History SchmuckBait / Literature

* Literature/{{Bluebeard}}'s wives invariably fell victim to "don't go in this room". Although it's never explained why his initial wife was killed, as she couldn't have seen any of his dead wives.

* ''Literature/ArabianNights'' contain the story of ''The Man who Never Laughed During the Rest of His Days''. A young man is charged with taking care of his rich but gloomy uncle and his friends, who spends all their time grieving over some terrible fate that has befallen them. The uncle tells his nephew that he will inherit all his riches as long as he never asks the grieving men about the reason behind their sorrow. On his uncle's deathbed, the young man's curiosity makes him break his promise and ask anyway. The uncle then tells him that if he wants to avoid a terrible fate, he mustn't ever open one of the doors in the building. After the uncle dies, the young man inherits the house and is happy until his curiosity gets the better of him. [[spoiler: He opens the forbidden door and finds himself in an earthly paradise ruled by beautiful women where he is immediately married away with the queen, who lets him rule by her side. But she also tells him that he must never open one of the palace doors. The young man spends seven happy years with his queen, but eventually cannot stop himself looking behind the forbidden door. He finds himself back in his home and unable to return to the queen and the paradise kingdom. He thus, just like his uncle and the other grievers, end up as the titular man who never laughed during the rest of his days.]]
* Lord Petyr Baelish aka "Littlefinger" of ''Literature/ASongOfIceAndFire'' is Schmuck Bait personified, as no matter how many times [[SelfProclaimedLiar he informs other characters]] of his being an untrustworthy liar either [[ILied quite directly]], through SarcasticConfession, by using paid proxies, by [[SimpleYetOpulent expensively dressing]] like one of the [[{{Bookworm}} most blatantly indoorsy clerks ever]] (a Braavosi style of display that ''should'' be a [[ApparentlyPowerlessPuppetmaster a humongous, red flag]]) or just through pointing them at general gossip, they ''still'' manage to trust him. Or, at least, believe they can use him ''enough'' for ''this'', one, ''particular'' instance, even if they don't trust him in [[SleazyPolitician general terms]] or [[DevilInPlainSight think they are wise]] [[OpportunisticBastard to him]] and, therefore... safeish. The rational is usually that [[VetinariJoBSecurity he's good at his job]], [[LovableRogue amusing company]] and [[GoodWithNumbers rather]] [[NotSoHarmlessVillain harmless]], or failing that, [[NonActionGuy is weak to physical threats]] and can be reined in later. [[ChronicBackstabbingDisorder Very]] [[BestServedCold bad]] [[MagnificentBastard move]]. The list of people he's disarmed/ set-up by doing this to is steadily growing.
** Speaking of Petyr, let's discuss the very obviously only ''semi''-habitable [[BigFancyCastle castle-complex]] that is [[AwesomeButImpractical Harrenhal]], the title to which he's managed to wrangle. It's humongous, the lands are great and the titles usually attached to the lot (there has been ''some'' change over time over the specifics) practically shine with promises of further political and social advancement, but only ''if'' you can play your cards right in the game of thrones -- and, you can, can't you, slugger? [[TheMillstone Lies]], [[{{Curse}} lies]], [[HauntedCastle lies]], [[HighTurnoverRate lies]], [[GhostStory lies]]. Sure, it has ''a bit'' of a widely broadcast (and very bad) reputation and needs a lot of TLC, but... [[MaybeMagicMaybeMundane it's just superstition]] and [[DIYDisaster nothing a bit of elbow grease won't fix]], [[TemptingFate right]]? Unlike most poor saps, however, Petyr's staying as far away as possible from the sodding thing while using his title's perks, given he sees it for [[WhiteElephant exactly what it is]]. He's even got wrecking balls in mind. We've yet to find out which one will win, or if they'll each manage to scupper each other. Or, worse, if they'll join baity forces, somehow.

* This trope is the basis of the plot of [[http://bookre.org/reader?file=297553 Ralph Williams' "Business As Usual, During Alterations"]].

** ''Literature/GoingPostal'' has Vetinari [[RecruitingTheCriminal offer a nice cushy job to two former criminals]] as an alternative to execution. He tells them that if they like [[TheWindowOrTheStairs they can simply walk out the door behind them]], and [[ExactWords never hear from him again]]. One man is [[GenreSavvy smart enough]] to look first, and [[TheNotSoHarmlessPunishment sees that]] [[PitTrap a quick death lurks beyond that door]]. The other [[DeadlyEuphemism is never heard from again...]]

