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Study 052 - The Penance (Patreon)

Published:
2023-07-27 15:00:07
Edited:
2023-07-27 15:00:16
Imported:
2026-06
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Content

A month of chilling children concludes with The Penance by Saki!

Special thanks to reader Rafe Ball! Dig on his Librivox recordings here.

You can also find his episode guide for The H.P. Lovecraft Literary Podcast and Strange Studies of Strange Stories in spreadsheet format here.

Next up: a bonus episode on animated film The Doom That Came to Gotham.

Comments

Albert Hernandez

So we have cats and chickens. My cats are wary of the chicken, except for our littlest cat, Minerva. Most of the chickens are bigger than her. She used to chased them and stalk them until one day a group of chickens chase her around the yard. Now she ignores the chickens but my wife has seen her try to catch a hawk.

Tom Král

The episode is great as always! I wanted something like the spreadsheet to exist for a very long time and I'm really happy it's a thing now!

Adequately Excellent Entertainment

Cats are God’s Perfect Little Killing Machines (TM). Each of them has naught but murder in their heart and I WUVES DEM TO PECIES!

Mark Simmons

What an interesting theme this has been! Somehow I find myself generally sympathizing with the crude, bloody-minded morality of this month's "evil" kids. Even the monstrous little goblin in "It's a Good Life" is a benevolent deity to the little creatures in his garden grove by the cornfield - couldn't we blame the complex desires of the grown-up humans for confusing and enraging him? From another point of view, "Evil Kids Month" could just as easily be "Four Weeks of Terrible, Messed-Up Adults."

ESTY

I think it is absolutely a strange story, and I think the supernatural is strongly implied. There are 3 children, with unsettling gazes, who have a strong attachment/ duty to a cat. That’s got witches written all over it. Then they steal a baby! That’s the number one crime witches were accused of. The protagonist does everything in his power to make them remove the beast-hex (a curse he takes very seriously). Relief is not gained by rescuing the baby, only when the hex is reversed; unbeast.

Drix

Hey guys, great episode! I have a couple story suggestions for the future. "A:B:O" by Walter de la Mare is wild and weird, and features that classic Lovecraftian duo archetype that we see a lot, but the central conceit of the story is pretty bizarre. "Strange Event in the Life of Schalken the Painter", by J. Sheridan Lefanau is a (maaybe? mostly?) dracula story with some weird twists, and also has this direct quotation, which alone is worth the price of admission: "I expect a friend to-night; and observe me, child, do thou trick thyself out handsomely. I would not have him think us poor or sluttish." If that doesn't sell you, I don't know what will! Lastly I'll also toss in "The Same Dog" by Robert Aickman, which could maybe fit into another creepy faerie month, but is just all around horrific.

Alan Ricks

I’m so glad that little girl lived. Rafe is a treasure.

Thom Scullion

Thanks to Rafe for creating a spreadsheet I can get excited about! I must say, the mindset and cognitive capabilities of a producer are as unknowable to me as a colour out of space.

Illegal_Structures

Altered Unbeast was my favorite game in Sega Genesis.

Ratchbox

Rafe's readings are SO good! I first came across them looking for readings of stories you've covered. It was such an amazing surprise when he first appeared on the podcast itself!

Ben A

Great story choice and show to close off the month! What we have all learned this month is that children may be vulnerable, but they can turn the vulnerability into an often deadly weapon. I’ve learned that it’s a good idea to avoid children at all costs. ;) (Not really, folks…) In all seriousness, I hear Chad’s remarks about being a teacher. Two decades into teaching undergrad and grad students, and I still walk into the classroom wanting to help everyone find their own success. But even among these (young) adults I sometimes have that feeling that a few are wonderful and the rest are middling at best. But I think this is the human condition. In a large group, even if they are all like-minded, most of us will strongly connect to only a small number of people. I don’t think humans can handle a large number of empathetic connections, so we are picky and limiting as a social strategy. Either that, or the majority of folks simply suck like these children. Looking forward to the strange themes you choose as we head into August! And speaking of strategies, are you guys thinking of bringing that wonderful zany bonus show theme back?

Derrick Mcmullin

I felt for the protagonist but he had violated the rules and so had to pay. I held that view until they threatened the little girl, then I wanted to rip them limb from limb. Don't threaten my kids because I don't care who you are your life is forfeit

The Spider Incident

I was on the side of the vengeful kids until they brought the little girl into it. I do not find Octavian a sympathetic character (until the kids threaten his child). He just assumed the cat was killing his chickens without bothering to try to find out if that's what was actually happening. He just saw the cat, blamed it, and decided to kill it. At least he talked to the cat's owners first, but that doesn't make up for very much. I do not have sympathy for people who commit violence against against cats (or dogs or squirrels or whatever--but cats in particular really get to me). I appreciated the little bits of humor Saki put in, when talking about the different bits of history the kids must have been reading, and then unaware of. I'm familiar with Rafe's work on Rachel Watches Star Trek, now I hear he's helping you out here too! Rafe seems like a pretty good dude.

