1
00:00:00,400 --> 00:00:06,799
The lingering death. There was a
man in our village who led an exceedingly

2
00:00:06,879 --> 00:00:12,439
disreputable life. One morning, when
he got up rather early, two men

3
00:00:12,480 --> 00:00:17,559
appeared and led him away to the
market place, where he saw a butcher

4
00:00:17,640 --> 00:00:23,039
hanging half a pig. As they
approached, the two men shoved him with

5
00:00:23,160 --> 00:00:29,079
all their might against the dead animal, and lo his own flesh began to

6
00:00:29,160 --> 00:00:34,280
blend with the pork before him,
with his conductors hurrying off in the opposite

7
00:00:34,320 --> 00:00:39,359
direction. By and by, the
butcher wanted to sell a piece of meat,

8
00:00:40,000 --> 00:00:44,439
and, seizing a knife, began
to cut off the quantity required.

9
00:00:45,960 --> 00:00:52,640
At each touch of the blade,
our disreputable friend experienced a severe pang which

10
00:00:52,719 --> 00:00:59,560
penetrated into his very marrow, and
when at length an old man came and

11
00:00:59,600 --> 00:01:03,280
haggled over the weight given him,
crying out for a little bit more fat

12
00:01:04,040 --> 00:01:10,400
or an extra portion of lean.
Then, as the butcher sliced away the

13
00:01:10,519 --> 00:01:18,200
pork ounced by ounce. The pain
was unendurable in the extreme. By about

14
00:01:18,319 --> 00:01:23,159
nine o'clock the pork was all sold, and our hero went home, whereupon

15
00:01:23,280 --> 00:01:29,760
his family asked him what he meant
by staying in bed so late. He

16
00:01:29,920 --> 00:01:34,519
then narrated all that had taken place, and on making inquiries, they found

17
00:01:34,560 --> 00:01:41,000
that the pork butcher had only just
come home. Besides which our friend was

18
00:01:41,040 --> 00:01:46,519
able to tell him every pound of
meat he had sold and every slice he

19
00:01:46,599 --> 00:01:51,959
had cut off. Fancy a man
being put to a lingering death like this

20
00:01:52,640 --> 00:02:00,640
before breakfast. The End of the
Lingering Death translated and annotated by Herbert A. Giles,