The Poker Concludes His Story

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Chapter five of and Iron Tales by John Bangs. This
LibriVox recording is in the public domain. The poker concludes
his story. It was just as I feared, said the poker.
Rollo knew a good thing when he had it. I'm
satisfied the way things are now, said he. I wouldn't

(00:21):
change back and be a Scotch terrier for all the world.
Then the fairy turned to me and said, I'm sorry,
my dear, but if Rollo won't consent to the change,
you'll have to be contented to remain as you are,
unless you'd like to try being an eagle for a while.
I'll never consent, said Rollo selfishly, though I couldn't really

(00:41):
blame him for it. Then make me an eagle, I said,
make me anything but what I am very well, said
the fairy. Good Night. Next morning, continued the poker. When
I waked up, I was cold and stiff, and when
I opened my eyes to look about me, I found
myself seen on a great ledge of rock on the

(01:02):
side of a mountain. Far below me were tops of
the trees in a forest I never remembered to have
seen before, while above me, a hard black wall of
rock rose straight up for a thousand feet. To climb
upward was impossible to climb down equally. So what on
earth does this mean? Thought I? And then in attempting

(01:25):
to walk, I found I had but two legs, where
the night before I had fallen asleep with four. Am
I a boy again, I cried with delight. No, said
a voice from way below me in the trees. You
are now an eagle, and I hope you will be happy.
You never were an eagle, were you, dor me? Said

(01:46):
the poker, gazing earnestly into Tom's face. No, said Tom, never,
I've never been any kind of bird. Well, don't you
ever be one, said the poker, with a knowing shake
of the head. It's all very beautiful to think about,
but being an eagle is entirely different from what thinking

(02:06):
about it is. I was that eagle for one whole month,
and the life of a Scotch Terrier is bliss alongside
of it. In the first place, it was fight, fight,
fight for food. It was lots of fun at first
jumping off the crag down a thousand feet into the valley,
but flying back there to get out of the way

(02:26):
of the huntsmen was worse. Than polling a sledge with
rusty runners up a hill a mile long. Then when
storms came up, I had to sit up there on
that mountain side and take em all as they came.
I hadn't any umbrella eagles never have to keep off
the rain, and no walls except on one side to

(02:47):
keep off the wind, and no shutters to close up
so that I couldn't see the lightning. It was terrible.
All I got to eat in the whole month was
a small goat and a chicken hawk, and those I
had to swallow, wool feathers and all. Then I got
into fights with other eagles, And finally, while I was
looking for lunch in the forest, I fell into a

(03:08):
trap and was caught by some men, who put me
in a cage so that people could come to see me.
Ever been shut up in a cage, queried the poker.
At this point, No, said Tom, Only in a dark closet.
Never had to stay shut up though more than ten minutes,
did you? No, answered Tom. Never, well, think of me

(03:30):
cooped up in an old cage for two weeks, said
the poker. That was woe enough for a lifetime. But
it wasn't half what I had altogether. The other creatures
in the zoo growled and shrieked all night long. None
of us ever got a quarter enough to eat, and
several times the monkey in the cage next to me
would reach his long arm into my prison and yank

(03:52):
out half a dozen of my feathers at once. In fact,
I had nothing but mishaps all the time. As the
poet says, talk about your troubles, talk about your woes.
Yours are only bubbles, sir, compared with those. At the
end of two weeks, I was nearly frantic. I don't
think I could have stood it another week. But fortunately,

(04:14):
at the end of the month came back the fairy again.
How do you like being an eagle? She said. I'd
rather be a tree rooted to the ground in the
midst of a dense forest than all the eagles in
the world. Said I very well, said she. It shall
be good night in the morning. I was a tree,
And if there's anything worse than being a dog or

(04:36):
an eagle, it's being a tree, said the poker. I
could hear processions going by with fine bands of music
in the distance, but I couldn't stir a step to
see them boys would come along and climb up into
my branches and shake me. Nearly two pieces cows came
and chewed up my leaves, and one day the wood
cutters came and were just about to cut me down

(04:59):
when the fairy peered again and sent them away. They
will be back again tomorrow, she said, do you wish
to remain a tree? No? No, no, I cried. I'll
be content to be anything you choose if you will
save me from them. There, she said, that's the point.
If you will keep that promise, you will finally be happy.

(05:20):
If you will only look on the bright side of things,
remembering the pleasant and forgetting the unpleasant. You will be
happy if you will be satisfied with what you are
and have, and not go about swelling up with envy.
Whenever you see anyone or anything that has or can
do things that you have not or can not do,

(05:41):
you will be happy in spite of yourself. Will you
promise me this? Indeed? I will, I said, even if
I change you into so poor a thing as a poker. Yes,
said I very well, said she. It shall be good night.
Next morning I waked up to find mysel as you
see nothing more than a poker, but contented to be one.

(06:05):
I have kept my promise with the fairy, and I
am simply the happiest thing in the world. I don't
sit down and groan because I have to poke the fire.
On the contrary, when I am doing that, I am
always thinking how nice it will be when I get done,
and I lean up against the rack and gaze on
all the beautiful things in the room. I always think
about the pleasant things. And if you don't know it, Dormy,

(06:28):
let me tell you. That's the way to be happy
and to make others happy. Sometimes people think me vain.
The fender told me one night I was the vainest
creature he ever knew. I am not really, so I
only will not admit that there's anything or anybody in
the world who is more favored than I am. That
is all. If I didn't do that, I might sometime

(06:52):
grow a little envious in spite of myself. As it is,
I never do and haven't had an unhappy hour since
I became a contented poker. Tom was silent for a
few minutes after the poker had completed his story, and
then he said, don't you sometimes feel unhappy because you
are not the boy you used to be? No, said

(07:12):
the poker, I am not, because Rollo makes a better
boy than I was. He is a contented boy and
I was not. But don't you miss your father and mother,
queried Tom. Of course not, said the poker, because the
fairy was good enough to have me made into the
poker used in their new house. My parents moved away

(07:33):
from the railroad just after Rollo became me and built
themselves a new house, and of course they had to
have a new poker to go with it, so I
really live home, you see with them. A curious light
came into Tom's eyes. Mister poker said he who was
the boy you used to be? Tom, said the poker.

(07:56):
I'm not Rollo, roared Tom, starting up. Nobody said you were,
retorted the poker, You are dormy. Tom is Rollo. But
I say, here come the andirons and the bellows. Tom
looked down from the cloud, and sure enough the three
were coming up as fast as the wind. And in
the excitement of the moment, the little traveler forgot all

(08:19):
about the Poker's story, in which he seemed himself to
have figured without knowing it. End of Chapter five