Jim Cannon

I was NOT on Octavian's side from the first. My favorite cat was a tabby and so I cannot countenance harm against a stripey kitty, and it's obvious from the start a cat doesn't kill chickens. But the moment those creepy kids tried to pull a Passchendaele on the innocent Olivia... literally queasy contemplating such a horrible fate, and I definitely lost any sympathy for them. Accept the weregild next time, you little brats. End the cycle of violence before it consumes the whole neighborhood!

Summer Suzuki

As someone in a rural area with chickens (and peafowl and ducks), I have had issues with the feral cats trying to kill them. We don’t have rats out here, thankfully. To be fair to the cats, it was all attempts on my birds, and the only predator deaths I’ve had in my flock were from other animals. I do always feel terrible for the cats (and dogs and rabbits) that people just let run loose out here. They always get killed by other animals or people, and it makes me feel like the people wanted to have a “pet” without the responsibility of taking care of an animal. We get so many domestic animals dumped out here - it’s why I’ve had birds the last 9yrs. Chickens really used to gross me out before I was adopted by a rooster and a peacock. Just had a little red hen wander on to our property from who knows where earlier this year and she’s decided to stay with my flock! I might have a sign that says “She’s a sucker for animals” following me around like a Sims marker. 🤷🏻‍♀️

It's a Ghost.

After how they treated Olivia, I wondered if maybe it was the kids that killed the chickens!

Jourik De Vetter

Great story, I really like the language and the phrasing. I think it's a great lesson here that certain deeds cannot be so easily pardoned or forgiven, nor bought off with gifts, You have to forever live with the consequences of what you did and learn from it, but this story doesn't go that way.

MonsterTalk

If you want to take "creepy kids" to the extreme in cinema, I know you mentioned Wyndham's Midwich Cuckoos and the film adaptations of that. Battle Royale too, IIRC? No - that was KARTAS, but worth including. I think the Italian horror film Who Can Kill A Child?(1976) also deserves a mention for how it can turn a bunch of kids in a seaside village into something as scary as a Freddy or a Jason. There was also an obscure episode of a lost old TV show called Star Trek where they had this one episode about a planet where the adults die and the kids rule and things get wildly out of hand. But you'd probably have trouble finding that show anywhere. After checking the VHS bins at the thriftshop it can get hard to keep looking. ;) Now that I think about it - there were SEVERAL episodes of that show that dealt with "kids=danger" and it's a real shame more wasn't done with that whole "people go into space and explore" premise.

Jim Cannon

On the subject of chickens and rats, I followed up Moreau with Wells' _Food of the Gods_ and there was a huge setpiece based around giant rats hanging around a giant chicken coop.

Corey Wittig

This is my favorite story you’ve covered in a while. I didn’t find myself on a side really, other than the side of wishing the cat lived and Olivia, too. I kept imagining those kids growing up and remembering how kind Octavian was to them after what they’d done. It strangely shows a real respect for the beliefs of children, I think, that he does this even though he didn’t really have to. We cant ascribe evil to kids who are truly mentally immature (frontal lobe connecting fully isn’t until like 25 I think?) so, to me, they are much more worthy of forgiveness than an adult seeking this kind of payback would be. And if the kids stand in for the author and his sibs then there is real trauma behind what those kids have already experienced and are railing against.

Andrew Brown

As I get older my sympathy with trite phrases like "if children ran the world" it would be such a better place", and I want to say "have you met any children? don't you remember being a child?". (Not that you guys said it - but just in general anyone who thinks youth grants wisdom, empathy in general, well....)

Daisy

Well done on the sound, this episode! I listened in my garden and it took me an embarrassingly long time to realise some of what I was hearing was part of the show and not real life.

Eric - Speaker in Digressions

Re: Chad's comment on when people meet you on a bad day: I went to my girlfriend's holiday office party on a day when I hadn't slept well and was stressed about my own work deadlines, and my social energy ran out very quickly. I was wallflowering hard when she came over to introduce me to one of her co-workers, and a misanthropic hostility that had nothing to do with him personally was just radiating off me. I think I scoffed (as TV closed-captioning informs me is the proper name for the noise) and rolled my eyes at the prospect of meeting one more effing human. To this day my girlfriend refers to him as "You know, the one you were rude to?"

Steve

Hanging in chains is the same as gibbetting (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gibbeting), with occasional roasting. It was reserved for the worst crimes such as murder or piracy or treason. Those accused of witchcraft were never burned for witchcraft in England (or the USA I think). They were hanged. One was burned, in her case for murdering her husband which was considered treason, which was a greater crime than employing witchcraft.