Penny Dreadfuls, 1923 · page 100 of 116
The Taking of Helen by John Masefield — page 100: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
# Page Description This is a page of running prose (page 88) from a Victorian penny dreadful titled *The Taking of Helen*. The text consists of dialogue between characters named Paris, a blind man, and Nireus, debating human wisdom and folly. The blind man describes a King as a man with a fish-like face who held power, characterizing him as merely an "outside" with red boots and nothing of substance beneath the surface. The passage concerns itself with philosophical commentary on mankind's tendency to accept fools as leaders.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
88 THE PAKING OF HELEN blood and life in a weasel’s face; this man had a face like a fish. Down in the town there, in the fishers’ row, you will see the heads of the fish cut off, and the dogs worry them and the men tread them and they look sad. ‘That was his face, but always peeping round a corner; with a little grey hair and no beard. ‘The thing had power there, at that time, in that land. It is the mystery of man, whose mind goes cruising in Heaven, that he will take any fool for a governor.’’ 7 “That is the wisdom of man,” Paris said, “for his only alternative is a knave.”’ ‘““Man has no wisdom,” the blind man said. ‘Man is blind, and the blind are not wise, but sometimes they are impatient. Will you talk more folly, or shall I go on with my tale?”’ si “Go on, sir,’ Paris said. ‘I was rude tc interrupt an older man than myself.”’ “Not rude, sir,”’ the blind man said, “only young.” “‘T fear it is the same thing, sir,” Paris said. “Many think so,’ the blind man said, “but the many err as often as the few, and there are more of them, and they mind less.” “Will you tell us more of this King, sir?”’ Nireus asked. “More of him? ‘There was no more of him,” the blind man said. “He was an outside, with soft red boots to the knee, and routine for the rest. One quality CORNICLOOKS».E@