Name: Class:

The Storyteller
By Saki
1888

Hector Hugh Munro (1870-1916) was a British author who wrote under the pen name Saki and often
satirized old Victorian values, such as what was considered “proper” behavior. In the following short story, a
man on a train tells a story to three young children. As you read, take notes on the author's use of humor.

[1] It was a hot afternoon, and the railway carriage

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was correspondingly sultry, and the next stop
was at Templecombe, nearly an hour ahead. The
occupants of the carriage were a small girl, and a
smaller girl, and a small boy. An aunt belonging to
the children occupied one corner seat, and the
further corner seat on the opposite side was
occupied by a bachelor who was a stranger to
their party, but the small girls and the small boy
emphatically occupied the compartment. Both
the aunt and the children were conversational in
a limited, persistent way, reminding one of the
attentions of a housefly that refuses to be "Kids on the Bus" by Chris Zerbes is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND
2.0.
discouraged. Most of the aunt's remarks seemed
to begin with "Don't," and nearly all of the children's remarks began with "Why?" The bachelor said
nothing out loud. "Don't, Cyril, don't," exclaimed the aunt, as the small boy began smacking the
cushions of the seat, producing a cloud of dust at each blow.

"Come and look out of the window," she added.

The child moved reluctantly to the window. "Why are those sheep being driven out of that field?" he
asked.

"I expect they are being driven to another field where there is more grass," said the aunt weakly.

[5] "But there is lots of grass in that field," protested the boy; "there's nothing else but grass there. Aunt,
there's lots of grass in that field."

"Perhaps the grass in the other field is better," suggested the aunt fatuously.

"Why is it better?" came the swift, inevitable question.

"Oh, look at those cows!" exclaimed the aunt. Nearly every field along the line had contained cows or
bullocks, but she spoke as though she were drawing attention to a rarity.

"Why is the grass in the other field better?" persisted Cyril.

1. Sultry (adjective): hot, humid

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[10] The frown on the bachelor's face was deepening to a scowl. He was a hard, unsympathetic man, the
aunt decided in her mind. She was utterly unable to come to any satisfactory decision about the grass
in the other field.

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The smaller girl created a diversion by beginning to recite "On the Road to Mandalay." She only knew
the first line, but she put her limited knowledge to the fullest possible use. She repeated the line over
and over again in a dreamy but resolute and very audible voice; it seemed to the bachelor as though
some one had had a bet with her that she could not repeat the line aloud two thousand times without
stopping. Whoever it was who had made the wager was likely to lose his bet.

"Come over here and listen to a story," said the aunt, when the bachelor had looked twice at her and
once at the communication cord.

The children moved listlessly towards the aunt's end of the carriage. Evidently her reputation as a
story- teller did not rank high in their estimation.

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In a low, confidential voice, interrupted at frequent intervals by loud, petulant questionings from her
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listeners, she began an unenterprising and deplorably uninteresting story about a little girl who was
good, and made friends with every one on account of her goodness, and was finally saved from a mad
bull by a number of rescuers who admired her moral character.

[15] "Wouldn't they have saved her if she hadn't been good?" demanded the bigger of the small girls. It was
exactly the question that the bachelor had wanted to ask.

"Well, yes," admitted the aunt lamely, "but I don't think they would have run quite so fast to her help if
they had not liked her so much."

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"It's the stupidest story I've ever heard," said the bigger of the small girls, with immense conviction.

"I didn't listen after the first bit, it was so stupid," said Cyril.

The smaller girl made no actual comment on the story, but she had long ago recommenced a
murmured repetition of her favourite line.

[20] "You don't seem to be a success as a story-teller," said the bachelor suddenly from his corner.

The aunt bristled in instant defence at this unexpected attack.

"It's a very difficult thing to tell stories that children can both understand and appreciate," she said
stiffly.

"I don't agree with you," said the bachelor.

"Perhaps you would like to tell them a story," was the aunt's retort.

2. Diversion (noun): a distraction

3. Confidential (adjective): indicating that what one says is private or secret
4. Deplorably (adverb): terrible; worthy of disapproval
5. Conviction (noun): a firmly held belief or opinion

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[25] "Tell us a story," demanded the bigger of the small girls.

"Once upon a time," began the bachelor, "there was a little girl called Bertha, who was extra-ordinarily
good."

The children's momentarily-aroused interest began at once to flicker; all stories seemed dreadfully
alike, no matter who told them.

