Tuesday, January 4, 2011

Magic Shake-Ball


QUESTION FOR MAGIC SHAKE-BALL:


Dear Shake-Ball,

Why do the kids eat the school cafeteria's turkey chili but not mine?

Fondly,

A Curious Mom


MAGIC SHAKE-BALL'S RESPONSE:

"O mistress, mistress, shift and save yourself!
My master and his man are both broke loose,
Beaten the maids a-row and bound the doctor
Whose beard they have singed off with brands of fire;
And ever, as it blazed, they threw on him
Great pails of puddled mire to quench the hair."

--The Comedy of Errors 5.1. 177-82

INTERPRETATION
This is a play about twins, which suggests that the two turkey chilis are in fact identical. Just as I suspected.
Or, here's another take: even if the school chili tastes like "great pails of puddled mire," it's served in a more entertaining environment than the family dining room. I think I know the kid who set someone's beard on fire.

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