Hop-Frog

[cyberghostface]

Here's another Poe classic from Creepy. In my opinion 'Hop-Frog' is one of Poe's most underrated stories and easily his most bizarre.

This is from Creepy #11.

Hop-Frog is a dwarf who is forced to play the role of a fool for the king who constantly abuses him. His best friend is Tripetta who is in a similar position but is made to be a dancer instead. Hop-Frog in particular reacts poorly to alcohol so the king forces him to drink it for his amusement.



Hop-Frog's plan is for them to dress up as chained orangutans in chains to scare the guests. The king and his council are dressed in costumes saturated with tar and covered with flax to better resemble beasts. After the crowd is scared by the prank, Hop-Frog uses a pulley to lift the chained costumers above the floor. 

Comments

[alicemacher]

That is unusual for a Poe story. It's the sort of "elaborate karmic death" plot you'd expect the folks at Warren to have come up with themselves. And it's great! Some fine Reed Crandall art too.

[beoweasel]

Interestingly, something like this did happen, and from the looks of things, it provided Poe with the inspiration for the story.

For those curious, it's called the Bal des Ardents, or "Ball of the Burning Men." As you can tell from the name, this happened in France, specifically in the 15th Century.

It involved King Charles the Beloved (though due to his mental illness and psychotic episodes he would later be referred to as King Charles the Mad) and several of his courtiers at a masquerade. Charles and six men donned linen costumes made with coatings of resin and flax, and paraded about the ballroom pretending to be Wild Men (such as yelling obscenities, scandalous gestures, etc). The Duke of Orleans (Charles' brother), brought torch close to one of the dancers to figure out who they were...and they caught fire.

Only two survived of the costumed dancers survived, Charles who was uninjured (thanks to the Duchess of Berry covering him in her skirts to keep him safe), and the Sieur de Nantouillet who dove into a vat of wine.

[cricharddavies]

Fascinating! Thank you so much for this comment, it enhances what's already a great story.

[tcampbell1000]

This was great, thanks for sharing!

[tripodeca113]

And so Hop-Frog and Trippeetta escape into the night.
It's not going to be a fun time to be a dwarf in this kingdom, as they'll probably all be hunted down for regicide.
Or maybe they'll let it pass because the king was a dick.

[cyberghostface]

Reminds me of how in A Song of Ice and Fire when Tyrion was wanted for execution people kept on bringing in random dwarf heads to Cersei.