 sj |
||
|
||
Mudcat Spiegel's Trading Post and Tavern
|
|
|
Subject: RE: Mudcat Spiegel's Trading Post and Tavern From: Amos Date: 23 Jan 00 - 10:25 PM (Wakes up and sings slightly off key and totally a capella) They burieed hom out on the praiiiirieeee The sods they fell down on his face And now where two hairs greww beforee themmmm Too cactiii have greown into place. Oh! He was only a LAVender cowboyyy..... (Falls back asleep after another nip on his jug and winking at the shapely Caitrin) |
|
Subject: RE: Mudcat Spiegel's Trading Post and Tavern From: GUEST,_gargoyle Date: 23 Jan 00 - 10:36 PM Touchee''''
You got me real good, you got me real quick... I'm out of here fast, for I am sick!!!! NEVER!!!!swallow yer tobaccy juice!
Well done...THANX...hausta la pasta
|
|
Subject: RE: Mudcat Spiegel's Trading Post and Tavern From: Mikal Date: 23 Jan 00 - 10:38 PM (He then raises his tankard of rum, as if to toast some rare thing.) "The King has his wine, while his guardsmen drink ale, An' he has a pillow t' comfort his tail. While we sit in the mud and drink muck for our tea! God Bless us, fer Crown and for Country! "Well he's no king a' mine, But they still took me in. Now I'm Marchin' and prayin' and hopin' like sin, That the Good Lord will hide me when death comes my way! God Bless me, fer Crown and for Country!" Excuse me dear lady, but the drink has taken my tongue and made a rascal of me. I would not subject a lady to such heathen musings. This place is wild enough, I am sure. By the stars! What is that ragged thing in the rafters? I would load the 'buss and try to take it down, but I would be sure to blow a hole in the roof trying. And I fear it too thin for keeping and too harmless for sport! Rum again, good man, and brandy for the lady! (Aside) Do you think that bauble of hers would fetch a few coins? 'Tis a hard large land here, and I would fain have a few hard coin to add to my small pile… Mikal |
|
Subject: RE: Mudcat Spiegel's Trading Post and Tavern From: Susan A-R Date: 23 Jan 00 - 10:39 PM Caitrin, there's biscuits a plenty, just under the stove there in the basket, and butter and honey to go with 'em, unless you want 'em with the elk stew. It's mighty lovely now, been simmering for hours. I'll be right back. She grabs a buffalo skin, covers her head and slips out to the stable where she finds Bosun with his head in a manger and the sailor fellow asleep on the stable floor. Nudging him gently with her boot, to no avail, she reaches down and gives his shoulder a mighty shake. Sailor boy, you can't sleep out here, lessen you don't want to wake up. Even with a barn full of horses, you'll be a block of ice by morning.
|
|
Subject: RE: Mudcat Spiegel's Trading Post and Tavern From: Mikal Date: 23 Jan 00 - 11:35 PM All right, all right, I'll haul the poor man in. He's less than my weight by I stone, I'd wager. Huff! But a tidy bit heavy all the same and ...Wheeeeew! Breath that would shame a privy! I'll put him down close to the fire, good keeper, if you please. A skin full of that will make him most like to freeze. "Oh, what shal we do with a drunken sailor, what shall we do with a drunken sailor, what shall we do with a drunken sailor early in the mornin'? Put him in the head and watch him bobble, put him in the head and watch him bobble, put him in the head and watch him bobble early in the mornin'!" Oh, beggin' your pardon ladies...I was just singing a tune he would have enjoyed... (He walks back to his rum, sliding a hand into his own coat-pocket. There is a sad smile on his face.) Ah, perhaps I too should be finding rest for the night. "The food is good, the rum is fine, and now a fire to ease my mind. What more in Heaven? What more in Hell? It tempts a man his soul to sell. And if the Lord should tarry, it's cause for making merry! And the musket-boys, they think it all so well!" One more rum, good man. I'll sleep in the corner ther, so not to disturb should I leave early tomorrow... Mikal |
|
Subject: RE: Mudcat Spiegel's Trading Post and Tavern From: Lonesome EJ Date: 23 Jan 00 - 11:53 PM A word with ye Mikal... I heard ye say ye might be fugitive from the British Army? The "why" being none of my business, I'll give ye a word of alert. Two Crow hunters, coming down from the Powder River Country northeast of this place, came across a party of British Dragoons camped in a meadow a half day's ride from here. Though this be territory of the United States, we have seen redcoats fairly often in this country. "Protecting the lives and rights of British trappers and traders," they sez. So this may be nothing to you, except to be forewarned and forearmed as they say.About a dozen of em, said the Crow lads. Now, some of us here have had our run-ins with the redcoats, been robbed of our pelts. And my own Uncle Gervis was killed in the Independence War, so we're inclined to stand by ye. Even more so, if we know the reason for yer ... shall I say yer desertion? And that beast lurking in the rafters? Don't let him spook ye. He's only an old Magpie that Broken Spoke Wheeler taught to talk. Wheeler never was right in the head, ye know. |
