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[Assistant] Not at all. I am glad to have a friend with whom I can discuss my results. The matter is a perfectly trivial one. He jerked his thumb in the direction of the old hat.


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[Assistant] But there are points in connection with it which are not entirely devoid of interest and even of instruction.


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[Assistant] I seated myself in his armchair, and warmed my hands before his crackling fire, for a sharp frost had set in, and the windows were thick with the ice crystals.


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[Assistant] I suppose," I remarked, that, homely as it looks, this thing has some deadly story linked on to it, that it is the clue which will guide you in the solution of some mystery and the punishment of some crime.


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[Assistant] No, no, no crime," said Sherlock Holmes, laughing, only one of those whimsical little incidents which will happen when you have four million human beings all jostling each other within the space of a few square miles.


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[Assistant] Amid the action and reaction of so dense a swarm of humanity, every possible combination of events may be expected to take place, and many a little problem will be presented which may be striking and bizarre without being criminal. We have already had experience of such."


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[Assistant] But of the last six cases which I've added to my notes, three have been entirely free of any legal crime. Precisely.


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[Assistant] You allude to my attempt to recover the Irene Adler papers, to the singular case of Miss Mary Sutherland, and the adventure of the man with the twisted lip.


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[Assistant] Well, I have no doubt that this small matter will fall into the same innocent category. You know Peterson, the Commissinaire? Yes. It is to him that this trophy belongs. It is his hat.


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[Assistant] I beg that you will look upon it not as a battered billycock, but as an intellectual problem. And first, as to how it came here.


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[Assistant] It arrived upon Christmas morning in company with a good fat goose, which is, I have no doubt, roasting at this moment in front of Peterson's fire. The facts are these.


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[Assistant] About four o'clock on Christmas morning Peterson, who as you know is a very honest fellow, was returning from some small jollification and was making his way homeward down Tottenham Court Road


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[Assistant] In front of him he saw in the gaslight a tallish man walking with a slight stagger and carrying a white goose slung over his shoulder.


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[Assistant] As he reached the corner of Goode Street a row broke out between this stranger and a little knot of ruffs.


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[Assistant] One of the latter knocked off the man's hat, on which he raised his stick to defend himself, and swinging it over his head smashed the shop window behind him.


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[Assistant] Peterson had rushed forward to protect the stranger from his assailants.


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[Assistant] Dropped his goose, took to his heels, and vanished amid the labyrinths of small streets which lie at the back of Tottenham Court Road.


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[Assistant] The ruffs had also fled at the appearance of Peterson, so that he was left in possession of the field of battle.


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[Assistant] And also of the spoils of victory in the shape of this battered hat and a most unimpeachable Christmas goose, which surely he restored to their owner.


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[Assistant] My dear fellow, there lies the problem.


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[Assistant] It is true that for Mrs. Henry Baker was printed upon a small card which was tied to the bird's left leg, and it is also true that the initials H B are legible upon the lining of this hat.


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[Assistant] But as there are some thousands of bakers, and some hundreds of Henry bakers in this city of ours, it is not easy to restore lost property to any one of them. What then did Peterson do?


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[Assistant] He brought round both hat and goose to me on Christmas morning.


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[Assistant] Knowing that even the smallest problems are of interest to me.


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[Assistant] The goose we retained until this morning, when there were signs that in spite of the slight frost it would be well that it should be eaten, without unnecessary delay. Its finder has carried it off, therefore, to fulfil the ultimate destiny of a goose.


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[Assistant] While I continue to retain the hat of the unknown gentleman who lost his Christmas dinner. Did he not advertise? No. Then what clue could you have as to his identity? Only as much as we can deduce. From this hat? Precisely. But you're joking. What can you gather from this old battered felt?


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[Assistant] Here is my lens. You know my methods. What can you gather yourself as to the individuality of the man who has worn this article?


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[Assistant] I took the tattered object in my hands and turned it over rather ruthfully.


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[Assistant] It was a very ordinary black hat of the usual round shape, hard and much the worse for wear. The lining had been of red silk, which was a good deal discoloured.


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[Assistant] There was no maker's name, but as Holmes had remarked, the initials H B were scrawled upon one side. It was pierced in the brim for a hat securer, but the elastic was missing.


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[Assistant] For the rest it was cracked, exceedingly dusty, and spotted in several places, although there seemed to have been some attempt to hide the discoloured patches by smearing them with ink.


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[Assistant] I can see nothing," said I, handing it back to my friend. On the contrary, Watson, you can see everything.


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[Assistant] You fail however to reason from what you see. You are too timid in drawing your inferences.


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[Assistant] Then pray tell me what it is that you can infer from this hat.


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[Assistant] He picked it up and gazed at it in the peculiar introspective fashion which was characteristic of him.


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[Assistant] It is perhaps less suggestive than it might have been," he remarked, and yet there are a few inferences which are very distinct


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[Assistant] And a few others which represent at least a strong balance of probability.


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[Assistant] That the man was highly intellectual is of course obvious upon the face of it.


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[Assistant] And also that he was fairly well to do within the last three years, although he has now fallen upon evil days.


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[Assistant] He had foresight, but has less now than formerly, pointing to a moral retrogression which, when taken with the decline of his fortunes, seems to indicate that some evil influence, probably drink, at work upon him. This may account also for the obvious fact that his wife has ceased to love him. My dear Holmes!


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[Assistant] He has, however, retained some degree of self-respect," he continued, disregarding my remonstrance.


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[Assistant] He is a man who leads a sedentary life, goes out little, he is out of training entirely, is middle-aged, has grizzled hair which he has had cut within the last few days, and which he anoints with lime cream.


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[Assistant] These are the more patent facts which are to be deduced from his hat.


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[Assistant] Also, by the way, that it is extremely improbable that he has gas laid on in his house. You're certainly joking, Holmes. Not in the least.


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[Assistant] Is it possible that even now when I give you these results you are unable to see how they are attained?


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[Assistant] I have no doubt that I am very stupid, but I must confess that I am unable to follow you.


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[Assistant] For example, how did you deduce that this man was intellectual?


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[Assistant] For answer Holmes clapped the hat upon his head. It came right over the forehead and settled upon the bridge of his nose. It is a question of cubic capacity, said he.


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[Assistant] A man with so large a brain must have something in it. The decline of his fortunes, then. This hat is three years old.


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[Assistant] These flat brims, curled at the edge, came in, then. It is a hat of the very best quality. Look at the band of ribbed silk and the excellent lining.


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[Assistant] If this man could afford to buy so expensive a hat three years ago, and has had no hat since, then he has assuredly gone down in the world.


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[Assistant] Well, that is clear enough, certainly. But how about the foresight and the moral retrogression? Sherlock Holmes laughed.


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[Assistant] Here is the foresight," said he, putting his finger upon the little disc and loop of the hat securer.


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[Assistant] They are never sold upon hats. If this man ordered one, it is a sign of a certain amount of foresight, since he went out of his way to take this precaution against the wind.


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[Assistant] But since we see that he has broken the elastic and has not troubled to replace it, it is obvious that he has less foresight now than formerly, which is a distinct proof of a weakening nature.


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[Assistant] On the other hand, he has endeavoured to conceal some of these stains upon the felt by daubing them with ink, which is a sign that he has not entirely lost his self-respect. Your reasoning is certainly plausible.


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[Assistant] The further points, that he is middle-aged, that his hair is grizzled, that it has been recently cut, and that he uses lime cream, are all to be gathered from a close examination of the lower part of the lining.


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[Assistant] The lens discloses a large number of hair ends, clean cut by the scissors of the barber,


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[Assistant] They all appear to be adhesive and there is a distinct odour of lime cream.


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[Assistant] This dust, you will observe, is not the gritty grey dust of the street.


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[Assistant] But the fluffy brown dust of the house, showing that it has been hung up indoors most of the time, while the marks of moisture upon the inside are proof positive that the wearer perspired very freely, and could therefore hardly be in the best of training. But his wife, you said that she had ceased to love him. This hat has not been brushed for weeks.


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[Assistant] When I see you, my dear Watson, with a week's accumulation of dust upon your hat, and when your wife allows you to go out in such a state,


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[Assistant] I shall fear that you also have been unfortunate enough to lose your wife's affection. But he might be a bachelor.


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[Assistant] Nay, he was bringing home the goose as a peace offering to his wife. Remember the card upon the bird's leg. You have an answer to everything.


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[Assistant] But how on earth do you deduce that the gas is not laid on in his house?


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[Assistant] One tallow stain, or even two, might come by chance. But when I see no less than five, I think that there can be little doubt that the individual must be brought into frequent contact with burning tallow.


