I want you guys to know that there is no way I would tell this story
if I weren’t being forced to by my patreon backers
and the reason for this should be pretty clear:
it is a play written by Aristophanes
and it is called
(adapted for internet by Fake Ovid Naso)
two assholes are wandering around in the wilderness
their names are Pisthetearus and Euelpides
which are such terrible names that they must belong to terrible people
and oh, what’s this, looks like I was right
these towering twanks are carrying birds around with them for some reason
why would they do that
I guess we’re about to find out, because this is when they start talking:
PISTHETEARUS: this bird is eating my fucking hand why did we buy these
EUELPIDES: to guide us to the land of the birds you idiot
PISTHETERUS: okay I guess I deserve that. I guess we are both big idiots
EUELPIDES: and to think, all we wanted to do was avoid all our legal responsibilities in Athens by finding a group of gullible birds to help us found our own city where we are kings
PISTHETEARUS: the struggle is real
suddenly the birds start going APESHIT
because there is a new bird here
and his name is TEREUS
you remember Tereus, of course
he is the one who raped his wife’s sister
and then cut out her tongue
and then the sisters killed his son and fed it to him
and they all turned into birds the end.
In this play, he’s a good guy!
also he lives with Procne
his wife who fed him his kids
I’m glad everything worked out for those two crazy lovebirds
TEREUS: what’s up guys what are you doing here what’s going on
EUELPIDES: we are running from the law
PISTHETEARUS: use your wings to help us find a dope city with no laws
TEREUS: ok well I have a few cities I could suggest …
EUELPIDES: those cities are all garbage
PISTHETEARUS: we will found a new city, a city of birds
TEREUS: we will?
EUELPIDES: yes
PISTHETEARUS: we’ll call it Nephelococcygia
EUELPIDES: it means “cloud cuckoo land”!
PISTHETEARUS: it’s what that level in Banjo Kazooie is named after!
TEREUS: sweet well i’ll summon all the birds I guess
he does this
oh god all the birds are here the stage is full of birds oh fuck
BIRDS: what the fuck why are these humans here we hate humans
SEE? WHAT HAVE I BEEN SAYING THIS WHOLE TIME
TEREUS: no chill out these guys are cool
BIRDS: well since you are such a good judge of character we’ll hear them out
EUELPIDES: look guys, we all know birds are the most powerful force in the world. you eat all the bugs to ensure good crops, you tell omens, you shit on lame people we don’t like. you guys run the world
PISTHETEARUS: and it’s time yall started acting like it!
EUELPIDES and PISTHEATRUS are SPECIES TRAITORS
BIRDS: yeah you know what let’s build a city in the sky and demand tribute from everyone
TEREUS: I don’t see how this could go wrong!
IT FUCKING DOESN’T. ONE WEEK LATER EUELPIDES AND PISTHEATRUS HAVE WINGS AND ARE RECEIVING ENVOYS. They are actually trying to sacrifice a goat to consecrate the city rn but they keep getting interrupted
POET: Hello I am here to yell poems at you!
PISTHETEARUS: POETRY IS DEAD
Pisthetearus beats the poet until he goes away.
PROPHET: I’m a prophet and I’m here to say that if you don’t give me a bunch of food and booze BAD THINGS WILL HAPPEN
PISTEATRUS: BAD THINGS ARE HAPPENING RIGHT NOW. TO YOU.
Pisthetearus beats the prophet until he goes away
METON: I am a famous math guy, here to do math on your city and help you efficiently plan your road system!
PISTHETEARUS: WHERE WE’RE GOING WE DON’T NEED ROADS. WE’RE BUILDING A CITY IN THE SKY YOU IDIOT
what do you think pisthetearus does.
a police inspector and a guy who makes decrees also show up
and also get beaten with sticks.
some time during this process Eulpides disappears
maybe he got sick of living in a city full of birds
maybe the secret police got him
I don’t know
I will believe literally any bad thing you tell me about birds.
anyway some dude shows up
SOME DUDE: yo the birds finished building the city wall
PISTHETEARUS: they what?
