The Devil in the Belfry

The Devil in the Belfry is another of Poe's comedies, and as odd as this might sound, it actually reads almost like a Dr. Seuss story. If Dr. Seuss ever wrote for adults, this it what it might sound like. Though it does not have the rhyme, it has that sort of surreal, nonsensicalness for lack of a better way to put it. The opening of the story almost made me think of "Whoville"

In The Devil in the Belfry there is this little town, that is said to have never changed for as long as anyone can remember. All the houses look the same, outside and inside, and everyone dresses the same, the only difference is, the more respect a person has in the town the longer his coat-tails, and the bigger his pipe and shoe buckles.

The only thing the town cares about is cabbages and clocks. Everyone has a watch and all their watches are in sync. There is this sort of Big Ben type clock in the town that has 7 faces so it can be seen from every quarter of the town. And everyday at noon everyone in the town counts the 12 strokes of the clock.

Than one day a stranger shoes up and of course that causes chaos to break loose.