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[Assistant] Walks upstairs at night, probably with his hat in one hand and a guttering candle in the other.


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[Assistant] Anyhow, you never got tallow stains from a gas-jet. Are you satisfied?


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[Assistant] Well, it is very ingenious," said I, laughing, but since, as you said just now, there have been no crime committed, and no harm done save the loss of a goose, all this seems to be rather a waste of energy.


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[Assistant] Sherlock Holmes had opened his mouth to reply, when the door flew open, and Peterson, the commissioner, rushed into the apartment with flushed cheeks and the face of a man who is dazed with astonishment.


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[Assistant] The goose, Mr. Holmes. The goose, sir," he gasped.


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[Assistant] Eh? What of it, then? Has it returned to life and slapped off through the kitchen window?


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[Assistant] Holmes twisted himself round upon the sofa to get a fairer view of the man's excited face.


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[Assistant] See here sir, see what my wife found in its crop.


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[Assistant] He held out his hand and displayed upon the centre of the palm a brilliantly scintillating blue stone.


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[Assistant] Rather smaller than a bean in size, but of such purity and radiance that it twinkled like an electric point in the dark hollow of his hand. Sherlock Holmes sat up with a whistle. "'By Jove, Peterson,' said he. "'This is treasure-trove indeed. I suppose you know what you've got.'


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[Assistant] A diamond, sir, a precious stone. It cuts into glass as though it were putty. It's more than a precious stone. It is THE precious stone. Not the Countess of Moorcar's Blue Carbuncle, I ejaculated.


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[Assistant] Precisely so. I ought to know its size and shape, seeing that I have read the advertisement about it in the Times every day lately. It is absolutely unique.


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[Assistant] And its value can only be conjectured.


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[Assistant] But the reward offered of £1000 is certainly not within a 20th part of the market price.


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[Assistant] A thousand pounds? Great lord of mercy!


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[Assistant] The Commissioner plumped down into a chair and stared from one to the other of us.


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[Assistant] That is the reward, and I have reason to know that there are sentimental considerations in the background which would induce the Countess to part with half her fortune if she could but recover the gem.


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[Assistant] It was lost if I remember a right at the Hotel Cosmopolitan," I remarked.


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[Assistant] John Horner, a plumber, was accused of having abstracted it from the Lady's Jewel case.


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[Assistant] The evidence against him was so strong that the case had been referred to the Assizes.


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[Assistant] He rummaged amid his newspapers, glancing over the dates, until at last he smoothed one out, doubled it over, and read the following paragraph.


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[Assistant] Hotel Cosmotholitan, Jewel Robbery. John Hauna, 26, Plumber, was brought up upon the charge of having upon the 22nd inst, abstracted from the Jewel case of the Countess of Moorcar, the valuable gem known as the Blue Carbuncle.


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[Assistant] James Ryder, upper attendant at the hotel, gave his evidence to the effect that he had shown Horner up to the dressing-room of the Countess of Moorcar upon the day of the robbery, in order that he might solder the second bar of the grate, which was loose. He had remained with Horner some little time, but had finally been called away.


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[Assistant] On returning, he found that Horner had disappeared, that the Bureau had been forced open, and that the small Morocco casket, in which, as it afterwards transpired, the Countess was accustomed to keep her jewel, was lying empty upon the dressing-table.


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[Assistant] Rider instantly gave the alarm, and Horner was arrested the same evening, but the stone could not be found either upon his person or in his rooms.


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[Assistant] Catherine Cusack, maid to the Countess, deposed to having heard Ryder's cry of dismay on discovering the robbery, and to having rushed into the room where she found matters as described by the last witness.


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[Assistant] Inspector Bradstreet, B Division, gave evidence as to the arrest of Horner, who struggled frantically and protested his innocence in the strongest terms. Evidence of a previous conviction for robbery having been given against the prisoner, the magistrate refused to deal summarily with the offence, but referred it to the assizes.


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[Assistant] So much for the police court," said Holmes thoughtfully, tossing aside the paper.


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[Assistant] The question for us now to solve is the sequence of events leading from a rifled jewel case at one end to the crop of a goose in Tottenham Court Road at the other.


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[Assistant] You see, Watson, our little deductions have suddenly assumed a much more important and less innocent aspect. Here is the stone.


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[Assistant] The stone came from the goose, and the goose came from Mr. Henry Baker, the gentleman with the bad hat, and all the other characteristics with which I have bored you.


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[Assistant] So now we must set ourselves very seriously to finding this gentleman and ascertaining what part he had played in this little mystery.


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[Assistant] To do this we must try the simplest means first, and these lie undoubtedly in an advertisement in all the evening papers.


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[Assistant] Found at the corner of Goode Street a goose and a black felt hat.


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[Assistant] Mr. Henry Baker can have the same by applying at 6.30 this evening at 221B Baker Street. That is clear and concise. Very. But will he see it?


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[Assistant] Well, he is sure to keep an eye on the papers, since to a poor man the loss was a heavy one.


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[Assistant] He was clearly so scared by his mischance in breaking the window, and by the approach of Peterson, that he thought of nothing but flight.


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[Assistant] But since then he must have bitterly regretted the impulse which caused him to drop his bird.


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[Assistant] Then again the introduction of his name will cause him to see it, for everyone who knows him will direct his attention to it.


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[Assistant] Run down to the advertising agency and have this put in the evening papers. In which sir?


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[Assistant] Oh, in the Globe, Star, Paul Moll, St. James's, Evening News, Standard, Echo, and any others that occur to you. Very well, sir. Anistone?


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[Assistant] And I say, Peterson, just buy a goose on your way back and leave it here with me.


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[Assistant] For we must have one to give to this gentleman in place of the one which your family is now devouring.


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[Assistant] Of course it is a nucleus and focus of crime. Every good stone is. They are the devil's pet baits. In the larger and older jewels every facet may stand for a bloody deed. This stone is not yet twenty years old.


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[Assistant] It was found in the banks of the Arnoi River in southern China, and is remarkable in having every characteristic of the carbuncle, save that it is blue in shade instead of ruby red.


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[Assistant] In spite of its youth, it has already a sinister history.


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[Assistant] There have been two murders, a vitriol throwing, a suicide, and several robberies brought about for the sake of this forty-grain weight of crystallised charcoal.


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[Assistant] Who would think that so pretty a toy would be a purveyor to the gallows and the prison?


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[Assistant] I'll lock it up in my strong box now, and drop a line to the Countess to say that we have it. Do you think that this man Horner is innocent? I cannot tell.


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[Assistant] Well then, do you imagine that this other one, Henry Baker, had anything to do with the matter?


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[Assistant] It is, I think, much more likely that Henry Baker is an absolutely innocent man, who had no idea that the bird which he was carrying was of considerably more value than if it were made of solid gold.


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[Assistant] That, however, I shall determine by a very simple test if we have an answer to our advertisement. And you can do nothing until then? Nothing. In that case, I shall continue my professional round.


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[Assistant] But I shall come back in the evening at the hour you have mentioned, for I should like to see the solution of so tangled a business.


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[Assistant] Very glad to see you. I dine at seven. There is a woodcock, I believe. By the way, in view of recent occurrences, perhaps I ought to ask Mrs Hudson to examine its crop.


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[Assistant] I had been delayed at a case, and it was a little after half-past six when I found myself in Baker Street once more.


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[Assistant] As I approached the house I saw a tall man in a Scotch bonnet, with a coat which was buttoned up to his chin, waiting outside in the bright semicircle which was thrown from the fan-light.


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[Assistant] Just as I arrived the door was opened, and we were shown up together to Holmes's room.


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[Assistant] Mr. Henry Baker, I believe, said he, rising from his armchair, and greeting his visitor with the easy air of geniality which he could so readily assume.


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[Assistant] Craig, take this chair by the fire, Mr. Baker. It is a cold night, and I observe that your circulation is more adapted for summer than for winter.


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[Assistant] Ah, Watson, you have just come at the right time. Is that your hat, Mr Baker?


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[Assistant] Yes sir, that is undoubtedly my hat.


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[Assistant] He was a large man with a rounded shoulders, a massive head, and a broad, intelligent face, sloping down to a pointed beard of grizzled brown.


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[Assistant] A touch of red in nose and cheeks, with a slight tremor of his extended hand, recalled Holmes' surmise as to his habits.


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[Assistant] His rusty black frock coat was buttoned right up in front, with the collar turned up and his lank wrists protruded from his sleeves without a sign of cuff or shirt.


