The term “cudgel” in literature is employed with remarkable versatility, often conjuring images of blunt force and physical confrontation while also serving as a potent metaphor for coercion or mental exertion. In many adventure narratives and folkloric accounts—such as Howard Pyle’s Robin Hood tales ([1], [2], [3], [4], [5], [6], [7], [8])—the cudgel is a robust, tangible weapon, typically fashioned of sturdy oak, that embodies raw, unrefined strength and the power to impose justice. At the same time, authors twist its literal connotations to express more abstract struggles; for example, it is wielded figuratively to “cudgel one’s memory” in an effort to summon understanding ([9]). Whether in humorous escapades by Ben Jonson ([10], [11], [12]) or in proverbial admonitions about the nature of power ([13], [14]), the cudgel emerges as a multifaceted symbol—a straightforward instrument of physical impact, and yet also a metaphor for mental and social pressure that has resonated through various literary traditions.