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THE STORY-TELLER
- Saki

Hector Hugh Munro, popularly known by the pen-name ‘Saki’ is one of the best short-story writers
of all time. Often quoted as the “Cup-bearer in the Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam” Saki is best know
for his witty (amusing, clever), irreverent (rude, rude), worldly, sometimes whimsical (unusual,
quirky), and often cynical (sarcastic, skeptical) and bizarre (uncanny, peculiar) stories. Engrossing
at once, every story of this great story-teller rivets the reader to his seat until he finishes it. His
stories feature delicately drawn characters and finely judged narratives drawn on child-adult
relationship. In them one discerns an inevitable inclusion of children and animals for their
characters which makes his stories comical and engaging. A master in story writing, Saki stands in
the line of other renowned story writers like O.Henry and Dorothy.

This story is "a story within a story." A young man on a train by chance shares his coach with a woman with two

children who are bored and fretful. When she is unsuccessful at entertaining them with a conventional and

moralistic story, he mentions this, meaning no harm. The woman (actually the aunt of the two children) takes

offense, however, and challenges him to try and do a better job of it.

The bachelor does so with bravado by telling the children an unconventional tale in which a "horribly good little

girl" is gobbled up by a wolf because her three medals of honour clink against one another and reveal where she is

hiding. The chidren an entranced by a tale which goes against the grain of "a decent story," (once again, much to

the irritation of the disgruntled aunt). Before saying goodbye, he reminds her that he did indeed keep the children

quiet, which was more than she could do.

The climax of the story within the story is of course when the good little girl almost (but not quite) escapes from

the jaws of the ravenous wolf; the second one on "real time" is no real climax at all - just another appropriate

retort made by the young man before parting company. This rather deflated ending is done on purpose as an anti-

climax to take a bit of hot air out of the fuddy-duddy aunt's inflated ego (which it does).

Saki shows by this that understatement can often be more powerful than exaggeration when employed the right

way.

Saki's "The Storyteller," like his story "The Open Window" is a story-within-a story. Trapped in a compartment

with three rather unruly children and their unassertive aunt, a bachelor is subjected to the persistent questions of

the children that remind him of "the attentions of a housefly." As he is forced to listen to the aunt's inability to

satisfy the curiosity of the children and her attempt to tell them a story, he feels compelled to remark, "You don't

seem to be a success as a story-teller."

With his remark, the aunt bristles and challenges him to tell a story himself, then. And, thus begins the bachelor's

story which starts out in a similar fashion about a very good girl. However, this girl is "horribly" good, and the

incongruous adverb attracks the children's attention. As it turns out, the good girl, who has three medals for her

good behavior that click together as she moves, betray her when she hides from a wolf in the park of the Prince

where she has been invited for her good behavior.

"It is the most beautiful story I have ever heard" said Cyril.
And the other children concur, but the aunt is incensed, telling the bachelor it is most improper and has

undermined years of careful teaching. The bachelor retorts that, at least, he kept them quiet for ten minutes. As

he walks down the train's quay, he bemusedly reflects that the aunt will be plagued by the children for more

"improper" stories.

While there is a twist to the ending, "The Storyteller" does not have the usual cracking surprise ending that is

typical of Saki. Yet, it displays the whimsical humor and presents the less detectable truths of human nature in its

exposure of the innate sadism of the children. A typically short short story, "The Storyteller" illustrates Saki's

clever manipulation of a single aspect of human behavior until it shoddiness is exposed.