Puck, 1878-04-24 · page 5 of 16
Puck — April 24, 1878 — page 5: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This is a satirical comic strip following Prince Egbert Albert through eight absurdist panels. The narrative appears to be a parody of romantic medieval tales: Egbert receives a mysterious letter from his wife, abandons hunting to read it, becomes emotionally distressed, seeks refuge in a magical castle, grows increasingly lost and disoriented, wanders until confused about his location, hides in a haunted house, and finally encounters a mysterious young man. The satire mocks overwrought Victorian melodrama and medieval romance fiction by subjecting an aristocratic protagonist to increasingly ridiculous supernatural and emotional circumstances. Without additional historical context, the specific political targets remain unclear, though the exaggerated emotional reactions and fantastical plot devices suggest mockery of popular serialized romantic fiction common to the era.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
1. Prince Egbert Albert, 3. The messenger has reason to perceive to what extent Egbert Albert is moved by the receipt of the epistle. 6. He wanders so far that he ceases to know ‘where he is. feudal Lord of Hapswich and Blinkershire, receives, under solemn pledge of secresy, a letter from the Princess Deodand Aurelia, his wife. 4- Goaded by terror Egbert Albert finds temporarily a congenial resort. 7. And takes refuge in a haunted house, the (To be conéluded.) 2. He forsakes the chase to read it: Mitorp—Remorse is gnawing within me; for one night an unknown man—masked—an infant—. You now know all, ‘To-day would have been his eighteenth birthday. I withdraw toacloister. Yours— 5. Possessed by fury, he seeks new roads to 8. He turns a mystic key, and, behold, a rent of which no mortal man knoweth. young man appeareth. comicbooks.com