** Kid protagonists Digory and Polly explore the ruined world of Charn and find a bell inscribed "Make your choice, adventurous Stranger; Strike the bell and bide the danger, or wonder, till it drives you mad, what would have followed if you had." [[invoked]][[WhatAnIdiot Digory then proceeds to waltz right up to it and hit the damn thing, despite the fact that Polly is physically trying to stop him.]] Cue the BigBad [[SealedEvilInACan getting uncanned.]]

** ''Literature/GoingPostal'' has Vetinari offer a nice cushy job to two former criminals as an alternative to execution. He tells them that if they like they can simply walk out the door behind them, and never hear from him again. One man is smart enough to look first, and sees that a quick death lurks beyond that door. The other is never heard from again....

** Recurring Ankh-Morpork street merchant Cut-Me-Own-Throat Dibbler's commercial success as a meat-pie and sausage-in-a-bun seller is largely based on this trope. People who've tasted his appallingly-bad pig products invariably have to come back again to buy another, as they just can't believe it was ''really'' as dreadful as they recall it being. So, they buy another a few days later. And another after a few more days, etc.

** In ''Literature/SoulMusic'', the Librarian picks up on the beat that is infecting the world, and pulls out all the stops on the University's mighty organ, including the ones "with faded labels warning in several languages that they were on no account to be touched, ever, in any circumstances" before he begins to play. This is mostly to illustrate the magnitude of the music, since nothing extraordinarily bad actually happens when he plays. There's the wall of noise and the explosion afterwards, but that's par for the course when it comes to musical instruments designed by Bloody Stupid Johnson. Considering it was a Johnson, they were lucky it didn't blow up when they stepped on the pedals. The reason for the labels may have been provided in ''Literature/{{Hogfather}}'', in which the existence of the [[spoiler: "Organ Interlock" mechanism in the sealed Archchancellor's Bathroom is demonstrated,]] to Ridcully's great distress.

* Arguable, but the ''[[TabletopGame/Warhammer40000 Imperial Infantryman's Uplifting Primer]]'' has a page in it that has a large blanks space labeled, "Do not deface. ON PAIN OF DEATH!" Nearly every owner of the Primer has scribbled something in that space.

* BriarPatching (as introduced by Joel Chandler Harris's ''Uncle Remus'' stories) is a particularly active form of Schmuck Bait.

*** Also in ''Lords and Ladies'', when Magrat [[ISurrenderSuckers surrenders]] to the Elves, she hands one a box telling him not to open it. He does, and answers the Discworld version of Schrodinger's cat (the states of the cat can be dead, alive, or alive and bloody furious) as "Greebo went off like a Claymore mine".

** ''Literature/GoingPostal'' has Vetinari offer a nice cushy job to two former criminals as an alternative to execution. He tells them that if they like they can simply walk out the door behind them, and never hear from him again. One man is smart enough to look first, and sees that a quick death lurks beyond that door. The other is never heard from again.... Also subverted in ''Literature/MakingMoney'', where Moist expects the missing floor and is surprised when it is now a normal room.
** In ''Literature/MakingMoney'', Aimsbury the chef is allergic to the word garlic. Not actual garlic, but the ''word''; if someone says "garlic" near him, he briefly goes catatonic before throwing anything he might be holding and shouting in [[GratuitousFrench fluent]] [[FantasyCounterpartCulture Quirmian]] for eight seconds straight. People often find themselves with an inexplicable urge to say it, which can actually be dangerous for anyone standing directly in front of him while he's holding a knife.

** In ''Literature/SoulMusic'', the Librarian picks up on the beat that is infecting the world, and pulls out all the stops on the University's mighty organ, including the ones "with faded labels warning in several languages that they were on no account to be touched, ever, in any circumstances" before he begins to play. This is mostly to illustrate the magnitude of the music, since nothing extraordinarily bad actually happens when he plays. There's the wall of noise and the explosion afterwards, but that's par for the course when it comes to musical instruments designed by Bloody Stupid Johnson. Considering it was a Johnson, they were lucky it didn't blow up when you stepped on the pedals. The reason for the labels may have been provided in ''Literature/{{Hogfather}}'', in which the existence of the [[spoiler: "Organ Interlock" mechanism in the sealed Archchancellor's Bathroom is demonstrated,]] to Ridcully's great distress.

