November 1, 2025 • 10 mins
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Chapter two, The Mysterious Parchment, I declare, cried my uncle,
striking the table fiercely with his fist. I declare to
you it is runic and contains some wonderful secret, which
I must get at at any price. I was about
to reply when he stopped me. Sit down, He said,
(00:22):
quite fiercely, and write to my dictation. I obeyed. I
will substitute, he said, a letter of our alphabet for
that of the runic. We will then see what that
will produce. Now begin and make no mistakes. The dictation
commenced with a following incomprehensible result. M m r n
(00:46):
l l s is ruel s e e c j
d e s g t s s m f u
n t e I E f n e e d
e r k e k t comma s.
Speaker 2 (01:04):
A m n A t r A t e s
s a O d r r n e m t
n a e I n u a e c t
r r I l s a A t v a
(01:24):
A r dot n s c r c I e
a a b s c c d r m I
e e U t u i'll f r a n
t U d T comma I A c o s
(01:44):
E I B O K E D I I Y
scarcely giving me time to finish. My uncle snatched the
document from my hands and examined it with the most
wrapped and deep attention. I should like to know what
it means, he said, after a long period. I certainly
(02:06):
could not tell him, nor did he expect me to,
his conversation being uniformly answered by himself. I declare, it
puts me in mind of a cryptograph, he cried, unless
indeed the letters have been written without any real meaning.
And yet why takes so much trouble? Who knows? But
(02:28):
I may be on the verge of some great discovery.
My candid opinion was that it was all rubbish. But
this opinion I kept carefully to myself, as my uncle's
showler was not pleasant to bear. All this time he
was comparing the book with a parchment. The manuscript volume
(02:49):
and the smaller document are written in different hands.
Speaker 1 (02:52):
He said. The cryptograph is of much later date than
the book. There is an undoubted proof of the correct
of my surmise, an irrefragable proof I took it to be.
The first letter is a double M, which was only
added to the Icelandic language in the twelfth century. This
(03:13):
makes the parchment two hundred years posterior to the volume.
The circumstances appeared very probable and very logical, but it
was all surmise to me. To me, it appears probable
that this sentence was written by some owner of the book.
Now who was the owner is the next important question. Perhaps,
(03:35):
by great good luck, it may be written somewhere in
the volume. With these words, Professor Hartwick took off his spectacles, and,
taking a powerful magnifying glass, examined the book carefully. On
the fly leaf was what appeared to be a blot
of ink, but on examination proved to be a line
(03:55):
of writing, almost effaced by time. This was what he sought,
and after some considerable time he made out these letters
are in at Sargnosem. He cried, in a joyous and
triumphant tone. That is not only an Islandic name, but
of a learned professor of the sixteenth century, a celebrated alchemist.
(04:18):
I bowed as a sign of respect. These alchemists, he continued,
havichena Bacon, Lully, Paracelsus were the true, the only learned
men of the day. They made surprising discoveries, may not
this SARGNOSEM nephew mine have hidden on this bit of
parchment some astounding invention. I believe the cryptograph to have
(04:43):
a profound meaning, which I must make out. My uncle
walked about the room in a state of excitement, almost
impossible to describe. It may be so, Sir, I timidly observed.
But why conceal it from posterity? If it be a useful,
a worthy discovery? Why how should I know? Did not
(05:06):
Galileo make a secret of his discoveries in connection with Saturn?
But we shall see. Until I discover the meaning of
this sentence, I will neither eat nor sleep, my dear uncle,
I began, Nor you neither, he added, I was lucky
I had taken double allowance that day in the first place,
(05:31):
he continued, there must be a clue to the meaning.
If we could find that, the rest would be easy enough.
