"In the very olden time there lived a semi-barbaric king, whose ideas, though somewhat polished and sharpened by the progressiveness of distant Latin neighbors, were still large, florid, and untrammeled, as became the half of him which was barbaric. He was a man of exuberant fancy, and, withal, of an authority so irresistible that, at his will, he turned his varied fancies into facts. He was greatly given to self-communing, and, when he and himself agreed upon anything, the thing was done. When every member of his domestic and political systems moved smoothly in its appointed course, his nature was bland and genial; but, whenever there was a little hitch, and some of his orbs got out of their orbits, he was blander and more genial still, for nothing pleased him so much as to make the crooked straight and crush down uneven places."
Now this has always been one of my favorite short stories. And I'll ask the same question Rich asked about "The Lottery". What is the hook, here? I mean it almost starts out "Long ago and far away"!
Posted by Crystal Stevens (Member # 8006) on :
I honestly don't see a hook, but it might be so suptle as to be almost invisible. If I had to come up with a hook, it would be what is going to happen that will involve this king?
I hope someone can come up with something better, but if there is a hook, it's not very noticeable.
I've always liked this particular story, too, but it's been years since I've read it.
Posted by Robert Nowall (Member # 2764) on :
This one, it's, predictably of course, the punchline and not the hook that stays with me. I'd forgotten how it began until I saw it here.
Aside from that...things like "once upon a time" do create an interest in me...
Posted by rich (Member # 8140) on :
I think the hook is the way it starts, as Meredith said, almost as a 'long ago and far away'. Or, 'once upon a time'.
I mean, this starts very much like the fairy tales we all read as children (and the ones I read to mine) so I think it touches something in our unconscious; which prompts us to continue reading.