|
Subject: RE: Mudcat Spiegel's Trading Post and Tavern From: Mikal Date: 24 Jan 00 - 12:19 AM (He sides up to Lazarus, fixing him with his eye, and then he begins to speak, quietly and quickly, as if the word are a stream he cannot control, nor would he dare to.) The Clan MacLeod lives on the isle of Lewis. Though there were plenty of them there in Skye when Charlie tried to raise the Clans. We were painted with that brush right then, and the color will not was away, not even with our blood it seems. A justice in Edinburgh found little humor in my stopping the coaches to chat up the King's good citizens. True, I kept a bit of coin I took, but hardly enough to mater. Still, he hung paper on me. There was little to be done then. Three years I went to ground. No one cared then, I was told. So I takes the chance and goes to the town to do a bit of business. It's not three months past that, I was pulled before a magistrate given sentence. Take the King's shilling and sail to Canada, or cool my heels in some rotting hulk off the coast, with a hundred or so pirates and thieves. So, I came here with a musket and a fine red coat. Then they tell us to "pacify" the French in the Province. I will not tell you what that meant! So I found a Frenchie who would give me a coat and a good set of pistols, I set upon the pay-sergeant on the road not far from Quebec, and now I am here. "There's brandy in Quebec at ten cents a quart, boys, The ale in New Brunswick's a penny a glass, There's rum in that sweet town they call Montreal, boys, At inn after inn we will drink as we pass, We'll call for a bumper of ale, wine and brandy, And we'll drink to the health of those far away; Our hearts will all warm at the thought of old Ireland While we're in the green fields of Americay." So I am wanted. Me or the Frenchie there. If it's me they come for, I'll not bring trouble on you. I'll beg your leave to run out that hatch you have behind the tub…Yes, I know a bolt hole when I see one. A man would be a fool not to have one out here in this savage land. I'll duck out there and see if I can still take a few more free breaths. "Now when Donohue made his escape, to the bush he went straight way. The squatters they were all afraid to travel by night and by day And every day in the newspapers, they brought out something new, Concerning that bold bushranger they called Jack Donohue." I'll trouble you for a rum, and a fill of my pipe if you've tobacco left… Mikal |
|
Subject: RE: Mudcat Spiegel's Trading Post and Tavern From: katlaughing Date: 24 Jan 00 - 12:22 AM Katdancing comes in through the door, stomping the snow from her winter mocs, followed by what looks like a very wild and large cat, tawny, eyes gleaming, reflecting the firelight, mouth big enough to go around a man's arm, open with 3 inch incisors showing behind a tongue which seems to savour the scent of a meal, tail lashing back and slamming shut the door. "Now,now, don' be raising yer sites on m'girl! This here's my lucky charm, found her when she was real little, The People tell me she's my ticket into the happy huntin' grounds. Down, darlin', they don' mean us no harm. Now, any of yew know what this sorry pelt is from? I forgot m'lion de la montagne was outside m'teepee, thought she was off huntin'. Well, she was....sorta. Looks like she got some kind of rodent, yech! If it don look like anything any of yew know or want, I'll jist throw it out back on the dung heap. There now, you ladies done dancin' and ready to join the critters, yes, Lucky gets to sleep in there, too, she helps ta keep them dawgs in line. Ya'll let me know when yer ready. |
|
Subject: RE: Mudcat Spiegel's Trading Post and Tavern From: Lin in Kansas Date: 24 Jan 00 - 03:54 AM (There's a timid knock on the door, which no one hears, what with all the music and merrymaking. Slowly the latch lifts and a woman slides in, eyes downcast. Her high button shoes are caked with snow. She wears gray knitted gloves and a worn and faded calico dress. Her cloak was once expensive scarlet velvet, but has seen so many years of use that the nap has worn off in places. The lines in her face speak silently of hard times and hard places, but strength shows through too. She pushes her graying hair back under the bonnet and makes her way quietly toward the fire, thinking of the letter she carries in her reticule.) --lin |
|
