February 22, 2026 • 42 mins
CBS Radio Mystery Theater was a noteworthy attempt to revive in American radio dramas like Inner Sanctum (1941-1952) and Suspense (1942-1962). Radio dramas were widely considered "dead" 12 years prior to this series. CBS Radio Mystery Theater, or simply Mystery Theater, was created by Inner Sanctum creator Himan Brown and ran on CBS from 1974-1982. The show, much like older radio dramas, was introduced by a host (E.G. Marshall in this program), who steers us through the creaking door to start the episode. Many voices from the golden age of radio were featured, including Richard Widmark, Bret Morrison, Agnes Moorehead and many more. Find more classic, old-time radio series at Theater of the Mind - OTR | Spreaker | Apple | YouTube
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Enjoy all six of our commercial-free internet radio stations at theaterofthemind-otr.com - Do you want to discover more of these classic, old-time radio series? Search "Theater of the Mind - OTR" on your favorite platform or visit Theater of the Mind - OTR | Apple | Spreaker | YouTube | Spotify | Amazon | iHeart
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
The CBS Radio Mystery Theater presents.
Speaker 2 (00:20):
Come in.
Speaker 1 (00:23):
Welcome. I mean g marshall. Add a grain of salt,
said a learned Roman gentleman named Pliny the Elder, some
two thousand years ago, and the value of that advice
has only increased for the passage of time. Take everything
you see and hear with a grain of salt, and
you'll be surprised at how much savor you will add
(00:43):
to your life. I Am going to find the old
Man of the Rock.
Speaker 3 (00:48):
There's no such person.
Speaker 4 (00:50):
He's an old wives tayan.
Speaker 1 (00:51):
Do you keep away from him? If there's no such person?
Why you're so scared?
Speaker 4 (00:57):
Because he kills everyone who approaches. Why do you want
to find him?
Speaker 1 (01:03):
Because he knows where all the money in the world
can be found. Our mystery drama A Grain of Salt
was written especially for the Mystery Theater by Sam Dan
(01:25):
and stars Terry Keane and Fred Gwynn. It is sponsored
in part by True Value Hardware Stores and Buwett Mortor Division.
I'll be back shortly with that one. Goblins and ghosts,
(01:49):
pixies and elves, keilpies and banshees, spirits and sprites, the
good folk, the bad folk. Oh. I can go on
and on, but you get the idea. At one time,
these much we call them supernatural beings were as real
as as the sounds you hear in a deserted house,
in a desolate countryside, on a dark and moonless night.
(02:11):
And nowhere were they more real than on a certain
enchanted island that was gracious and green and filled with soft,
lilting music, and covered with a magical mist. But we
run ahead of ourselves. We're not there yet. We're still
on this side of the Atlantic, in a large city
on the eastern coast, perhaps seventy eighty or even ninety
(02:33):
years ago. Are you the sergeant, Well, I'm a sergeant,
Sergeant Smith.
Speaker 4 (02:38):
Are you the sergeant they told me to see?
Speaker 2 (02:40):
Are you the sergeant they told me to see?
Speaker 1 (02:43):
Why it sings?
Speaker 2 (02:44):
Your mother comes from County Donical, She does not the
Nnahana covent.
Speaker 4 (02:48):
Sir, I have not come to discourse on genealogical or
geographical situations.
Speaker 2 (02:53):
But it is the place of my own origin with
the name of Smith. My dearest mother's me father comes
from Meland.
Speaker 4 (03:00):
That, sir, must be your own private sorrow, and bear
it bravely and in silence like a man.
Speaker 2 (03:06):
Well, then, miss or.
Speaker 4 (03:07):
Madam, miss if you please, Miss Katie.
Speaker 2 (03:10):
O'Neill, Miss Katie O'Neill, oh, it sings like a ballad?
Speaker 4 (03:14):
Are you a maker of music or an officer of
the police?
Speaker 2 (03:17):
The too need not be mutually exclusive?
Speaker 4 (03:19):
And then I might have done better to consult mister
John Phillips SUSA.
Speaker 2 (03:22):
He conducts his orchestra in the park this evening. Would
you do me the honor, Miss O'Neill.
Speaker 4 (03:28):
So it's how you spend the taxpayers harder and dollar,
Sergeant Smith attempting to romance every young maiden lady that
requires the assistance of the police, not.
Speaker 2 (03:36):
Every young maiden lady, Miss O'Neill.
Speaker 4 (03:39):
Then shall we come at last to the facts in
the case?
Speaker 2 (03:41):
Ad? Then we have a case? Have we proceeded?
Speaker 4 (03:45):
Which is exactly what I was doing this noon about.
Speaker 3 (03:49):
Half hour past.
Speaker 4 (03:51):
I was standing at the corner of fifth the main
and why are you not writing this down?
Speaker 2 (03:57):
I'm gazing into your eyes, Miss Katy O'Neill.
Speaker 4 (03:59):
Aren't you a shamed Sergeant Smith? Of what attend to
the fact there's work to be done?
Speaker 2 (04:05):
You were standing on the corner of fifth and may
I was and stopping the traffic for miles around.
Speaker 4 (04:11):
I was waiting for a streetcar.
Speaker 2 (04:13):
A most innocent arcupat.
Speaker 4 (04:15):
I was in the midst of a crowd that was waiting. Suddenly, yes,
suddenly there was this tug in my arm.
Speaker 1 (04:24):
Tug.
Speaker 4 (04:24):
It was more of a pool a pool, but a
gentle pull.
Speaker 1 (04:29):
A gentle pull.
Speaker 4 (04:31):
Yes, so gentle, so soft, So light as a.
Speaker 3 (04:36):
Thistle or a humming bird's wing.
Speaker 4 (04:38):
Are you writing that down?
Speaker 2 (04:41):
Was that as light as a thistle or as light
as a hummingbird swing? Miss oneil or he must be
accurate in these matters.
Speaker 4 (04:47):
Naked as light as either or both?
Speaker 2 (04:49):
Well, won't you happen to know specifically the weight of
a humming bird swing or a thistle for that matter,
As you know, police work is.
Speaker 1 (04:56):
An exact science.
Speaker 2 (04:57):
And then yes, and.
Speaker 4 (05:01):
Then and then I looked down at my arm and
and and my pocketbook was gone.
Speaker 1 (05:09):
Your pocketbook was gone.
Speaker 4 (05:10):
It had been taken from me.
Speaker 2 (05:12):
What did you say, who did it?
Speaker 4 (05:13):
See him? No, as I said, I was standing in
the midst of a crowd. One moment the pocketbook was
on my arm, and then the next it was gone.
Speaker 2 (05:22):
And you saw no one who could have taken.
Speaker 4 (05:24):
No I saw no one. I said to the people
who were standing round, I said, has anyone seen a pocketbook?
Speaker 3 (05:29):
Mine is gone? I believe it was taken.
Speaker 4 (05:32):
Everyone looked all around, and someone said, are you sure
you didn't drop it on the ground, And someone else said,
are you positive you had it with you? And I said,
it's been taken by a thief. Has anyone seen the thief?
And a man standing next to me said what did
he look like? And I answered, if I know what
he looked like, i'd know who he was.
Speaker 2 (05:51):
And no one had seen him.
Speaker 4 (05:52):
No one had seen him. I was in the midst
of a crowd that was waiting for a street car
on the corner of Fifth and Maine at high noon,
and man removed my pocket book from my arm, unseen
and unbeknownst.
Speaker 2 (06:05):
And those are the facts, Those are the known facts.
You discovered the loss of the pocket book. You saw
no one.
Speaker 4 (06:11):
Take it, nor could I find a witness to the taken.
Speaker 2 (06:14):
And then what did you do? What did I do?
Speaker 4 (06:16):
I came to the nearest police station, this one. I
was referred to a sergeant. You now, when may I
expect to get my pocket book?
Speaker 2 (06:26):
When we find the thief.
Speaker 3 (06:28):
That does not answer the question, for the.
Speaker 2 (06:30):
Police department is not yet in position to make a
definite statement.
Speaker 3 (06:35):
Oh, which is not?
Speaker 2 (06:36):
It requires more facts. Now, how much money was there
in the pocket book?
Speaker 3 (06:40):
How much money?
Speaker 4 (06:42):
Why?
Speaker 2 (06:42):
None?
Speaker 1 (06:44):
None?
Speaker 4 (06:45):
No, I never carry money in a pocket book.
Speaker 1 (06:47):
You don't And why not?
Speaker 3 (06:49):
Why not?
Speaker 4 (06:50):
Should it not be obvious? Why not even to the
sergeant of the police. You know what happened less than
an hour gone by? Suppose I'd had money in the
pocket book?
Speaker 1 (06:59):
What then?
Speaker 2 (07:00):
Or so we established there was no money in the
pocket book. Where was the pocketbook itself?
Speaker 1 (07:05):
No?
Speaker 4 (07:05):
No, no, it was old, old.
Speaker 2 (07:09):
And what was the color of the pocket book?
Speaker 4 (07:11):
It's color? I'm not sure that question can be answered.
Speaker 1 (07:15):
And why not?
Speaker 4 (07:16):
Because the original color had faded and gone given way
to a whole spectrum, you might say, of hues and
shades of varying degrees.
Speaker 2 (07:25):
Well, is the pocketbook still worth anything?
Speaker 5 (07:27):
Ah?
Speaker 4 (07:28):
The poor thing whifed it was, and torn and in
general fallen apart.
Speaker 2 (07:32):
Well, then stolen from you? Is a worthless pocket book
with nothing of value inside? Why are you bothering to
report it to the police?
Speaker 1 (07:41):
Ah?
Speaker 4 (07:42):
But there was something of value inside?
Speaker 2 (07:44):
Or what you said?
Speaker 1 (07:45):
There was no money, something of great value?
Speaker 2 (07:48):
And what is that miss case on you?
Speaker 4 (07:50):
A falt shaker?
Speaker 2 (07:53):
AsSalt shaker?
Speaker 4 (07:55):
The English side of your family would no doubt refer
to it as.
Speaker 2 (07:58):
A salt seller, well, sort of a salt shaker.
Speaker 4 (08:03):
Just a salt shaker.
Speaker 2 (08:05):
And you said it was valuable.
Speaker 4 (08:07):
Oh yes it is.
Speaker 2 (08:08):
Indeed, why would a salt shaker be valuable.
Speaker 4 (08:12):
Because it's the only one of its kind in the
whole wide world?
Speaker 1 (08:16):
Oh?
Speaker 2 (08:16):
Is it made of gold?
Speaker 3 (08:17):
Oh?
Speaker 1 (08:18):
No, silver, not a bit of it. Well then what
is it made of?
Speaker 3 (08:22):
Oh? Fewter?
Speaker 2 (08:25):
Pewter?
Speaker 3 (08:26):
Perhaps not fewter.
Speaker 4 (08:27):
It could be something even cheaper.
Speaker 2 (08:29):
But you just said it was valuable, that it was
the only one of its kind in the world.
