1914 Saki - Beasts and Super-Beasts

Beasts and Super-Beasts - Saki
Saki was the pen name for H H Munro and this is a collection of his short stories published in 1914 a couple of years before his death in 1916. They are short, amusing and occasionally laugh out loud funny, obviously some are better than others but their are very few without interest.

Most satirise the upper echelons of Edwardian society, but the human condition being what it is, some of the satire can be appreciated today. One of the stories is entitled Story Teller and I would say that Tall Story Teller would be a title that could describe much of what goes on. “The Lull” is typical: a precocious teenager successfully stops an electioneering politician who is staying at their house for the night from overworking on the eve of the election; she brings a piglet and a hen to his room and informs him that the house is surrounded by flood waters and his is the only room where these animals will be safe, the animals lead him a merry dance all night long and it is only when he peers out of his window in the morning that he discovers no signs of a flood. Some of the tales are a little macabre and in “The Lull” the young girl cannot resist in telling the politician that one of the maids is distraught at seeing her dead boyfriend circling in the flood waters round the house.

There is little social commentary in the stories; the main characters have servants who know their place, however in The Byzantium Omlette the lady of the house must cope with a servants strike: the master of the house gets stuck in his portable Turkish Bath when the strike happens, not being able to figure out how to extricate himself. Beasts and Superbeasts suggest animals and they do feature in about half of the stories, but it is the humans who are the stars. The Brogue is typical: a lady manages to hoodwink a rich newcomer to the village into buying a horse (the Brogue) who though amiable in appearance gets spooked by almost anything, her daughter falls in love with the rich newcomer who is considered quite a catch and so the family are left with the problem of how to buy/get back the dangerous Brogue.

I found most of theses gentle satires, sometimes with a hint of a ghost story, but almost always about people trying to pull the wool over other peoples eyes quite a delight. Locked in a time warp of Edwardian England they maybe, but they made me smile and so 3.5 stars

It's been a long time since I read Saki: maybe "The Open Window" in high school? But it's left me with the impression a collection of his stories would make ideal Winter reading: a cozy chair by the window, hot tea, maybe one of his Beasts curled on the lap or on the hearth.