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[Assistant] He spoke in a slow staccato fashion, choosing his words with care, and gave the impression generally of a man of learning and letters, who had had ill usage at the hands of fortune.


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[Assistant] We have retained these things for some days," said Holmes, because we expected to see an advertisement from you giving your address.


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[Assistant] I am at a loss to know why you did not advertise. Our visitor gave a rather shamefaced laugh.


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[Assistant] Shillings have not been so plentiful with me as they once were," he remarked.


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[Assistant] I had no doubt that the gang of ruffs who assaulted me had carried off both my hat and the bird.


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[Assistant] I did not care to spend more money in a hopeless attempt at recovering them.


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[Assistant] Very naturally, by the way, about the bird, we were compelled to eat it. To eat it? Our visitor half rose from his chair in his excitement.


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[Assistant] Yes, it would have been of no use to anyone had we not done so. But I presume that this other goose upon the sideboard, which is about the same weight and perfectly fresh, will answer your purpose equally well." Oh, certainly, certainly," answered Mr. Baker with a sigh of relief.


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[Assistant] They might be useful to me as a relics of my adventure," said he.


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[Assistant] But beyond that I can hardly see what use the disjector membro of my late acquaintance are going to be to me. No, sir, I think that with your permission I will confine my attentions to the excellent bird which I perceive upon the sideboard.


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[Assistant] Sherlock Holmes glanced sharply across at me with a slight shrug of his shoulders.


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[Assistant] There is your hat then, and there your bird, said he.


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[Assistant] By the way, would it bore you to tell me where you got the other one from? I am somewhat of a foul fancier, and I have seldom seen a better grown goose. Certainly, sir.


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[Assistant] Said Baker, who had risen and tucked his newly gained property under his arm.


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[Assistant] This year, our good host, Windigate by name, instituted a goose club, by which, on consideration of some few pence every week, we were each to receive a bird at Christmas.


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[Assistant] I am much indebted to you, sir, for a Scotch bonnet is fitted neither to my years nor my gravity.


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[Assistant] With a comical pomposity of manner he bowed solemnly to both of us and strode off upon his way.


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[Assistant] So much for Mr. Henry Baker," said Holmes when he had closed the door behind him.


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[Assistant] It is quite certain that he knows nothing whatever about the matter. Are you hungry Watson?


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[Assistant] Not particularly. Then I suggest that we turn our dinner into a supper, and follow up this clue while it is still hot. By all means.


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[Assistant] It was a bitter night, so we drew on our ulsters and wrapped cravats about our throats. Outside the stars were shining coldly in a cloudless sky, and the breath of the passers-by blew out into smoke like so many pistol shots.


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[Assistant] Our footfalls rang out crisply and loudly as we swung through the Doctor's Quarter, Wimpole Street, Harley Street, and so through Wigmore Street into Oxford Street.


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[Assistant] In a quarter of an hour we were in Bloomsbury at the Alpha Inn, which is a small public house at the corner of one of the streets which runs down into Holborn.


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[Assistant] Holmes pushed open the door of the private bar and ordered two glasses of beer from the ruddy-faced white apron landlord.


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[Assistant] Yes, I was speaking only half an hour ago to Mr. Henry Baker, who was a member of your goose club.


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[Assistant] Well, I got the two dozen from a salesman in Covent Garden. Indeed, I know some of them. Which was it? Breconridge is his name.


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[Assistant] Ah, I don't know him. Well, here's your good health, landlord, and prosperity to your house. Good night.


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[Assistant] Now for Mr Breckenridge," he continued, buttoning up his coat as we came out into the frosty air.


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[Assistant] Remember, Watson, that though we have so homely a thing as a goose at one end of this chain, we have at the other a man who will certainly get seven years' penal servitude unless we can establish his innocence.


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[Assistant] It is possible that our inquiry may but confirm his guilt, but in any case we have a line of investigation which has been missed by the police, and which a singular chance has placed in our hands.


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[Assistant] Let us follow it out to the bitter end. Faces to the south, then, and quick march.


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[Assistant] We passed across Hoborn, down Endall Street, and so through a zigzag of slums to Covent Garden Market.


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[Assistant] One of the largest stalls bore the name of Breckenridge upon it, and the proprietor, a horsey-looking man with a sharp face and trim side whiskers, was helping a boy to put up the shutters


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[Assistant] Good evening. It's a cold night, said Holmes.


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[Assistant] The salesman nodded and shot a questioning glance at my companion.


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[Assistant] Sold out of geese, I see," continued Holmes, pointing at the bare slabs of marble. "'Let you have five hundred tomorrow morning.' "'That's no good.' "'Well, there are some on the stool with a guest-flirt.' "'Ah, but I was recommended to you.' "'Who, boy?' "'The landlord of the Alpha.' "'Oh, yes. I sent him a couple of dozen.'


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[Assistant] Fine birds they were too. Now where did you get them from?


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[Assistant] It is straight enough. I should like to know who sold you the geese which you supplied to the Alpha. Well then, I shan't tell you. So now—


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[Assistant] Oh, it is a matter of no importance, but I don't know why you should be so warm over such a trifle.


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[Assistant] Warm? You'd be as warm, maybe, if you were as bested as I am. When I pay good money for a good article there should be an end to the business. But it's where are the geese, and who did you sell the geese to, and what will you take for the geese? One would think that they were the only geese in the world to hear the fuss that's made over them.


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[Assistant] Well I have no connection with any other people who have been making inquiries," said Holmes carelessly. If you won't tell us, the bet is off, that is all.


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[Assistant] But I'm always ready to back my opinion on a matter of fowls, and I have a fiver on it that the bird I ate is country-bred.


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[Assistant] Well then, you lost your fiver, for it's town bread," snapped the salesman. It's nothing of the kind. I say it is. I don't believe it.


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[Assistant] Do you think you know more about fowls than I, who've handled them either since I was a nipper? I tell you, all those birds that went to the Alpha were town-bred. You'll never persuade me to believe that. Will you bet then?


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[Assistant] It's merely taking your money, for I know that I'm right. But I'll have a sovereign on with you, just to teach you not to be obstinate.


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[Assistant] The salesman chuckled grimly. Bring me the books, Bill, said he.


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[Assistant] The small boy brought round a small thin volume, and a great greasy-backed one, laying them out together beneath the hanging lamp.


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[Assistant] I thought that I was out a geese, but before I finish, you'll find that there is still one left in my shop. You see this little book? Well...


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[Assistant] That's the list of the folk from whom I buy. Do you see? Well then, here on this page are the country folk, and the numbers after their names are where their accounts are on the big ledger. Now then, you see this other page in red ink? Well, that is a list of my town suppliers. Now look at that third name. Just read it out to me.


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[Assistant] Quite so. Now turn that up in the ledger." Holmes turned to the page indicated.


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[Assistant] Here you are, Mrs. Oakshot, 117 Brixton Road, egg and poultry supplier. Now then, what's the last entry?


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[Assistant] December 22nd, twenty-four geese at seven shilling sixpence.


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[Assistant] Quite so. There you are, and underneath...


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[Assistant] Sold to Mr. Windegate of the Alpha at twelve shillings. What have you to say now? Sherlock Holmes looked deeply chagrined.


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[Assistant] He drew a sovereign from his pocket and threw it down upon the slab, turning away with the air of a man whose disgust is too deep for words.


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[Assistant] A few yards off he stopped under a lamppost and laughed in the hearty, noiseless fashion which was peculiar to him.


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[Assistant] When you see a man with the whiskers of that cut, and the pinken protruding out of his pocket, you can always draw him by a bet," said he. I dare say that if I had put a hundred pounds down in front of him that man would not have given me such complete information as was drawn from him by the idea that he was doing me on a wager.


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[Assistant] Well, Watson, we are, I fancy, nearing the end of our quest, and the only point which remains to be determined is whether we should go on to this Mrs. Oakshot to-night, or whether we should reserve it for to-morrow.


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[Assistant] It is clear from what the surly fellow said that there are others besides ourselves who are anxious about the matter, and I should—


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[Assistant] His remarks were suddenly cut short by a loud hubbub which broke out from the store which we had just left.


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[Assistant] Turning round, we saw a little rat-faced fellow standing in the centre of the circle of yellow light which was thrown by the swinging lamp, while Breckenridge, the salesman, framed in the door of his stall, was shaking his fists fiercely at the cringing figure.


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[Assistant] I've had enough of you and your geese!" he shouted. I wish you were all at the devil together. If you come pestering me any more with your silly talk, I'll set the dog at you.


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[Assistant] You bring Mrs. Oakshottier and I'll answer her, but what have you got to do with it? Did I buy the geese off you?