Subject: RE: Mudcat Spiegel's Trading Post and Tavern From: Dave (the ancient mariner) Date: 24 Jan 00 - 10:43 AM Although gratefull for another warm night in the arms of morphious, (at no charge I hope) and I hope it was morphious's arms that were around me, or a pretty girls..The sailor cannot freeze, he simply has far too much alcohol in his blood and no brain cells to kill.. A noise outside the Trading Post, A tall muscular half Frenchman half Algonquin warrior enters. Spying the sailor he speaks in heavily accented English; that betrays the fact he learned English in Lancashire. Hey you lazy Dave you, get up and get moving; I've cut sign that Lady Emma is chasing after Bears just west of here, lets go mon ami. Looking at JL he say's ah you must be the lady that they call "She Who Throws Curved Sticks and Calls them Back by Singing" you are famous around here. Mikal, in a few hours retired veterans of Waterloo Sgt. Patrick Harper and two ex riflemen late of his Majesty King Georges 95th rifles, will come by. You will recognised them Patrick carries a seven barreled Volley Gun, made by Henry Nock of London, and they still wear their faded green uniform jackets; obliged if you would tell them we've gone looking for Lady Emma and to come double time. You may travel with them and no Redcoat will trouble you, what you did for my friend we will pay you back many times, when next we meet. Leaving a golden sovereign on the counter for "All Hands" Dave and Guy head west, two very close friends, brothers in search of the Lady Emma and her bears singing a marching song...... CONGLETON BEAR (John Tams) The Wakes coming on and the bear he took ill We tried him with potion, with brandy and pill He died in his sleep at the eve of the Wakes The cause, it was said, was strong ale and sweet cakes The cheeses of Cheshire are famed, but beware Of stories they tell of the Congleton Bear Congleton Bear, Congleton Bear They sold the Church Bible to buy a new bear He'd served the town well and he's served town true To lie him in state was the least they could do The old bear was dead, a successor they'd need A new bear was wanted, and that at great speed Now a parson is useful in times of great need And imbibed with strong porter he quickly agreed The parson, his Bible he gave then and there We sold it in Nantwich to buy a new bear. The new bear, a she-bear, was toast of the town To music and laughter she danced up and down So loudly the cheering would waken the dead It caused the old bear for to rise from his bed Pills, potion and brandy induced a deep trance And refreshed by the music he began for to dance He danced down the road causing many a gaze Word quickly spread that the old bear was raised He rolled his dark eye as he spied the she-bear And with an embrace they danced jigs pair-and-pair The cheeses of Cheshire are famed but beware Of stories they tell of the Congleton Bear. @animal filename[ CONGBEAR Tune file : LILIBURL |
|
Subject: RE: Mudcat Spiegel's Trading Post and Tavern From: Peter T. Date: 24 Jan 00 - 11:13 AM Mikal, you me got da same dam problem, but I tell you wat, you one damm fine man, I tell you wat. And I also tell you wat, you head out, and I take them on: time for a good fight, yes, by gar. Wat dey do to me, eh? Dieu!! Already taken de whole damm Canada, goddam 'udson's Bay, cochon shopkeepers. Den we meet and we curse de maudit British, and de goddammed Yankee wrecking de most beautiful land dis side de Gaspe. De question I got for you, Mikal, avant de disparaitre, is dis: where de 'ell we all going to go when de last of de beaver go, and de last damm tribe of damm indians is over de maudit Canadian border? Where de 'ell we going to go? -- we goin' to 'ell, dat one damm ting for sure. |
|
Subject: RE: Mudcat Spiegel's Trading Post and Tavern From: Amos Date: 24 Jan 00 - 11:20 AM Aroint, cher voyageur -- get thee off to the Bay, there to sell Levi's and pickaxes to dirty Yankee diggers! Plus ca change, plus ca change, non? Chacun a son mauvais gout! A |
|
Subject: RE: Mudcat Spiegel's Trading Post and Tavern From: Peter T. Date: 24 Jan 00 - 11:39 AM Bin tinking more, Mikal, bin tinking, tink dis: you me got de connection trew dat Marie, Queen of Scots, no? Ain't de French and de Scots always got de same esprit? Whair de 'ell your Charlie goin' eh, when de 'ole thing die? La France. But it all bitched some'ow: like we was cookin' a porridge omelette, I 'tink. "Hon, hon, hoiho vraiment, Cadet Rouselle a seize enfants!!" Bring on de British!!! |
|
Subject: RE: Mudcat Spiegel's Trading Post and Tavern From: catspaw49 Date: 24 Jan 00 - 03:22 PM Lamphear Pittis awakens after a two-day sleep.
LP: "Damned if that wasn't a fine sleep......Whutz all this stuff piled up here on toppa me?.......Thizzeer place shur fills up doanit? Now then, I cud uze summa then vittles and another pull on thet jug.........howabout summa then there ...say what?" LEJ: "I said, how about seein' some barter up here first Pittis."
LEJ stares in amazement at the small, coarse haired, and scraggly "pelt" completely mystified.
LEJ: "What in the name of Old Hickory's asshole IS THAT?"
LEJ examines the small, pinkish-brown objects.
LEJ: "So what's these things?"
LEJ slings the "whistles" across the room.
