One of the first stories that Tupolski reads (or paraphrases, really) aloud, and one of the only stories in the play that doesn't directly involve assault on children is the Three Gibbet Crossroads, and I thought I'd illuminate a few things about it for people who can't be buggered to google them. The G in gibbet is pronounced like a J, and gibbets were a device used to warn citizens off committing the same crimes as the incarcerated. They were typically composed of a metal cage hanging from a gallows-like structure, where a convicted criminal of a particularly repugnant crime could be left to rot as an example. Gibbets were often placed at crossroads, in order to be visible to the maximum number of travelers. Most townspeople found them offensive; they were grotesque, and stank awfully. In earlier times, live criminals like the ones in Katurian's story were left to die in their cages, but later convicts were hung first, and then displayed. (More humane, I suppose?) Anyway, ghastly stuff. The public display of dead criminals as a warning goes back into antiquity - a similar technique was used for pirates, and of course crucifixion is a form of this.
One of the first stories that Tupolski reads (or paraphrases, really) aloud, and one of the only stories in the play that doesn't directly involve assault on children is the Three Gibbet Crossroads, and I thought I'd illuminate a few things about it for people who can't be buggered to google them. The G in gibbet is pronounced like a J, and gibbets were a device used to warn citizens off committing the same crimes as the incarcerated. They were typically composed of a metal cage hanging from a gallows-like structure, where a convicted criminal of a particularly repugnant crime could be left to rot as an example. Gibbets were often placed at crossroads, in order to be visible to the maximum number of travelers. Most townspeople found them offensive; they were grotesque, and stank awfully. In earlier times, live criminals like the ones in Katurian's story were left to die in their cages, but later convicts were hung first, and then displayed. (More humane, I suppose?) Anyway, ghastly stuff. The public display of dead criminals as a warning goes back into antiquity - a similar technique was used for pirates, and of course crucifixion is a form of this.
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