Speaker 4 (08:33):
I said that, and I stand by it.
Speaker 2 (08:37):
Then is it is it encrusted perhaps with pearls or diamonds,
robes the precious stones?
Speaker 4 (08:42):
Oh no?
Speaker 2 (08:44):
Well then was it crafted by one of those great
fellows like a chileany who chileany bin venoto chileany Ah?
Speaker 3 (08:54):
No?
Speaker 1 (08:55):
Then how can it be valuable because.
Speaker 4 (08:58):
It's a magical old shaker?
Speaker 1 (09:02):
Oh?
Speaker 2 (09:03):
Oh yes, I see.
Speaker 4 (09:05):
And that is why I must have it back.
Speaker 2 (09:07):
In what way is the salt shaker magical?
Speaker 4 (09:10):
In what way can a salt shaker be magical?
Speaker 1 (09:14):
Well?
Speaker 4 (09:15):
Uh, the question only has one answer.
Speaker 2 (09:19):
Well, suppose you tell it to me.
Speaker 4 (09:22):
And you are a sergeant of detectives.
Speaker 2 (09:25):
Well, now, miss Katy, oh knew? What is your game?
You're coming here with this blather about a magical salt shaker.
Speaker 3 (09:32):
But it's true.
Speaker 2 (09:33):
Why would you be carrying a salt shaker in your pocketbook?
Speaker 4 (09:36):
Why? Because I never know when it might be useful?
Speaker 2 (09:40):
Well, it would say to me that you only time
you'd require a salt shake would be at meals?
Speaker 1 (09:44):
Is that so?
Speaker 3 (09:45):
It's most probably so?
Speaker 2 (09:47):
And would you take your meals at the table and
someone's home or in a restaurant? Is that not so?
Speaker 3 (09:52):
I agree?
Speaker 2 (09:54):
Well, wouldn't there already be at least one salt shaker
on that table?
Speaker 1 (09:57):
Yes?
Speaker 4 (09:58):
But mine is a magic salt shaker? Oh very well,
you don't believe it.
Speaker 2 (10:05):
But why is it a magical salt shaker?
Speaker 1 (10:08):
Ah?
Speaker 4 (10:09):
And if I told you, would you promise faithfully and
fully to find.
Speaker 3 (10:13):
It for me?
Speaker 2 (10:14):
It's my dort here to find it for you.
Speaker 3 (10:17):
All right.
Speaker 4 (10:19):
When I was a little girl in County Cavan, I
lived on a farm with my father and mother and
my father. Ah, there was a man for you, filled
with great and bold schemes, all of which I'm sorry
to report came to not. And I was a tiny child,
but I still remember the talk around the table. Will
(10:45):
Terrence on near.
Speaker 1 (10:46):
Good morning, bridget my darden.
Speaker 4 (10:48):
A good morning, is it, Terrence on Neil. You can't
see the sun for the clouds, the winds howling, and
it's cold enough to cut the stones.
Speaker 1 (10:56):
Ah, but it's the only morning the Good Lord, in
his infinite wisdom has seen fit to send us, and
we accept it gladly. For it is written you should
take the band with.
Speaker 4 (11:08):
The good Oh and where is that written?
Speaker 1 (11:12):
Well, if it is written, it should be well. Now.
Speaker 4 (11:16):
Not that I wish to raise a subject so painfully.
But have you given much thought to seeking employment this day,
Terence Onill?
Speaker 2 (11:23):
Oh?
Speaker 1 (11:23):
Yes, yes, yes, I shall be employed, expanding the horizon
of my knowledge.
Speaker 4 (11:28):
I was thinking of gainful employment.
Speaker 1 (11:31):
It's gainful. I am embarked on a course of study
that shall make us both rich rich.
Speaker 4 (11:38):
You don't believe it, Oh, No man ever got rich
by looking through books.
Speaker 1 (11:43):
That's because you have to find the right books.
Speaker 5 (11:51):
That's how it would go.
Speaker 4 (11:53):
My father would spend the days reading his books and
walking through the fields in the forests, nodding his head, thinking, studying, considering.
And then finally, one day my father came home and
he had a very old book in his hand, and
he was very excited.
Speaker 5 (12:13):
Bridget.
Speaker 1 (12:14):
Oh, yes, it's Bridget.
Speaker 5 (12:15):
And did expect me not to behold, Bridget, listen to me.
Speaker 4 (12:19):
Oh, I listened to you once, and that was the
undown of me, who marry me, Bridget Darlin.
Speaker 1 (12:24):
And you shall wear silks.
Speaker 4 (12:25):
And furs spangled with cloth of gold and spartan, with
diamonds and pearl.
Speaker 1 (12:29):
And so you shall you shall do. No, no, Bridget,
I'm serious about. What about the promise I made you
about the wearing of the silks and the first and
the diamonds and the pearl Oh.
Speaker 4 (12:39):
Well, bring them in and I'll put them on my will.
I will when tomorrow tomorrow. Yes, oh, my poor Terence,
it's it's gone to your heads, as I knew it.
Speaker 1 (12:50):
Would, Bridget. I I am not crazy. It's here in
the book, right here. It tells how to find them,
find who the old man of the rock.
Speaker 5 (13:02):
Have you taken leave of your senses?
Speaker 1 (13:04):
Bridget?
Speaker 4 (13:04):
It's ears in the book the old Man is a rock,
he's nothing but an old wives tale.
Speaker 3 (13:09):
He don't exist.
Speaker 1 (13:10):
This book tells exactly where to find it.
Speaker 5 (13:12):
Then don't dare go near him.
Speaker 1 (13:14):
It reveals his item place.
Speaker 4 (13:15):
Now you listen to me. The old Man of the Rock,
he he'll make you his slaves.
Speaker 1 (13:20):
No, no, no, no, not if you know the magical words.
What magical words? The magical words that make him your slave?
Speaker 4 (13:30):
I don't What another word said about that in this house.
Speaker 1 (13:32):
Is you can make you your slave, and he'll grant
you your wish. Whatever you want, you'll make it come true.
The old Man of the Rock tomorrow, I'll go to you.
Speaker 4 (13:45):
No, no, Terence, I don't want to be rich.
Speaker 3 (13:47):
You do you do?
Speaker 4 (13:49):
Please? Terrence, promise me, please.
Speaker 1 (13:52):
Bridgitte, I believe I've never seen you so frightened before.
Speaker 4 (13:55):
It's because I've never been so frightened before.
Speaker 1 (13:59):
But what are you afraid of the.
Speaker 3 (14:01):
Old Man of the Rock?
Speaker 1 (14:04):
Of what you should be afraid? Didn't you say he
was nothing but an old wives tale? Well, now, as
you know, we're going to find out about the powers,
if any of some supernatural being, assuming of course, such
(14:25):
a one exists. It all began with a stolen pocketbook
in America somewhere, and suddenly we find ourselves in Ireland somewhere.
But it's a good place to be for our purposes,
and the tour should resume as soon as I return
shortly with that too, as we concluded at one we
(14:53):
heard someone refer to something hard to believe as an
old wives tale. Well, don't be too cavalier in dismissing
old wise tales. There used to be an old wise
tale to the affected moldy cheese was good for wounds,
and then science discovered venzillin, similarly that the bark of
a certain tree did wonders for malaria, and science, of
course discovered quinine. Are we also involved in an old
(15:18):
wise tale? Probably?
Speaker 2 (15:20):
Now, Miss Kathy O'Neil, I don't want you to lose me,
But as I understand it, your father had unearthed some
mythical character, the Old Man of the Rock.
Speaker 4 (15:30):
Oh yes, and how well he was known in the
countryside for the.
Speaker 2 (15:34):
Old Man of the Rock.
Speaker 1 (15:35):
Just who was he? He was a Dane.
Speaker 4 (15:38):
A Dane, a Viking, one who had invaded Ireland a
thousand years ago.
Speaker 2 (15:43):
Oh you mean, one who had conquered Ireland.
Speaker 4 (15:45):
We don't talk about that. And besides, they all took
Irish names and learned the Irish tongue and became truly Irish.
So it can be said that we conquered them.
Speaker 2 (15:53):
And now you must bring me back to the old man.
Speaker 1 (15:55):
Of the rock.
Speaker 2 (15:56):
Ah.
Speaker 4 (15:56):
Yes, he was a Viking, a scandon. Yes, he was
a dub Gale, a Dane, a black foreigner, as distinguishable
from a thin gale, a fair foreigner.
Speaker 3 (16:09):
A Norwegian.
Speaker 2 (16:10):
I see is this important.
Speaker 4 (16:13):
As you said, sageant, police work is an exact science.
Speaker 2 (16:17):
Continue katy on you.
Speaker 4 (16:19):
And they laid waste the land with fire and sword,
but they could not conquer, so they remained to.
Speaker 3 (16:26):
Become a part of it.
Speaker 2 (16:27):
And the old man on the rock he was a
Dane who had.
Speaker 4 (16:30):
Ranged as far north as the River Liffey. And one
day he saw a huge rock and he said, I
will build me a castle, and this rock shall be
a foundation stone. And he commanded his men to move it.
But it could not be budged from the spot.
Speaker 5 (16:49):
Yes, and it was not that large nor heavy a rock.
Speaker 2 (16:53):
Or it could not be moved.
Speaker 1 (16:55):
No, and what happened, No one knows what happened. Oh well,
then one.
Speaker 4 (17:02):
Day this dugdale chieftain, this dark foreigner disappeared.
Speaker 2 (17:07):
Anna, what do you mean disappeared?
Speaker 4 (17:10):
Disappeared, vanished, was no more?
Speaker 2 (17:13):
But what became of him?
Speaker 1 (17:14):
Where did he go? Ah?
Speaker 4 (17:17):
That is the legend a a what legend of what
legend are we speaking?
Speaker 3 (17:22):
The legend of the old man in the Rock?
Speaker 1 (17:24):
Yes, it is.
Speaker 4 (17:25):
Said he would go to the rock, this rock that
would not be moved from its spot, to become a
stone for his castle. And he would say, rock, why
do you refuse to be taken from the ground and
become part of the great wall of my castle? And
do you know what the rock replied?
Speaker 2 (17:45):
I have no way of knowing that the rock could
even speak.
Speaker 4 (17:47):
A voice was heard to come from the rock, and
it said, you have no need for a rock to
form the wall of your castle, dark foreigner, inside your
body is something even harder than I am.
Speaker 1 (18:02):
Your heart.
Speaker 2 (18:05):
This is what the rock purportedly said.
Speaker 3 (18:07):
Purportedly is it?
Speaker 6 (18:09):
Well?
Speaker 2 (18:09):
Is there documentation to that effect?
Speaker 4 (18:11):
Of course there were witnesses who had seen and heard.
Speaker 2 (18:15):
Well, continue, Miss Katy O'Neill.
Speaker 4 (18:18):
For a moment, the doub Gail said nothing. He was,
as you may safely assume overcome with fear and surprise.