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[Assistant] No, but one of them was mine all the same, mind the little man. Well then, ask Mrs. Oakeshop for it. She told me to ask you.


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[Assistant] Well you can ask the King of Prusia for all I care. I've had enough of it. Get out of this.


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[Assistant] He rushed fiercely forward, and the inquirer flitted away into the darkness.


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[Assistant] This may save us a visit to Brixton Road," whispered Holmes.


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[Assistant] Come with me, and we will see what is to be made of this fellow.


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[Assistant] Striding through the scattered knots of people who lounged round the flaring stalls, my companion speedily overtook the little man and touched him upon the shoulder.


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[Assistant] He sprang round, and I could see in the gas-light that every vestige of colour had been driven from his face.


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[Assistant] Who are you then? What do you want? he asked in a quavering voice.


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[Assistant] You will excuse me, said Holmes blandly.


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[Assistant] But I could not help overhearing the questions which you put to the salesman just now. I think that I could be of assistance to you.


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[Assistant] You? Who are you? How could you know anything of the matter?


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[Assistant] My name is Sherlock Holmes. It is my business to know what other people don't know. But you can know nothing of this.


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[Assistant] Excuse me, I know everything of it.


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[Assistant] You are endeavouring to trace some geese which were sold by Mrs. Oakeshott of Brixton Road to a salesman named Breckenridge, by him in turn to Mr. Windigate of the Alpha, and by him to his club of which Mr. Henry Baker is a member.


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[Assistant] Oh sir, you are a very man whom I've longed to meet.


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[Assistant] Cried the little fellow with the outstretched hands and quivering fingers.


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[Assistant] I can hardly explain to you how interested I am in this matter.


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[Assistant] Sherlock Holmes hailed a four-wheeler which was passing.


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[Assistant] In that case we had better discuss it in a cosy room rather than in this windswept market-place," said he.


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[Assistant] But pray tell me, before we go farther, who it is that I have the pleasure of assisting. The man hesitated for an instant.


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[Assistant] My name is John Robinson," he answered with a sidelong glance.


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[Assistant] No, no, the real name," said Holmes sweetly. It is always awkward doing business with an alias. A flush sprang to the white cheeks of the stranger.


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[Assistant] Well then," said he, my real name is James Ryder. Precisely so. Head attendant at the Hotel Cosmopolitan.


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[Assistant] Pray step into the cab, and I shall soon be able to tell you everything which you would wish to know.


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[Assistant] The little man stood glancing from one to the other of us with half frightened, half hopeful eyes, as one who is not sure whether he is on the verge of a windfall or of a catastrophe.


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[Assistant] Then he stepped into the cab and in half an hour we were back in the sitting room at Baker Street. Nothing had been said during our drive.


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[Assistant] But the high thin breathing of our new companion, and the claspings and unclaspings of his hands, spoke of the nervous tension within him.


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[Assistant] Here we are, said Holmes cheerily as we filed into the room.


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[Assistant] The fire looks very seasonable in this weather. You look cold, Mr. Ryder. Pray take the basket chair. I will just put on my slippers before we settle this little matter of yours.


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[Assistant] Now then, you want to know what became of those geese? Yes sir.


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[Assistant] Or rather I fancy of that goose. It was one bird, I imagine, which you were interested. White with a black bar across the tail. Ryder quivered with emotion.


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[Assistant] Oh, sir," he cried,—can you tell me where it went to? It came here. Here? Yes, and the most remarkable bird it proved. I don't wonder that you should take an interest in it.


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[Assistant] It laid an egg after it was dead. The bonniest, brightest little blue egg that ever was seen. I have it here in my museum.


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[Assistant] Our visitor staggered to his feet and clutched the mantelpiece with his right hand.


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[Assistant] Holmes unlocked his strong-bucks and held up the blue carbuncle, which shone out like a star with a cold, brilliant, many-pointed radiance.


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[Assistant] Rider stood glaring with a drawn face, uncertain whether to claim or to disown it.


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[Assistant] The game's up, Ryder," said Holmes quietly. Hold up, man, or you'll be into the fire. Give him an arm back into his chair, Watson.


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[Assistant] He's not got blood enough to go in for felony with impunity. Give him a dash of brandy.


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[Assistant] So, now he looks a little more human. What a shrimp it is, to be sure.


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[Assistant] For a moment he had staggered and nearly fallen, but the brandy brought a tinge of colour into his cheeks, and he set staring with frightened eyes at his accuser.


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[Assistant] I have almost every link in my hands, and all the proofs which I could possibly need, so there is little which you need to tell me.


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[Assistant] Still, that little may as well be cleared up to make the case complete.


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[Assistant] You had heard, rider, of this blue stone of the Countess of Morecarz?


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[Assistant] It was Catherine Cousack who told me of it," said he in a crackling voice.


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[Assistant] I see, her ladyship's waiting made. Well, the temptation of sudden wealth, so easily acquired, was too much for you, as it has been for better men before you


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[Assistant] But you were not very scrupulous in the means you used.


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[Assistant] It seems to me, Ryder, that there is the making of a very pretty villain in you.


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[Assistant] You knew that this man Horner, the plumber, had been concerned in some such matter before, and that suspicion would rest more readily upon him. What did you do then?


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[Assistant] You made some small job in my lady's room—you and your confederate Cusack—and you managed that he should be the man sent for. Then, when he had left, you rifled the jewel-case, raised the alarm, and had this unfortunate man arrested. You then


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[Assistant] Ryder threw himself down suddenly upon the rug, and clutched at my companion's knees. For God's sake, have mercy! he shrieked. Think of my father, of my mother. It would break their hearts. I never went wrong before. I never will again. I swear it. I'll swear it on a Bible. Oh, don't bring it into court. For Christ's sake, don't!" Get back in your chair, said Holmes sternly.


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[Assistant] It is very well to cringe and crawl now, but you thought little enough of this poor Horner in the dock for a crime of which he knew nothing.


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[Assistant] I will fly, Mr. Holmes. I will leave the country, sir, then the charge against him will break down.


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[Assistant] And how came the goose into the open market?


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[Assistant] I would tell you it just as it happened, sir," said he.


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[Assistant] When Horner had been arrested, it seemed to me that it would be best for me to get away with the stone at once, for I did not know at what moment the police might not take it into their heads to search me in my room.


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[Assistant] There was no place about the hotel where it would be safe.


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[Assistant] I went out, as if on some commission, and I made for my sister's house.


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[Assistant] She had married a man named Oakshot, and lived in Brixton Road, where she fattened fowls for the market.


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[Assistant] All the way there every man I met seemed to me to be a policeman or a detective, and for all that it was a cold night. The sweat was pouring down my face before I came to the Brixton Road.


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[Assistant] My sister asked me what was the matter, and why I was so pale.


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[Assistant] But I told her that I had been upset by the dual robbery at the hotel.


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[Assistant] I had a friend once called Maudsley who went to the bad and had just been serving his time in Pentonville.


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[Assistant] One day he had met me and fell into talking about the ways of thieves and how they could get rid of what they stole.


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[Assistant] I knew that he would be true to me, for I knew one or two things about him. So I made up my mind to go right on to Kilburn, where he lived, and take him into my confidence. He would show me how to turn the stone into money. But how to get to him in safety?


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[Assistant] I thought of the agonies I'd gone through in coming from the hotel. I might at any moment be seized and searched, and there would be the stone in my waistcoat pocket.


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[Assistant] I was leaning against a wall at the time, and looked at the geese which were waddling about round my feet.


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[Assistant] And suddenly an idea came into my head which showed me how I could beat the best detective that ever lived.


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[Assistant] My sister told me some weeks before that I might have the pick of her geese for a Christmas present, and I knew that she was always as good as her word.


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[Assistant] I would take my geese now, and in it I would carry my stone to Kilburn.


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[Assistant] There was a little shed in the yard, and behind this I drove one of the birds, a fine big one, white with a barred tail.


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[Assistant] I caught it, and prying its bill open, I thrust a stone down its throat as far as my finger could reach. The bird gave a gulp.


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[Assistant] And I felt the stone pass along its gullet and down into its crop.


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[Assistant] But the creature flapped and struggled, and out came my sister to know what was the matter.


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[Assistant] As I turned to speak to her the brute broke loose and fluttered off among the others.


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[Assistant] Whatever were you doing with that bird, Gem? Says she.


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[Assistant] Well," said I, you said you'd give me one for Christmas, and I was feeling which was the fattest.


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[Assistant] We've set yours aside for you. Gemsbird we call it. It's the big white one over there yonder. There's 26 of them, which makes one for you and one for us and two dozen for the market.


