The New Year's Turkey by Payson Sibley Wild
At Bill's New Year's dinner, Bill carves a strange fowl and tells Laury's family how the bird, half hen and half Tom, used to display like a Tom yet also nest like a hen, though unable to lay eggs. He recounts finding it brooding for weeks in a forsaken cellar on a china doorknob, which it kept as if it were an egg, and how it once hatched a goose it then led around, later eaten at Christmas. Laury repeatedly tries to stop him, but he finishes the tale and produces the worn china knob. The narrator wishes Bill a happy New Year and asks for the turkey's "Pope's Nose."
By Payson Sibley Wild · Genre: Humorous Fiction, Tall Tale, Narrative Poetry · 648 words
First lines
We all hed come ter Bill's ter spend the day, / New Year's it was, an' Bill hed shaved, an iled / 'Is hair, an' greased 'is boots, an' looked ez gay / 'Z a feller kin in clo'es thet ain't be'n siled.
"I reck'n I didn't tell ye 'bout this fowl," / He sez, an' stopped 'is carvin' fer a bit, / While Laury looked ez if she's goin' ter scowl, / An' tried by signs ter steer 'im off of it.
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Genres
- Humorous Fiction — The work's primary purpose is comedic entertainment, utilizing absurdist humor, unexpected plot twists, and comedic pacing in the narrative structure. The entire narrative is built around an implausible and ridiculous situation treated as fact.
- Tall Tale — Employs the classic structure of American tall tale folklore, presenting an exaggerated and clearly implausible event (a turkey hatching a goose from a doorknob) with the conventions of folk narrative authenticity.
- Narrative Poetry — The work is composed entirely in verse with consistent rhyming couplets and regular metrical patterns, using poetic form to advance the narrative and characterization.
- Dialect Literature — Extensively employs rural American vernacular dialect as a defining stylistic feature throughout, with consistent dialectical spelling, pronunciation, and speech patterns shaping the entire tone and voice.
Tags
turkey · poultry · New Year's · dinner party · hermaphrodite · impossible creature · brooding · nesting · gosling · china doorknob · rural · farm
What this Textopian page supports
The New Year's Turkey is listed on Textopian as a poem by Payson Sibley Wild, dated Date unknown.
This source record anchors work identity, reading entry points, and catalog context for checking claims about the work.
- Work type: Poem
- Author: Payson Sibley Wild
- Date: Date unknown
- Language: English
- Genres: Humorous Fiction, Tall Tale, Narrative Poetry, Dialect Literature, American Folklore
- Length: 648 words
- Structure: 1 section, 11 paragraphs
- Reading fit: Easy (6th Grade)
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- Work identity for The New Year's Turkey by Payson Sibley Wild
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- Genre and topic classification from the Textopian catalog
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