The Gift

apparently was not wired very well for driving. That didn't stop him from trying, though the first time he got behind the wheel, things actually looked promising for a while. He didn't drive too fast, he was cautious, and he was trustworthy enough to have a passenger with him. And yet, well, that brick wall just sort of jumped out in one of him, didn't it. He didn't give up, though. Most

people don't give up after their first accident. Sure, they're shaken up and probably a lot more observant and careful in the weeks and months that follow, but humans are very good at moving on, and that's just what Nick did. He got a new set of wheels, some new friends, and went for another joy ride. This time there was no brick wall to get in the way, thankfully, but he apparently took a turn just a bit too fast and as a result, his car, which was really large

and heavy, sort of rolled onto its side. I can't decide which accident was more elegant and graceful. Was it the head on collision with a solid wall or the overturning of his vehicle with nothing else to point at and blame except himself. Either way, the authorities took notice and found very little humor in the man's driving. Nick's car was impounded and he was tossed in jail for reckless driving, and life changed for Nick after that. He would never drive a in and he would never get

his car back. It's a sad ending to a story full of so many bumps and turns, or lack thereof. I suppose Nick wasn't special because of what he did or how he did it. He was special because he did all of those things long before any of us would have guessed it was possible, long before Henry Ford, Rudolph Diesel, and Carl Benz, before World War One, the French Revolution, and the birth of America. That's because Nicholas Q. Know wasn't just the first person to build a working

automobile way back in seventeen sixty nine. He was also the first to do something else, something much less admirable. He was the first to crash one. King Edward the Seventh, like many of the wealthy elite of England, loved to hunt. In eighteen sixties, when his mother, Queen Victoria, was still on the throne and Edward was nothing more special than the Prince of Wales, he would often gather his friends

and take them fox hunting. Among this group of friends was another man named Edward, this one being an actor by profession. The pair of Edwards were apparently very close, and at some point in their relationship, the Prince gifted the actor with the small golden match box, the sort that a gentleman would keep attached to his pocket watch chain for easy access and safe keeping. It even had Edward's name on it, the actor, not the Prince. Years went by, as they have a way of doing, and

both men continued to enjoy their hunts. Sometimes it was together, but oftentimes Edward the actor Edward Southern, would hunt without his friends, and it was on one of those solo rides that he was thrown from his horse, and along with picking up a few bruises, something else happened. He lost the match box. He was heartbroken. It had been in his pocket for years and he'd grown accustomed to its usefulness, so he had a replacement made and then

moved on. Later in life, he passed that second match box on to one of his three sons, a young man named Lytton. Actually, Lytton was also an actor, just like his father, and eventually his own career took him overseas to Australia. While he was there, he made new friends in the world of theater, and one of his closest was a man by the name of La Bartouche. When Lytton's time in Australia was up, he gifted his golden match box from his father to La Bertouche and

went home to England. Many years later, another of Edward's sons, named George, was on a hunt of his own. It had been a long time since he had hunted in his father's favorite areas, so as he did, he took in the scenery with a bit of nostalgia. There's no record of how successful his hunt was that day, but he did happen to bump to the old farmer who worked the land there and introduced himself as George Southern,

Edward Southern Son. The farmer was astonished. Not only did he know the young man's father, but he had just been thinking about him. That very morning. One of his farm hands had been out plowing in the field when a glimmer of something metal caught his eye. It turned out to be something Edward had dropped years before, his

gold match box. George went home that day with the matchbox in his pocket, the original one mind You, gifted to his father by the Prince of Wales, as well as a fantastic story he wanted to tell someone, so later that day, George sat down and wrote a letter to his youngest brother, Edward, who was traveling with a theater production in America. This is the point in the story where I stopped for a moment and tell you, Yes,

there were three Edwards, and that's pretty confusing. I know Edward the Prince, Edward the Friend, and Edward the Sun plus two other sons. Right, it's complicated, did but it's also worth it. Trust me. Edward the Son received the letter from his brother George on the morning of a train ride, and waited until he was seated and the

train was moving before he opened it. Across the seat from him was another actor, Lawrence by name, who had just joined up with the company that day, and they planned to get to know each other and prepare for their next stop. Edward the son, read the letter, and as he did, his eyes opened wide. Lawrence noticed this and asked about it. My brother, he said, has found our father's long lost matchbox, gifted to him by the

Prince of Wales himself. And then he proceeded to tell Lawrence about how the match box was lost, how his father had a second one made, and now his brother Lytton had given that one away in Australia. I wonder, Edward muttered, half to himself and half to Lawrence, whatever became of that second matchbox. Does la Bartouche still possess it? Or has he in turn given it to someone else? Lawrence smiled at him from across the seat, and then

reached into his pocket. When he pulled his hand back out, there in the middle of his palm sat a small golden matchbox. Turning it over, both men could clearly see the engraving on the back. Oh, he gave it to someone else, Lawrence answered, And that's someone else, it was me. I hope you've enjoyed today's guided tour of the Cabinet of Curiosities. Subscribe for free on Apple Podcasts, or learn more about the show by visiting Curiosities podcast dot com.

The show was created by me Aaron Manky in partnership with how Stuff Works. I make another award winning show called Lore, which is a podcast, book series, and television show, and you can learn all about it over at the World of Lore dot com. And until next time, stay curious. Two