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[Assistant] Thank you, Maggie, says I, but if it is all the same to you, I'd rather have that one I was handling just now.


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[Assistant] The other one's as good three pound heavier," said she, and we fattened it expressly for you.


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[Assistant] Never mind, I'll have the other, and I'll take it now, said I.


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[Assistant] Well, just as you like, said she, a little huffed. Which is it you want, then?


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[Assistant] That white one with the barred tail right in the middle of the flock. Oh very well, kill it and take it with you.


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[Assistant] Well, I did what she said, Mr. Holmes, and I carried the bird all the way to Kilburn.


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[Assistant] I told my pal what I had done, for he was a man that it was easy to tell a thing like that to.


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[Assistant] He laughed until he choked, and we got a knife and opened the goose.


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[Assistant] My heart turned to water, for there was no sign of the stone, and I knew that some terrible mistake had occurred.


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[Assistant] But was there another with a barred tail? I asked. The same as the one I chose.


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[Assistant] Yes Jim, there were two barred tails ones and I could never tell them apart.


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[Assistant] Well then, of course, I saw it all, and I ran off as hard as my feet would carry me to this man Breckenridge, but he had sold the lot at once.


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[Assistant] And not one word would he tell me as to where they had gone. You heard him yourselves tonight.


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[Assistant] Well, he has always answered me like that. My sister thinks that I am going mad. Sometimes I think that I am myself.


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[Assistant] And now, and now I am myself a branded thief, without ever having touched the wealth for which I sold my character. God help me! God help me!


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[Assistant] He burst into convulsive sobbing with his face buried in his hands.


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[Assistant] There was a long silence, broken only by his heavy breathing and by the measured tapping of Sherlock Holmes's fingertips upon the edge of the table. Then my friend rose and threw open the door. "'Get out,' said he. "'What, sir? Oh, Heaven bless you!' No more words. Get out.'


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[Assistant] And no more words were needed. There was a rush, a clatter upon the stairs, the bang of a door, and the crisp rattle of running footfalls from the street.


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[Assistant] After all, Watson," said Holmes, reaching up his hand for his clay pipe,


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[Assistant] I am not retained by the police to supply their deficiencies. If Horner were in danger it would be another thing, but this fellow will not appear against him and the case must collapse. I suppose that I am commuting a felony.


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[Assistant] But it is just possible that I am saving a soul.


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[Assistant] This fellow will not go wrong again. He is too terribly frightened. Send him to jail now, and you make him a jailbird for life. Besides, it is a season of forgiveness. Chance has put in our way a most singular and whimsical problem, and its solution is its own reward.


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[Assistant] If you will have the goodness to touch the bell, Doctor, we will begin another investigation.


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[Assistant] In which also a bird will be the chief feature.


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[Assistant] The next part of the syntax that might be unfamiliar is this at sign and something that comes after the at sign.


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[Assistant] Now we sort of know what it does. It's basically saying when the user hits up this path, which is what's called the home route, basically when you go to a website, for example, www.google.com and you go to the first forward slash, well, that is going to be the home.


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[Assistant] And it knows that when you go there, you want to see the homepage.


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[Assistant] So that's effectively what we're saying here. When the user navigates to our URL with just a forward slash, they want to see the homepage and so we're going to show them hello world. But what is this syntax exactly?


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[Assistant] Well, this is called a Python decorator.


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[Assistant] And this is something that you'll see in more advanced Python projects. So what exactly is a decorator? Well, let's imagine that you have a bunch of function in your class or in your module.


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[Assistant] And you want to add some functionality to each of these functions. Well, then you might use a decorator function to do that.


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[Assistant] Essentially you can think of a decorator function as a function that's going to give additional functionality to an existing function.


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[Assistant] In order to really understand this, we have to understand a couple of other concepts as well.


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[Assistant] So I'm going to do a couple of demos in this replit. And if you head to this URL or find it in the course resources, you'll be able to see all the code that I've written in this file.


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[Assistant] So a long time ago we learned about Python functions and we know that a function allows us to have specific packages of functionality, allows us to add inputs to increase the reusability of the function,


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[Assistant] And also allows us to get outputs from the function, which we can pass into another function or do something with it.


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[Assistant] As an example, we've got four very simple functions, add, subtract, multiply, and divide that uses all three components of a function.


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[Assistant] Well, one of the things about Python functions is that they are known as first class objects, which basically means that you can pass a function around as an argument, just like what you could do with an integer, a string or a float. It's treated identically.


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[Assistant] That means we can take these functions and we can build another function that uses these functions. Let's say I create a calculate function which takes a calc function and then the n1 and n2.


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[Assistant] Inside this calculate function, I'm going to call the function that was passed in and give it the values n1 and n2 that was also passed in.


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[Assistant] So now when I call the calculate function, I'm going to pass in the name of one of these functions and then some numbers. Those numbers are going to become the input for this specified function. And then we're going to return the result of that calculation.


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[Assistant] So now, lower down, I can call my calculate function, pass in the name of a function, so for example, our multiply function, and then pass in some numbers, for example, 2 and 3.


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[Assistant] Now let the output that's returned be our results and let's go ahead and print this result. And you can see we get 6. So basically it has now multiplied 2 by 3. Now if I change this to one of the other functions, add,


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[Assistant] And I run this again. You can see instead of six, I'm now getting five.


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[Assistant] The ability for us to treat functions as first class objects basically means that we can pass them around as if they were just any other argument like a number or a string or a floating point number.


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[Assistant] And then later we can activate them by adding the brackets around them and then any necessary inputs.


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[Assistant] Now the next concept, which you might have come across, but we haven't really used it a lot, is the concept of nested functions.


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[Assistant] Functions can also be nested inside other functions. For example, if I create a function called outer function,


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[Assistant] Now inside this outer function, I could create another function. So notice the indentation here means that this function is now created inside this function and I'll call it the nested function.


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[Assistant] Now because this function was declared inside this function, its scope means that it's only accessible inside the confines of this function. So if we were to go outside of the function,


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[Assistant] By indenting back to the beginning, we try to call this nested function, then it's actually not going to work. We're going to get a name error. It's not defined.


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[Assistant] However, if we call this function inside this outer function,


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[Assistant] Then it will now no longer generate an error.


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[Assistant] And when I run this, you can see it says I'm outer and then it says I'm inner.


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[Assistant] So this first gets executed and then this. And this iminner is being printed when this line is being evaluated.


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[Assistant] One of the other things you could do is you can actually return a function from another function.


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[Assistant] Functions can actually be returned from other functions. So if I make a copy of this previous function right here and comment out this other function and all the steps before,


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[Assistant] And we only have this bit of active code, then you can see that instead of calling this nested function here, I could also return it as the output


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[Assistant] But the important part here is I'm going to get rid of the parentheses, which means I'm no longer activating that function right here. So now when I call this outer function,


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[Assistant] The output that this line is going to evaluate to is going to become the nested function.


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[Assistant] So you could almost store it inside a variable. So let's say I create a variable called inner function.


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[Assistant] Which is equal to the output of the outer function, which is basically this nested function that's being returned.


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[Assistant] Well then, not only can I trigger the outer function, which is just going to give me I'm outer,


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[Assistant] Now I can also trigger the inner function separately by calling it and then adding the activator, which is the parentheses.


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[Assistant] So now it says I'm outer after it evaluates this line. I'm inner after it evaluates this line.


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[Assistant] Now if this is confusing to you, I recommend heading over to the course resources where I've got a link to this Python tutor where I've entered all the code that we've seen just now and we can execute this code line by line.


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[Assistant] So you can see that the first thing that happens is it looks at this outer function and it creates a reference to that function.


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[Assistant] Now next it's on this line where our outer function is actually being executed because it has the parentheses at the end.


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[Assistant] So now it's actually going to go inside this outer function and go through it line by line where it prints I'm outer and then sets up a reference to this second function, which is the nested function. The nested function can now be called by its name, which is nested function.


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[Assistant] But at the very end of the outer function, that function is going to be the return value. So it's going to be outputted.


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[Assistant] Finally, we get to the end of this line nine and we set up a reference from this variable called inner function to this nested function.


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[Assistant] And finally, when we get to the line 10, we trigger that function. So here is our inner function, which points to this nested function. And so when we trigger this inner function, it's the same as triggering the nested function.


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[Assistant] And that is when we end up going into this function and printing out what it says inside.


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[Assistant] Have a play around with that to fully get to grips with all the things that you can do with a function.


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[Assistant] And once you're happy with all of this and you've reviewed it and you understand everything that's going on, then you've got the foundations to head over to the next lesson where we're going to talk about Python decorators.


