When I was at the Frappuccino preserve the other day, I noticed that we’re still beset by folks taking classic works of literature and adding vampires, zombies, or some similar manifestation of the horror zeitgeist. So without further ado, and because my student loans won’t pay themselves, I give you the medieval classic:
The Zomby’s Prologue and Tale
And wyth hem was a Zomby, eating braynes
Of pilgrims walking inn those Aprille raynes.
He reeked of the reeke of roten flesshe;
Ich tryde to stay away, Ich must confesse.
Heere beginneth the Zomby’s Tale:
Harrung arrah eyarg urrah buh-raynes
Murrogh eerar aryuh unh unh. Buh-raynes!
(Heere doth the Zomby devoure the Franklyn.)
Heere endeth the Zomby’s Tale.
Thanks. That’ll be $8.95.
Professor Mondo 
Well done. (Even if I feel sorry for the poor franklin.)
Well, the Franklin was always wanting to make sure folks were well fed…
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Your blog is a welcome break from the black hole that is my dissertation.
This posting reminds me of a discussion I had with my students at welcome-to-hell-we-have-tshirts-but-they-are-ralph lauren-so-you-cannot-afford-them university. I was teaching the second half of the history survey and decided to switch things up during the usual discussion about witchcraft and popular religion in the medieval period. I assigned my kiddies some readings about the historical origins of werewolf and vampire tales in Eastern Europe, blood libel and Judaism, and some bits on African and Latin American folk religions. The students’ explanations fell into one of two categories 1) people who lived in the past were dumber than we are 2) see #1 regarding Africans, Latin Americans, and native Southerners. I then had a primary document exercise during which I did not list the sources for my excerpts. I divided my students into 3 groups and gave one group an excerpt from Harry Potter, the second group Twilight, and the third group Pride, Prejudice and Zombies. As I had planned, the groups quickly figured out that I was not giving them “historical” sources. I then produced a list from the campus book store that featured these books at “top sellers.” The students then had to tell me why they were drawn to such works and if they saw any parallels between themselves, their times, the current zeitgeist and the groups they had previously mentioned as inferior. The students then decided that uncertain times breed interest in the macabre and paranormal. I don’t know if this was progress or even a fruitful discussion, but if I can get them to think for a moment that people in the past had just as great a capacity for intellect as they do, I think it was time well spent.
Would this be a good time to mention that I’m currently up to 666 posts on this blog? Just spitballing…