Speaker 2 (18:25):
Yes, I can safely make that assumption.
Speaker 4 (18:27):
And a terrible look came into his eyes, terrible, and
he said, Yes, if my heart is rock, then it
means that I am rock, and I am that rock.
Speaker 5 (18:42):
That rock.
Speaker 2 (18:45):
Well, now that's drawn a long bow, wouldn't you say?
It makes fine sense? Indeed, I'm sorry, I shall not
interrupt again. And then what happened?
Speaker 4 (18:55):
What happened? He retired to his tent. Yes, and he
was seen no more.
Speaker 2 (19:01):
Well what became of him?
Speaker 4 (19:02):
Evidently he became the rock?
Speaker 2 (19:05):
Well how could he know that?
Speaker 4 (19:07):
Well?
Speaker 3 (19:07):
He was the rock?
Speaker 4 (19:08):
He said he was, didn't he?
Speaker 6 (19:10):
Yes?
Speaker 3 (19:11):
But let there be no butts.
Speaker 4 (19:14):
Ah, Those were the exact words my father said to
my mother that morning. I remember it. I remember as
if it were yesterday. We were sitting at the table
in the kitchen, and my father said, let.
Speaker 1 (19:30):
There be no butts bridget o'nian. I have this book.
I bought it in Belfast four shallons.
Speaker 4 (19:37):
Four shillins, and I have had no meat on this
table in six months.
Speaker 1 (19:41):
And a good thing. Meat is conducive to the gout.
Speaker 4 (19:44):
Only rich people get the gout. We are in no
danger here.
Speaker 1 (19:48):
Ah, we are in great danger. Tomorrow we shall be rich.
Speaker 4 (19:52):
Do not speak this way in front of the child.
She will think her father is mad. Oh, it is
just his way of talking, Katie.
Speaker 1 (20:00):
No harm, of course not. I mean only good. Yes,
this book, see it is four hundred years old.
Speaker 4 (20:09):
For six shillins, you're entitled to a book as his
brand new the.
Speaker 1 (20:12):
Book you see, it says the douve gale entered into
the rock where he had time to repent his many sins.
Ate your fish, it wants salt. O, Katie, pass your
father the shaker. Thank you, Jack m. I can't seem
to get any sort gone out. We'll shake harder, Ah,
(20:32):
this wretched sort shaker. And if he's a dump day,
why don't you get alone?
Speaker 4 (20:37):
For six chillens, I could have had one of silver.
Speaker 1 (20:40):
Well tomorrow you shall have one of gold, Yes, pure gold.
If I can find the old man of the rock,
he will.
Speaker 4 (20:49):
Will lead you straight to the devil.
Speaker 1 (20:51):
No no, no, no, no no no. That is the
old wise tale. You see. He has had a change
of heart. Too much slaughter and pillage at second him
has turned his heart to Stow, who says that this
book right here his heart is a heavy burden inside him.
He seeks to lighten it by doing good for good people.
(21:13):
And so if I can find him, if you yes,
this book tells how to find him.
Speaker 4 (21:19):
Well, whuan didn't the person who wrote the book find
him and become rich?
Speaker 1 (21:23):
He could not? Why because he was a monk who
had sworn a vow of poverty. Poverty.
Speaker 4 (21:30):
He gets six chilling for every copy of the book.
Speaker 1 (21:32):
He doesn't get the money he's been thirty four hundred years.
Speaker 4 (21:36):
Will the person who sold you the book? Why doesn't
he go to the Old Man of the Rock and
get rich?
Speaker 1 (21:41):
He can't? Why not because the book is written in
Gaelic and he cannot read it. Now. In this book
are detailed instructions on how one may find the rock.
One must wait for the first moonless night of the month,
which happens to be tonight, Terence. Only one waits for
(22:05):
the first sound of a nightingale, nightingale.
Speaker 4 (22:09):
There are no nightingales in.
Speaker 1 (22:10):
These parts there are when one seeks the Old Man
of the Rock. One listen.
Speaker 4 (22:17):
I do not care how keen your ears. You cannot
hear a nightingale where there are none.
Speaker 1 (22:22):
No one does not listen with the ears, but with
the heart. I see, I'm happy. And now you understand.
Speaker 4 (22:31):
Oh, my poor Terence, you were not intended for poverty.
It has turned your brain.
Speaker 5 (22:37):
And I have helped Bridget what you.
Speaker 4 (22:39):
Say, I shall help you be happy. I shall neither
score nor nag, my darling, Terrence. I shall support these delusions, Bridget.
Speaker 1 (22:49):
We shall be rich tomorrow, for I shall find the
old man of the rock. I shall find him. Where
are you going to, the old man of the rock,
my darling? Good night, good tunes?
Speaker 4 (23:04):
Oh that man, that man you'll catch his death, child,
Katie child. He didn't even take his hat, dear, run
after him and see that he puts it on his head.
Speaker 1 (23:17):
And I did.
Speaker 4 (23:19):
I ran from the house, but I did not wish
to catch up with my father, for if I should,
he would take the hat and tell me to go home,
and of course I would have to obey him.
Speaker 2 (23:30):
So what did you do? Something not he not?
Speaker 6 (23:32):
Oh?
Speaker 1 (23:33):
Yes?
Speaker 4 (23:34):
I followed him in the dark, through fields, through the woods,
keeping far enough behind so he couldn't see me, but
close enough to hear him read from the book, and
you shall hear a nightingale song. And he stopped and
he listened and I stopped, and I listened, and it
(23:58):
was sudden.
Speaker 3 (24:00):
I heard it.
Speaker 2 (24:01):
And what did you hear?
Speaker 3 (24:03):
What are we talking about? The nightingale?
Speaker 2 (24:05):
So the nightingale.
Speaker 4 (24:06):
Yes, the nightingale, as soft and as sweet and as
silvery clean.
Speaker 2 (24:11):
Or you're positive it was a nightingale.
Speaker 1 (24:13):
Yes?
Speaker 2 (24:14):
On what evidence, kit you'll knew, for after all you
never heard one before.
Speaker 4 (24:18):
On the evidence of my heart.
Speaker 2 (24:21):
Ah, yes, the only true evidence there is. Well, I
must let you continue uninterrupted.
Speaker 4 (24:28):
Then my father laughed, his great, joyous laugh, and he said,
the nightingale, and we follow her dulcet tones to a tree,
a patriarch of the forest, an ancient oak. Its limbs
are bare, but the heart still beats truly within. Oh yes,
(24:48):
And beneath this oak is a rock, a large sized rock,
great enough for the foundation.
Speaker 3 (24:55):
Stone of a castle.
Speaker 2 (24:56):
And was that the rock?
Speaker 4 (24:58):
My father stood before the rock, and I could hear
him say.
Speaker 6 (25:05):
Old man of the rock, I approach with clean heart
and the soul that is free from malice, Old man.
Speaker 1 (25:15):
Of the rock, hear me, I come to seek your aid.
Therefore I bitch you and materialize from within the stone,
and lift the weight from your own heart. Dub Gale,
dark foreigner.
Speaker 5 (25:31):
Appear before me?
Speaker 2 (25:38):
Cause me, dark foreigner, it's you.
Speaker 5 (25:42):
It's true you.
Speaker 1 (25:45):
Where did you come from?
Speaker 2 (25:46):
Oh? You're saying where I came from?
Speaker 1 (25:49):
The rock, old man of the Rock. I believed it.
I believed it truly.
Speaker 2 (25:55):
That is why I have appeared, And why have you
all come to me?
Speaker 1 (26:00):
I want to be rich.
Speaker 2 (26:02):
All men desire riches. It was for wealth that I
try to give. Lord Narsail from dead Land are whiting pirate? Ah,
But I've learned better.
Speaker 1 (26:13):
Oh, I do not ask to be rich for myself.
You do not for private gain?
Speaker 2 (26:19):
Is that a fact?
Speaker 1 (26:20):
I want riches for what they can do, and what
can they do bring joy?
Speaker 2 (26:26):
Not all rich men are joyful. I can say this
having known many, indeed having been one myself.
Speaker 1 (26:34):
But wealthy it is not meant to be kept. It
is not you know, it is not all rather rock.
It is meant to be given away. It should be
used to feed the poor, to protect the widow, to
raise the orphan, to leave the up breast. And this
is what you would do with wealth. This is what
(26:55):
I would wish to do with my wealth.
Speaker 2 (26:57):
It's a noble ambition.
Speaker 1 (26:59):
Ah, And so will you grant me my wish, Old Man.
Speaker 2 (27:02):
Of the Rock, I will grant a wish.
Speaker 1 (27:06):
But this is my wish. But is it our sow?
Speaker 2 (27:09):
Your wife's wish?
Speaker 1 (27:11):
My wife? What has my wife to do with?
Speaker 2 (27:15):
Were she told must be considered? But why because you
are not alone? Her man and wife are one and
body in soul, in spirit.
Speaker 1 (27:26):
But my wish is our wish?
Speaker 2 (27:29):
Are you sure?
Speaker 3 (27:29):
Now?
Speaker 2 (27:30):
Oh?
Speaker 1 (27:30):
She's a good hearted woman, a bit short in the
temper perhaps, but a kind heart, a generous though.
Speaker 2 (27:37):
Well, now that is what we're going.
Speaker 1 (27:40):
To find out, and we shall find out all about it.
In Act three, here we have the Old Man of
the Rock, this Viking turned Irish. How well those were
days filled with action magic? And so were these if
(28:01):
you know where to look?
Speaker 6 (28:12):
Now?
Speaker 1 (28:13):
Where were we in a police station almost one hundred
years ago listening to pretty Katie O'Neil telling handsome Sergeant
Smith about a purse that was stolen from her. And
to make the tale complete, she must go all the
way back to Ireland many years ago, and an encounter
between her father and a mysterious being known as the
(28:34):
Old Man of the Rock.
Speaker 2 (28:36):
And so this mythical charactery emerged.
Speaker 4 (28:39):
From the Rock did emerged materialized as all one, and
you saw it with my own two eyes.
Speaker 2 (28:47):
And I still cannot decide whether they're blow or grave.
Speaker 1 (28:50):
Oh, but the gray continue.
Speaker 4 (28:53):
And so they had this confrontation, my father, Terence O'Neill.
Speaker 1 (28:57):
And the old man of the rock, and what happened.
Speaker 4 (29:00):
The old man explained how it would have to work.
Speaker 2 (29:06):
Being rich is a complicated business.
Speaker 1 (29:10):
It seems rather simple to me, old man, what does
it now?
Speaker 2 (29:14):
That is perhaps because you've never been rich yourself? True?
And how would you choose to be rich? In land,
in gold?
Speaker 1 (29:24):
I would have to think in goods, in stocks, in bonds.
I would just like to be rich.
Speaker 2 (29:30):
Well, you cannot wish just to be rich?
Speaker 1 (29:33):
And why not?
Speaker 2 (29:35):
What is rich? Oh? You and your wife must decide.
You must talk together, you must understand together, and you
must decide together, and then you must wish.
