I heard this poem and was developing it as a monster. I was preparing a sort of Frankenstein’s monster figure, a revener that, when you killed it, turned out to just be a vessel for a demon that was sitting in its chest cavity. Then I realized I’d seen something directly similar: this is the Blindworm of Gibbet Hill from episode 509. I think its interesting that the author of the poem has a surname which is smallish Balkan dragon.
Before I hand you over to Newgate Novelist (thanks to her and her Librivox production team). I’ll also mention another callback. in episode 479 we considered “The Fairies” by William Allingham. Recently I heard a lovely retelling by a Russian band called Caprice, who refocus it on their victim. https://youtu.be/0N837i5PUVA?si=g-a7QNIfuqbn-ZLh
The Monster
” IN place of the heart, a serpent ;
Rage for the mind’s command ;
An eye aflame with wildness ;
A weapon in the hand ;
” A brow with midnight clouded ;
On the lips a cynic smile
That tells of a curse unmatchable
Born of a sin most vile.
” Of longing, or hope, or virtue,
No vestige may there be ;
You, even in vice inhuman
What can you want of me ?
” You in its maddest moment
The Deepest Pit designed,
Let loose to sow confusion
In the order of mankind ;
” Here Hatred found you crawling
Like vermin, groveling, prone,
Filled you with blood of others
And poisoned all your own.
” Your very thoughts are fiendish
Smoke of the fires of Hell.
Weird as you are, how is it
I seem to know you well ?
” Why with your wild delirium
Do you infect my sleep ?
Why with my daily footstep
An equal measure keep ? ”
The monster mutely beckons me
Back with his ghostly hand,
And dreading his fearful answer
I heed the grim command.
” Nay, softly,” he says ; ” I pray thee,
Silence thy frightened moan,
And wipe the sweat from thy forehead
My kinsman thou, my own!
” Look at me well, good cousin ;
Such wert thou fashioned of !
Thou, too, wouldst me resemble
Without that magic Love!”
Games From Folktales 
The Revener Who Carries the Serpent In His Heart
Order: Revener? Accuser?
Infernal Might: 10 (Corpus)
Characteristics: Int +2, Per +1, Pre 0, Com +3, Str +3, Sta +1, Dex +2, Qik +1
Size: +1
Confidence Score: 1 (3 points)
Virtues and Flaws: Large, Piercing Gaze, Puissant Charm, Decayed*.
* The revener does not heal, and over time its body becomes arthritic and decayed.
Personality Traits: Angry +6, Implacable +3 (or that of a character that has been overtaken, with Angry as a growing statistic as the worm takes charge.)
Reputations: None
Hierarchy: 0
Combat:
Generic weapon*: Init +1, Attack +13, Defense +7, Damage +8
*Prefers to carry a weapon that looks like something its intended victim would carry. Uses these statistics regardless of the weapon’s actual shape.
Soak: +2
Fatigue Levels: OK, 0, 0, -1, -3, -5, Unconscious
Wound Penalties: -1 (1-6), -3 (7-12), -5 (13-18), Incapacitated (19-24)
Abilities: Charm 6+2 (single human targeted for oppression), Single Weapon 5 (whatever the victim usually carries.)
Powers:
Betrayal of the Heart, 2 points, Init 0, Mentem: The accusing angels can see into the hearts of mankind and draw forth the most secret thoughts – people’s fears and sins. Each use of this Power reveals to the demon one fact about the target to which he would never admit. Truly holy people may be immune to this Power, if they have no secrets, no matter how petty.
Crushing the Will, 2 points, Init 0, Mentem: This Power saps the will and vitality of its target, leaving them listless, less energetic, and withdrawn. All Personality Trait rolls suffer a -3 modifier, and the target may not spend Confidence Points to increase other rolls. Each use of this Power lasts until the victim has slept for at least six hours.
Obsession, 1–3 points, Init 0, Vim: This power is used only when there is a chink in the armor of virtue, through the indulgence in a venial sin. This allows the demon to impose its particular sin upon the target. Magic Resistance must be Penetrated, as normal. The victim is assaulted with sinful thoughts and acquires a Personality Trait to represent this. This Personality Trait has a score equal to the number of points used by the demon to activate the power. This becomes the target’s Obsession Trait. (Realms of Power: the Infernal, page 32)
Wbispers Bebind the Back, 2 points, Init 0, Mentem: Just as the spell Pains of the Perpetual Worry, this Power gives the victim a nagging, taunting, painful emotion linked to his secret sins-a recurrent sense of anxiety that his secret will be uncovered and a suspicion that everyone already knows it and is taking about the target behind his back. This Power lasts for a month.
Weakness: Protected Group (Those with True Love).
Vis: 2 pawns of Mentem, one in each eye.
Source: a variant of Bordelon (Realms of Power: The Infernal pages 60-61).
Appearance: This is a body animated by the slime of the blindworm. It has its own Might pool, mind, and powers, but generally serves the blindworm’s will. In theory the revener disobey the blindworm, which the blindworm can attempt to overcome with its Possession power. A host that keeps baulking the will of the worm is abandoned, causing it to die.
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