*** Perhaps not coincidentally Lu-Tze reasons that he should go to Ankh-Morpork, a veritable city of schmucks, because "the day someone pulls the plug out of the bottom of the universe, the chain will lead all the way to Ankh-Morpork and some bugger saying 'I just wanted to see what would happen.'" Guess what city the Unseen University is in?

*** Again. the concept is inverted, played-with, subverted, taken out behind the Mended Drum, kneed in the groin and thrown in the River Ankh: The heroes set up a series of possible schmuck baits to confuse the literal-minded auditors--"Do not feed the elephant" ''when there is no elephant to not feed'', for example.

** Perhaps not coincidentally, in the novel ''Literature/ThiefOfTime'', Lu-Tze reasons that he should go to Ankh-Morpork, a veritable city of schmucks, because "the day someone pulls the plug out of the bottom of the universe, the chain will lead all the way to Ankh-Morpork and some bugger saying 'I just wanted to see what would happen.'" Guess what city the Unseen University is in?
** Also in ''Thief of Time'', a narrated line points out, "If you put a large switch in some cave somewhere, with a sign on it saying 'End-of-the-World Switch. PLEASE DO NOT TOUCH,' the paint wouldn't even have time to dry."
** Again in the ''Thief of Time'' where the concept is inverted, played-with, subverted, taken out behind the Mended Drum, kneed in the groin and thrown in the River Ankh: The heroes set up a series of possible schmuck baits to confuse the literal-minded auditors--"Do not feed the elephant" ''when there is no elephant to not feed'', for example.

** In ''Literature/SoulMusic'', the Librarian picks up on the beat that is infecting the world, and pulls out all the stops on the University's mighty organ, including the ones "with faded labels warning in several languages that they were on no account to be touched, ever, in any circumstances" before he begins to play. This is mostly to illustrate the magnitude of the music, since nothing extraordinarily bad actually happens when he plays. There's the wall of noise and the explosion afterwards, but that's par for the course when it comes to musical instruments designed by Bloody Stupid Johnson. Considering it was a Johnson, they were lucky it didn't blow up when you stepped on the pedals.
*** The reason for the labels may have been provided in ''Literature/{{Hogfather}}'', in which the existence of the [[spoiler: "Organ Interlock" mechanism in the sealed Archchancellor's Bathroom is demonstrated,]] to Ridcully's great distress.
** The circle of stones up on the moor in Lancre, mentioned in ''Literature/LordsAndLadies''. They're there partly to keep the elves out, and partly "in the hope that enough daft buggers would take it as a warning, and stay away." Guess what happens. Subverted in that the circles are described as safe and stable (except for the very rare times when the universe barriers are weak) and thus the villagers of Lancre specifically don't forbid the children to hang around the circles, simply because they know that this way, the kids will quickly lose interest.
** Also in ''Lords and Ladies'', when Magrat [[ISurrenderSuckers surrenders]] to the Elves, she hands one a box telling him not to open it. He does, and answers the Discworld version of Schrodinger's cat (the states of the cat can be dead, alive, or alive and bloody furious) as "Greebo went off like a Claymore mine".

* ''Literature/TheHitchhikersGuideToTheGalaxy''

** In ''Literature/{{Hogfather}}'', Archchancellor Ridcully discovers a hidden door, which his predecessor had had sealed off, leaving a sign saying, "Do not, under any circumstances, open this door." So, naturally, Ridcully has it unsealed. One of his subordinates asks if he'd seen the sign, and Ridcully says, "Of course I've read it. Why d'yer think I want it opened?" When it's sealed again at the end, the worker makes sure to leave the nails loose.

* The cursed lamp in ''Literature/AruShahAndTheEndOfTime''.

** Kid protagonists Digory and Polly explore the ruined world of Charn and find a bell inscribed "Make your choice, adventurous Stranger; Strike the bell and bide the danger, or wonder, till it drives you mad, what would have followed if you had." [[WhatAnIdiot Digory then proceeds to waltz right up to it and hit the damn thing, despite the fact that Polly is physically trying to stop him.]] Cue the BigBad [[SealedEvilInACan getting uncanned.]]

-->''In hinting at what the whole revealed, I can only hope that my account will not arouse a curiosity greater than sane caution on the part of those who believe me at all. It would be tragic if any were to be allured to that realm of death and horror by the very warning meant to discourage them.''