Speaker 1 (29:49):
Oh well, that should not be too difficult. Come, we
shall walk back to your home together. Right now?
Speaker 2 (29:56):
Is there raising to wait?
Speaker 1 (29:58):
No? No, no, no, no, Come, for.
Speaker 2 (30:01):
Now, I place the charm on the home of Terence
on hill. Come lad, the charm lies over your cottage.
Charm from this point on, the very first wish that
is made in your house shall be granted the very
first wish, the very first and only wish, for it
(30:22):
is possible to give but one to a supplion. I see,
and so talk it over carefully with Bridget and decide
what that wish shall be.
Speaker 1 (30:38):
So o, katie'll you what happened?
Speaker 4 (30:40):
They started back towards the cottage, with me following unobserved
close behind, And once again we heard the song of
the nightingale, Ah, so gentle and clear in the stillness
of the night. And it was the dead of winter,
but there was a warm breeze in the air, and
the ground was gentle underfoot. Soon we were in sight
(31:04):
of the house, the little house where I lived with
my father and mother. Yes, we walked inside, and when
my mother saw my father, she was furious because he
was not wearing his hat.
Speaker 3 (31:15):
She was about to.
Speaker 4 (31:16):
Tell him so, but then she saw this old old
man dressed in old old clothes, and she said, whom
have you brought home this time of the night, Bridget, Darlon,
I would like you to meet the old man of
the rock, the old man of the rock.
Speaker 1 (31:34):
You say, yes, indeed, my darling old man, May I
present my partner in this world and the next. The
lovely Bridget O'Neill.
Speaker 2 (31:45):
I'm charmed to make your acquaintance the old man of
the rock, is it I have that honor, ma'am.
Speaker 4 (31:51):
Yes, Well, like goes to like one cracked brain finds another.
Speaker 1 (31:57):
Now, Bridget, we have a matter of the deepest import
to discuss, how we indeed, yes, it concerns becoming rich.
Speaker 4 (32:07):
Well, that can wait a day or two, I am certain,
if not a year or lifetime.
Speaker 1 (32:11):
And so Bridget, you and I must discuss you.
Speaker 4 (32:15):
And I must discuss your lack of manners. Terence O'Neill,
who the guest is brought into the house, he must
be served a cup of tea.
Speaker 2 (32:22):
I would be grateful for a cup of tee, Bridget O'Neil.
Speaker 1 (32:25):
And while the old Man of the rock here is
enjoying his coup of tea, you, Bridget, and I shall
be exploring the various manners, methods, and techniques, as it were,
of becoming rich rich, Yes, rich rich, rich, rich as
midas rich as recent rich. I told you he's the
(32:51):
old man of the rock.
Speaker 4 (32:53):
Oh, and I am the queen who lives in Windsor Palace.
Speaker 1 (32:56):
Tell her, tell her you are the old man of
the rock. I'm the old man of the rock and
out of business.
Speaker 4 (33:04):
I will have no business until I have discharged my
joties as a hostess. You look hungry, indeed, my old
man of the rock.
Speaker 2 (33:12):
Well, no, it has been a long fast.
Speaker 4 (33:14):
A bit of bread of my own bacon, and a
piece of fish that I caught with my own two hands.
Seeing as how my husbands are too busy supporting the
covers of a book.
Speaker 2 (33:24):
I'm sayingful man, truly thankful.
Speaker 1 (33:26):
The Bridget. You must listen. Now we must make a wish,
a wish is it?
Speaker 4 (33:32):
And how is the fish, my old man of the rock?
Ooh fine, just fine more the mowsty freely. Well, it
wants a bit of sad, easily mended, Katie. Pass the
salt shaker to your father's old man of the rock.
Speaker 1 (33:46):
Bridget. Will you listen. We must make a wish for
a certain kind of wealth, land, money, livestock and day. Yes,
and whatever wish we make, the old man of the
Rock here will see that it comes true. Yes, Bridget,
it is the truth, is it? Bridget? The very next
wish you make will come true. And that's a fact,
(34:10):
a fact you don't believe.
Speaker 4 (34:12):
Me, ah, old man the rock. What is the trouble, sir,
Oh no, no trouble. But I can see there is trouble.
Oh hate that old salt shaker. He refuses to allow
the salt.
Speaker 2 (34:24):
To flow out. That is quite damn you.
Speaker 4 (34:27):
Know, yes, I know, if only, if only what it
s impossible, Bridget.
Speaker 1 (34:33):
We must consider our wish?
Speaker 4 (34:35):
What wish?
Speaker 1 (34:37):
What wish have I been talking about? Now? The one
wish that will be granted us now, Brigid, If you
could have one wish, what would it be?
Speaker 4 (34:49):
No, old man, it doesn't only good to shake that
infernal salt cellar.
Speaker 1 (34:54):
Not in this weather, Bridget By Darling. Let us talk
together for a moment and decide on our wish. I
know my wish I wish, So don't say that, not yet,
not until we decide.
Speaker 4 (35:05):
But I've decided I wish, Bridget, I wish the salt
would flow out of that shaker in our weather, smooth clear,
in a beautiful stream.
Speaker 3 (35:15):
Of glistening white Bridgard. Oh my, oh, Terrence, Look do.
Speaker 4 (35:20):
You see the salt, See how it flows from the shaker,
How smoothly, how quickly, how free?
Speaker 3 (35:28):
Bridget?
Speaker 1 (35:28):
What have you done?
Speaker 2 (35:30):
You know what she's done, Terrence on aill, She's made
her wish.
Speaker 4 (35:33):
But now how do you account for the shaker behaven
in just that fashion, Bridgite the weather it must have
become dry outside.
Speaker 2 (35:42):
Bridget, that was our wishiest Terence, that was your wish.
Speaker 4 (35:48):
What are you saying we.
Speaker 1 (35:50):
Could have had the world and now all we have
is a salt shaker from which the salt will always
flow free?
Speaker 2 (35:58):
Well terns on Neil must admit this is no smart
thing true?
Speaker 4 (36:04):
What are you too talking about?
Speaker 2 (36:06):
Let me say this, Since I've been the old man
a barack, since I've heard wishes made, never has there
been a wish made with such heartfelt sincerity?
Speaker 1 (36:18):
Is that true, old man? Oh?
Speaker 2 (36:20):
Yes, yes, it's the truth.
Speaker 1 (36:23):
You really wanted that salt to flow, Bridget.
Speaker 4 (36:25):
Now what fool's tricks are you too playing?
Speaker 1 (36:28):
Could you answer me? Bridgete? Answer him, child, I know
what it is at that moment, Bridget, more than anything
else in the world. Did you want the salt to flow?
I answer Bridget, Yes, Oh, Brigitte, Why.
Speaker 4 (36:45):
Why when I looked at this old man, his poor
tired old man, and I said to himself, Oh, here
is one whose face is lined, whose eyes are weary,
whose life has been hard, whose death will be bitter.
But he can count his woes by the hairs on
his head, but his joys perhaps on the fingers of
(37:07):
his hands. And he was trying to put just a
few grains of salt on his fish. So small a pleasure,
and even this was being denied him. And my heart
almost cried within me. So small a thing, so tiny
a pleasure? Why should it be kept from him?
Speaker 1 (37:26):
And so I wish, Yes, she wished. Oh, how wonderful,
my dearest Starlein Bridget, Oh what a glorious wish.
Speaker 4 (37:36):
The two of you must be.
Speaker 1 (37:37):
Drunk, he hurts, drunk, drunk with happiness and joy to
know what a wife I possessed.
Speaker 4 (37:45):
Do not flirt with your wife in front of a stranger.
Speaker 1 (37:48):
No man who sits at my table is a stranger.
Speaker 2 (37:51):
Ah the salt, see the salt, Ah, Really it flows,
and it shall really flow from this sart shaker forever.
And that's why it's a magical salt shaker.
Speaker 4 (38:06):
Yes, even a police sergeant can see that.
Speaker 2 (38:09):
A grand tale, but a true one. And the further
history of this remarkable artifact.
Speaker 4 (38:16):
I was sent to America this salt shaker was the
gift of my dearest father, Terence O'Neill, and I have
kept it with me from that day to this to
this dark and infamous day when it was so coolly
stolen away.
Speaker 2 (38:29):
Oh, I'm touched by your story, Miss Gerdy O'Neill.
Speaker 4 (38:31):
And what will you do?
Speaker 2 (38:33):
It's the most difficult assignment, Miss O'Neil. Shall you promise
me something first?
Speaker 3 (38:41):
I must hear if I return.
Speaker 2 (38:42):
Your salt shaker, shall you accompany me to the park
this evening to enjoy the concert by mister John Philip
Sussa and his band of starwart United States Marie.
Speaker 4 (38:53):
And how do you intend to find my salt shaker?
Speaker 2 (38:56):
Sergeant? Where the salt shaker is magical?
Speaker 1 (38:59):
No?
Speaker 2 (38:59):
Yes, then I shall exercise powers of magic to bring
it back to its rightful owner.
Speaker 4 (39:06):
I shall be waiting at the oak tree near the bandstand,
my good Sergeant Smith. And if you have the salt shaker,
you may approach.
Speaker 2 (39:16):
However, there's no need for however, Miss Katy your kneel.
By my magical powers, I shall have the sawd shaker
ready for its rightful owner.
Speaker 5 (39:30):
Miss kathyr knew Ah, tis you approach?
Speaker 3 (39:33):
No, further and.
Speaker 2 (39:34):
Love, but I have it. See see how freely the
salt flows?
Speaker 4 (39:39):
Oh, Sargeant Smith, Sergeant Smith, you worked magic, magic, of course,
and shall you tell me the magic?
Speaker 1 (39:49):
Oh?
Speaker 2 (39:49):
That cannot be a review, but it's great magic.
Speaker 4 (39:53):
Shall I tell you the magic? You see? I happen
to know that all tick pockets, per snatchers and thieves
of that ilk have their territory. Indeed, if they see
someone else practice their depredations on that spot, they will
turn the intruders over to the police.
Speaker 1 (40:10):
Is that a fact? Hmm?
Speaker 2 (40:11):
You're telling the story, Katie on you?
Speaker 4 (40:13):
And so what you did was to ascertain which thief
is the regular? Shall we say?
Speaker 3 (40:19):
At fifty main?
Speaker 4 (40:21):
And you told him to produce the salt shaker or.
Speaker 2 (40:25):
Else, Miss Katie on you. What a suspicious nature you possess.
But I retrieved the salt shaker, Yes you did, from
which the salt will always flow. And that's magic.
Speaker 4 (40:38):
Yes, that is magic.
Speaker 2 (40:41):
And so Katy on you, shall you accompaning me home
after the concert to meet me mother?
