Bloody Tales

EPISODE XLVII: Humpty Dumpty

SUMMARY: 
Haulfrun Hamblin is an eccentric architect who suffers from Type I Osteogenesis Imperfecta, a disorder that leaves his skeleton extremely fragile, causing them to break very easily like thin glass. He precautions his entire house by covering every hard surface with soft materials to ensure no such accidents occur, since he's had several fractures in the past that he's afraid that his bones will never heal again the next time they break.

One day, the king and queen hire him to construct a large brick wall around their entire kingdom to keep any invaders out and he reluctantly accepts the job. With the assistance of a crew, Haulfrun works tirelessly for days, building a 20-foot tall wall of bricks. He works carefully and cautiously, but after a while, he eventually falls off the unfinished structure and shatters his legs, leaving him immobile and unable to work. In his house one night, he receives a visit from an old woman who claims that she can help him. But after he turns her away with scorn, angry that he'll never work again, she reveals herself as a sorceress and casts a spell, not only healing his bones, but also transforming him into an anthropomorphic egg. While he is glad that he's able to walk again, he soon finds that he is no different in his new body than he was in his old one since he is still very fragile, which he finds out after a boy hits him with a rock, causing his shell body to crack. He returns to continue the wall, but the rest of the crew quit their jobs, unwilling to work with a giant talking egg, leaving him to finish the wall on his own, though he had to work slowly and carefully, so as to not break himself in the process. With the king growing impatient with the slowed progress and a declaration of war given to him by a rival kingdom, Haulfrun, now being called "Humpty Dumpty", is forced to abandon the construction and risk being replaced.

Distraught from being out of a job, Humpty goes to have a seat on the top of the unfinished wall to be alone, unaware that the crack on his head is beginning to get bigger. When the opposing army marches towards the kingdom and begins their assault, Humpty gets startled and loses his balance due to his egg body. While he tries his best to stay seated, he eventually falls, but grips onto the wall in a last attempt to save himself. An arrow fired at the wall near his fingers causes him to lose his grip and fall to the ground, shattering his body and killing him instantly, leaving a bloody mess of innards and a broken egg shell.

After the war was one, the king decides to go search for Humpty, only to find the remains of his egg body and the sorceress from before only watches the scene from afar and chuckles sinisterly.

CAST:
Haulfrun Hamblin/Humpty Dumpty, a fragile and hardworking architect who is born with Type I Osteogenesis Imperfecta, which causes his bones to break very easily, and get transformed into an anthropomorphic egg being.

The King and Queen, the rulers of the kingdom who hire Haulfrun to build the wall.

The Sorceress, the old woman who cursed Haulfrun into his new form.