14) “Gabriel-Ernest” by Saki

Plot:

On their way to the train station, the artist Cunninghan warns Van Cheele there is a wild beast in his woods. It’s the only thing he’s been able to say on the drive. Van Cheele has chattered the whole time.

“A stray fox or two and some resident weasels. Nothing more formidable,” Van Cheele says.

Not until they’re standing on the platform does he ask Cunningham, “What did you mean about a wild beast?”

“Nothing. My imagination. Here is the train.”

Later, while Van Cheele takes a walk through the woods, as was his habit. He comes across a boy of about sixteen sunning himself after an apparent swim. The boy is nude and unapologetic. Van Cheele talks to the boy and tells him he can’t live in the woods.

The next day, he finds the boy has turned up at his house, welcomed by his aunt as a poor boy who has lost his way and his memory. After all, Van Cheele told him he can’t live in the woods. The dog won’t go near him.

Thoughts:

It is apparent to the reader that the lost boy is a threat. Van Cheele sees him as a nuisance rather like a dog who digs in the yard. His aunt is completely blind to the danger the boy poses and merely wishes to take him under her wing. She even gives him a Christian name.

The satire practically screams; Van Cheele is too busy talking to hear Cunningham’s warning. Miss Van Cheele is convinced of her power to do good that she can’t see the menace. When the foreseeable tragedy strikes, the townspeople misunderstand it.

An underlying cruelty runs through the story as well, as if to say that these people are stupid and deluded enough to deserve what comes to them. Unfortunately, the victims (overlooking Van Cheele’s inconvenience) are all children.

This story is short and can easily be read in a single sitting with time left over to spare.

An audio version of the story can be heard here via Librivox.

Bio: H. H. Munro (1870-1916), who wrote under the pseudonym Saki, was a British author and journalist who is now best remembered for his epigrammatic short stories often satirizing the upper crust of British society. Many of his stories dealt with talking animals and few of them ended happily. Munro was gay at time when same-sex relations were considered a crime. Though he was over age, he enlisted for service in WWI and died in 1916 at the Battle of Ancre. Supposedly, his last words were, “Put that bloody cigarette out!”




Title: “Gabriel-Ernest”
Author: Saki (legal name Hector Hugh Munro) (1870-1916)
First published: The Westminster Gazette, May 29, 1909.