Speaker 1 (40:56):
Shall you accompany me home to meet me mother? An
old fashioned from an old fashioned ending to an old
fashion story. And so the romantics in the house have
had their innings. We've had love and magic, and I
shall return with more. And from the shaker the salt
(41:26):
shall always flow, and so shall the blessings. If you
had one wish, what would you really wish for? All
the money in the world, you really want or need
all the money in the world, Think again and think deeply,
what is it you would really wish for. One of
(41:46):
the things I always wish for is to meet you
here seven times each week. Our cast included Terry Keane,
Fred Gwynn, Bryanna Rayburn and Lloyd Battista. The entire production
was under the direction of Iymon Brown. This is E. G.
Marshall inviting you to return to our Mystery Theater for
another adventure in the macabre. Until next time, pleasant
The CBS Radio Mystery Theater presents.
Speaker 2 (00:20):
Come in.
Speaker 1 (00:23):
Welcome. I mean g marshall. Add a grain of salt,
said a learned Roman gentleman named Pliny the Elder, some
two thousand years ago, and the value of that advice
has only increased for the passage of time. Take everything
you see and hear with a grain of salt, and
you'll be surprised at how much savor you will add
(00:43):
to your life. I Am going to find the old
Man of the Rock.
Speaker 3 (00:48):
There's no such person.
Speaker 4 (00:50):
He's an old wives tayan.
Speaker 1 (00:51):
Do you keep away from him? If there's no such person?
Why you're so scared?
Speaker 4 (00:57):
Because he kills everyone who approaches. Why do you want
to find him?
Speaker 1 (01:03):
Because he knows where all the money in the world
can be found. Our mystery drama A Grain of Salt
was written especially for the Mystery Theater by Sam Dan
(01:25):
and stars Terry Keane and Fred Gwynn. It is sponsored
in part by True Value Hardware Stores and Buwett Mortor Division.
I'll be back shortly with that one. Goblins and ghosts,
(01:49):
pixies and elves, keilpies and banshees, spirits and sprites, the
good folk, the bad folk. Oh. I can go on
and on, but you get the idea. At one time,
these much we call them supernatural beings were as real
as as the sounds you hear in a deserted house,
in a desolate countryside, on a dark and moonless night.
(02:11):
And nowhere were they more real than on a certain
enchanted island that was gracious and green and filled with soft,
lilting music, and covered with a magical mist. But we
run ahead of ourselves. We're not there yet. We're still
on this side of the Atlantic, in a large city
on the eastern coast, perhaps seventy eighty or even ninety
(02:33):
years ago. Are you the sergeant, Well, I'm a sergeant,
Sergeant Smith.
Speaker 4 (02:38):
Are you the sergeant they told me to see?
Speaker 2 (02:40):
Are you the sergeant they told me to see?
Speaker 1 (02:43):
Why it sings?
Speaker 2 (02:44):
Your mother comes from County Donical, She does not the
Nnahana covent.
Speaker 4 (02:48):
Sir, I have not come to discourse on genealogical or
geographical situations.
Speaker 2 (02:53):
But it is the place of my own origin with
the name of Smith. My dearest mother's me father comes
from Meland.
Speaker 4 (03:00):
That, sir, must be your own private sorrow, and bear
it bravely and in silence like a man.
Speaker 2 (03:06):
Well, then, miss or.
Speaker 4 (03:07):
Madam, miss if you please, Miss Katie.
Speaker 2 (03:10):
O'Neill, Miss Katie O'Neill, oh, it sings like a ballad?
Speaker 4 (03:14):
Are you a maker of music or an officer of
the police?
Speaker 2 (03:17):
The too need not be mutually exclusive?
Speaker 4 (03:19):
And then I might have done better to consult mister
John Phillips SUSA.
Speaker 2 (03:22):
He conducts his orchestra in the park this evening. Would
you do me the honor, Miss O'Neill.
Speaker 4 (03:28):
So it's how you spend the taxpayers harder and dollar,
Sergeant Smith attempting to romance every young maiden lady that
requires the assistance of the police, not.
Speaker 2 (03:36):
Every young maiden lady, Miss O'Neill.
Speaker 4 (03:39):
Then shall we come at last to the facts in
the case?
Speaker 2 (03:41):
Ad? Then we have a case? Have we proceeded?
Speaker 4 (03:45):
Which is exactly what I was doing this noon about.
Speaker 3 (03:49):
Half hour past.
Speaker 4 (03:51):
I was standing at the corner of fifth the main
and why are you not writing this down?
Speaker 2 (03:57):
I'm gazing into your eyes, Miss Katy O'Neill.
Speaker 4 (03:59):
Aren't you a shamed Sergeant Smith? Of what attend to
the fact there's work to be done?
Speaker 2 (04:05):
You were standing on the corner of fifth and may
I was and stopping the traffic for miles around.
Speaker 4 (04:11):
I was waiting for a streetcar.
Speaker 2 (04:13):
A most innocent arcupat.
Speaker 4 (04:15):
I was in the midst of a crowd that was waiting. Suddenly, yes,
suddenly there was this tug in my arm.
Speaker 1 (04:24):
Tug.
Speaker 4 (04:24):
It was more of a pool a pool, but a
gentle pull.
Speaker 1 (04:29):
A gentle pull.
Speaker 4 (04:31):
Yes, so gentle, so soft, So light as a.
Speaker 3 (04:36):
Thistle or a humming bird's wing.
Speaker 4 (04:38):
Are you writing that down?
Speaker 2 (04:41):
Was that as light as a thistle or as light
as a hummingbird swing? Miss oneil or he must be
accurate in these matters.
Speaker 4 (04:47):
Naked as light as either or both?
Speaker 2 (04:49):
Well, won't you happen to know specifically the weight of
a humming bird swing or a thistle for that matter,
As you know, police work is.
Speaker 1 (04:56):
An exact science.
Speaker 2 (04:57):
And then yes, and.
Speaker 4 (05:01):
Then and then I looked down at my arm and
and and my pocketbook was gone.
Speaker 1 (05:09):
Your pocketbook was gone.
Speaker 4 (05:10):
It had been taken from me.
Speaker 2 (05:12):
What did you say, who did it?
Speaker 4 (05:13):
See him? No, as I said, I was standing in
the midst of a crowd. One moment the pocketbook was
on my arm, and then the next it was gone.
Speaker 2 (05:22):
And you saw no one who could have taken.
Speaker 4 (05:24):
No I saw no one. I said to the people
who were standing round, I said, has anyone seen a pocketbook?
Speaker 3 (05:29):
Mine is gone? I believe it was taken.
Speaker 4 (05:32):
Everyone looked all around, and someone said, are you sure
you didn't drop it on the ground, And someone else said,
are you positive you had it with you? And I said,
it's been taken by a thief. Has anyone seen the thief?
And a man standing next to me said what did
he look like? And I answered, if I know what
he looked like, i'd know who he was.
Speaker 2 (05:51):
And no one had seen him.
Speaker 4 (05:52):
No one had seen him. I was in the midst
of a crowd that was waiting for a street car
on the corner of Fifth and Maine at high noon,
and man removed my pocket book from my arm, unseen
and unbeknownst.
Speaker 2 (06:05):
And those are the facts, Those are the known facts.
You discovered the loss of the pocket book. You saw
no one.
Speaker 4 (06:11):
Take it, nor could I find a witness to the taken.
Speaker 2 (06:14):
And then what did you do? What did I do?
Speaker 4 (06:16):
I came to the nearest police station, this one. I
was referred to a sergeant. You now, when may I
expect to get my pocket book?
Speaker 2 (06:26):
When we find the thief.
Speaker 3 (06:28):
That does not answer the question, for the.
Speaker 2 (06:30):
Police department is not yet in position to make a
definite statement.
Speaker 3 (06:35):
Oh, which is not?
Speaker 2 (06:36):
It requires more facts. Now, how much money was there
in the pocket book?
Speaker 3 (06:40):
How much money?
Speaker 4 (06:42):
Why?
Speaker 2 (06:42):
None?
Speaker 1 (06:44):
None?
Speaker 4 (06:45):
No, I never carry money in a pocket book.
Speaker 1 (06:47):
You don't And why not?
Speaker 3 (06:49):
Why not?
Speaker 4 (06:50):
Should it not be obvious? Why not even to the
sergeant of the police. You know what happened less than
an hour gone by? Suppose I'd had money in the
pocket book?
Speaker 1 (06:59):
What then?
Speaker 2 (07:00):
Or so we established there was no money in the
pocket book. Where was the pocketbook itself?
Speaker 1 (07:05):
No?
Speaker 4 (07:05):
No, no, it was old, old.
Speaker 2 (07:09):
And what was the color of the pocket book?
Speaker 4 (07:11):
It's color? I'm not sure that question can be answered.
Speaker 1 (07:15):
And why not?
Speaker 4 (07:16):
Because the original color had faded and gone given way
to a whole spectrum, you might say, of hues and
shades of varying degrees.
Speaker 2 (07:25):
Well, is the pocketbook still worth anything?
Speaker 5 (07:27):
Ah?
Speaker 4 (07:28):
The poor thing whifed it was, and torn and in
general fallen apart.
Speaker 2 (07:32):
Well, then stolen from you? Is a worthless pocket book
with nothing of value inside? Why are you bothering to
report it to the police?
Speaker 1 (07:41):
Ah?
Speaker 4 (07:42):
But there was something of value inside?
Speaker 2 (07:44):
Or what you said?
Speaker 1 (07:45):
There was no money, something of great value?
Speaker 2 (07:48):
And what is that miss case on you?
Speaker 4 (07:50):
A falt shaker?
Speaker 2 (07:53):
AsSalt shaker?
Speaker 4 (07:55):
The English side of your family would no doubt refer
to it as.
Speaker 2 (07:58):
A salt seller, well, sort of a salt shaker.
Speaker 4 (08:03):
Just a salt shaker.
Speaker 2 (08:05):
And you said it was valuable.
Speaker 4 (08:07):
Oh yes it is.
Speaker 2 (08:08):
Indeed, why would a salt shaker be valuable.
Speaker 4 (08:12):
Because it's the only one of its kind in the
whole wide world?
Speaker 1 (08:16):
Oh?
Speaker 2 (08:16):
Is it made of gold?
Speaker 3 (08:17):
Oh?
Speaker 1 (08:18):
No, silver, not a bit of it. Well then what
is it made of?
Speaker 3 (08:22):
Oh? Fewter?
Speaker 2 (08:25):
Pewter?
Speaker 3 (08:26):
Perhaps not fewter.
Speaker 4 (08:27):
It could be something even cheaper.
Speaker 2 (08:29):
But you just said it was valuable, that it was
the only one of its kind in the world.
Speaker 4 (08:33):
I said that, and I stand by it.
Speaker 2 (08:37):
Then is it is it encrusted perhaps with pearls or diamonds,
robes the precious stones?
Speaker 4 (08:42):
Oh no?
Speaker 2 (08:44):
Well then was it crafted by one of those great
fellows like a chileany who chileany bin venoto chileany Ah?
Speaker 3 (08:54):
No?
Speaker 1 (08:55):
Then how can it be valuable because.
Speaker 4 (08:58):
It's a magical old shaker?