SOME DUDE: yeah they built a giant wall out of stone and I guess it floats in the sky
PISTHETEARUS: what how
SOME DUDE: I don’t know they used their wings and beaks and shit they’re fucking birds DID YOU NOT REALIZE WHO YOU WERE DEALING WITH
PISTHETEARUS: no no no this is great. see all we have to do now is send envoys to the humans and the gods telling them all that we are in charge now and all the sacrifices should go to us because we are birds
SOME DUDE: I don’t see how this could go wrong!
AND IT DOESN’T. The gods try to make a big deal out of it but the humans are super into the idea, probably because pisthetearus bribes them all with free wings. pretty soon Prometheus shows up
PISTHETEARUS: Yo! Prometheus!
PROMETHEUS: shh dude the gods don’t know I’m here. I just wanted to tell you that they’re all fucking starving up there because you’re jacking all their sacrifices and they’re gonna have to give into you soon. I’m on your side buddy
Prometheus what are you DOING an eagle literally eats your liver EVERY DAY Prometheus REMEMBER WHO YOUR FRIENDS ARE
PROMETHEUS: alright I gotta go now but remember: all hail our new bird overlords
PISTHETEARUS: this is all suspiciously easy, almost as if a vast bird conspiracy anticipated my –
POSEIDON: NO TIME TO THINK CRITICALLY, GODS ARE HERE
HERCULES: I am another god who is here!
TRIBALLUS: I’m a racist caricature masquerading as a god! Besides these two expository sentences, I only speak gibberish!
PISTHETEARUS: Boys, boys, I know you all want to murder all birds in an epic cyclone of blood and thunder …
HERCULES: Yeah that sounds pretty good
yes come on finally
PISTHETEARUS: But what if I were to offer you some … FRIED CHICKEN INSTEAD?
HERCULES: fried chicken you say?
OH COME ON. COME THE FUCK ON HERCULES
PISTHETEARUS: yeah and all Zeus has to do is cede authority to the birds and let me marry the Director of Operations for all of Olympus
POSEIDON: That sounds like a bad deal
PISTHETEARUS: I’m sorry were you not listening to the part where I offered you FRIED CHICKEN?
HERCULES: He has a point, Poseidon
TRIBALLUS: BLUR BLUR BLUH BLUH BLUH!
POSEIDON: Okay fine, but only because Triballus put it so eloquently.
PISTHETEARUS: Hooray! I’m marrying a goddess and nothing bad happened!
BIRDS: EXCEPT THAT YOU HANDED CONTROL OF THE LAND, THE SEA, AND THE HEAVENS TO A MALIGNANT FORCE OF NATURE OLDER THAN THE GODS THEMSELVES. WE WILL RULE FOR A MILLION YEARS. YOU FOOL, YOU HAVE USHERED IN A NEW ERA: THE AGE OF FEATHER AND TALON.
PISTHETEARUS: Still totally worth it!
ALL: The moral of the story is if you give a bird a city pretty soon he is going to want dominion over all mankind!
THE END. I FUCKING WARNED YOU. DIDN’T I FUCKING WARN YOU?
god, fuck you Aristophanes.
of COURSE the Aristophanes protag would be named Piss the Terrace
I feel like I had to read one of his plays in college (not the birds – maybe it was the clouds?) and where generally most things I read leave some sort of impression on me, whether positive or negative, all I remember about Aristophanes is “wut”, like, none of us cared about it. (And this was an honors class, filled with kids who were there because they cared about shit like this.) So I’m 100% behind “FUCK YOU ARISTOPHANES”, especially if we can also tell Plato (same class) to go fuck himself because srsly, just no.
Anyway, excellent work as always sir!
They must not have assigned any of the plays that are full of dick and fart jokes. Which would be most of them. Yeah, The Clouds is probably one of the least funny of the lot.
If I was one of those clever graphics people, I’d put a book cover here with the words “If You Give a Mouse a Cookie” replaced with “If You Give a Bird a City.”
Great children’s story, man. 😉