I began seriously to reflect the prospect of going without
food and sleep was not a promising one. So I
determined to do my best to solve the mystery. My
(05:52):
uncle meanwhile went on with his SOLILOQUI. The way to
discover it is easy enough. In this document there are
one hundred and thirty two letters, giving seventy nine consonants
to fifty three vowels. This is about the proportion found
in most Southern languages, the idioms of the North being
(06:13):
much more rich in consonants. We may confidently predict, therefore,
that we have to deal with a Southern dialect. Nothing
could be more logical, now, said Professor Hartwick. To trace
the particular language as Shakespeare says, that is the question,
was my rather satirical reply. This man, Sarknussm, he continued,
(06:39):
was a very learned man. Now, as he did not
write in the language of his birthplace, he probably, like
most learned men of the sixteenth century, wrote in Latin. If, however,
I prove wrong in this case, we must try Spanish, French, Italian, Greek,
and even Hebrew. My own opinion, though, is decidedly in
(07:02):
favor of Latin. This proposition startled me. Latin was my
favorite study, and it seemed sacrilege to believe this Gibrish
to belong to the country of Virgil barbarious Latin in
all probability, continued my uncle. But still Latin, very probably,
(07:22):
I replied. Not to contradict him, Let us see into
the matter, continued my uncle. Here you see we have
a series of one hundred and thirty two letters apparently
thrown pellmell upon paper without method or organization. There are
words which are composed folly of consonants, such as M, M, point, R, N,
(07:45):
l s, others which are nearly all vowels, the fifth,
for instance, which is auntief and one of the last orsabo.
This appears an extraordinary combination. Probably weih shall find that
the phrase is arranged according to some mathematical plan. No doubt,
a certain sentence has been written out and then jumbled up,
(08:09):
some plan to which some figure is the clue. Now
hurry to show your English wit. What is that figure?
I could give him no hint. My thoughts were indeed
far away. While he was speaking. I had caught sight
of the portrait of my cousin Gretchen, and was wondering
(08:29):
when she would return. We were affianced and loved one
another very sincerely. But my uncle, who never thought even
of such sublunary matters, knew nothing of this. Without noticing
my abstraction, the professor began reading the puzzling cryptograph. All
sorts of ways according to some theory of his own.
(08:53):
Presently rousing my wondering attention, he dictated one precious attempt
to me. I mildly handed it over to him. It
read as follows, m m E s s u n
k A s e n r A dot I c
e f d o k dot s e g n
(09:16):
I t t A m u r t n e
c e r t s E r r e t
t E comma r O t a I v s
A d u A comma e d n e c
s E d s A d n e l A
(09:38):
c A r t n I I I l r
j s I r A t r A c s
a r b m U t A b I l
e d m E k m E r e t
A r c s I n l u c o
(10:02):
y s l e f f e n s n
I do. I could scarcely keep from laughing, while my uncle,
on the contrary, got in a towering passion, struck the
table with his fist, darted out of the room, out
of the house, and then taking to his seals, was
presently lost to sight. End of Chapter two
Chapter two, The Mysterious Parchment, I declare, cried my uncle,
striking the table fiercely with his fist. I declare to
you it is runic and contains some wonderful secret, which
I must get at at any price. I was about
to reply when he stopped me. Sit down, He said,
(00:22):
quite fiercely, and write to my dictation. I obeyed. I
will substitute, he said, a letter of our alphabet for
that of the runic. We will then see what that
will produce. Now begin and make no mistakes. The dictation
commenced with a following incomprehensible result. M m r n
(00:46):
l l s is ruel s e e c j
d e s g t s s m f u
n t e I E f n e e d
e r k e k t comma s.
Speaker 2 (01:04):
A m n A t r A t e s
s a O d r r n e m t
n a e I n u a e c t
r r I l s a A t v a
(01:24):
A r dot n s c r c I e
a a b s c c d r m I
e e U t u i'll f r a n
t U d T comma I A c o s
(01:44):
E I B O K E D I I Y
scarcely giving me time to finish. My uncle snatched the
document from my hands and examined it with the most
wrapped and deep attention. I should like to know what
it means, he said, after a long period. I certainly
(02:06):
could not tell him, nor did he expect me to,
his conversation being uniformly answered by himself. I declare, it
puts me in mind of a cryptograph, he cried, unless
indeed the letters have been written without any real meaning.
And yet why takes so much trouble? Who knows? But
(02:28):
I may be on the verge of some great discovery.
My candid opinion was that it was all rubbish. But
this opinion I kept carefully to myself, as my uncle's
showler was not pleasant to bear. All this time he
was comparing the book with a parchment. The manuscript volume
(02:49):
and the smaller document are written in different hands.
Speaker 1 (02:52):
He said. The cryptograph is of much later date than
the book. There is an undoubted proof of the correct
of my surmise, an irrefragable proof I took it to be.
The first letter is a double M, which was only
added to the Icelandic language in the twelfth century. This
(03:13):
makes the parchment two hundred years posterior to the volume.
The circumstances appeared very probable and very logical, but it
was all surmise to me. To me, it appears probable
that this sentence was written by some owner of the book.
