{
 "id": "ambrose-bierce/the-tale-of-a-crime",
 "title": "The Tale of a Crime",
 "ordinal": null,
 "subtitle": null,
 "poet": "Ambrose Bierce",
 "poet_slug": "ambrose-bierce",
 "language": "en",
 "book": "The Collected Works of Ambrose Bierce, Volume IV",
 "book_slug": "collected-works-iv",
 "book_kind": "volume",
 "sequence": 29,
 "container": "Shapes of Clay",
 "epigraph": null,
 "first_published": {
  "year": 1910,
  "venue": "The Collected Works of Ambrose Bierce, Volume IV (1910)",
  "note": "Taken from Volume IV of the Neale collected edition (copyright 1910). That is the printing this text comes from, not the poem's first appearance: the volume's own preface speaks of the verses republished in this volume and the next, and which newspaper or earlier book printed this poem first has not been established here.",
  "uncertain": true,
  "sources": [
   "https://archive.org/details/collectedworksof04bierrich"
  ]
 },
 "source": {
  "kind": "standard-ebooks",
  "repo": "standardebooks/ambrose-bierce_poetry",
  "file": "shapes-of-clay.xhtml",
  "upstream": [
   "https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/4793",
   "https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/12658",
   "https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/12977",
   "https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/15599",
   "https://archive.org/details/collectedworksof04bierrich",
   "https://archive.org/details/collectedworksof05bierrich",
   "https://archive.org/details/collectedworksof08bierrich",
   "https://archive.org/details/shapesofclay00bier",
   "https://archive.org/details/blackbeetlesinam00bier",
   "https://archive.org/details/literarycalifor05mighgoog",
   "https://archive.org/details/cali07webb"
  ],
  "rights": "public domain (SE dedication; underlying text pre-1931)"
 },
 "verification": {
  "level": "structural-only",
  "last_checked": "2026-08-20"
 },
 "stats": {
  "n_lines": 44,
  "n_stanzas": 6,
  "n_parts": 0,
  "longest_line_chars": 52,
  "max_indent": 0
 },
 "site_ready": true,
 "parts": [],
 "stanzas": [
  [
   {
    "text": "Once, in the olden time, a certain King",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "(But where he reigned I know not) said: “Go bring",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "My Chief Adviser here before the throne.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And cut his head off clear down to the bone!”",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "“With pleasure, Sire,” said⁠—keen to earn his wage⁠—",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The High Dissuader from the Sin of Age;",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "“But kings should still be civil, even when just:",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "You’ll charge the villain with some crime, I trust?”",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "“Why, that’s no more than fair,” the King replied.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "They brought the culprit in, securely tied,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And the King said: “Let someone who can read",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Stand forward and unfold the Golden Screed,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Bright with the names of all the sins and crimes",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And vices ever known from ancient times.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "We’ll fit the fellow for the headsman’s prank",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "With one appropriate to his face and rank.”",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "In drowsy monotone the Lector read",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The shining list, beginning at the head.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "(Lèse-majesté was naturally first⁠—",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Of crimes conceivable, the blackest, worst!)",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "As each was named the prisoner addressed",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The throne and, as the law compelled, confessed.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "’Twas fatal not to: in that olden day",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Little was heard about the law’s delay.",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "But still the royal taste could find for him",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "No crime well suited to the royal whim,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And, wearied by the reader’s droning voice,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The sovereign fell asleep, nor made a choice⁠—",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Snored like an organ till the stones were jarred",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Distinguishing the palace from the yard.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Meantime, the accused continued to confess,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Each nod said “guilty” and each look said “yes.”",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "And still the monarch slept: each courtier feared",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "To wake him lest himself should “lose his beard.”",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "(’Twas a fine euphemism, and meant his head⁠—",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Some things for prudence are obliquely said.)",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "“Finis” the reader said, and roundabout",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Fell silence like a loud awakening shout!",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The startled sovereign left a snore half-snored⁠—",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "“That’s what the scoundrel’s guilty of!” he roared.",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "So there before the king upon his throne.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "They cut his head off clean down to the bone!",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And all the devils made a joyous din",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "To celebrate the new and lovely sin.",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ]
 ]
}