First published as The Bolt from the Blue in The Saturday Evening Post (November 5, 1910) and then in The Innocence of Father Brown collection (1911). This edition: The Complete Father Brown Mysteries (Carousel Books, 2021). SPOILERS AHEAD?
This is an entry into Father Brown canon that our little priest could well employ in a Genesis 4:1-18 centered homily. (Cain and Abel.) Although it isn't an exact duplicate, it would well get the job done. It's biblical, see, and the most-so of this collection yet. Its environs also put me right onto the set of a Sergio Leone spaghetti western for unquantifiable reasons.
Lots of nice dialog work but lots means a lot and a lot of anything triggers thoughts of the fat kid in Matilda being forced to eat cake. When you chew, what you chew gets jumbled in your mouth. A little of that, maybe. Definitely a different vibe here. Dreamy insanity? "How did you know his hat looked like a green beetle?" How does Father Brown know these inner workings? Ah, for the green's poisonous symbolism.
Also, we're near to and involved with Greenford (as mentioned many [eight] times in the text). What an evil place and tale that and this are. Green being a color in league with the devil, devilish creatures, and witches. although biblically eight refers to the resurrection and to being born again. "I wish to give myself up; I have killed my brother." Also, "I am He." - Jesus (the latter quote).
That's how it plays out in John, anyway. In that Gospel account, Judas does not ID Christ. He's saved from the ramifications of that much. Perhaps here somehow that same nicety is done toward Father Brown. Everyone here is in some kind of danger and the best way to deal with this area nearby Greenford is most definitely to make like a tree and leave, not looking back (pillar of salt).
Postscript: I am tired and deeply out of my depths so I'll make with the brevity post haste. Hammer. God. Thor. He died battling a serpent (green) of the said serpent's venom (poison). Yeah, I dunno either.
Previously: Thoughts on The Sins of Prince Saradine from The Innocence of Father Brown by GK Chesterton
Next: Thoughts on The Eye of Apollo from The Innocence of Father Brown by GK Chesterton
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