Now who was the owner is the next important question. Perhaps,
(03:35):
by great good luck, it may be written somewhere in
the volume. With these words, Professor Hartwick took off his spectacles, and,
taking a powerful magnifying glass, examined the book carefully. On
the fly leaf was what appeared to be a blot
of ink, but on examination proved to be a line
(03:55):
of writing, almost effaced by time. This was what he sought,
and after some considerable time he made out these letters
are in at Sargnosem. He cried, in a joyous and
triumphant tone. That is not only an Islandic name, but
of a learned professor of the sixteenth century, a celebrated alchemist.
(04:18):
I bowed as a sign of respect. These alchemists, he continued,
havichena Bacon, Lully, Paracelsus were the true, the only learned
men of the day. They made surprising discoveries, may not
this SARGNOSEM nephew mine have hidden on this bit of
parchment some astounding invention. I believe the cryptograph to have
(04:43):
a profound meaning, which I must make out. My uncle
walked about the room in a state of excitement, almost
impossible to describe. It may be so, Sir, I timidly observed.
But why conceal it from posterity? If it be a useful,
a worthy discovery? Why how should I know? Did not
(05:06):
Galileo make a secret of his discoveries in connection with Saturn?
But we shall see. Until I discover the meaning of
this sentence, I will neither eat nor sleep, my dear uncle,
I began, Nor you neither, he added, I was lucky
I had taken double allowance that day in the first place,
(05:31):
he continued, there must be a clue to the meaning.
If we could find that, the rest would be easy enough.
I began seriously to reflect the prospect of going without
food and sleep was not a promising one. So I
determined to do my best to solve the mystery. My
(05:52):
uncle meanwhile went on with his SOLILOQUI. The way to
discover it is easy enough. In this document there are
one hundred and thirty two letters, giving seventy nine consonants
to fifty three vowels. This is about the proportion found
in most Southern languages, the idioms of the North being
(06:13):
much more rich in consonants. We may confidently predict, therefore,
that we have to deal with a Southern dialect. Nothing
could be more logical, now, said Professor Hartwick. To trace
the particular language as Shakespeare says, that is the question,
was my rather satirical reply. This man, Sarknussm, he continued,
(06:39):
was a very learned man. Now, as he did not
write in the language of his birthplace, he probably, like
most learned men of the sixteenth century, wrote in Latin. If, however,
I prove wrong in this case, we must try Spanish, French, Italian, Greek,
and even Hebrew. My own opinion, though, is decidedly in
(07:02):
favor of Latin. This proposition startled me. Latin was my
favorite study, and it seemed sacrilege to believe this Gibrish
to belong to the country of Virgil barbarious Latin in
all probability, continued my uncle. But still Latin, very probably,
(07:22):
I replied. Not to contradict him, Let us see into
the matter, continued my uncle. Here you see we have
a series of one hundred and thirty two letters apparently
thrown pellmell upon paper without method or organization. There are
words which are composed folly of consonants, such as M, M, point, R, N,
(07:45):
l s, others which are nearly all vowels, the fifth,
for instance, which is auntief and one of the last orsabo.
This appears an extraordinary combination. Probably weih shall find that
the phrase is arranged according to some mathematical plan. No doubt,
a certain sentence has been written out and then jumbled up,
(08:09):
some plan to which some figure is the clue. Now
hurry to show your English wit. What is that figure?
I could give him no hint. My thoughts were indeed
far away. While he was speaking. I had caught sight
of the portrait of my cousin Gretchen, and was wondering
(08:29):
when she would return. We were affianced and loved one
another very sincerely. But my uncle, who never thought even
of such sublunary matters, knew nothing of this. Without noticing
my abstraction, the professor began reading the puzzling cryptograph. All
sorts of ways according to some theory of his own.
(08:53):
Presently rousing my wondering attention, he dictated one precious attempt
to me. I mildly handed it over to him. It
read as follows, m m E s s u n
k A s e n r A dot I c
e f d o k dot s e g n
(09:16):
I t t A m u r t n e
c e r t s E r r e t
t E comma r O t a I v s
A d u A comma e d n e c
s E d s A d n e l A
(09:38):
c A r t n I I I l r
j s I r A t r A c s
a r b m U t A b I l
e d m E k m E r e t
A r c s I n l u c o
(10:02):
y s l e f f e n s n
I do. I could scarcely keep from laughing, while my uncle,
on the contrary, got in a towering passion, struck the
table with his fist, darted out of the room, out
of the house, and then taking to his seals, was
presently lost to sight. End of Chapter two
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