Escape Artists
PseudoPod => Episode Comments => Topic started by: Bdoomed on December 16, 2011, 04:21:02 PM
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Pseudopod 260: Saint Nicholas’ Helper (http://pseudopod.org/2011/12/16/pseudopod-260-saint-nicholas-helper/)
By D.K. Thompson
I believe he has something to do with Podcastle, I think… You can listen to his previous Pseudopod story Last Respects (http://pseudopod.org/2007/03/30/pseudopod-031-last-respects/) at the link.
Read by Marie Brennan (http://www.swantower.com/). Click her name to visit The Swan Tower! Also, check out her new book on Amazon, With Fate Conspire (http://www.amazon.com/Fate-Conspire-Marie-Brennan/dp/0765325373/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1323825390&sr=1-1/), the fourth volume in the Onyx Court series!
“Saint Nicholas looked just like he did in the picture stories: tall and thin, with a grand white beard that flowed to his waist. He wore a red-fur trimmed coat, a tall bishop’s hat, and clutched a gold staff. He smiled and said something, but Greta wasn’t listening. She hid behind her elder sister Heike and stared at the saint’s demonic assistant, Krampus.
A wooden mask covered the demon’s face, a wicked smile carved into it that did not shift. Krampus tilted his horned head, his black pupils focused on Greta through the eye slits. His dark coat of damp furs smelled of decay, and he was wrapped in chains that he shook at the children.
They’d come every year to her house, the saint and his assistant, but back then Greta’s father had been there to protect her.
Krampus brandished a long, thin switch and hissed.
Heike put a hand on Greta’s shoulder and whispered, “Don’t be scared. You’ve been good, right?””
(http://pseudopod.org/wp-content/plugins/podpress/images/audio_mp3_button.png)
Listen to this week's Pseudopod. (http://media.libsyn.com/media/pseudopod/Pseudo260_StNicholasHelper.mp3)
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One of these day I am going to read a D.K. Thompson story that I don't like at all. Today is not that day. What a fascinating reworking of the Santa mythos. It reminds my of when I first heard Greg van Eekhout's "In The Late December". This story totally opens up the entire secualr Christmas bag, but it still holds some homage to the original legends. We still have St. Nicholas who is good and kind to children, but we also have Krampus, who's bag is not full of fun little toys, and he has different ideas for the girls and the boys. I asked last week what was next, and I have my answer. I think I will play this for my kids on Christmas Eve. Or maybe not.
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Krampus (http://www.mirrorshards.org/2010/12/all-time-in-world.html)!
I love Krampus.
This story made me think. This (http://www.mirrorshards.org/2011/12/their-blood-as-sweet-as-their-sin.html) is what I thought of.
It was a good story. I liked it.
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Good story, I heard it just after a friend from Bavaria told me about the Krampus tradition, which is totally unknown in the north of Germany. Here, the darker side of St. Nicolas is called 'Knecht Ruprecht'. Just a little nitpick regarding the reading, the first syllable of the name 'Heike' rhymes with 'pie'.
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Just a little nitpick regarding the reading, the first syllable of the name 'Heike' rhymes with 'pie'.
::headdesk::
You're absolutely right. What's odd is that I'm not sure whether to blame my mispronunciation on Old Norse (where that syllable rhymes with "hay") . . . or on Japanese (anybody for a selection from the Heike monogatari?) Knowing my brain, it could be either.
--Marie, with too many bits of too many languages in her brain
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This is a properly horrible tale -- loved it! It's certainly heavily rooted in old and partly familiar tales but it has a gruesome charm all its own. Well done Mr Thompson!
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A generally enjoyable story. I particularly liked the library of alternate-universe Santas.
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I thought the story was okay. I think there's a lot of room left for people to write stories with different angles on this aspect of christmas, and possibly upstage this story! ;-p
The narration was a touch too fast for my liking.
Re the first point, I came across this web page: http://www.stnicholascenter.org/pages/who-travels-with-st-nicholas/
And I find the picture for Ruprecht particularly inspiring.
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Nice one, DKT! I enjoyed this one more than your last offering here. I've seen a bunch of Krampus popping up in my feeds, and I appreciate this primer on the subject. Definitely whetted my appetite and made me interested in learning more. Unfortunately, nothing I've read yet on the Krampus matter has a good recipe for meat pies.
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Unfortunately, nothing I've read yet on the Krampus matter has a good recipe for meat pies.
You need to Google "Sweeney Todd"
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Unfortunately, nothing I've read yet on the Krampus matter has a good recipe for meat pies.
You need to Google "Sweeney Todd"
Or Titus Andronicus.
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Good story! I don't think I'd heard of Krampus before last week's Pseudopod story. I'd been familiar with another of Santa's darker helpers, Black Pete (maybe there are some common roots there, not sure).
This story was well told, telling of Nicholas's bargain with the demon, and how he is just doing the best that he can do, but in this case it wasn't enough to save a little girl, and how the sister is willing to pay her own bargain with the devil to bind it again.
Good stuff!
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Last year we went to Munich and had a rather startling run-in with a...team of Krampi?...a bowelloosening of Krampi?...what's the collective noun here? Anyway, these were no run of the mill, half-assed Krampuses, they were decked to the nines with lovely handmade hooves and rather realistic makeup and they just kind of materialized in a Christmas market, running in place, keeping warm with their sleigh bells jingling menacingly.
This year we went to the Czech Republic for Christmas and we heard your story just before going. When we got there, thankfully, we only saw Krampus foil-covered chocolates.
Great story--thank you!
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Hey all, I've tried not to hang in the background on this one, but I think I've done that as long as I can :)
I just wanted to say thanks to everyone for commenting on this one. It's been fun to read along and see what people thought :) I had a blast writing it, and I appreciate all the thoughtful comments and discussions.
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I loved this when I listened to it last year, but was a bit scared of Pseudopod, so didn't post anything...
Since then, I've come to realize that the only thing to be scared of over here is, well, everything. But that's a different story.
Today is a good day to post in this thread.
(http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-fnC4Guyzl5U/Tt4TwYeVxDI/AAAAAAAACZQ/qiCkF44alvk/s1600/177788316v5_480x480_Front.jpg)
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A toast to you facing your fears, danooli!
(http://markmaynard.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/krampussouthern.jpg)
It's a great beer, BTW. Southern Tier is one of my new favorite brewers.
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A toast to you facing your fears, danooli!
(http://markmaynard.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/krampussouthern.jpg)
It's a great beer, BTW. Southern Tier is one of my new favorite brewers.
That is so cool! So far the only beer I've ever tasted that I didn't think was pigswill was Guinness. But I would drink this to get the bottle.
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Happy Krampusnacht
Fenrix, I will have to find that!
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There's a group doing a costumed Krampus Krawl through a bar district this weekend. Sadly, I have the company holiday party and will have to live vicariously through friends photos while sipping Southern Tier.