"She did all that she was told, she was always truthful, she kept her clothes clean, ate milk puddings as
though they were jam tarts, learned her lessons perfectly, and was polite in her manners."

"Was she pretty?" asked the bigger of the small girls.

[30] "Not as pretty as any of you," said the bachelor, "but she was horribly good."

There was a wave of reaction in favour of the story; the word horrible in connection with goodness was
a novelty that commended itself. It seemed to introduce a ring of truth that was absent from the aunt's
tales of infant life.

"She was so good," continued the bachelor, "that she won several medals for goodness, which she
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always wore, pinned on to her dress. There was a medal for obedience, another medal for punctuality,
and a third for good behaviour. They were large metal medals and they clicked against one another as
she walked. No other child in the town where she lived had as many as three medals, so everybody
knew that she must be an extra good child."

"Horribly good," quoted Cyril.

"Everybody talked about her goodness, and the Prince of the country got to hear about it, and he said
that as she was so very good she might be allowed once a week to walk in his park, which was just
outside the town. It was a beautiful park, and no children were ever allowed in it, so it was a great
honour for Bertha to be allowed to go there."

[35] "Were there any sheep in the park?" demanded Cyril.

"No;" said the bachelor, "there were no sheep."

"Why weren't there any sheep?" came the inevitable question arising out of that answer.

The aunt permitted herself a smile, which might almost have been described as a grin.

"There were no sheep in the park," said the bachelor, "because the Prince's mother had once had a
dream that her son would either be killed by a sheep or else by a clock falling on him. For that reason
the Prince never kept a sheep in his park or a clock in his palace."

[40] The aunt suppressed a gasp of admiration.

"Was the Prince killed by a sheep or by a clock?" asked Cyril.

6. Punctuality (noun): being on time

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 "He is still alive, so we can't tell whether the dream will come true," said the bachelor unconcernedly;
"anyway, there were no sheep in the park, but there were lots of little pigs running all over the place."

"What colour were they?"

"Black with white faces, white with black spots, black all over, grey with white patches, and some were
white all over."

[45] The storyteller paused to let a full idea of the park's treasures sink into the children's imaginations;
then he resumed:

"Bertha was rather sorry to find that there were no flowers in the park. She had promised her aunts,
with tears in her eyes, that she would not pick any of the kind Prince's flowers, and she had meant to
keep her promise, so of course it made her feel silly to find that there were no flowers to pick."

"Why weren't there any flowers?"

"Because the pigs had eaten them all," said the bachelor promptly. "The gardeners had told the Prince
that you couldn't have pigs and flowers, so he decided to have pigs and no flowers."

There was a murmur of approval at the excellence of the Prince's decision; so many people would have
decided the other way.

[50] "There were lots of other delightful things in the park. There were ponds with gold and blue and green
fish in them, and trees with beautiful parrots that said clever things at a moment's notice, and
humming birds that hummed all the popular tunes of the day. Bertha walked up and down and
enjoyed herself immensely, and thought to herself: 'If I were not so extraordinarily good I should not
have been allowed to come into this beautiful park and enjoy all that there is to be seen in it,' and her
three medals clinked against one another as she walked and helped to remind her how very good she
really was. Just then an enormous wolf came prowling into the park to see if it could catch a fat little pig
for its supper."

"What colour was it?" asked the children, amid an immediate quickening of interest.

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 "Mud-colour all over, with a black tongue and pale grey eyes that gleamed with unspeakable ferocity.
The first thing that it saw in the park was Bertha; her pinafore was so spotlessly white and clean that it
could be seen from a great distance. Bertha saw the wolf and saw that it was stealing towards her, and
she began to wish that she had never been allowed to come into the park. She ran as hard as she
could, and the wolf came after her with huge leaps and bounds. She managed to reach a shrubbery of
myrtle bushes and she hid herself in one of the thickest of the bushes. The wolf came sniffing among
the branches, its black tongue lolling out of its mouth and its pale grey eyes glaring with rage. Bertha
was terribly frightened, and thought to herself: 'If I had not been so extraordinarily good I should have
been safe in the town at this moment.' However, the scent of the myrtle was so strong that the wolf
could not sniff out where Bertha was hiding, and the bushes were so thick that he might have hunted
about in them for a long time without catching sight of her, so he thought he might as well go off and
catch a little pig instead. Bertha was trembling very much at having the wolf prowling and sniffing so
near her, and as she trembled the medal for obedience clinked against the medals for good conduct
and punctuality. The wolf was just moving away when he heard the sound of the medals clinking and
stopped to listen; they clinked again in a bush quite near him. He dashed into the bush, his pale grey
eyes gleaming with ferocity and triumph, and dragged Bertha out and devoured her to the last morsel.
All that was left of her were her shoes, bits of clothing, and the three medals for goodness."

