"Spurs" is a short story by Tod Robbins. The story was published in February 1923 in Munsey's Magazine and included in Robbins' 1926 anthology Who Wants a Green Bottle? and Other Uneasy Tales. In 1932 the story became the basis for the Tod Browning film Freaks.
In a small travelling circus in France, midget performer Jacques has fallen in love with the troupe's bareback rider, Jeanne Marie. He proposes marriage and she accepts, because she has le...
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"Spurs" is a short story by Tod Robbins. The story was published in February 1923 in Munsey's Magazine and included in Robbins' 1926 anthology Who Wants a Green Bottle? and Other Uneasy Tales. In 1932 the story became the basis for the Tod Browning film Freaks.
In a small travelling circus in France, midget performer Jacques has fallen in love with the troupe's bareback rider, Jeanne Marie. He proposes marriage and she accepts, because she has learned of his recent large inheritance. She is really in love with her partner Simon, and she plans to marry him after what she believes will be an imminent death for Jacques. At the couple's wedding feast, Jeanne Marie drunkenly insults her new husband, declaring that she could carry her "little ape" on her shoulders from one side of France to the other.
A year later, Jacques has retired and taken Jeanne Marie to live on his estate. One night Simon discovers Jeanne Marie on his doorstep. She begs him for protection from Jacques, who is forcing...
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