SplendentGoddess' splendent twaddle

Each of the lyrics comes from an old-time hickory song for fiddles, and is a lyric from that corresponding song.

"Fire on the Mountain" --> "Fire on the Mountain, run boys run"

Fire On The Mountain - Fiddle Player POV

"The House of the Rising Sun" --> "The Devil's in the house of the rising sun"

House of the Rising Sun

"Ida Red" --> "Chicken in the bread pan peckin' out dough"

Ida Red - Bob Wills & His Texas Playboys

"Granny Will Your Dog Bite" --> "Granny does your dog bite? 'No child, no'."

FTC #149 Granny Will Your Dog Bite

And for your furthered education, The Mountain Whipporwill.

in a time before things like radios and record players, every time you heard music was because there was somebody in the room with you playing an instrument. and many, many, many social events involved dancing, which requires music. so, if you're planning any kind of gathering in the american south or appalachia, you need to find a fiddler. and the fiddler's job is to play music that everybody knows and likes and can dance to.

the mistake The Devil makes in his bet with Johnny is that he misinterprets the contest as being about technical ability, so he has this big flashy song. he plays fast and impressively with a band of demons playing unfamiliar instruments in unfamiliar rhythms. he's definitely more skilled at playing than Johnny, and thinks he has it in the bag.

Super valid, lol. That's actually a great question because I think a lot of people wonder the same thing. So, for all those wondering, here's my best description.

What is Whump?

I've heard whump described as "hurt/comfort" but very heavy on the "hurt" part.

In other words, it's a fanfiction trope in which the main character goes through a whole lot of torture and trauma, or just had a very bad day in general.

It's popular along us fanfic readers who love fics with lots of drama and angst. It can also be sweet - for example, after the main character has a bad day, their friend (or love interest, if you like shipping) comforts them, and it's adorable.

For example, maybe the main character gets kidnapped. Maybe they get seriously injured in battle. They might get hit with a terrible disease (there's a trope called a "sickfic" dedicated to that specifically).

Essentially, whump is like a trope dedicated to torturing your favorite little guys.

There's whump-related words that might help you understand, as well:

Whumper: Character doing the whump (causing the main character pain). Often a villain

Whumpee: The character getting "whumped" (having a VERY rough day)

Caretaker: The character who, as the title suggests, takes care of poor whumpee after everything happens.

If you'd like more info, I strongly recommend the videos "Popular Fandom Terminology" (both part 1 and part 2) by Coleydoesthings on Youtube. She goes into lots of fandom terms, including whump, and she's really good at explaining it.

"Thanks to my new sword," said the student.

The swordmaster studied the blade and frowned. "This is enchanted?"

"You know about cursed swords that whisper that you should kill?"

"Yes?"

"This tells me I'm loved and valid."

7:45pm — Get a spam bot comment on a story. (And fuck you spambot for feeding my human written words into the slop machine, but I digress.) 7:48pm — Report the offending comment and commenter as spam. Takes no time at all. 9:30pm — AO3 has already gotten back to me, determined that they are a spam bot, and banned them.