"Were any of the little pigs killed?"

"No, they all escaped."

[55] "The story began badly," said the smaller of the small girls, "but it had a beautiful ending."

"It is the most beautiful story that I ever heard," said the bigger of the small girls, with immense
decision.

"It is the only beautiful story I have ever heard," said Cyril.

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A dissentient opinion came from the aunt.

"A most improper story to tell to young children! You have undermined the effect of years of careful
teaching."

[60] "At any rate," said the bachelor, collecting his belongings preparatory to leaving the carriage, "I kept
them quiet for ten minutes, which was more than you were able to do."

"Unhappy woman!" he observed to himself as he walked down the platform of Templecombe station;
"for the next six months or so those children will assail her in public with demands for an improper
story!"

"The Storyteller" by Saki (1888) is in the public domain.

7. Dissentient (adjective): differing, especially from the majority opinion

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 Text-Dependent Questions
Directions: For the following questions, choose the best answer or respond in complete sentences.

1. PART A: Which of the following best describes a theme of the story? [RL.2]
A. Strangers can be more honest than family, and this makes them more
trustworthy and morally good.
B. Curiosity is an important part of childhood, but it should be restricted more and
more as children grow.
C. Children's understanding of what is good and what is bad can be influenced by
the adults in their lives.
D. Most of the time, bad people get what they deserve, but occasionally they are
rewarded.

2. PART B: Which of the following quotes best supports the answer to Part A? [RL.1]
A. “Most of the aunt’s remarks seemed to begin with ‘Don't,’ and nearly all of the
children’s remarks began with ‘Why?’” (Paragraph 1)
B. “interrupted at frequent intervals by loud, petulant questionings from her
listeners, she began an unenterprising and deplorably uninteresting story”
(Paragraph 14)
C. “It seemed to introduce a ring of truth that was absent from the aunt's tales of
infant life.” (Paragraph 31)
D. “‘A most improper story to tell to young children! You have undermined the
effect of years of careful teaching.’” (Paragraph 59)

3. PART A: What impact does the phrase “horribly good” in paragraph 30 have in the [RL.4]
text?
A. “Horribly” emphasizes the girl’s goodness, but it is normally a negative definition
that implies that the others in the story disliked her and were jealous of her.
B. “Horribly” means that the girl was shockingly good, and this surprising meaning
catches the children’s attention.
C. “Horribly” emphasizes the girl’s goodness, but it is normally a negative definition
that implies that there is something awful about being so good.
D. “Horribly” means poorly done, which implies that the girl is not good at anything
besides earning medals.

4. PART B: Which of the following details from the text best supports the answer to Part [RL.1]
A?
A. “the word horrible in connection with goodness was a novelty that commended
itself. It seemed to introduce a ring of truth that was absent from the aunt's
tales” (Paragraph 31)
B. “‘She was so good... that she won several medals for goodness, which she
always wore, pinned on to her dress.’” (Paragraph 32)
C. “‘No other child in the town where she lived had as many as three medals, so
everybody knew that she must be an extra good child.’” (Paragraph 32)
D. “‘He said that as she was so very good she might be allowed once a week to walk
in his park... It was a beautiful park, and no children were ever allowed in it’”
(Paragraph 34)

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5. At the end of the passage, what causes conflict between the aunt and the bachelor [RL.3]
on the train?
A. The aunt thinks that the content of the story was too graphic for the children,
but the bachelor disagrees.
B. The aunt is jealous that the children liked the bachelor’s story better than hers.
C. The aunt thinks that the children will reject her lessons and learn bad behaviors
from the bachelor's story.
D. The aunt is angry with the bachelor for refusing to find a new compartment and
distracting the children.

6. How do the children’s reactions to the bachelor’s story develop the passage’s humor? [RL.5]

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 Discussion Questions
Directions: Brainstorm your answers to the following questions in the space provided. Be prepared to
share your original ideas in a class discussion.

1. Which story do you think is more realistic? Why?

2. What is Saki’s message about teaching morality to children? Consider the moral of the
bachelor's story--is it the same as Saki's message? Explain.

3. In t he context of this story, what is good and how do we know? As you think about this
question, consider what role good behavior plays in the outcome of the story. Cite evidence
from this text, your own experience, and other literature, art, or history in your answer.