The Postscript
- Mr. Knickerbocker is the author of the postscript. He tells us that he heard this story (the one we just read) from a guy in Manhattan.
- Everyone who hears the story thinks it's hilarious. Oh, except for one curmudgeonly old dude. After everyone else has stopped laughing, old guy asks what the moral of the story is.
- The storyteller replies with the most confusing nonsense—you'll just have to read it to believe it.
- Old curmudgeonly guy seems totally confused and doesn't want to admit that he has no idea what this guy is talking about. Instead, he says that he doesn't think the story is 100% true.
- The storyteller shoots back at him: "as to that matter, I don't believe one-half of it myself" (2.7).