Speaker 1 (09:02):
Oh?
Speaker 2 (09:03):
Oh yes, I see.
Speaker 4 (09:05):
And that is why I must have it back.
Speaker 2 (09:07):
In what way is the salt shaker magical?
Speaker 4 (09:10):
In what way can a salt shaker be magical?
Speaker 1 (09:14):
Well?
Speaker 4 (09:15):
Uh, the question only has one answer.
Speaker 2 (09:19):
Well, suppose you tell it to me.
Speaker 4 (09:22):
And you are a sergeant of detectives.
Speaker 2 (09:25):
Well, now, miss Katy, oh knew? What is your game?
You're coming here with this blather about a magical salt shaker.
Speaker 3 (09:32):
But it's true.
Speaker 2 (09:33):
Why would you be carrying a salt shaker in your pocketbook?
Speaker 4 (09:36):
Why? Because I never know when it might be useful?
Speaker 2 (09:40):
Well, it would say to me that you only time
you'd require a salt shake would be at meals?
Speaker 1 (09:44):
Is that so?
Speaker 3 (09:45):
It's most probably so?
Speaker 2 (09:47):
And would you take your meals at the table and
someone's home or in a restaurant? Is that not so?
Speaker 3 (09:52):
I agree?
Speaker 2 (09:54):
Well, wouldn't there already be at least one salt shaker
on that table?
Speaker 1 (09:57):
Yes?
Speaker 4 (09:58):
But mine is a magic salt shaker? Oh very well,
you don't believe it.
Speaker 2 (10:05):
But why is it a magical salt shaker?
Speaker 1 (10:08):
Ah?
Speaker 4 (10:09):
And if I told you, would you promise faithfully and
fully to find.
Speaker 3 (10:13):
It for me?
Speaker 2 (10:14):
It's my dort here to find it for you.
Speaker 3 (10:17):
All right.
Speaker 4 (10:19):
When I was a little girl in County Cavan, I
lived on a farm with my father and mother and
my father. Ah, there was a man for you, filled
with great and bold schemes, all of which I'm sorry
to report came to not. And I was a tiny child,
but I still remember the talk around the table. Will
(10:45):
Terrence on near.
Speaker 1 (10:46):
Good morning, bridget my darden.
Speaker 4 (10:48):
A good morning, is it, Terrence on Neil. You can't
see the sun for the clouds, the winds howling, and
it's cold enough to cut the stones.
Speaker 1 (10:56):
Ah, but it's the only morning the Good Lord, in
his infinite wisdom has seen fit to send us, and
we accept it gladly. For it is written you should
take the band with.
Speaker 4 (11:08):
The good Oh and where is that written?
Speaker 1 (11:12):
Well, if it is written, it should be well. Now.
Speaker 4 (11:16):
Not that I wish to raise a subject so painfully.
But have you given much thought to seeking employment this day,
Terence Onill?
Speaker 2 (11:23):
Oh?
Speaker 1 (11:23):
Yes, yes, yes, I shall be employed, expanding the horizon
of my knowledge.
Speaker 4 (11:28):
I was thinking of gainful employment.
Speaker 1 (11:31):
It's gainful. I am embarked on a course of study
that shall make us both rich rich.
Speaker 4 (11:38):
You don't believe it, Oh, No man ever got rich
by looking through books.
Speaker 1 (11:43):
That's because you have to find the right books.
Speaker 5 (11:51):
That's how it would go.
Speaker 4 (11:53):
My father would spend the days reading his books and
walking through the fields in the forests, nodding his head, thinking, studying, considering.
And then finally, one day my father came home and
he had a very old book in his hand, and
he was very excited.
Speaker 5 (12:13):
Bridget.
Speaker 1 (12:14):
Oh, yes, it's Bridget.
Speaker 5 (12:15):
And did expect me not to behold, Bridget, listen to me.
Speaker 4 (12:19):
Oh, I listened to you once, and that was the
undown of me, who marry me, Bridget Darlin.
Speaker 1 (12:24):
And you shall wear silks.
Speaker 4 (12:25):
And furs spangled with cloth of gold and spartan, with
diamonds and pearl.
Speaker 1 (12:29):
And so you shall you shall do. No, no, Bridget,
I'm serious about. What about the promise I made you
about the wearing of the silks and the first and
the diamonds and the pearl Oh.
Speaker 4 (12:39):
Well, bring them in and I'll put them on my will.
I will when tomorrow tomorrow. Yes, oh, my poor Terence,
it's it's gone to your heads, as I knew it.
Speaker 1 (12:50):
Would, Bridget. I I am not crazy. It's here in
the book, right here. It tells how to find them,
find who the old man of the rock.
Speaker 5 (13:02):
Have you taken leave of your senses?
Speaker 1 (13:04):
Bridget?
Speaker 4 (13:04):
It's ears in the book the old Man is a rock,
he's nothing but an old wives tale.
Speaker 3 (13:09):
He don't exist.
Speaker 1 (13:10):
This book tells exactly where to find it.
Speaker 5 (13:12):
Then don't dare go near him.
Speaker 1 (13:14):
It reveals his item place.
Speaker 4 (13:15):
Now you listen to me. The old Man of the Rock,
he he'll make you his slaves.
Speaker 1 (13:20):
No, no, no, no, not if you know the magical words.
What magical words? The magical words that make him your slave?
Speaker 4 (13:30):
I don't What another word said about that in this house.
Speaker 1 (13:32):
Is you can make you your slave, and he'll grant
you your wish. Whatever you want, you'll make it come true.
The old Man of the Rock tomorrow, I'll go to you.
Speaker 4 (13:45):
No, no, Terence, I don't want to be rich.
Speaker 3 (13:47):
You do you do?
Speaker 4 (13:49):
Please? Terrence, promise me, please.
Speaker 1 (13:52):
Bridgitte, I believe I've never seen you so frightened before.
Speaker 4 (13:55):
It's because I've never been so frightened before.
Speaker 1 (13:59):
But what are you afraid of the.
Speaker 3 (14:01):
Old Man of the Rock?
Speaker 1 (14:04):
Of what you should be afraid? Didn't you say he
was nothing but an old wives tale? Well, now, as
you know, we're going to find out about the powers,
if any of some supernatural being, assuming of course, such
(14:25):
a one exists. It all began with a stolen pocketbook
in America somewhere, and suddenly we find ourselves in Ireland somewhere.
But it's a good place to be for our purposes,
and the tour should resume as soon as I return
shortly with that too, as we concluded at one we
(14:53):
heard someone refer to something hard to believe as an
old wives tale. Well, don't be too cavalier in dismissing
old wise tales. There used to be an old wise
tale to the affected moldy cheese was good for wounds,
and then science discovered venzillin, similarly that the bark of
a certain tree did wonders for malaria, and science, of
course discovered quinine. Are we also involved in an old
(15:18):
wise tale? Probably?
Speaker 2 (15:20):
Now, Miss Kathy O'Neil, I don't want you to lose me,
But as I understand it, your father had unearthed some
mythical character, the Old Man of the Rock.
Speaker 4 (15:30):
Oh yes, and how well he was known in the
countryside for the.
Speaker 2 (15:34):
Old Man of the Rock.
Speaker 1 (15:35):
Just who was he? He was a Dane.
Speaker 4 (15:38):
A Dane, a Viking, one who had invaded Ireland a
thousand years ago.
Speaker 2 (15:43):
Oh you mean, one who had conquered Ireland.
Speaker 4 (15:45):
We don't talk about that. And besides, they all took
Irish names and learned the Irish tongue and became truly Irish.
So it can be said that we conquered them.
Speaker 2 (15:53):
And now you must bring me back to the old man.
Speaker 1 (15:55):
Of the rock.
Speaker 2 (15:56):
Ah.
Speaker 4 (15:56):
Yes, he was a Viking, a scandon. Yes, he was
a dub Gale, a Dane, a black foreigner, as distinguishable
from a thin gale, a fair foreigner.
Speaker 3 (16:09):
A Norwegian.
Speaker 2 (16:10):
I see is this important.
Speaker 4 (16:13):
As you said, sageant, police work is an exact science.
Speaker 2 (16:17):
Continue katy on you.
Speaker 4 (16:19):
And they laid waste the land with fire and sword,
but they could not conquer, so they remained to.
Speaker 3 (16:26):
Become a part of it.
Speaker 2 (16:27):
And the old man on the rock he was a
Dane who had.
Speaker 4 (16:30):
Ranged as far north as the River Liffey. And one
day he saw a huge rock and he said, I
will build me a castle, and this rock shall be
a foundation stone. And he commanded his men to move it.
But it could not be budged from the spot.
Speaker 5 (16:49):
Yes, and it was not that large nor heavy a rock.
Speaker 2 (16:53):
Or it could not be moved.
Speaker 1 (16:55):
No, and what happened, No one knows what happened. Oh well,
then one.
Speaker 4 (17:02):
Day this dugdale chieftain, this dark foreigner disappeared.
Speaker 2 (17:07):
Anna, what do you mean disappeared?
Speaker 4 (17:10):
Disappeared, vanished, was no more?
Speaker 2 (17:13):
But what became of him?
Speaker 1 (17:14):
Where did he go? Ah?
Speaker 4 (17:17):
That is the legend a a what legend of what
legend are we speaking?
Speaker 3 (17:22):
The legend of the old man in the Rock?
Speaker 1 (17:24):
Yes, it is.
Speaker 4 (17:25):
Said he would go to the rock, this rock that
would not be moved from its spot, to become a
stone for his castle. And he would say, rock, why
do you refuse to be taken from the ground and
become part of the great wall of my castle? And
do you know what the rock replied?
Speaker 2 (17:45):
I have no way of knowing that the rock could
even speak.
Speaker 4 (17:47):
A voice was heard to come from the rock, and
it said, you have no need for a rock to
form the wall of your castle, dark foreigner, inside your
body is something even harder than I am.
Speaker 1 (18:02):
Your heart.
Speaker 2 (18:05):
This is what the rock purportedly said.
Speaker 3 (18:07):
Purportedly is it?
Speaker 6 (18:09):
Well?
Speaker 2 (18:09):
Is there documentation to that effect?
Speaker 4 (18:11):
Of course there were witnesses who had seen and heard.
Speaker 2 (18:15):
Well, continue, Miss Katy O'Neill.
Speaker 4 (18:18):
For a moment, the doub Gail said nothing. He was,
as you may safely assume overcome with fear and surprise.
Speaker 2 (18:25):
Yes, I can safely make that assumption.
Speaker 4 (18:27):
And a terrible look came into his eyes, terrible, and
he said, Yes, if my heart is rock, then it
means that I am rock, and I am that rock.
Speaker 5 (18:42):
That rock.
Speaker 2 (18:45):
Well, now that's drawn a long bow, wouldn't you say?
It makes fine sense? Indeed, I'm sorry, I shall not
interrupt again. And then what happened?
Speaker 4 (18:55):
What happened? He retired to his tent. Yes, and he
was seen no more.
