Short Fiction · Chapter
Oh, Whistle, and I'll Come to You, My Lad explained
Professor Parkins travels to Burnstow for a golfing holiday and stays at the Globe Inn, where he is given a double-bedded room.
What happens
Professor Parkins travels to Burnstow for a golfing holiday and stays at the Globe Inn, where he is given a double-bedded room. He discovers an old whistle with a Latin inscription, which he blows, summoning a mysterious and terrifying figure that appears in the empty bed beside his own. The chapter culminates in a harrowing nocturnal confrontation with the blind, groping entity.
Themes in this chapter
Supernatural and the Uncanny
The whistle's power to summon a ghostly figure and the eerie, blind entity that appears in Parkins's room embody the supernatural and uncanny.
Isolation and Psychological Fear
Parkins's solitary night in the double-bedded room, his insomnia, and the growing terror as the figure moves and gropes in the dark highlight themes of isolation and psychological fear.
Antiquarianism and the Past
The discovery of the ancient whistle with its mysterious inscription and the discussion of the Templar preceptory site reflect antiquarian interests in the past.
Characters to notice
- Professor Parkins
The protagonist, a precise and scholarly professor of Ontography, who comes to Burnstow to improve his golf game and investigate a Templar preceptory.
- Rogers
A bluff and rude fellow diner at St. James's College who jokingly offers to share Parkins's room, causing Parkins polite discomfort.
- The Colonel
A fellow guest at the Globe Inn, identified as Colonel Wilson, who warns Parkins about the whistle and is roused by the wind during the night.
Key passages
“He blew tentatively and stopped suddenly, startled and yet pleased at the note he had elicited. It had a quality of infinite distance in it, and, soft as it was, he somehow felt it must be audible for miles round.”
Parkins blew the whistle softly and was both startled and delighted by the sound, which seemed to carry an infinite, far-reaching quality.
This moment marks the first activation of the whistle's supernatural power, linking sound to the summoning of the ghost.
“All I know is that, if it were mine, I should chuck it straight into the sea. It's no use talking, I'm well aware, but I expect that with you it's a case of live and learn.”
The Colonel advises Parkins to throw the whistle into the sea, implying it is dangerous and that Parkins will learn from his mistake.
The Colonel's warning foreshadows the peril that Parkins will face, highlighting the theme of forbidden knowledge.
“He was out of his own bed in one bound, and made a dash towards the window, where lay his only weapon, the stick with which he had propped his screen.”
Parkins leaped from his bed and rushed to the window to grab the stick he had used to support his makeshift screen, his only available weapon.
This action demonstrates Parkins's instinctive fear and his attempt to defend himself against the supernatural intruder.