LEJ: "Now lookit here you dumb Buckeye...Go out and do something that's worth a damn so you got some barter!!! Possum pelts and assholes fer chrissakes.......An don't come back til you can pay up for what you owe! I'll keep this gittar til you do. NOW GIT OUT!!!" LEJ watches him go and looks at the guitar behind the bar. LEJ: "I hope ta hell he does come back. What am I gonna do with this gittar. He said it was one of the first ones the guy made, how much could that be worth? Besides, anybody that knows THAT guy couldn't be too far from a fool themselves! C.F. Martin,huh? Probably a bigger idiot than that Pittis feller.........Keericed, possum pelts and assholes........Do y'all BELIEVE that guy??? What a shitkicker." |
|
Subject: RE: Mudcat Spiegel's Trading Post and Tavern From: Caitrin Date: 24 Jan 00 - 03:56 PM *runs to the biscuit basket, grabs a few more than her fair share and slathers one with butter. As she takes a bite, her eyes close and a soft sigh of contentment escapes.* Miz Susan, that tastes just like my Granny MacCurrie's used to! I could almost believe I was in Dixie again! If you can make cornbread that good, I don't think I'm ever gonna leave this here place! Dave, did you just say somethin' about a Sgt. Harper? Didn't he march with Sharpe's Rifles? My daddy told me 'bout Harper and SHarpe, and how that was the best rifle company ever ta march the Peninsula. Faster 'n three rounds a minute, he said. Miz Katdancin', I reckon that's the ugliest pelt I've ever seen. It ain't goin' in the teepee,is it? |
|
Subject: RE: Mudcat Spiegel's Trading Post and Tavern From: GUEST,Mbo Date: 24 Jan 00 - 04:10 PM Wee-eel! You folks think you tasted sum'in--wait'll you try my Great Grandma Vincenza's cookie rolls--brought it all the way over from Italy to Philly, she did! Now who wants to help me? I gonna need some raisins, chocolate, apple butter, and walnuts--that's fer the fillin'--and the usual baking guids fer the crust. O man, I'm tellin' ye, this is one of this world's greatest treasures--and'll keep over a year to boot. Jest stick it in yer icehouse. Now I need a reely big pot...innyone wanny help me out here? --Matthew |
|
Subject: RE: Mudcat Spiegel's Trading Post and Tavern From: MMario Date: 24 Jan 00 - 04:19 PM theres bunches of raisens over whur that Lamphear Pittis fellur was sleepen. And I got sum apple butter out on the flatboat; how much you gonna need? 'N I gotta sack of black walnuts 'roundbout somewhere, but they gonna need some crackin' and pickin' forya ken use'm.... |
|
Subject: RE: Mudcat Spiegel's Trading Post and Tavern From: Bert Date: 24 Jan 00 - 04:22 PM A great creaking and groaning is heard, and a dirty tattered, heavily laden, ox cart comes to a stop outside. A tall lanky man walks in the door wearing a leather apron blackened with burn marks. He carries no guns but has a four pound hammer in a frog attached to his belt. Bertram Black's me name - Smiffy - lookin' fer a place to set up me fire. 'Ow did I git 'ere? I'll tell yer 'ow I gawt 'ere. I worz wiv Packenam's crahd dahn in Noo Orleens I worz. Chief armorah they called me, huh! sum bloody armorah! I'm a bleedin' blacksmiff. But they couldn't find a propar armorah so they went and cornscipted me, the barstuds. Wull I showed 'em orl right, while they wuz runnin' froo the bloody swomps wiv their bloody tails between their bloody legs. I jest loaded me gear in the wagon drove orf, di'n I. No wun ever missed me. So's I says to meself, "Bertrum me ol' mate, you doan wanna be 'angin' 'rahnd 'ere when eever side gits back from their little scrap" and I took aht west. Gort away clean as a bloody whistle. Bin doin' a bi' ov smiffin 'ere an' there ter earn a bob or two, but ahm lookin' fer a place to set up, permanent like. So if there's a spare 'arf acre rahnd 'ere I'll set up me fire. I'm a bit ov a smiff, an' a bit ov a weelrite, an' a bit ov a farriyar, but I ain't no bloody tinker so doan go bringin' me yer bloody pots an' pans ter mend. Nah, 'ah's abaht a mug of that pigs ear wiv a drorp ov that whisky innit, worm it up a bit like. Gor, that' more likit, warms the cockles ov yer bloody arse that duz. |
|
Subject: RE: Mudcat Spiegel's Trading Post and Tavern From: GUEST,Mbo Date: 24 Jan 00 - 04:35 PM Bertram--you reckon you could forge me up sum new geetar strings? And maybee sum tin foil--I'm gonna need it reel soon... --Matthew |
|
Subject: RE: Mudcat Spiegel's Trading Post and Tavern From: Bert Date: 24 Jan 00 - 04:54 PM Nah, that's a good un, Maffew me ol' china. Yers, lemme fink abaht it. Nah I've gort sum spring steel, aht back in me wagon there. If I woz tuh drill a few smaller 'oles in me drawin' plate, I fink I might be able ter git yer wire fin enuf, might take free or four goes. Then we could scrahnge sum silver orf ov one ov them minuhs wot just walked in, an draw that aht ever finer. 'course yud 'av ter wind that be 'and though. |
