--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: A piratical ghost story in thirteen…" description: "\"A piratical ghost story in thirteen ingenious but potentially disturbing rhyming couplets, originally conceived as a confection both to amuse and to en..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/10f/neil-gaiman-29_be-encouraged_a-piratical-ghost-story-in-thirteen-inge_2417529.jpg" --- # A piratical ghost story in thirteen ingenious but… ![“A piratical ghost story in thirteen ingenious but potentially disturbing rhyming couplets, originally conceived as a confection both to amuse and to entertain by Mr. Neil Gaiman, scrivener, and then doodled, elaborated upon, illustrated, and beaten soundly by Mr. Cris Grimly, etcher and…” quote by Neil Gaiman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/10f/neil-gaiman-29_be-encouraged_a-piratical-ghost-story-in-thirteen-inge_2417529.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/10f/neil-gaiman-29_be-encouraged_a-piratical-ghost-story-in-thirteen-inge_2417529.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/10f/neil-gaiman-29_be-encouraged_a-piratical-ghost-story-in-thirteen-inge_2417529.jpg) > “A piratical ghost story in thirteen ingenious but potentially disturbing rhyming couplets, originally conceived as a confection both to amuse and to entertain by Mr. Neil Gaiman, scrivener, and then doodled, elaborated upon, illustrated, and beaten soundly by Mr. Cris Grimly, etcher and illuminator, featuring two brave children, their diminutive but no less courageous gazelle, and a large number of extremely dangerous trolls, monsters, bugbears, creatures, and other such nastiness, many of which have perfectly disgusting eating habits and ought not, under any circumstances, to be encouraged.” [Neil Gaiman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/neil-gaiman/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. A whimsical, dark tale told in rhymed couplets about children confronting dangerous creatures with courage and humor. **In simple terms:** Children face monsters bravely in rhymed verses. Key Takeaway Embrace courage and humor when confronting fear. Themes courage humor fantasy adventure creativity Mood playful dark imaginative Type narrative illustrative children’s literature When to use this quote - reading to children - storytelling workshops - creative writing classes - illustration projects Key Concepts mythic storytelling rhymed narrative illustrated literature Questions to Reflect On - How does humor change your perception of danger? - What role does rhyme play in storytelling? A Different Perspective The rhyme may limit depth of character development. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Be encouraged](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/be-encouraged/) [Brave](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/brave/) [Children](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/children/) [Circumstances](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/circumstances/) [Couplets](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/couplets/) [Courageous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/courageous/) [Creatures](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/creatures/) [Dangerous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/dangerous/) [Dangerous Trolls](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/dangerous-trolls-6106678/) [Disgusting](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/disgusting/) [Disturbing Rhyming](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/disturbing-rhyming-6106674/) [Eating](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/eating/) [Eating habits](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/eating-habits/) [Gaiman Scrivener](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/gaiman-scrivener-6106676/) [Gazelles](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/gazelles/) [Ghost](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/ghost/) [Ghost stories](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/ghost-stories/) [Habit](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/habit/) [Monsters](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/monsters/) [Nastiness](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/nastiness/) [Neil Gaiman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/neil-gaiman-2/) [Numbers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/numbers/) [Piratical Ghost](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/piratical-ghost-6106675/) [Rhyming](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/rhyming/) [Rhyming Couplets](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/rhyming-couplets-6106677/) [Stories](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/stories/) [Thirteen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/thirteen/) [Troll](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/troll/) [Two](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/two/) ## Related quotes > [Shakespeare wrote his sonnets within a strict discipline, fourteen lines of iambic pentameter, rhyming in three quatrains and a couplet. 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I was certainly interested in story, but the stories…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-de-lint/i-never-even-considered-writing-a-career-option-i-just-liked-the-play/) [Charles de Lint](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-de-lint/) > [But there's nothing that gives me more thrill than when I'm writing and a couplet works. I find the right rhyme, or it's just…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rosanne-cash/but-there-s-nothing-that-gives-me-more-thrill-than-when-i-m-writing/) [Rosanne Cash](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rosanne-cash/) > [The best revenge is the massive success.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/frank-sinatra/the-best-revenge-is-the-massive-success/) [Frank Sinatra](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/frank-sinatra/) > [For the hundredth time tonight, I’m back with Lulu, on Jacques’s barge, the improbably named Viola. 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Both are artificial…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/margaret-maron/i-came-to-writing-mysteries-through-poetry-and-still-think-that-a/) [Margaret Maron](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/margaret-maron/) > [I'm a compulsive enjamber. I'm drawn to half-meanings created by the line, so that's definitely an element of craft that's always on my mind.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anna-journey/i-m-a-compulsive-enjamber-i-m-drawn-to-half-meanings-created-by-the/) [Anna Journey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anna-journey/) ## More by Neil Gaiman > [“People talk about books that write themselves, and it's a lie. Books don't write themselves. It takes thought and research and a backache and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/neil-gaiman/people-talk-about-books-that-write-themselves-and-it-s-a-lie-books/) [Neil Gaiman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/neil-gaiman/) > [“Like all sentient beings, Fat Charlie had a weirdness quotient. 