Speaker 2 (19:01):
Well what became of him?
Speaker 4 (19:02):
Evidently he became the rock?
Speaker 2 (19:05):
Well how could he know that?
Speaker 4 (19:07):
Well?
Speaker 3 (19:07):
He was the rock?
Speaker 4 (19:08):
He said he was, didn't he?
Speaker 6 (19:10):
Yes?
Speaker 3 (19:11):
But let there be no butts.
Speaker 4 (19:14):
Ah, Those were the exact words my father said to
my mother that morning. I remember it. I remember as
if it were yesterday. We were sitting at the table
in the kitchen, and my father said, let.
Speaker 1 (19:30):
There be no butts bridget o'nian. I have this book.
I bought it in Belfast four shallons.
Speaker 4 (19:37):
Four shillins, and I have had no meat on this
table in six months.
Speaker 1 (19:41):
And a good thing. Meat is conducive to the gout.
Speaker 4 (19:44):
Only rich people get the gout. We are in no
danger here.
Speaker 1 (19:48):
Ah, we are in great danger. Tomorrow we shall be rich.
Speaker 4 (19:52):
Do not speak this way in front of the child.
She will think her father is mad. Oh, it is
just his way of talking, Katie.
Speaker 1 (20:00):
No harm, of course not. I mean only good. Yes,
this book, see it is four hundred years old.
Speaker 4 (20:09):
For six shillins, you're entitled to a book as his
brand new the.
Speaker 1 (20:12):
Book you see, it says the douve gale entered into
the rock where he had time to repent his many sins.
Ate your fish, it wants salt. O, Katie, pass your
father the shaker. Thank you, Jack m. I can't seem
to get any sort gone out. We'll shake harder, Ah,
(20:32):
this wretched sort shaker. And if he's a dump day,
why don't you get alone?
Speaker 4 (20:37):
For six chillens, I could have had one of silver.
Speaker 1 (20:40):
Well tomorrow you shall have one of gold, Yes, pure gold.
If I can find the old man of the rock,
he will.
Speaker 4 (20:49):
Will lead you straight to the devil.
Speaker 1 (20:51):
No no, no, no, no no no. That is the
old wise tale. You see. He has had a change
of heart. Too much slaughter and pillage at second him
has turned his heart to Stow, who says that this
book right here his heart is a heavy burden inside him.
He seeks to lighten it by doing good for good people.
(21:13):
And so if I can find him, if you yes,
this book tells how to find him.
Speaker 4 (21:19):
Well, whuan didn't the person who wrote the book find
him and become rich?
Speaker 1 (21:23):
He could not? Why because he was a monk who
had sworn a vow of poverty. Poverty.
Speaker 4 (21:30):
He gets six chilling for every copy of the book.
Speaker 1 (21:32):
He doesn't get the money he's been thirty four hundred years.
Speaker 4 (21:36):
Will the person who sold you the book? Why doesn't
he go to the Old Man of the Rock and
get rich?
Speaker 1 (21:41):
He can't? Why not because the book is written in
Gaelic and he cannot read it. Now. In this book
are detailed instructions on how one may find the rock.
One must wait for the first moonless night of the month,
which happens to be tonight, Terence. Only one waits for
(22:05):
the first sound of a nightingale, nightingale.
Speaker 4 (22:09):
There are no nightingales in.
Speaker 1 (22:10):
These parts there are when one seeks the Old Man
of the Rock. One listen.
Speaker 4 (22:17):
I do not care how keen your ears. You cannot
hear a nightingale where there are none.
Speaker 1 (22:22):
No one does not listen with the ears, but with
the heart. I see, I'm happy. And now you understand.
Speaker 4 (22:31):
Oh, my poor Terence, you were not intended for poverty.
It has turned your brain.
Speaker 5 (22:37):
And I have helped Bridget what you.
Speaker 4 (22:39):
Say, I shall help you be happy. I shall neither
score nor nag, my darling, Terrence. I shall support these delusions, Bridget.
Speaker 1 (22:49):
We shall be rich tomorrow, for I shall find the
old man of the rock. I shall find him. Where
are you going to, the old man of the rock,
my darling? Good night, good tunes?
Speaker 4 (23:04):
Oh that man, that man you'll catch his death, child,
Katie child. He didn't even take his hat, dear, run
after him and see that he puts it on his head.
Speaker 1 (23:17):
And I did.
Speaker 4 (23:19):
I ran from the house, but I did not wish
to catch up with my father, for if I should,
he would take the hat and tell me to go home,
and of course I would have to obey him.
Speaker 2 (23:30):
So what did you do? Something not he not?
Speaker 6 (23:32):
Oh?
Speaker 1 (23:33):
Yes?
Speaker 4 (23:34):
I followed him in the dark, through fields, through the woods,
keeping far enough behind so he couldn't see me, but
close enough to hear him read from the book, and
you shall hear a nightingale song. And he stopped and
he listened and I stopped, and I listened, and it
(23:58):
was sudden.
Speaker 3 (24:00):
I heard it.
Speaker 2 (24:01):
And what did you hear?
Speaker 3 (24:03):
What are we talking about? The nightingale?
Speaker 2 (24:05):
So the nightingale.
Speaker 4 (24:06):
Yes, the nightingale, as soft and as sweet and as
silvery clean.
Speaker 2 (24:11):
Or you're positive it was a nightingale.
Speaker 1 (24:13):
Yes?
Speaker 2 (24:14):
On what evidence, kit you'll knew, for after all you
never heard one before.
Speaker 4 (24:18):
On the evidence of my heart.
Speaker 2 (24:21):
Ah, yes, the only true evidence there is. Well, I
must let you continue uninterrupted.
Speaker 4 (24:28):
Then my father laughed, his great, joyous laugh, and he said,
the nightingale, and we follow her dulcet tones to a tree,
a patriarch of the forest, an ancient oak. Its limbs
are bare, but the heart still beats truly within. Oh yes,
(24:48):
And beneath this oak is a rock, a large sized rock,
great enough for the foundation.
Speaker 3 (24:55):
Stone of a castle.
Speaker 2 (24:56):
And was that the rock?
Speaker 4 (24:58):
My father stood before the rock, and I could hear
him say.
Speaker 6 (25:05):
Old man of the rock, I approach with clean heart
and the soul that is free from malice, Old man.
Speaker 1 (25:15):
Of the rock, hear me, I come to seek your aid.
Therefore I bitch you and materialize from within the stone,
and lift the weight from your own heart. Dub Gale,
dark foreigner.
Speaker 5 (25:31):
Appear before me?
Speaker 2 (25:38):
Cause me, dark foreigner, it's you.
Speaker 5 (25:42):
It's true you.
Speaker 1 (25:45):
Where did you come from?
Speaker 2 (25:46):
Oh? You're saying where I came from?
Speaker 1 (25:49):
The rock, old man of the Rock. I believed it.
I believed it truly.
Speaker 2 (25:55):
That is why I have appeared, And why have you
all come to me?
Speaker 1 (26:00):
I want to be rich.
Speaker 2 (26:02):
All men desire riches. It was for wealth that I
try to give. Lord Narsail from dead Land are whiting pirate? Ah,
But I've learned better.
Speaker 1 (26:13):
Oh, I do not ask to be rich for myself.
You do not for private gain?
Speaker 2 (26:19):
Is that a fact?
Speaker 1 (26:20):
I want riches for what they can do, and what
can they do bring joy?
Speaker 2 (26:26):
Not all rich men are joyful. I can say this
having known many, indeed having been one myself.
Speaker 1 (26:34):
But wealthy it is not meant to be kept. It
is not you know, it is not all rather rock.
It is meant to be given away. It should be
used to feed the poor, to protect the widow, to
raise the orphan, to leave the up breast. And this
is what you would do with wealth. This is what
(26:55):
I would wish to do with my wealth.
Speaker 2 (26:57):
It's a noble ambition.
Speaker 1 (26:59):
Ah, And so will you grant me my wish, Old Man.
Speaker 2 (27:02):
Of the Rock, I will grant a wish.
Speaker 1 (27:06):
But this is my wish. But is it our sow?
Speaker 2 (27:09):
Your wife's wish?
Speaker 1 (27:11):
My wife? What has my wife to do with?
Speaker 2 (27:15):
Were she told must be considered? But why because you
are not alone? Her man and wife are one and
body in soul, in spirit.
Speaker 1 (27:26):
But my wish is our wish?
Speaker 2 (27:29):
Are you sure?
Speaker 3 (27:29):
Now?
Speaker 2 (27:30):
Oh?
Speaker 1 (27:30):
She's a good hearted woman, a bit short in the
temper perhaps, but a kind heart, a generous though.
Speaker 2 (27:37):
Well, now that is what we're going.
Speaker 1 (27:40):
To find out, and we shall find out all about it.
In Act three, here we have the Old Man of
the Rock, this Viking turned Irish. How well those were
days filled with action magic? And so were these if
(28:01):
you know where to look?
Speaker 6 (28:12):
Now?
Speaker 1 (28:13):
Where were we in a police station almost one hundred
years ago listening to pretty Katie O'Neil telling handsome Sergeant
Smith about a purse that was stolen from her. And
to make the tale complete, she must go all the
way back to Ireland many years ago, and an encounter
between her father and a mysterious being known as the
(28:34):
Old Man of the Rock.
Speaker 2 (28:36):
And so this mythical charactery emerged.
Speaker 4 (28:39):
From the Rock did emerged materialized as all one, and
you saw it with my own two eyes.
Speaker 2 (28:47):
And I still cannot decide whether they're blow or grave.
Speaker 1 (28:50):
Oh, but the gray continue.
Speaker 4 (28:53):
And so they had this confrontation, my father, Terence O'Neill.
Speaker 1 (28:57):
And the old man of the rock, and what happened.
Speaker 4 (29:00):
The old man explained how it would have to work.
Speaker 2 (29:06):
Being rich is a complicated business.
Speaker 1 (29:10):
It seems rather simple to me, old man, what does
it now?
Speaker 2 (29:14):
That is perhaps because you've never been rich yourself? True?
And how would you choose to be rich? In land,
in gold?
Speaker 1 (29:24):
I would have to think in goods, in stocks, in bonds.
I would just like to be rich.
Speaker 2 (29:30):
Well, you cannot wish just to be rich?
Speaker 1 (29:33):
And why not?
Speaker 2 (29:35):
What is rich? Oh? You and your wife must decide.
You must talk together, you must understand together, and you
must decide together, and then you must wish.
Speaker 1 (29:49):
Oh well, that should not be too difficult. Come, we
shall walk back to your home together. Right now?
Speaker 2 (29:56):
Is there raising to wait?
Speaker 1 (29:58):
No? No, no, no, no, Come, for.
Speaker 2 (30:01):
Now, I place the charm on the home of Terence
on hill. Come lad, the charm lies over your cottage.
Charm from this point on, the very first wish that
is made in your house shall be granted the very
first wish, the very first and only wish, for it
(30:22):
is possible to give but one to a supplion. I see,
and so talk it over carefully with Bridget and decide
what that wish shall be.