|
Subject: RE: Mudcat Spiegel's Trading Post and Tavern From: GUEST,You wouldn't believe it if you knew! Date: 24 Jan 00 - 05:57 PM The door creaks, then opens with a bang as the wind slams hard into the crowded room. A silhouette appears, wrapped in black lace and feathers, and upon entering is revealed to be a... lady, in red satin, black lace, and diamond-and-jet earrings. "Dah-lings, I'm soooo glad to have made it alive! Isn't it just awful out there???" As the stunned silence grows, she shakes some snow off her platinum curls, and bats her long, thick eyelashes. "Well, isn't there a gentleman here to take my wraps??? I'm Lola L'Amour and I'm so hungry and cold. I'm sure one of you fine men would like to see to my needs!" |
|
Subject: RE: Mudcat Spiegel's Trading Post and Tavern From: GUEST,Mbo Date: 24 Jan 00 - 06:10 PM Wee-eel, Ma'am, if'n ye got a hankerin' for sum Italian pastry, I got a fine ol' egzample o' it comin' richt up! And if it's warmin' up that ye want, I'll play ye a song called "Fire On High." Warm ye up REEL fast! --Mbo |
|
Subject: RE: Mudcat Spiegel's Trading Post and Tavern From: Peter T. Date: 24 Jan 00 - 06:21 PM "But soft what light through yonder window breaks, as the Bard said, in one of his riper moments! Allow me, sweet lady, to unburden you of your paraphenalia." This persiflage derived from another figure the wind pushed in, wrapped in a somewhat tattered cloak, and carrying a carpet bag emblazoned with heraldic insignia. "Perhaps you know of me?" (Lola did not). "Perhaps on the wall of your local hall of exposition, and I do not refer of course to the post office. I refer to the THEATRE!!!!" (Low bow, flourish, red face)" "Name? Cassius de Mornay, enchanter of the crowned heads of Europe, the Sultan of Oman, and the erstwhile Sultan of Brunei, who once opined that my Coriolanus put him in fear of his own kingdom!!!!" (Opens carpet bag, revealing collection of battered books, a wooden sword, a somewhat woebegone skull, and a cocked hat with bent feather)."Might I have the honour of the company of one of the sweet ladies, goodnight sweet ladies, present, for a brief libation. Let me not drink of the wine when tis red, whiskey, s'il vous plait, Innkeeper!!!" (Approaches innocent looking chair, pauses briefly, looks in all directions for female company, sits in the style of Henry IV Part I ruing the impossibility of setting out for the Holy Land). |
|
Subject: RE: Mudcat Spiegel's Trading Post and Tavern From: Mbo Date: 24 Jan 00 - 06:30 PM Wu-aal, anuther actor, eigh? I did a bit o' actin' myself...my Hamlet was deemed at least better than Mr. Kenny Branagh, but I was hailed as an excellent Prospero. I also did a stint as Stephano...."Turn me not round, my stomach is not constant!" But I kin see from yer look you've been 'round mor'n I have. Say mister, have ye ever been to Trebizonia? --Matthew |
|
Subject: RE: Mudcat Spiegel's Trading Post and Tavern From: Amos Date: 24 Jan 00 - 06:44 PM (Wakes in corner, raises head from half-empty jug and stares about blearily) Gorrr! Hit's gettin' thick in here! Not so deep as a well, nor so wide as a church door, but sure as hell is enough, 't will serve! (Sighs and reclines with jug to lips, gazing blankly at the ceiling and humming) From his home in the north Came the Young Voyageur With his birchbark canoe all laden with fur! Cold is the air. He does not care. For there's joi! in the heart of the young voyageur! (Sleeps). |
|
Subject: RE: Mudcat Spiegel's Trading Post and Tavern From: Lonesome EJ Date: 24 Jan 00 - 06:52 PM Well, I'll be a... CASSIUS DeMORNAY! The real and actual article. Ladies and gentleman, we are indeed honored to be in the presence of a true light of the modern theatre! Sir, no more'n 1 1/2 years ago back in Baltimore Maryland I had the pleasure of seeing ye as the hunch-backed King hisself.How do ye find yerself in this remote corner of the wilderness? And would ye deign to do us a soliloquy, maybe Macbeth or the Melancholy Dane? |
|
Subject: RE: Mudcat Spiegel's Trading Post and Tavern From: JenEllen Date: 24 Jan 00 - 07:12 PM Miz katdancin'..I'm fraid I'm gonna have to set by this here fire and have a few more of them biscuits...but I'll keep a short rope on that purty red dawg for ye, he looks like a warm'un. And I'll share my stash of clover honey with anys that wants some. Mbo darlin', I had the gun at the ready..but grampy allus told me it's a waste of a good bullet to shoot somethin' that's already dead.... Thank the sun we got that sailor fella thawed out, but now he's off chasin bears? Lawd a mercy...caint trust the menfolk the sense they was born with. I should have at least offer to go along, but with this snow...they'll be lucky to find the barn.. I knew a feller oncet that played a possum arsehole...they knows how to hold a gal, but they sure kisses funny... Smithy, got a job fer ya if'n your up to it. That big red horse in the barn is due for a trim and shoe. It pays real well, but I'd be hopin you already told yer family that you love them...*wild laughter and a swirl of buckskin fringe as she draws on the jug* Now, with all these fine actor types from the city, I'd be thinkin that a gal could get hersailf quite a show...hows about a lil' of that Shakey-spear feller? Lawd a might missy, all them feathers you look just like a turkey in the brush. Hopes yer playins a little more sensible than the dress *wink* Dazzle me darlin'!! |