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If all you have is a beginning, then once you've written…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/neil-gaiman/you-need-more-than-a-beginning-if-you-re-going-to-start-a-book-if-all/) [Neil Gaiman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/neil-gaiman/) > [You can tell the date of an old science fiction novel by every word on the page. Nothing dates harder and faster and more…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/neil-gaiman/you-can-tell-the-date-of-an-old-science-fiction-novel-by-every-word/) [Neil Gaiman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/neil-gaiman/) > [“The quickest way is sometimes the longest.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/neil-gaiman/the-quickest-way-is-sometimes-the-longest/) [Neil Gaiman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/neil-gaiman/) > [“They were spells, spelled with words to make worlds, waiting for me, in the pages of books.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/neil-gaiman/they-were-spells-spelled-with-words-to-make-worlds-waiting-for-me-in/) [Neil Gaiman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/neil-gaiman/) > [Finish what you're writing. Whatever you have to do to finish it, finish it.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/neil-gaiman/finish-what-you-re-writing-whatever-you-have-to-do-to-finish-it/) [Neil Gaiman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/neil-gaiman/) > [What do stars do? They shine.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/neil-gaiman/what-do-stars-do-they-shine/) [Neil Gaiman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/neil-gaiman/) > [“What," asked Mr Croup, "do you want?" "What," asked the Marquis de Carabas, a little more rhetorically, "does anyone want?" "Dead things," suggested Mr…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/neil-gaiman/what-asked-mr-croup-do-you-want-what-asked-the-marquis-de-carabas-a/) [Neil Gaiman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/neil-gaiman/) > [You get on with your own life. Lettie gave it to you. You just have to grow up and try and be worth it.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/neil-gaiman/you-get-on-with-your-own-life-lettie-gave-it-to-you-you-just-have-to/) [Neil Gaiman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/neil-gaiman/) > [“Eyes will not see you. Minds will not hold you. Where you are is nothing and nobody”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/neil-gaiman/eyes-will-not-see-you-minds-will-not-hold-you-where-you-are-is/) [neil Gaiman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/neil-gaiman/) [Explore all 2,526 Neil Gaiman quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/neil-gaiman/) ## More Be encouraged quotes > [What we need most right now, at this moment, is a kind of patriotic grace - a grace that takes the long view, apprehends…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/peggy-noonan/what-we-need-most-right-now-at-this-moment-is-a-kind-of-patriotic/) [Peggy Noonan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/peggy-noonan/) > [I noted about Cate Blanchett was her very positive lack of concern for how she turns out in Cinderella. 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We have more to do before we achieve our…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/earl-blumenauer/whether-it-s-in-in-livability-transportation-or-the-environment/) [Earl Blumenauer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/earl-blumenauer/) > [Curiosity in children ... is but an appetite after knowledge and therefore ought to be encouraged in them, not only as a good sign,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-locke/curiosity-in-children-is-but-an-appetite-after-knowledge-and/) [John Locke](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-locke/) > [“As you struggle through whatever you are going through remember there is help somewhere, someone out there has solutions, and you will stumble upon…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/germany-kent/as-you-struggle-through-whatever-you-are-going-through-remember-there/) [Germany Kent](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/germany-kent/) > [Any individual decisions can be badly thought through, and yet be successful, or exceedingly well thought through, but be unsuccessful, because the recognized possibility…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-rubin/any-individual-decisions-can-be-badly-thought-through-and-yet-be/) [Robert Rubin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-rubin/) > [Science is not formal logic-it needs the free play of the mind in as great a degree as any other creative art. 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You can't fail until u quit.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/russell-simmons/be-encouraged-stay-on-your-hustle-you-can-t-fail-until-u-quit/) [Russell Simmons](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/russell-simmons/) > [Studies have shown that performance gets worse as group size increases ... If you have talented and motivated people, they should be encouraged to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/susan-cain/studies-have-shown-that-performance-gets-worse-as-group-size/) [Susan Cain](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/susan-cain/) [Browse all 120 Be encouraged quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/be-encouraged/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "A piratical ghost story in thirteen ingenious but potentially disturbing rhyming couplets, originally conceived as a confection both to amuse and to entertain by Mr. Neil Gaiman, scrivener, and then doodled, elaborated upon, illustrated, and beaten soundly by Mr. Cris Grimly, etcher and illuminator, featuring two brave children, their diminutive but no less courageous gazelle, and a large number of extremely dangerous trolls, monsters, bugbears, creatures, and other such nastiness, many of which have perfectly disgusting eating habits and ought not, under any circumstances, to be encouraged.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Neil Gaiman" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/neil-gaiman/a-piratical-ghost-story-in-thirteen-ingenious-but-potentially/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Be encouraged" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/neil-gaiman/a-piratical-ghost-story-in-thirteen-ingenious-but-potentially/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/10f/neil-gaiman-29_be-encouraged_a-piratical-ghost-story-in-thirteen-inge_2417529.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/10f/neil-gaiman-29_be-encouraged_a-piratical-ghost-story-in-thirteen-inge_2417529.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/10f/neil-gaiman-29_be-encouraged_a-piratical-ghost-story-in-thirteen-inge_2417529.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“A piratical ghost story in thirteen ingenious but potentially disturbing rhyming couplets, originally…” — Neil Gaiman", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } }, { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Quotes", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Neil Gaiman", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/neil-gaiman/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "A piratical ghost story in thirteen...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/neil-gaiman/a-piratical-ghost-story-in-thirteen-ingenious-but-potentially/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/neil-gaiman/a-piratical-ghost-story-in-thirteen-ingenious-but-potentially/#breadcrumb" }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "publisher": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } }, { "@type": "Organization", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png", "width": 512, "height": 512 } } ] } ```