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[Assistant] He was gilded all over with thin leaves of fine gold, the eyes he had two bright sapphires, and a large red ruby, glowed on his sword hilt. He was very much admired indeed. He is as beautiful as a weathercock, remarked one of the town councilors,


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[Assistant] Who wished to gain a reputation for having artistic tastes, only not quite as useful, he added, fearing less people should think him unpractical, which he really was not. Why can't you be like the happy prince? asked the sensible mother of her little boy, who was crying for the moon.


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[Assistant] I'm glad there is someone in the world who was quite so happy, muttered a disappointed man as he gazed at the wonderful statue.


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[Assistant] He looks just like an angel," said the charity children as they came out of the cathedral in their bright scarlet cloaks and their clean white pinafores. How do you know, said the mathematical master? You have never seen one. Ah, but we have in our dreams. And to the children,


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[Assistant] And the mathematical master frowned and looked very severe, for he did not approve of children dreaming. One night, there flew over the city a little swallow. His friends had gone away to Egypt six weeks before, but he had stayed behind.


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[Assistant] Before he was in love with the most beautiful reed he had met her early in the spring, as he was flying down the river after a big yellow moth, and had been so attracted by her slender waist that he had stopped to talk to her. Shall I love you, said the swallow, who liked to come to the point at once, and the reed made him a low bow.


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[Assistant] So we flew round her, and round her.


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[Assistant] Touching the water with his wings and making silver ripples. This was his courtship and it lasted all through the summer.


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[Assistant] Twitted the other swallows. She has no money and far too many relations.


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[Assistant] And indeed, the river was quite full of reeds. Then, when the autumn came, they all flew away. After they had gone, he felt lonely, and began to tire of his lady love.


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[Assistant] She has no conversation, he said. I know I am afraid she is a cocat, but she is always flirting with the wind. And certainly, whenever the wind blew, the reed made the most graceful curses.


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[Assistant] I admit that she is domestic, he continued, but I love traveling and my wife consequently should love traveling also. Will you come away with me? He finally said to her and the reed shook her head. She was so attached to her home.


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[Assistant] You have been trifling with me, he cried. I am off to the pyramids, goodbye. And he flew away. All day long he flew, and at night time he arrived at the city. Where shall I put up, he said. I hope the town has made some preparations. Then he saw the statue on the tall column. I will put it there, he cried. It is a fine position.


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[Assistant] So he alighted just between the feet of the happy prince.


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[Assistant] I have a golden bedroom, he said softly to himself as he looked round, and he prepared to go to sleep. But just as he was putting his head under his wing, a large drop of water fell on him. What a curious thing, he cried. There is not a single cloud in the sky. The stars are quite clear and bright, and yet it is raining. The climate in the north of Europe


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[Assistant] It's really dreadful. The reed used to like the rain, but that was merely her selfishness. Then another drop fell. What is the use of a statue if it cannot keep the rain off? He said. I must look for a good chimney pot. And he determined to fly away. But before he had opened his wings, a third drop fell and he looked up


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[Assistant] And saw, ah, what did he see? The eyes of the happy prince were filled with tears and tears were running down his golden cheeks. His face was so beautiful in the moonlight that the little swallow was filled with pity. Who are you? He said, I am the happy prince. Why are you weeping then? Asked the swallow.


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[Assistant] You have quite drenched me. When I was alive and had a human heart, answered the statue, I did not know what tears were, for I lived in the palace of Sansuchie, where sorrow is not allowed to enter.


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[Assistant] In the daytime, I played with my companions in the garden, and in the evening I led the dance to the great hall. Round the garden ran a very lofty wall, but I never cared to ask what lay beyond it. Everything about me was so beautiful. My courtiers called me the happy prince, and happy indeed I was, if pleasure be happiness. So I lived, and so I died.


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[Assistant] And now that I am dead, they have set me up here so high that I can see all the ugliness and all the misery of my city. And though my heart has made of lead, yet I cannot choose but weep. What, it is not solid gold? said the swallow to himself.


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[Assistant] He was too polite to make any personal remarks out loud. Far away, continued the statue, in a low musical voice. Far away, in a little street, there is a poor house. One of the windows is open, and through it I can see a woman seated at a table. Her face is thin and warm, and she has coarse red hands, all pricked by the needle.


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[Assistant] She is embroidering passion flowers on a satin gown for the loveliest of the queens maid of honours to wear at the next court ball. In a bed in the corner of a room, her little boy is lying ill. He has a fever and is asking for oranges. His mother has nothing to give him but river water, so he is crying.


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[Assistant] Swallow, little swallow, will you not bring her a ruby out of my sword hilt? My feet are fastened to this pedestal and I cannot move.


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[Assistant] I am waited for in Egypt, said the swallow. My friends are flying up and down the Nile and talking to the large lotus flowers. Soon they will go to sleep in the tomb of the great king. The king is there, himself in his painted coffin. He is wrapped in yellow linen and embalmed with spices. Round his neck is a chain of pale green jade, and his hands are like withered leaves.


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[Assistant] Swallow, little swallow, said the prince. Will you not stay for me for one night and be my messenger? The boy's so thirsty and the mother so sad. I don't think I like boys, answered the swallow. Last summer when I was staying on the river, there were two rude boys, the Miller sons, who were always throwing stones at me. They never hit me, of course.


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[Assistant] We swallows fly far too well for that, and besides, I come of a family famous for its agility, but still, it was a mark of disrespect. But the happy prince looked so sad that the little swallow was sorry. It is very cold here, he said, but I will stay with you for one night and be your messenger.


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[Assistant] So the swallow picked up the great ruby from the princess' sword and flew away with it in his beak over the roofs of the town. He passed by the cathedral tower


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[Assistant] Where the white marble angels were sculptured, he passed by the palace and heard the sound of dancing.


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[Assistant] A beautiful girl came out of the balcony with her lover. How wonderful the stars are, he said to her, and how wonderful is the power of love.


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[Assistant] I hope my dress will be ready in time for the state ball, she answered. I have ordered passion flowers to be embroidered on it, but the seamstresses are so lazy.


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[Assistant] He passed over the river and saw the lanterns hanging to the masts of the ships. He passed over the ghetto and saw the old Jews bargaining with each other and weighing out money in copper scales. At last he came to the poor house and looked in. The boy was tossing feverishly on his bed and the mother had fallen asleep. She was so tired.


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[Assistant] And he hopped and he laid the great ruby on the table beside the woman's thimble. Then he flew gently round the bed, fanning the boy's forehead with his wings. How cool I feel, said the boy. I must be getting better. And he sank into a delicious slumber. Then the swallow flew back to the happy prince and told him what he had done. It is curious, he remarked.


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[Assistant] But I feel quite warm now, although it is so cold. That is because you have done a good action, said the prince. And the little swallow began to think. And then he fell asleep. Thinking always made him sleepy. When day broke, he flew down to the river and had a bath. What a remarkable phenomenon, said the professor of ornithology.


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[Assistant] As he was passing over the bridge, a swallowing winter.


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[Assistant] And he wrote a long letter about it in the local newspaper. Everyone quoted it. It was full of so many words, but they could not understand. Tonight, I go to Egypt, said the swallow, and he was in high spirits at the prospect. He visited all the public monuments.


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[Assistant] And sat a long time on top of the church steeple. Wherever he went, the sparrows chirruped and said to each other, what a distinguished stranger. So he enjoyed himself very much. When the moon rose, he flew back to the happy prince. Have you any commissions for Egypt? He cried. I'm just starting.


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[Assistant] Swallow, swallow, little swallow, said the prince. Will you not stay with me one night longer? I am waited for in Egypt, answered the swallow. Tomorrow my friends will fly up to the second cataract.


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[Assistant] The river horse couches there among the bulrushes, and on a great granite throne sits the god Menon. All night long he watches the stars, and when the morning star shines, he utters one cry of joy, and then is silent. At noon, the yellow lions come down to the water's edge to drink. They have green eyes, like green barrels, and their roar is louder.


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[Assistant] Swallow, swallow, little swallow, said the prince. Far away across the city, I see a young man in a garret.


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[Assistant] He is leaning over a desk, covered with papers, and in a tumbler by his side, there is a bunch of withered violets. His hair is brown and crisp, and his lips are red as a ponygrammet. And he has large and dreamy eyes. He is trying to finish a play for the director of the theatre, but he is too cold to write anymore. There is no fire in the grate,


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[Assistant] I will wait with you one night longer, said the swallow, who really had a good heart. Shall I take him another ruby? Alas, I have no ruby now, said the prince. My eyes are all I have left. They are made of rare sapphires, which were brought out of India a thousand years ago. Pluck out one of them and take it to him. He will sell it to the jeweler.