* In ''Literature/TheBelgariad'', the nomadic Algars have one massive self-sustaining fortress for the sole purpose of acting as bait for invading armies. Being nomads, they never actually are there, but over the centuries nobody's caught on. They do ''visit'' the place, they just don't ''stay'' there long. They temporarily set up housekeeping ''around'' it while Gareth and company are visiting, mainly for the purpose of, essentially, doing minor repairs and light weeding so that it doesn't start to look ''too'' abandoned. During [[BigBad Tor]][[PhysicalGod ak]]'s invasion of the west, he and the Angaraks laid siege to it for ten years, and only stopped because the prophecy that led him on told him he had to be somewhere else at a certain time.

* In ''Literature/TheBelgariad'', the nomadic Algars have one massive self-sustaining fortress for the sole purpose of acting as bait for invading armies. Being nomads, they never actually are there, but over the centuries nobody's caught on. They do ''visit'' the place, they just don't ''stay'' there long. They temporarily set up housekeeping ''around'' it while Gareth and company are visiting, mainly for the purpose of, essentially, doing minor repairs and light weeding so that it doesn't start to look ''too'' abandoned.
** How bad does this get? During [[BigBad Tor]][[PhysicalGod ak]]'s invasion of the west, he and the Angaraks laid siege upon it for ten years, and only stopped because the prophecy that led him on told him he had to be somewhere else at a certain time. Otherwise, he would probably be there until every Angarak he brought with him was killed or starved to death.

* In ''Literature/TheBelgariad'', the nomadic Algars have one massive self-sustaining fortress for the sole purpose of acting as bait for invading armies. Being nomads, they never actually are there, but over the centuries nobody's caught on. They do ''visit'' the place, they just don't ''stay'' there long. They temporarily (did we mention ''nomadic''?) set up housekeeping ''around'' it while Gareth and company are visiting, mainly for the purpose of, essentially, doing minor repairs and light weeding so that it doesn't start to look ''too'' abandoned.

* Invoked in ''Literature/RomanceOfTheThreeKingdoms'' ([[VeryLooselyBasedOnATrueStory and possibly]] RealLife): [[TheStrategist Zhuge Liang]] does not have nearly enough men to defend the city he's in from his rival Sima Yi's massive advancing army. So he orders all the doors to be opened, all the soldiers to hide, and [[CrazyEnoughToWork sits on the top of the wall playing the zither]]. Sima Yi takes one look at this setup, declares it to be Schmuck Bait, and immediately retreats.

* Invoked in ''Literature/RomanceOfTheThreeKingdoms'' ([[VeryLooselyBasedOnATrueStory and possibly]] RealLife): [[TheStrategist Zhuge Liang]] does not have nearly enough men to defend the city he's in from his rival Sima Yi's massive advancing army. So he orders all the doors to be opened, all the soldiers to hide, and [[CrazyAwesome sits on the top of the wall playing the zither]]. Sima Yi takes one look at this setup, declares it to be Schmuck Bait, and immediately retreats.

** In ''Literature/CarpeJugulum'' the vampire Count de Magpyre and his ancestral home, Dontgonearthe Castle. People came from all over the country to see what the fuss was about, eventually necessitating the installation of road signs along the lines of "Last chance not to go near the castle, 100 metres on your left" and directions on how not to go near the carriage park. At the end of the book the count is having a gift shop installed. This is something of a Lampshading/Subversion as it's [[ContractualGenreBlindness part of an unspoken agreement between Vampires and Humans]]: As long as heroes continue to be schmucks (and vice-versa), Vampires will continue to stock their castles with convenient crosses, bundles of garlic, easily-pulled-aside curtains and breakable wooden furniture -- as opposed to enslaving humanity, while villagers will continue to pretend to believe that the old vampire that they killed a century ago couldn't possibly have returned, for at least another century or so, before killing him for another century or so.

* In [[Literature/BlackTideRising To Sail A Darkling Sea]] by John Ringo, the non-infected humans place modified cargo-carriers where zombies can approach it. The cargo-carriers have sirens and lights to draw infected 'zombies' in. Schmucks go in, chum comes out.

* ''Literature/TheFantasticMisterFox'': Defied. When the farmers are trying to starve the foxes out of their hole, Boggis waves a piece of roast chicken in front of the opening, daring the starving foxes to go for it, in spite of the shotguns they know are aimed at the opening. Littlest fox is tempted, but shut down by his father, who says that's exactly what the farmers want, and that it's BetterToDieThanBeKilled.