#126 Sredni Vashtar- Saki (H.H. Munro)
“Conradin was ten years old, and the doctor had pronounced
his professional opinion that the boy would not live another five years.”
“One of these days Conradin supposed he would succumb to the
mastering pressure of wearisome necessary things—such as illness and coddling
restrictions and drawn-out dullness. Without his imagination, which was rampant
under the spur of loneliness, he would have succumbed long ago.”
A doomed, lonely child with a wonderful imagination. He has
a guardian that is strict and nobody but himself to keep busy. He keeps a
ferret that he has dubbed a God, Sredni Vashtar. The guardian is skeptical of
the child’s secret and takes the key that will unlock his secret. He prays that
his God will escape these evil forces:
Sredni Vashtar went forth,
His thoughts were red thoughts and his teeth were white.
His enemies called for peace, but he brought them death.
Sredni Vashtar the beautiful
They accidentally allow his pet to escape and worry that
they have ruined the one thing he cares about, but he is excited that his God
has been set free.
Notable Passage: “The few fruit trees that it contained were
set jealously apart from his plucking.”
No comments:
Post a Comment