Lyr Req: death in a nut?

Subject: death in a nut?
From: GUEST,Mike C
Date: 26 Oct 00 - 09:42 AM

I heard a song about a year ago and I think it was called 'death in a nut'. It was about a bloke whose mother was dying so he thought he would kill death to stop her dying. He came across death, beat him up a bit and stuffed him in a bottle, corked it with a nut and threw it out to sea. When he arrived back home he found his mother was still alive but nothing else could die also. So he goes back to the sea, finds death in the bottle, uncorks the bottle, apologised for his rudeness and lets death go. Of course, when he goes home, his mother is dead but the natural order of things had been re-established. Great story. Anyway, does anyone have the words or knows where I can find the story. Cheers Mike C

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: death in a nut?
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 26 Oct 00 - 01:32 PM

Tim Laycock of Dorset in England wrote it, from a story that Taffy Thomas tells. He's recorded it, and here is a site for his New Scorpion Band, with contact details and all.

Don't be put off by the colour clashes on the site which makes it hard to read - Tim is a great singer, and it's a great band.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: death in a nut?
From: MMario
Date: 26 Oct 00 - 01:41 PM

according to some other sites, this is a traditional scottish tale...

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: death in a nut?
From: Amergin
Date: 26 Oct 00 - 02:20 PM

It is very similar to a tale I once heard about a soldier who during his travels acquired a magic bag....one day his king was dying and Death stood at the king's feet. He told Death to get in his bag, and as the spell was made, Death had to get in...The soldier then hung the bag high in a tree, and there Death lay, huddled in a magic sack and all across the world war and sickness descended upoin man, and no one was dying. Men lay on the battlefields full of spears, arrows, and missing limbs, crying in pain for days, months and years, because they could not die. Finally, our hero realised that Death had to roam the earth to ease the pain and the suffering, so he went to the tree and cut the bag down, and released Death from his magic prison... Soon the endless cries of pain, became cries of mourning as Death flew across the lands, collecting the souls of the long dying men...and so the years passed, and the soldier became a feeble old man.... And soon it became his turn to lie on the deathbed, Death came to his bedside and when He looked upon the soldier he shook with fear and anger, remembering those years of dark imprisonment, and fled from the room, without freeing the man from his body.... The soldier with desparation, hunted across the known world for his Saviour, never finding him, when he came near Death would hide, only coming out when the man was on his way. This went on for years.... And the years became decades and soon the decades became centuries, with our hero wandering in his endless search for salvation.... He walked the golden stairs to Heaven, but they would not admit him....then he marched the fiery paths of Hell and Lucifer would not take him either...for he was still living.... And so the soldier became doomed to tread the earth until time itself comes to an end, and here he is still, constantly praying to be released from his chains of flesh.... You may have seen him yourself. He might be the sad faced man next to you at your favorite pub, he might be the tear eyed soul sitting across from you on the train, he might be the man with the constant look of longing etched into the lines on his face that you pass by the streets, or he might even be you.

Amergin

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: death in a nut?
From: mousethief
Date: 26 Oct 00 - 03:08 PM

Boy, Amergin, that's heavy!

The "nut" story sounds like something from the original Twilight Zone.

Cool thread!

Alex
O..O
=o=

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: death in a nut?
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 26 Oct 00 - 04:24 PM

I think Taffy Thomas got it from Duncan Williamson, who is a fine Scottish storyteller, from the travelling people.

I imagine there are versions of it all round the world. Ray Bradbury wrote a story which is essentially a variant of this, about a man mowing a field, who finds that somehow, every time he cuts a blade of wheat, someone dies.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: death in a nut?
From: Mrrzy
Date: 27 Oct 00 - 12:01 PM

Amergin, quelle horreur! Merci, belle histoire quand même...

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: death in a nut?
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 17 Aug 02 - 07:53 PM

This reminds me of a television play that I saw when I was quite young and it made a big impression on me. A man is annoyed by kids who steal his apples, so he contrives a magic spell that causes anyone who climbs his apple tree to be stuck there until he releases them. When Death comes for him, he asks Death to climb the tree and fetch him an apple. The outcome is similar to "Death in a Nut."

Here's a notice about The Upland Side, a tape by Tim Laycock, which contains "Death in the Nut."

And here's a notice about The Little Cobblestone Maker, a tape by Taffy Thomas, which contains "Death in a Nut."

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: death in a nut?
From: GUEST,Jim Dixon
Date: 08 Jun 04 - 02:04 PM

On rereading my post from 17-Aug-2002, the title popped into my head, and a bit more research found the following:

The play I described above—about Death caught in an apple tree—was "On Borrowed Time" by Paul Osborn, based on a novel by Lawrence Edward Watkin. It was first performed as a stage play in 1938, as a film in 1939, and performed live on TV in 1952. I was not quite 5 years old when I saw it.

Amazing what the human mind can hold. Now why can't I remember the name of someone I was introduced to 5 minutes ago?

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: death in a nut?
From: The Fooles Troupe
Date: 08 Jun 04 - 06:28 PM

Eh, what? Who?

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: death in a nut?
From: GUEST,#
Date: 06 Apr 21 - 01:53 PM

There's the tale, "Death in the Nut" told by Richard Martin

https://www.tellatale.eu/tales/all-tales/death-in-the-nut/