“I’ll bet the devil my head” as the expression goes...

Or rather doesn’t, because no, I have never heard the expression either.

However as our dear Edgar wrote this story in 1841 there is a fair chance it was an expression at the time, but one that has long since fallen into disuse. But if so then it was a bit of a silly expression, even used colloquially, because as we all know, if you make a bet with the devil, there is a good chance he is gonna turn the odds against you. So may be there is a moral to this story… Or may be there isn’t… Because after a number of serious stories, deep philosophies, and complex tales, with this story Poe goes back to irreverence, satire and has a little dig at those who say every story should have a moral.

As this is satire, our dear Edgar did not hold back. Subtle went out the window from the start. The narrator of this little tale is Poe himself, who starts with mention of the critique that every tale should have a moral or be without worth. Looking back at the most recent stories Poe wrote prior to this one you would be hard pressed to find one with a moral as such. Something our narrator takes a moment to decry.

It is then the real tale begins, as Poe tells us of his good friend Toby Dammit. A man of more than a few vices. This is apparently, according to Edgar in the guise of the narrator, because Toby’s mother was sinister handed and used to flog him with her left hand. Apparently, this is considered to be most improper. This unfortunate parenting has driven Dammit to become overly fond of making spurious bets and the expression “I’ll bet the devil my head”.

Now, Poe being a man of fine morals, no matter what the critics say about his stories, does his best to break his friends bad habits. But Toby is, well Toby and sometimes you just have to let your friend be who they are.

So one day the two friends are traveling somewhere or other and they come across a bridge with a canopy over it, a gloomy sort of bridge but Toby Dammit is not a man to be affected by such things and is in a fine mood. So across the bridge they go. until at the midpoint there is a small turnstile and Toby doesn’t feel like paying a penny to go through it. “I’ll bet the devil my head I can jump over that.” says Toby with a grin…

It is then Poe spots a odd little man stood near the turnstile grinning. A very odd little man , with something off about him, why could it be he is the devil himself, come to take that bet?

At this point I’ll step away from telling you the tale itself, so as not to ruin the series of increasingly farcical jokes that are told as the tale progress. Lets just say Toby loses his bet, very defiantly loses his bet. And what happens to him after that is, well I am not sure deserved is the right term. What does happen is Poe gets all that seriousness out of his system because when he goes for satire and humour, he very much goes for satire and humour. It is all very over the top but it isn’t pretending not to be. In the process Poe takes shots across the bows of homoeopathy, which to his great surprise doesn’t cure his decapitated friend. Transcendentalism takes a couple of punches too as do sophists. But mostly this is a kick to the groin of those that believe a story only has worth if it has a moral at the end.

Poe is very definitely venting his spleen here, but doing so with humour. In your face, subtle as a house brick through a window humour, but humour none the less. My own tastes tend to run a little more subtle I will be honest, but there is a ribald silliness about this which is clearly Poe getting some stuff off his chest. It is also fun, which makes a change after a lot of serious worthy Poe stories, that were serious and worthy but not overly fun.

THREE RAVENS WATCHING AS FOOLS MAKE BETS WITH THE DEVIL…

Should you read it : Its short light relief and should make you smile, and hopefully i have not spoiled any of the jokes too much

Should you not read it: Its not exactly cerebral, and suffers form a lot of Poe’s satire does in that it either hits or misses depending on your mood

Bluffers fact: In 1957 a radio play of this story Toby Dammit was played by Daws Butler, a voice actor I suspect you have never heard of, but you have heard his voice (or versions of it) a million times. Among his many many roles, he was Hucklberry Hound, Droopy, Hair Bear (of the hair bear bunch), Bingo (of the banana splits), Snap, Crackle and Pop (of rice Krispies), and Yogi Bear…

This means Yogi Bear and Hair Bear are the same person… Oh and for a short time (in the original pilot episode) he was both Barney Rubble and Fred Flintstone, which must have confused Wilma and Betty.