PC280: The Devil and Tom Walker

[Spindaddy]

This story was great! I read it when I was a kid and I always thought this was one of those timeless tales where regardless of the era, it has all of the things that make a story interesting. Hell, you could easily rewrite this story as someone that lives at the end of a suburban tract and the story would be just as good. Oh sure, maybe you'd have to replace the horses with cars, but I kind of like the idea of Tom Walker getting dragged off in motorcycle.

Hats off to Wilson Fowlie for a great read. Always a treat!

[Wilson Fowlie]

At one point in the story, the devil uses term slang term "rhino" for money (which, I have to say, struck me as oddly casual, as though he'd said "bling" or "moola").

Listeners may be interested to learn that the term is very unlikely to have come from the short version of rhinoceros. Unfortunately, etymologists don't really know where it did come from.

[Gary]

Yea!

[Unblinking]

I was quoted as not liking deal-with-the-devil stories.  Not true!  I liked Dr. Faustus.  I thought the movie Bedazzled was hilarious.  I've written a deal-with-the-devil story myself, from the POV of the devil, which I enjoy.  In general, its a niche that I enjoy more often than not because it tends to make a sort of an interesting puzzle to see how the request can be fulfilled in a way that will not be pleasing to the one who has given up his/her soul.

I'm guessing that I was quoted with that statement because I said:

Other than that, it was just another deal with a devil story, and one which doesn't really do anything particularly interesting. 

But that's not how I meant it.  I meant that in the same way that I would mean "Movie X was just another romantic comedy."  That doesn't mean that I don't like romance.  Nor that I don't like comedy. Nor that I am opposed to the concept of romantic comedy.  Rather, I would be saying that it didn't do anything that set it apart from the hordes of other romantic comedies in any memorable way. 

Likewise, here, there was nothing in the story to me that really made it different from the base formula of "deal with the devil".  This would be easier to set aside if it were the prototype from which all such stories originated (like giving Tolkien a pass for writing epic fantasy that's so much like so many others, when those others are copies or inspired of his).  But deal-with-the-devil stories were around a long, long time before this story.

[LaShawn]

I'm *finally* getting around to listening to this story, which is a hoot.

Chalk me up as another person who loved it, and loved Wilson's narration of it. I did cringe at the treatment of the wife, particularly the mention of physical abuse from her husband, though it looks like she gave as good as she got. I'm almost ashamed to admit that I liked that she gave the devil a good hard fight before he took her. She was just as messed up and powered by the same greed as Tom.

And I echo the fact that the story made distinctions between the devil's skin not the same as African or Indian, and that not even Tom, evil as he was, would stoop to something as low as slavery. And it was very, very interesting how Tom turned to religion to try to keep the devil away, but used it to shore up his fear rather than allow it to change him into a nicer person. Using the Bible as magical tokens rather than allowing it to transform him was his undoing in the end. Well, that and he was a scumbag anyway.

Great story indeed!

[FireTurtle]

I listened to this ages ago and am merely here to say that if I am ever unfortunate to meet the devil, if he speaks in any voice other than Wilson's I will fairly to recognize him entirely. Best. Devil. Ever.

[ChairmanDances]

This was a really entertaining story with fantastic narration.  My only experience with Washington Irving has been "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" (the Disney and Tim Burton versions) so I gave it a listen and it was a blast.  Usually I'm more into the story itself and don't notice the narration, but Wilson Fowlie was terrific - I'm going to have to search for his other episodes.

[Wilson Fowlie]

Thanks for the kind words, everyone!

Normally, I wouldn't do this, because it seems like blowing my own horn, but in the interests of saving time for people, like ChairmanDances, who are interested in more of my narrations, I have a public Facebook Note that lists them all, including several from other podcasts (which are worth listening to on their own merits!).

[ChairmanDances]

Thanks for the kind words, everyone!

Normally, I wouldn't do this, because it seems like blowing my own horn, but in the interests of saving time for people, like ChairmanDances, who are interested in more of my narrations, I have a public Facebook Note that lists them all, including several from other podcasts (which are worth listening to on their own merits!).

From the prior posts, I wasn't the only one who enjoyed the narration!  Thanks for posting the list!