Puck — October 31, 1877 — page 16: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

This satirical cartoon depicts three figures examining a grotesque, plant-like creature. The caption reads: "By all that's addled! That's a pretty chicken!" The central figure appears to be a caricatured man with exaggerated features, drawn in Puck's characteristic grotesque style. He's flanked by a woman on the left and a bearded man on the right, both reacting with apparent surprise or dismay. The humor operates on absurdity: the "chicken" is clearly no chicken at all—it's a bizarre, monstrous hybrid creature. The joke likely satirizes either fraudulent dealings (selling something misrepresented as something else) or foolish gullibility (the characters accepting an obvious fake as genuine). Without knowing the specific historical context or publication date, the exact political or social target remains unclear, though Puck typically lampooned corruption, hypocrisy, or public folly.