|
Subject: RE: Mudcat Spiegel's Trading Post and Tavern From: Mikal Date: 24 Jan 00 - 07:52 PM (Michael MacLeod rouses himself from the sleep that had taken him. The words of the actor had stirred some deep memory behind his eyes…) Shakespeare? There is a few god men in among the straw fellows of Britain, at least. I recall the words: "Tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow creep on in their petty pace, And all our yesterdays have lighted fools their way to dusty death. Out! Out brief candle! Life is but a walking shadow. A poor player who struts and frets his hour upon the stage, and then is heard no more. Tis a tale told by an idiot! Full of sound and fury, signifying nothing." I saw it played in Skye, before the fire took the old play-house. They'll never do the Scot's Play again, I'll warrant! "The ale's a penny a pot, boys The ale's a penny a pot! If you've only got a penny, then beer is all you've got! We've no more good potatoes, there isn't any beef, Welcome to the army lads, we'll got no relief!" Frenchie, I'll not leave a man to fight alone. If they come for us, either of us, We'll both use the bolt-hole and set them up by the river. My sainted father would often sing of the battles he had seen. I've a mind if I have to die, I could do so in worse company! Lazarus! I have a catch-bag on my saddle that holds a few bottles of port. I've a mind to pour it all now and devil take the snow! Mikal
|
|
Subject: RE: Mudcat Spiegel's Trading Post and Tavern From: Mbo Date: 24 Jan 00 - 08:14 PM Ahh...the nicht grows intristin'! Do ye think it's high time I played "The Digger's Song"? Is a jolly 'un I wrote, all about pannin' fer gold (oops, that doesn't happen for another 9 years!) Say...whuts with Miz L'Amour? I sense miching mallecho! Don't worry, my bonne homme, I'm a supported o' yer great country. Heard tell of an insurreection back oh, eight years ago. Buncha college boys built themselves a barricade in the Rue de la Chanveriere. All got killed they said....poor fellas.... --Matthew |
|
Subject: RE: Mudcat Spiegel's Trading Post and Tavern From: Dave (the ancient mariner) Date: 24 Jan 00 - 09:18 PM God bless all hear, a loud Irish voice calls out from the open door of the trading post. Sargent Harper and the chosen men enter. The great volley gun is slung over his massive shoulder like a toy. Only Harper is strong enough to stand the recoil of such a weapon. We are looking for Dave (the ancient mariner) and a Lady Emma; has anyone news? ......Caitrin you are right we were with Sharpe. And dont worry about that sailor and his friend, Guy can track an ant over rocks, and shoot it at two hundred yards. Dave isnt so bad either we taught him how to shoot; and he shoots four rounds a minute. Mean as a bear with a cutlass too. By the way which way did he go? west ye say, well lads drink up and off we go by the time we catch up he'll be trying to convince lady Emma to let those bears go.....I'll bet you a shilling she wont though, and he always takes them to her wildlife park. Off we go looks like the weather is changing for the better. Mikal me boy dont worry about the Redcoats their bloody lost as usual and trying to find their way back to Canada we'll help them laddie and we never saw you at all get my drift, God Bless Ireland what a crew.... |
|
Subject: RE: Mudcat Spiegel's Trading Post and Tavern From: Mikal Date: 24 Jan 00 - 09:48 PM A pleasure to meet you Sargent. I've Port here and a reason to pour it now. Come, let the snow melt off your boots and lift a glass! "Wish I could find me brother, the one that's with the army. I don't know where he's stationed, be it Cork or in Killarney. But together we'd go roamin' and lift a pretty penny, And I'm sure he'd treat me better than my darlin' sportin' Jenny!" More cups, Lazarus. We've a noble company to pour for! And I've twenty bottles to lose this night! Mikal |
|