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[Assistant] And buy food and firewood and finish his play. Dear prince, said the swallow. I cannot do that. And he began to weep. Swallow, swallow, little swallow, said the prince. Do as I command you. So the swallow plucked out the prince's eye and flew away to the student's garret. It was easy enough to get in, as there was a hole in the roof. Through this he darted.


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[Assistant] The young man had his head buried in his hands, so he did not hear the flutter of the bird's wings. And when he looked up, he found the beautiful sapphire lying on the withered violets. I am beginning to be appreciated, he cried. This is from some great admirer. Now I can finish my play. And he looked quite happy. The next day, the swallow flew down to the harbor.


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[Assistant] He sat on the mast of a large vessel and watched the sailors hauling big chests out of the holds with ropes. Heave ahoy, they shouted, as each chest came up. I'm going to Egypt, cried the swallow, but nobody minded. And when the moon rose, he flew back to the happy prince. I have come to bid you goodbye, he cried. Swallow, swallow, little swallow, said the prince.


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[Assistant] Will you not stay with me one night longer? It is winter, answer the swallow, and the chill will soon be here. In Egypt, the sun is warm and the green palm trees and the crocodiles lie in the mud and look lazily about them. My companions are building a nest in the temple of Baalbek and the pink and white doves are watching them and cooing to each other.


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[Assistant] Dear Prince, I must leave you, but I will never forget you, and next spring I will bring you back two beautiful jewels in place of those you have given away.


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[Assistant] The ruby shall be redder than a red rose, and the sapphire shall be as blue as the great sea.


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[Assistant] In the square below, said the happy prince, there stands a little match girl. She has let her matches fall in the gutter and they are all spoiled. Her father will beat her if she does not bring home such money and she is crying. She has no shoes or stockings and her little head is bare. Pluck out my other eye and give it to her and her father will not beat her.


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[Assistant] I will stay with you one more night, said the swallow, but I cannot pluck out your eye. You would be quite blind then. Swallow, swallow, little swallow, said the prince. Do as I command you. So he plucked out the prince's other eye and he darted down with it. He swooped past the match girl and he slipped the jewel into the palm of her hand. What a lovely bit of glass.


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[Assistant] cried the little girl, and she ran home laughing. Then the swallow came back to the prince. You are blind now, he said. So I will stay with you always. No, little swallow, said the poor prince. You must go to Egypt. I will stay with you always, said the swallow. And he slept at the prince's feet. All the next day he sat on the prince's shoulder and told him.


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[Assistant] Of the stories of what he had seen in strange lands. He told him of the red ibises who stand in long rows on the banks of the Nile and catch goldfish in their beaks. Of the sphinx who is as old as the world itself and lives in the desert and knows of everything. Of the merchants who walk slowly by the side of their camels


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[Assistant] And carry amber beads in their hands of the king of the mountains of the moon who is as black as ebony and worships a large crystal of a great green snake that sleeps in the palm tree.


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[Assistant] And as twenty priests feed it with honey cakes, and of the pygmies,


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[Assistant] Who sail over a big lake on large flat leaves and are always at war with the butterflies. Dear little swallow, said the prince, you tell me of marvelous things, but more marvelous than anything is the suffering of men and of women. There is no mystery so great as misery. Fly over my city, little swallow, and tell me what you see there.


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[Assistant] And saw the rich making merry in their beautiful houses while the buggers were sitting at the gates. He flew into dark lanes and saw the white faces of starving children looking out listlessly at the black streets. Under the archway of a bridge, two little boys were lying in one another's arms to try and keep themselves warm. How hungry we are, they said.


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[Assistant] And they wandered out into the rain. Then he flew back and told the prince what he had seen.


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[Assistant] I am covered with fine gold, so the prince, you must take it off leaf by leaf and give it to my paw.


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[Assistant] The living always think that gold can make them happy. Leaf after leaf of the fine gold.


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[Assistant] The swallow picked off, till the happy prince looked quite dull and grey. Leaf after leaf of the fine gold he brought to the poor, and the children's faces grew rosier, and they laughed and played in the street. We have bread now, they cried. Then the snow came, and after the snow came the frost. The streets looked as if they were made of silver,


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[Assistant] They were so bright and glistening. Long icicles like crystal daggers hung down from the eaves of the houses. Everybody went about in furs, and the little boys wore scarlet caps and skated on the ice. The poor little swallow grew colder and colder, but he would not leave the prince. He loved him too well.


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[Assistant] He picked up crumbs outside the baker's door when the baker was no looking.


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[Assistant] He had just strength to fly up to the prince's shoulder once more. Goodbye dear prince, he murmured. Will you let me kiss your hand?


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[Assistant] I am glad that you are going to Egypt at last, little swallow, said the prince. You have stayed here too long, but you must kiss me on the lips, for I love you. It is not to Egypt that I am going, said the swallow. I am going to the house of death. Death is the brother of sleep, is he not? And he kissed the happy prince on the lips, and fell down dead at his feet.


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[Assistant] Early the next morning, the mayor was walking in the square, below in the company with the town councillors. As they passed the column he looked at the statue. Dear me, how shabby the happy Prince Nooksy said.


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[Assistant] How shabby indeed, cried the town councillors, who always agreed with the mayor, and they went up to look at it. The ruby has fallen out of his sword, his eyes are gone and he is no longer golden, said the mayor.


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[Assistant] He is a little better than a beggar. Little better than a beggar to the town councillors.


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[Assistant] Here is actually a dead bird at his feet, continued the mayor. We must really issue a proclamation that birds are not allowed to die here. And the town clerk made a note of the suggestion. So they pulled down the statue of the happy prince. As he is no longer beautiful, he is no longer useful, said the art professor at the university. Then they melted the statue in a furnace.


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[Assistant] And the mayor held a meeting of the corporation to decide what was done with the metal.


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[Assistant] We must have another statue of Corsi said, and it shall be a statue of myself. Of myself, said each of the town councillors and they quarreled.


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[Assistant] When I last heard of them, they were quarreling still. What a strange thing, said the overseer of the workmen at the foundry. This broken lead heart will not melt in the furnace. We must throw it away. So they threw it on a dust heap, where the swallow was also lying.


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[Assistant] Bring me the most two precious things in the city, said God to one of his angels, and the angel brought him the leaden heart and the dead bird. You have rightly chosen, said God, for in my garden of paradise, this little bird shall sing for evermore, and in my city of gold, the happy prince shall praise me.


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[Assistant] Capturing the romantic urban solitude of the 20th century poet. You dig?


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[Assistant] Famous. Early examples of that truly awful word you pesky kids love so much. The selfie.


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[Assistant] Who can tell me the name of the actual process that led to the birth of the self-portrait?


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[Assistant] I believe Max has taken what you kids call a selfie. A dumb word for a wonderful photographic tradition. And Max has a gift.


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[Assistant] Now Max, since you've captured our interest and clearly want to join the conversation, can you please tell us the name of the process that gave birth to the first self-portraits?


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[Assistant] No, Victoria. Excuse us. I'd never let one of photography's future stars avoid handing in her picture.


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[Assistant] Excuse you. No, Victoria. Excuse us. I'd never let one of photography's future stars avoid handing in her picture.


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[Assistant] Every day we face issues like climate change or the safety of vaccines where we have to answer questions whose answers rely heavily on scientific information.


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[Assistant] Why should we believe the science? The fact is many of us actually don't believe the science. Public opinion polls consistently show that significant proportions of the American people don't believe the climate is warming due to human activities.


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[Assistant] Don't think that there's evolution by natural selection and aren't persuaded by the safety of vaccines. So why should we believe the science?


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[Assistant] Well, scientists don't like talking about science as a matter of belief. In fact, they would contract science with faith, and they would say belief is the domain of faith.


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[Assistant] And faith is a separate thing apart and distinct from science. Indeed, they would say religion is based on faith, or maybe the calculus of Pascal's wager.


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[Assistant] Blaise Pascal was a 17th century mathematician who tried to bring scientific reasoning to the question of whether or not he should believe in God. And his wager went like this.


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[Assistant] Nothing much is really lost. Maybe a few hours on Sunday.


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[Assistant] And so Pascal said we better believe in God. Whereas one of my college professors said he clutched for the handrail of faith. He made that leap of faith, leaving science and rationalism behind.


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[Assistant] Now the fact is though, for most of us, most scientific claims are a leap of faith.


