When Pabstus! Pabstus! was installed on his throne there was carnival and carousing. Fools danced around maypoles and jesting roisterers roistered and doistered as if tomorrow would never come. No one has ever been able to count the pies that were cooked that day. Many, many people drowned at the swimming gala at the Old Crumbling Outdoor Pool, and ravens were seen hovering in the sky. A post office person stuck pictures of Pabstus Tack to his hat and was chased across the fields by happily screeching children. But was there a trace of desperation in their screeching?
And tomorrow did come, of course, as everyone knew it had to. That was when the first rumbles were heard of Pabstus Sludge. To appease him, the throne was moved to a higher point on the hill, just above the coppice, where moles betrayed their presence in their usual mole-like way. A gang from the tavern headed thither armed with rifles, until Pabstus! Pabstus! made it known that moles were sacred and must never be harmed. Some say the men turned their rifles on themselves in terror.
Terror, it is said, is the only proper response to Pabstus Tack and to Pabstus Sludge. Wrapped up tight in their cardigans, hanging Tilly lamps from the rafters of their cabins, the braver villagers plot his overthrow. Turnips are chewed. Cigarillos dangle from the soot-blackened lips of the vanguard. Secret anthems, never written down, are mumbled rather than sung. Food poisoning has wiped out most of these souls since Pabstus! Pabstus! first emitted his light and his booms, seventeen years ago.
- A Thrilling Yarn
- Something about Podcasts
- Pabstus Tack
- Max Decharne talks about dictionaries and other important subjects.
- Dispatches from the nib of Van Dongelbraacke
- A description of Professor Zoltan Crunlop’s Crop-Circle Apparatus
- Max Decharne finds yet more poetry in dictionaries.
This episode was first broadcast on September 28th 2005. Transcripts of this episode can be found on the Hooting Yard Website.
oh dear, why is the magic of Hooting Yard no longer making it’s stately progression through my podcast machinery to line up alongside the mysterious musics that frequently possess my mp3 player?
i’ve missed too much, too much, through inattentiveness – i like Frnak Key on a long car journey, can it all be fixed?
The audio has been corrected. Ever so sorry!
Sal