Subject: RE: Mudcat Spiegel's Trading Post and Tavern From: Lonesome EJ Date: 24 Jan 00 - 10:21 PM Right ye are, more cups all around. I'll ask ye one favor: Though I know ye all be peaceable and kindly sorts, a surfeit of drink will sometime make Devils of Angels as my Old Ma would say, and so would I ask that ye lean yer firearms just here behind the bar. That keeps holes out of my roof and out of my clientele too. Smithy, I've a propositon for ye. If ye can make a metal-head hatchet like this'un ye see before ye, I could buy many such from ye for trade among the Indian. And I have, in a dry crate, the old Franklin stove from out this very trading post. That be 350 pounds of scrap iron, enough to make near fifteen hundred such hatchets. Are ye game to try? I can also use such truck as hoes, adzes, shovels and saw blades. And can ye repair the action of a rifle? ACHHH...I had best to shovel this snow back from the door, for now it piles up quick. If ye've snow shoes in yer saddle packs ye'd best fetch em, and see to yer animals. Ye might make a lean-to from the rope and canvas on yonder high shelf. Then return ye for the wine and cheer, quite settled in yer minds. Where'd that vendor of possum arses get to? |
|
Subject: RE: Mudcat Spiegel's Trading Post and Tavern From: Mbo Date: 24 Jan 00 - 10:27 PM Well, Great-Grandma Vincenza's fillin' is done simmerin'--time to roll out the dough--and smooooth the fillin' on it. Mmm mmm mmm...makin' my mouth water jest thinkin' on it! --Mbo |
|
Subject: RE: Mudcat Spiegel's Trading Post and Tavern From: GUEST,Caitrin Date: 24 Jan 00 - 10:30 PM Mr. de Mornay, if you're doin' Shakespeare, I'd be most obliged if ya'd do that bit about St. Crispin's Day from Henry V. I always liked that one...a bit of excitement, ya know. |
|
Subject: RE: Mudcat Spiegel's Trading Post and Tavern From: Peter T. Date: 25 Jan 00 - 10:24 AM "It is an orotund pleasure to meet so many for whom the Bard is not merely a name to conjure with, but a living presence upon their lips! Innkeeper, Mine Host of the Tabard, I well recall that Baltimore performance -- not as enthralling perhaps as the famous night in Virginia City when, in the throes of those magic lines -- "A horse, a horse, my kingdom for a horse!!" a somewhat inebriated gentleman in the back said, "By God, I got a palamino outside'll do you in a pinch!!!" -- still, it was a time, now, alas, in the deep bosom of the ocean buried. Mr. Mbo, glad to find a fellow conspirator against the darkness: you have donned the buskins!!! Ah, what to play? Macbeth? Henry at Agincourt, as suggested by this delightful creature, who hangs upon the cheek of night like a rich jewel in an Ethiop's ear? Or something deeper? Caviar to the general? (Pensively puts head in hands, like Viola listening to the Duke of Illyria) Perhaps Marlowe?. No. I have always found in my experience that the Great Plains do not lend themselves to Marlowe, though a quick tableau of his immortal Tamberlaine riding through Persepolis did prolong a recent profitable stay in Butte, Montana. Of course I am not speaking of his somewhat fruitier efforts from which all but the cognoscenti turn aside, but!!! One would have thought that his broad hexameters would find their echo in these vast spaces -- but no -- !! It is the tragedies of the Bard that hold the stage, even here among the sagebrush and the saddlebags. AND WHY??? (He stands in the noble heavenpointing pose that was painted in Baltimore as a tribute by a subscription from the Ladies Shakespearean Guild and Debating Society, revealing the shocking current state of his trousers) "Because this is a land of fate, of figures barely met at wagon crossings to whom we become bound as upon a wheel of and so on!!! FATE!!! Who knows but that in a rustic taverna such as this we may meet one upon whose bosom our last breath may be wrung from us expiring? NOBILITY!!!We see nobility in the calm gaze of the Sioux chieftan as he is being disembowelled, examining his own entrails to check on the progress of his evisceration!! STORMS!!! We reel from the insignificance of human hope as the passes close down for another winter, howling hurricanoes!! We witness in the great tapestry of sunset, the cloud-capped towers, the final consummation of our failed hopes and exhausted dreams!!! (collapses into chair, weeping, one leg extended casually).
|
|
Subject: RE: Mudcat Spiegel's Trading Post and Tavern From: catspaw49 Date: 25 Jan 00 - 10:33 AM Uh....Morenays there buddy. Thet wuz reel purty whattever it wuz ya sed, but I doan no thet langwage. Do ya' know ennything in English? Say, maybe you cud use one of theez possum whistles, ya' think? Lamphear |
|
Subject: RE: Mudcat Spiegel's Trading Post and Tavern From: GUEST,Mbo Date: 25 Jan 00 - 10:42 AM Mr. De Mornay...I ken put ye richt at home with some Shakespeare songs I know..."Hey Ho The Wind & The Rain" is one durn guid one, from "Twelfth Night." Then I gots "Sigh No More Ladies" from "Much Ado About Nuffin'" and "How Should I Your True Love Know" from my all-time fav-o-reet "Hamlet." Ye reckon that'll be sum ennertainmint? --Matthew |
|
Subject: RE: Mudcat Spiegel's Trading Post and Tavern From: Amos Date: 25 Jan 00 - 10:52 AM When and I was but a little bitty boy With hey and a ho and the wind and the rain A foolish thing was but a toy For the rain it raineth ev'ry day!
