Hop-Frog

"Hop-Frog"
Short story by Edgar Allan Poe
Original title	Hop-Frog; Or, the Eight Chained Ourang-Outangs
Country	United States
Language	English
Genre(s)	Horror Short story
Publication
Published in	The Flag of Our Union
Publisher	Frederick Gleason
Media type	Print
Publication date	March 17, 1849

"Hop-Frog" (originally "Hop-Frog; Or, the Eight Chained Ourang-Outangs") is a short story by American writer Edgar Allan Poe, first published in 1849. The title character, a person with dwarfism taken from his homeland, becomes the jester of a king particularly fond of practical jokes. Taking revenge on the king and his cabinet for the king's striking of his friend and fellow dwarf Trippetta, he dresses the king and his cabinet as orangutans for a masquerade. In front of the king's guests, Hop-Frog murders them all by setting their costumes on fire before escaping with Trippetta.

Critical analysis has suggested that Poe wrote the story as a form of literary revenge against a woman named Elizabeth F. Ellet and her circle.