Speaker 1 (30:38):
So o, katie'll you what happened?
Speaker 4 (30:40):
They started back towards the cottage, with me following unobserved
close behind, And once again we heard the song of
the nightingale, Ah, so gentle and clear in the stillness
of the night. And it was the dead of winter,
but there was a warm breeze in the air, and
the ground was gentle underfoot. Soon we were in sight
(31:04):
of the house, the little house where I lived with
my father and mother. Yes, we walked inside, and when
my mother saw my father, she was furious because he
was not wearing his hat.
Speaker 3 (31:15):
She was about to.
Speaker 4 (31:16):
Tell him so, but then she saw this old old
man dressed in old old clothes, and she said, whom
have you brought home this time of the night, Bridget, Darlon,
I would like you to meet the old man of
the rock, the old man of the rock.
Speaker 1 (31:34):
You say, yes, indeed, my darling old man, May I
present my partner in this world and the next. The
lovely Bridget O'Neill.
Speaker 2 (31:45):
I'm charmed to make your acquaintance the old man of
the rock, is it I have that honor, ma'am.
Speaker 4 (31:51):
Yes, Well, like goes to like one cracked brain finds another.
Speaker 1 (31:57):
Now, Bridget, we have a matter of the deepest import
to discuss, how we indeed, yes, it concerns becoming rich.
Speaker 4 (32:07):
Well, that can wait a day or two, I am certain,
if not a year or lifetime.
Speaker 1 (32:11):
And so Bridget, you and I must discuss you.
Speaker 4 (32:15):
And I must discuss your lack of manners. Terence O'Neill,
who the guest is brought into the house, he must
be served a cup of tea.
Speaker 2 (32:22):
I would be grateful for a cup of tee, Bridget O'Neil.
Speaker 1 (32:25):
And while the old Man of the rock here is
enjoying his coup of tea, you, Bridget, and I shall
be exploring the various manners, methods, and techniques, as it were,
of becoming rich rich, Yes, rich rich, rich, rich as
midas rich as recent rich. I told you he's the
(32:51):
old man of the rock.
Speaker 4 (32:53):
Oh, and I am the queen who lives in Windsor Palace.
Speaker 1 (32:56):
Tell her, tell her you are the old man of
the rock. I'm the old man of the rock and
out of business.
Speaker 4 (33:04):
I will have no business until I have discharged my
joties as a hostess. You look hungry, indeed, my old
man of the rock.
Speaker 2 (33:12):
Well, no, it has been a long fast.
Speaker 4 (33:14):
A bit of bread of my own bacon, and a
piece of fish that I caught with my own two hands.
Seeing as how my husbands are too busy supporting the
covers of a book.
Speaker 2 (33:24):
I'm sayingful man, truly thankful.
Speaker 1 (33:26):
The Bridget. You must listen. Now we must make a wish,
a wish is it?
Speaker 4 (33:32):
And how is the fish, my old man of the rock?
Ooh fine, just fine more the mowsty freely. Well, it
wants a bit of sad, easily mended, Katie. Pass the
salt shaker to your father's old man of the rock.
Speaker 1 (33:46):
Bridget. Will you listen. We must make a wish for
a certain kind of wealth, land, money, livestock and day. Yes,
and whatever wish we make, the old man of the
Rock here will see that it comes true. Yes, Bridget,
it is the truth, is it? Bridget? The very next
wish you make will come true. And that's a fact,
(34:10):
a fact you don't believe.
Speaker 4 (34:12):
Me, ah, old man the rock. What is the trouble, sir,
Oh no, no trouble. But I can see there is trouble.
Oh hate that old salt shaker. He refuses to allow
the salt.
Speaker 2 (34:24):
To flow out. That is quite damn you.
Speaker 4 (34:27):
Know, yes, I know, if only, if only what it
s impossible, Bridget.
Speaker 1 (34:33):
We must consider our wish?
Speaker 4 (34:35):
What wish?
Speaker 1 (34:37):
What wish have I been talking about? Now? The one
wish that will be granted us now, Brigid, If you
could have one wish, what would it be?
Speaker 4 (34:49):
No, old man, it doesn't only good to shake that
infernal salt cellar.
Speaker 1 (34:54):
Not in this weather, Bridget By Darling. Let us talk
together for a moment and decide on our wish. I
know my wish I wish, So don't say that, not yet,
not until we decide.
Speaker 4 (35:05):
But I've decided I wish, Bridget, I wish the salt
would flow out of that shaker in our weather, smooth clear,
in a beautiful stream.
Speaker 3 (35:15):
Of glistening white Bridgard. Oh my, oh, Terrence, Look do.
Speaker 4 (35:20):
You see the salt, See how it flows from the shaker,
How smoothly, how quickly, how free?
Speaker 3 (35:28):
Bridget?
Speaker 1 (35:28):
What have you done?
Speaker 2 (35:30):
You know what she's done, Terrence on aill, She's made
her wish.
Speaker 4 (35:33):
But now how do you account for the shaker behaven
in just that fashion, Bridgite the weather it must have
become dry outside.
Speaker 2 (35:42):
Bridget, that was our wishiest Terence, that was your wish.
Speaker 4 (35:48):
What are you saying we.
Speaker 1 (35:50):
Could have had the world and now all we have
is a salt shaker from which the salt will always
flow free?
Speaker 2 (35:58):
Well terns on Neil must admit this is no smart
thing true?
Speaker 4 (36:04):
What are you too talking about?
Speaker 2 (36:06):
Let me say this, Since I've been the old man
a barack, since I've heard wishes made, never has there
been a wish made with such heartfelt sincerity?
Speaker 1 (36:18):
Is that true, old man? Oh?
Speaker 2 (36:20):
Yes, yes, it's the truth.
Speaker 1 (36:23):
You really wanted that salt to flow, Bridget.
Speaker 4 (36:25):
Now what fool's tricks are you too playing?
Speaker 1 (36:28):
Could you answer me? Bridgete? Answer him, child, I know
what it is at that moment, Bridget, more than anything
else in the world. Did you want the salt to flow?
I answer Bridget, Yes, Oh, Brigitte, Why.
Speaker 4 (36:45):
Why when I looked at this old man, his poor
tired old man, and I said to himself, Oh, here
is one whose face is lined, whose eyes are weary,
whose life has been hard, whose death will be bitter.
But he can count his woes by the hairs on
his head, but his joys perhaps on the fingers of
(37:07):
his hands. And he was trying to put just a
few grains of salt on his fish. So small a pleasure,
and even this was being denied him. And my heart
almost cried within me. So small a thing, so tiny
a pleasure? Why should it be kept from him?
Speaker 1 (37:26):
And so I wish, Yes, she wished. Oh, how wonderful,
my dearest Starlein Bridget, Oh what a glorious wish.
Speaker 4 (37:36):
The two of you must be.
Speaker 1 (37:37):
Drunk, he hurts, drunk, drunk with happiness and joy to
know what a wife I possessed.
Speaker 4 (37:45):
Do not flirt with your wife in front of a stranger.
Speaker 1 (37:48):
No man who sits at my table is a stranger.
Speaker 2 (37:51):
Ah the salt, see the salt, Ah, Really it flows,
and it shall really flow from this sart shaker forever.
And that's why it's a magical salt shaker.
Speaker 4 (38:06):
Yes, even a police sergeant can see that.
Speaker 2 (38:09):
A grand tale, but a true one. And the further
history of this remarkable artifact.
Speaker 4 (38:16):
I was sent to America this salt shaker was the
gift of my dearest father, Terence O'Neill, and I have
kept it with me from that day to this to
this dark and infamous day when it was so coolly
stolen away.
Speaker 2 (38:29):
Oh, I'm touched by your story, Miss Gerdy O'Neill.
Speaker 4 (38:31):
And what will you do?
Speaker 2 (38:33):
It's the most difficult assignment, Miss O'Neil. Shall you promise
me something first?
Speaker 3 (38:41):
I must hear if I return.
Speaker 2 (38:42):
Your salt shaker, shall you accompany me to the park
this evening to enjoy the concert by mister John Philip
Sussa and his band of starwart United States Marie.
Speaker 4 (38:53):
And how do you intend to find my salt shaker?
Speaker 2 (38:56):
Sergeant? Where the salt shaker is magical?
Speaker 1 (38:59):
No?
Speaker 2 (38:59):
Yes, then I shall exercise powers of magic to bring
it back to its rightful owner.
Speaker 4 (39:06):
I shall be waiting at the oak tree near the bandstand,
my good Sergeant Smith. And if you have the salt shaker,
you may approach.
Speaker 2 (39:16):
However, there's no need for however, Miss Katy your kneel.
By my magical powers, I shall have the sawd shaker
ready for its rightful owner.
Speaker 5 (39:30):
Miss kathyr knew Ah, tis you approach?
Speaker 3 (39:33):
No, further and.
Speaker 2 (39:34):
Love, but I have it. See see how freely the
salt flows?
Speaker 4 (39:39):
Oh, Sargeant Smith, Sergeant Smith, you worked magic, magic, of course,
and shall you tell me the magic?
Speaker 1 (39:49):
Oh?
Speaker 2 (39:49):
That cannot be a review, but it's great magic.
Speaker 4 (39:53):
Shall I tell you the magic? You see? I happen
to know that all tick pockets, per snatchers and thieves
of that ilk have their territory. Indeed, if they see
someone else practice their depredations on that spot, they will
turn the intruders over to the police.
Speaker 1 (40:10):
Is that a fact? Hmm?
Speaker 2 (40:11):
You're telling the story, Katie on you?
Speaker 4 (40:13):
And so what you did was to ascertain which thief
is the regular? Shall we say?
Speaker 3 (40:19):
At fifty main?
Speaker 4 (40:21):
And you told him to produce the salt shaker or.
Speaker 2 (40:25):
Else, Miss Katie on you. What a suspicious nature you possess.
But I retrieved the salt shaker, Yes you did, from
which the salt will always flow. And that's magic.
Speaker 4 (40:38):
Yes, that is magic.
Speaker 2 (40:41):
And so Katy on you, shall you accompaning me home
after the concert to meet me mother?
Speaker 1 (40:56):
Shall you accompany me home to meet me mother? An
old fashioned from an old fashioned ending to an old
fashion story. And so the romantics in the house have
had their innings. We've had love and magic, and I
shall return with more. And from the shaker the salt
(41:26):
shall always flow, and so shall the blessings. If you
had one wish, what would you really wish for? All
the money in the world, you really want or need
all the money in the world, Think again and think deeply,
what is it you would really wish for. One of
(41:46):
the things I always wish for is to meet you
here seven times each week. Our cast included Terry Keane,
Fred Gwynn, Bryanna Rayburn and Lloyd Battista. The entire production
was under the direction of Iymon Brown. This is E. G.
Marshall inviting you to return to our Mystery Theater for
another adventure in the macabre. Until next time, pleasant
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