Speaker 1: The lingering death. There was a man in our village
who led an exceedingly disreputable life. One morning, when he
got up rather early, two men appeared and led him
away to the market place, where he saw a butcher
hanging half a pig. As they approached, the two men
shoved him with all their might against the dead animal,
and lo his own flesh began to blend with the
pork before him, with his conductors hurrying off in the
opposite direction. By and by, the butcher wanted to sell
a piece of meat, and, seizing a knife, began to
cut off the quantity required. At each touch of the blade,
our disreputable friend experienced a severe pang which penetrated into
his very marrow, and when at length an old man
came and haggled over the weight given him, crying out
for a little bit more fat or an extra portion
of lean. Then, as the butcher sliced away the pork
ounced by ounce. The pain was unendurable in the extreme.
By about nine o'clock the pork was all sold, and
our hero went home, whereupon his family asked him what
he meant by staying in bed so late. He then
narrated all that had taken place, and on making inquiries,
they found that the pork butcher had only just come home.
Besides which our friend was able to tell him every
pound of meat he had sold and every slice he
had cut off. Fancy a man being put to a
lingering death like this before breakfast. The End of the
Lingering Death translated and annotated by Herbert A. Giles,