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[Assistant] And indeed, this is actually true for most scientists as well outside of their own specialties. So if you think about it, a geologist can't tell you whether a vaccine is safe. Most chemists are not experts in evolutionary theory. A physicist cannot tell you, despite the claims of some of them, whether or not tobacco causes cancer.


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[Assistant] So, if even scientists themselves have to make a leap of faith outside their own fields, then why do they accept the claims of other scientists? Why do they believe each other's claims? And should we believe those claims?


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[Assistant] So what I'd like to argue is yes, we should, but not for the reason that most of us think.


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[Assistant] We were taught that scientists follow a method and that this method guarantees the truth of their claims. The method that most of us were taught in school, we can call it the textbook method, is the hypothetical deductive method.


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[Assistant] According to the standard model, the textbook model, scientists develop hypotheses.


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[Assistant] They deduce the consequences of those hypotheses, and then they go out into the world and they say, okay, well are those consequences true? Can we observe them taking place in the natural world? And if they are true, then the scientists say, great, we know the hypothesis is correct.


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[Assistant] So there are many famous examples in the history of science of scientists doing exactly this. One of the most famous examples comes from the work of Albert Einstein.


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[Assistant] When Einstein developed the theory of general relativity, one of the consequences of his theory was that space-time wasn't just an empty void, but that it actually had a fabric.


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[Assistant] So if this theory were true, then it meant that light, as it passed the sun, should actually be bent around it. That was a pretty startling prediction, and it took a few years before scientists were able to test it, but they did test it in 1919, and lo and behold, it turned out to be true. Starlight actually does bend as it travels around the sun.


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[Assistant] This was a huge confirmation of the theory, it was considered proof of the truth of this radical new idea, and it was written up in many newspapers around the globe.


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[Assistant] In the ideal case, it's about laws. So nomological means having to do with laws. And in the ideal case, the hypothesis isn't just an idea. Ideally, it's a law of nature.


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[Assistant] And all of you know at least one example of a famous law, Einstein's famous equation, E equals MC squared, which tells us what the relationship is between energy and mass. And that relationship is true no matter what.


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[Assistant] Now, it turns out though that there are several problems with this model. The main problem is that it's wrong.


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[Assistant] So the first reason is a logical reason. It's the problem of the fallacy of affirming the consequent. So that's another fancy academic way of saying that false theories can make true predictions. So just because the prediction come true doesn't actually logically prove that the theory is correct.


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[Assistant] And I have a good example of that too, again from the history of science. This is a picture of the Ptolemaic universe with the earth at the center of the universe and the sun and the planets going around it.


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[Assistant] Well why? Well the answer is because it made lots of predictions that came true. The Ptolemaic system enabled astronomers to make accurate predictions of the motions of the planet. In fact, more accurate predictions at first than the Copernican theory, which we now would say is true.


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[Assistant] So that's one problem with the textbook model. A second problem is a practical problem, and it's the problem of auxiliary hypotheses.


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[Assistant] Auxiliary hypotheses are assumptions that scientists are making that they may or may not even be aware that they're making.


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[Assistant] So an important example of this comes from the Copernican model, which ultimately replaced the Ptolemaic system.


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[Assistant] So when Nicolae Copernicus said, actually the earth is not the center of the universe, the sun is the center of the solar system, the earth moves around the sun, scientists said, well, okay Nicolae, if that's true, we ought to be able to detect the motion of the earth around the sun. And so this slide here illustrates a concept known as stellar parallax.


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[Assistant] And we look at a prominent star, let's say Sirius. Well, I know I'm in Manhattan, so you guys can't see the stars, but imagine you're out in the country. Imagine you chose that real life. Uhm, and we look at a star in December. We see that star against a backdrop of distant stars.


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[Assistant] If we now make the same observation six months later when the moon, sorry, when the Earth has moved to this position in June, we look at that same star, we see it against a different backdrop.


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[Assistant] That difference, that angular difference is the stellar parallax. So this is a prediction that the Copernican model makes. Astronomers looked for the stellar parallax and they found nothing. Nothing at all.


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[Assistant] And many people argue that this proves that the Copernican model is false. So what happened?


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[Assistant] Well, in hindsight, we can say that astronomers were making two auxiliary hypotheses, both of which we would now say were incorrect. The first was an assumption about the size of the Earth's orbit.


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[Assistant] Astronomers were assuming that the Earth's orbit was large relative to the distance to the stars.


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[Assistant] Today we would draw the picture more like this. This comes from NASA. And you see the Earth's orbit is actually quite small. In fact, it's actually much smaller even than shown here. The stellar parallax therefore is very small and actually very hard to detect.


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[Assistant] And that leads to the second reason why the prediction didn't work, because scientists were also assuming that the telescopes they had were sensitive enough to detect the parallax. And that turned out not to be true.


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[Assistant] It wasn't until the 19th century that scientists were able to detect the stellar parallax.


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[Assistant] So, there's a third problem as well. The third problem is simply a factual problem that a lot of science doesn't fit the textbook model.


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[Assistant] A lot of science isn't deductive at all. It's actually inductive. And by that we mean that scientists don't necessarily start with theories and hypotheses. Often they just start with observations of stuff going on in the world.


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[Assistant] And the most famous example of that is one of the most famous scientists who ever lived, Charles Darwin.


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[Assistant] When Darwin went out as a young man on the voyage of the Beagle, he didn't have a hypothesis, he didn't have a theory, he just knew that he wanted to have a career as a scientist.


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[Assistant] And he started to collect data. Mainly he knew that he hated medicine.


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[Assistant] Uh, cause the sight of blood made him sick, so he had to have an alternative career path. So he started collecting data.


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[Assistant] And he collected many things, including his famous finches. When he collected these finches, he threw them in a bag and he had no idea what they meant.


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[Assistant] Many years later, back in London, Darwin looked at his data again and began to develop an explanation, and that explanation was the theory of natural selection.


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[Assistant] Besides inductive science, scientists also often participate in modeling.


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[Assistant] Well, one way you can do it is to build a model that tests an idea. So this is a picture of Henry Cadell, who was a Scottish geologist in the 19th century. You can tell he's Scottish because he's wearing a deerstalker cap and Wellington boots.


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[Assistant] And one of the things he had observed is that if you look at mountains like the Appalachians, you often find that the rocks in them are folded. And they're folded in a particular way which suggested to him that they were actually being compressed from the side.


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[Assistant] So he built this model, this crazy contraption with levers and wood and here's his wheelbarrow, buckets, a big sledgehammer, uhm, I don't know why he's got the wellington boots, maybe it's going to rain.


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[Assistant] Create this physical model in order to demonstrate that you couldn't create, you could in fact create


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[Assistant] There were patterns in rocks, or at least in this case in mud, that looked a lot like mountains if you compressed them from the side. So it was an argument about the cause of mountains.


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[Assistant] Now, nowadays most scientists prefer to work inside, so they don't build physical models so much as to make computer simulations. But a computer simulation is a kind of a model. It's a model that's made with mathematics. And like the physical models of the 19th century, it's very important for thinking about causes.


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[Assistant] So one of the big questions to do with climate change, we have tremendous amounts of evidence that the Earth is warming up. This slide here, the black line shows the measurements that scientists have taken for the last 150 years showing that the Earth's temperature has steadily increased.


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[Assistant] And you can see in particular that in the last 50 years there's been this dramatic increase of nearly one degree centigrade, or almost two degrees Fahrenheit.


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[Assistant] So what though is driving that change? How can we know what's causing the observed warming?


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[Assistant] Well scientists can model it using a computer simulation.


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[Assistant] So this diagram illustrates a computer simulation that has looked at all the different factors that we know can influence the Earth's climate.


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[Assistant] Volcanic, dust from volcanic eruptions, changes in solar radiation, and of course greenhouse gases. And they ask the question, what set of variables put into a model


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[Assistant] We'll reproduce what we actually see in real life. So here's the real life in black, here's the model in this light gray, and the answer is a model that includes, it's the answer E on that SAT, all of the above.


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[Assistant] The only way you can reproduce the observed temperature measurements is with all of these things put together, including greenhouse gases.


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[Assistant] And in particular, you can see that the increase in greenhouse gases tracks this very dramatic increase in temperature over the last 50 years. And so this is why climate scientists say it's not just that we know that climate change is happening, we know that greenhouse gases are a major part of the reason.


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[Assistant] So now because there are all these different things that scientists do, the philosopher


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[Assistant] The only principle in science that doesn't inhibit progress is anything goes.


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[Assistant] What he was trying to say is that scientists do a lot of different things. Scientists are creative.


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[Assistant] But then this pushes the question back, if scientists don't use a single method,