(Shakes head dumfounded) I jes' remembered anudder one, but I forgot it... oh..."It was a Lover and His Lass", with a heay and a Ho and a hey-nonnie-no! But I think I'll go visit the pit about now. (Staggers out the door into the biting wind, which is eerily lit with the first traces of dawnlight. The party has run the night through, but with pie for breakfast no-one shows signs of letting up. Somewhere on the frozen tundra, a gray wolf howls hungrily.) |
|
Subject: RE: Mudcat Spiegel's Trading Post and Tavern From: Peter T. Date: 25 Jan 00 - 10:57 AM (Lifts head from moving tableau)"What hempen homespuns have we swaggering here???Faith, little rustic groundling, thou hast some crochets in thy head. Were I a denizen of the realms of gold, your, um, paraphenalia might well ornament a theme, swell a progress, defy augury. Yet, I do desire we might be better strangers!" (extends hand in pose of Brutus with cabal of conspirators) |
|
Subject: RE: Mudcat Spiegel's Trading Post and Tavern From: GUEST,Lola L'Amour Date: 25 Jan 00 - 11:01 AM Darlings, how refeeened you gentlemen all are! I knew I was in a quality place the minute I entered! Now, would anyone here like to give Lola a little something to drink? And mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm, those biscuits smell de-lishous! My daddy used to recite Shakespeare- he was such a ladies man! |
|
Subject: RE: Mudcat Spiegel's Trading Post and Tavern From: catspaw49 Date: 25 Jan 00 - 11:08 AM Hey Lola. You seem ta be a girl who knows what she wants an gits it.......So I wuz wundrin ifn ya wanted sum possum pelts? Arsehole whistle? Dictionary? Lamphear |
|
Subject: RE: Mudcat Spiegel's Trading Post and Tavern From: GUEST,Mbo Date: 25 Jan 00 - 11:23 AM Well slap the dog 'n' spit in the fire! I done almost fergot "The Willow Song." That there's from "Othello." That Shakespeare boy was one durn guid lyricks writer! Well now, Mr.Mornay, is that me yer extendin' yer hand towards? My excellent guid friend! --Mbo |
|
Subject: RE: Mudcat Spiegel's Trading Post and Tavern From: Peter T. Date: 25 Jan 00 - 11:27 AM "O vile, intolerable, not to be endured! (raises hand in the horror that astonished New Mexico's first performance of Othello) Madame, resist this churl, who, upon closer examination, appears to be walking evidence for the recent Mr. Darwin's ape theory. Hear this, thou age unbred! Ere you were born was beauty's summer dead!! Present company excepted, of course. (ostentatiously turns back on living mound of rags). Mr Mbo, Amos, play on, give me excess of it. Is it not strange that sheep's guts should hale souls out of men's bodies!!!??" |
|
Subject: RE: Mudcat Spiegel's Trading Post and Tavern From: GUEST,Roger the skiffler Date: 25 Jan 00 - 11:29 AM A jug of ale or a bottle of moonshine, quick, I've just escaped from ye Neil Young stockade where I was locked up for selling weapons to the locals. Yes, these things carved from rosewood I call kazoos and the varmints call terror sticks, for my playing has been known to empty a settlement, nay maybe a whole colony. I've seen men in coonskin caps but is that a wench with a cat on her head and a man blowing a possum's...? I think I'll get back to the stockade. RtS |
|
Subject: RE: Mudcat Spiegel's Trading Post and Tavern From: MMario Date: 25 Jan 00 - 11:34 AM *blush,stumble,trip,* uhm---h-howdy ther miz Lola. *gulp,blush,stammer* Cud I gettcher sumthin'? Ter drink, I mean? *trying not to stare and failing miserably* |
|
Subject: RE: Mudcat Spiegel's Trading Post and Tavern From: GUEST,Mbo Date: 25 Jan 00 - 11:40 AM Well deedley-duh myself--that there insureection was last June--don't rightly know WHAT it 'twas made men think it were ten year back! Thank ye kindly fer the compliments, Mr. de Mornay...what should I play next?....hmmmm....what was that strain again? It had a dying fall...oh yeah..."Who Is Sylvia" from "Two Gen'l'men From Verona." Funny 'un there...now where's my dog and staff? --Matthew |
|
Subject: RE: Mudcat Spiegel's Trading Post and Tavern From: Amos Date: 25 Jan 00 - 11:44 AM (Comes back in with wet snow clinging to the baconfat in his slicked back hair, obviosuly having attempted to clean his own self up outa respeck fer the curvacious types around. Recites.) Ther' wunce wuz a Katter, called Spaw Who carved whistles from all that he saw! From nuts, and rose blossoms, An' the arses o' possums! Now, ain't that aginst nacherl law? (Serves self coffee and borries a piece of Lolita's apple pie). |
|
Subject: RE: Mudcat Spiegel's Trading Post and Tavern From: Amos Date: 25 Jan 00 - 11:46 AM (Comes back in with wet snow clinging to the baconfat in his slicked back hair, obviously having attempted to clean his own self up outa respeck fer the curvacious types around. Recites.)
Ther' wunce wuz a Katter, called Spaw (Serves self coffee and borries a piece of Lolita's apple pie, with an inept wink). |
|
Subject: RE: Mudcat Spiegel's Trading Post and Tavern From: GUEST,Mbo Date: 25 Jan 00 - 11:49 AM Bravi, bravi, bravissimi, Amos! Yull be up there on the stage with Mr. de Mornay beefur ye know it! A man of infinite wit--FLOURISH! --Matthew |
|
Subject: RE: Mudcat Spiegel's Trading Post and Tavern From: MMario Date: 25 Jan 00 - 11:53 AM Dang, Amos! yer narly as good at that there speechifyin' as that shake-a-spear feller them's talkin' bout! 'n a heck of a lot easier t'unnerstan! but cud ya move a snitch ta yer left? I can't see miz lola none, with ya sittin ther. |
| Share Thread: |