of the room, leaping with the agility
Speaker 1: of a monkey, upon the king's head, and thence clambered
Speaker 1: a few feet up the chain, because remember he's got
Speaker 1: that upper body strength, holding down the torch to examine
Speaker 1: the group of orangutangs and still screaming, I shall soon
Speaker 1: find out who they are, brock And now, while the
Speaker 1: whole assembly, the apes included, were convulsed with laughter, the
Speaker 1: jester suddenly uttered a shrill whistle when the chain flew
Speaker 1: violently up for about thirty heat, dragging with it the
Speaker 1: dismayed and struggling orangutanks and leaving them suspended in mid
Speaker 1: air between the skylight and the floor. Hop Frog, clinging
Speaker 1: to the chain as it rose, still maintained his relative
Speaker 1: position in respect to the eight maskers, and, still, as
Speaker 1: if nothing were the matter, continued to thrust his torch
Speaker 1: down toward them, as though endeavoring to discover who they were.
Speaker 1: So thoroughly astonished was the whole company at this ascent
Speaker 1: that a dead silence of about a minute's duration ensued.
Speaker 1: It was broken by just such a low, harsh, grating
Speaker 1: sound as had before attracted the attention of the King
Speaker 1: and his counselors when the former threw the wine in
Speaker 1: the face of Trippetta. But on the present occasion there
Speaker 1: could be no question as to whence the sound issued.
Speaker 1: It came from the fanglike teeth of the dwarf, who
Speaker 1: ground them and gnashed them as he foamed at the
Speaker 1: mouth and glared with an expression of maniacal rage into
Speaker 1: the upturned countenances of the King and his seven companions,
Speaker 1: said at length, the infuriated jester, ah, I begin to
Speaker 1: see who these people are now Here, pretending to scrutinize
Speaker 1: the king more closely, he held the flambeau to the
Speaker 1: flaxen coat, which enveloped him, and which instantly burst into
Speaker 1: a sheet of vivid flat. In less than half a minute,
Speaker 1: the whole eight orangutans were blazing fiercely amid the shrieks
Speaker 1: of the multitude, who gazed at them from below, horror stricken,
Speaker 1: and without the power to render them the slightest assistance
Speaker 1: At length. The flames, suddenly increasing in virulence, forced the
Speaker 1: jester to climb higher up the chain to be out
Speaker 1: of their reach. And as he made this movement, the
Speaker 1: crowd sank again for a brief instant into silence. The
Speaker 1: dwarf seized this opportunity, and once more he spoke, And
Speaker 1: now she distinctly, He said, what manner of people these
Speaker 1: maskers are? They are a great king and his seven
Speaker 1: privy councilors, the king who not scruple to strike a
Speaker 1: defenseless girl, and his seven councilors who will bet him
Speaker 1: in the outrage. As for myself, I am simply hot
Speaker 1: frog the jesta, and this is my last guest fur Mike, Yeah,
Speaker 1: he did. He dropped the mic while the king was
Speaker 1: on fire. Owing to the high combustibility of both the
Speaker 1: flax and the tar, to which it adhered. The dwarf
Speaker 1: had scarcely made an end of his brief speech. Before
Speaker 1: the work of vengeance was complete, the eight corpses swung
Speaker 1: in their chains of fetid, black and hideous and indistinguishable
Speaker 1: mass and leave it to Poe. He hurled his torch
Speaker 1: at them, clambered leisurely to the ceiling, and disappeared through
Speaker 1: the skylight. It is supposed that Trippetta, stationed on the
Speaker 1: roof of the saloon, had been the accomplice of her
Speaker 1: friend and his fiery revenge, and that together they affected
Speaker 1: their a gape to their own country, for neither was
Speaker 1: seen again. What get them? Hop Frog? Somebody needs to
Speaker 1: name something hop Frog in honor of hop Frog and Tripetta.
Speaker 1: I agree, because, uh boy, the king was a jerk.
Speaker 1: He uh it was cruel. Don't forget oily oily, and
Speaker 1: he got his come up and yeah, I would say
Speaker 1: being burned alive is come up. And for sure in
Speaker 1: a as an orangutang to say yeah, to say the
Speaker 1: least insults injury. I want to say you got anything else,
Speaker 1: but that would imply that you have like another short
Speaker 1: story up your sleeve, do not? Well, that's it, everybody,
Speaker 1: We want to wish you all a safe and happy Halloween. UM,
Speaker 1: get scared, but not too scared, you know what I mean,
Speaker 1: Like Algrian and Blackwood scared. How about that? Agreed? Uh
Speaker 1: and we will see you next time with our regular
Speaker 1: type of episode. But until the um so long Halloween,
Speaker 1: everybody m