#A-Z: Death By... Education

Who or what event is portrayed in this story?

She stood in the doorway quietly, staring at the man on the floor. He sat midst rolls of scattered papyrus, mumbling to himself.

“I am lying. I am lying. That’s the key. You see that it’s the key, don’t you?” he repeated, trying to convince the audience that survived only in his mind. “If I tell the truth, then I am lying.”

She entered the room. Rats that ate at the man’s last meal, scattered in all directions and disappeared from sight. She sighed.

“You haven’t eaten anything all day again,” she said to him softly. She knew he heard her but he wasn’t really listening. “You are so weak you can’t even raise yourself off the floor.”

From his worktable, she retrieved a goblet of wine and brought it to his mouth. Most of it ran down the front of his linen garment. 

“You work too much and don’t eat or sleep. It will be the death of you.”

He grabbed her arm. “Bittis, Bittis, they were wrong. I know it now. They were wrong and I can prove it.” He reached for a scroll but only managed to scatter them farther away. “Bittis, they were wrong. Help me write it down.”

“You must rest, my love.” He weighed so little she could lift him off the floor with easy. She changed his soiled garments and lay him upon his bed.

“You must write it down now. How can I sleep when there is so many words. So many words! How will they remember them all?”

“I will write them down tomorrow. Now, you must sleep. I will not forget.”

“The fawn can sing when it has lost its life, having avoided the prick of the sharp cactus. Don’t forget that, dear Bittis.” With those words, he closed his eyes for the last time.

Who or what event is portrayed in this story?

The previous Death By … story is based on:

The London Beer Flood occurred on 17 October 1814 in the parish of St. Giles, London, England. At the Meux and Company Brewery on Tottenham Court Road, a huge vat containing over 135,000 imperial gallons (610,000 L) of beer ruptured, causing other vats in the same building to succumb in a domino effect. As a result, more than 323,000 imperial gallons (1,470,000 L) of beer burst out and gushed into the streets. The wave of beer destroyed two homes and crumbled the wall of the Tavistock Arms Pub, trapping teenage employee Eleanor Cooper under the rubble.

Sources:

• http://h2g2.com/dna/h2g2/A42129876
• http://blogs.smithsonianmag.com/food/2011/08/four-deadly-disasters-caused-by-food/
• http://www.3ammagazine.com/short_stories/non-fict/truetales/beerflood.html
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/London_Beer_Flood