Résumé
Résumé de La femme d’Allan
À qui s’adresse-t-il ?
Readers who enjoy Victorian adventure, hunters and trekkers, mysteries of the African veld, and old-fashioned love stories told by a narrator who has seen a great deal of life.
De quoi parle ce livre ?
Allan's Wife is an adventure novel by H. Rider Haggard, the English writer who gave the world the hunter Allan Quatermain. Here Quatermain tells the tale of his own life, written out for readers who will come after his death. It is the story of how he meets, wins and loses the woman he loves, set in the wild South Africa of the Boer trekkers and the Zulu regiments.
The account moves fast. A burning dress at a Christmas party in Oxfordshire, a lightning duel between two African wizards, an elephant hunt that goes badly wrong, a Zulu army outside a ring of wagons, a desert crossing and a hidden valley of white marble huts all pass before you. Beside Allan walk Indaba-zimbi, a sharp-tongued old witch-doctor who sees what others cannot, and Hendrika, a strange white woman raised among baboons.
Haggard writes in the voice of an old man looking back, so every scene carries warmth and a little sorrow. You get danger, wit, tenderness and a feeling for the African land. Let us begin where Allan begins, with a child, a candle and a childhood promise.
Dans ce résumé
- 1A Squire Flees England With His DaughterFree
- 2A Wizard's Duel and a First Elephant Hunt
- 3A Zulu Regiment Stalks a Boer Laager
- 4A Duel and a Trick Save Allan
- 5Through the Desert to a Girl Named Stella
- 6The Baboon-Woman and the Marble Kraals
- 7Love, a Dream, and a Wedding Day
- 8The Star Is Taken and Magic Points the Way
- 9Fate, Jealousy and the Voice of an Old Man
Point clé 1 sur 9
A Squire Flees England With His Daughter
The story opens with an old man's memory of Oxfordshire. Allan Quatermain is the youngest son of a country curate, and one Christmas the family is invited to the Hall, home of Squire Carson. The squire's wife, half Spanish and lively, laughs at the small boy's bristling hair. Her daughter Stella, dressed as Father Christmas, hands out the gifts from the tree.
Then Stella's cotton-wool sleeve touches a candle and flames run up toward her throat. Everyone else freezes. Allan throws himself on her and beats out the fire with his bare hands, and his wrists are burned for it. Stella is left with one small scar on her neck. Allan, looking back as an old man, calls it the moment he saved the woman who would become his wife.
Soon after, fever strikes the vicarage, and Allan's mother and three brothers are dying. In the middle of this sorrow Squire Carson arrives, pale and fierce. His wife has run away with her foreign cousin and spent most of his fortune. He tells the curate that he will take Stella far from every white face, change his name and vanish. The curate thinks grief has unhinged him, and Allan, sitting by the fire, remembers every word without understanding it.
Allan's mother and brothers die, and his father cannot bear to stay in England. They sail in the cheapest class to South Africa, where the father becomes a missionary near Cradock. Allan grows up on the station, speaking Dutch and several African languages. He becomes a fine shot and horseman, small but tireless, and he earns the name Macumazahn, which means he who sleeps with one eye open.
When his gentle father dies, Allan buries him. The old man's last wish was that, if Allan ever met Carson or Stella, he should pass on his love. Allan sells most of the station's goods and plans a trading and hunting trip north, into land where few white men have gone. He takes two wagons, six men and an odd old witch-doctor named Indaba-zimbi, who has already told him he has no choice.
That’s 1 of 9 key points.
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Questions about La femme d’Allan
What is Allan's Wife about?
It is the story, told by Allan Quatermain, of how he met and married Stella Carson in a hidden valley beneath a mountain full of baboons, with elephant hunts, a Zulu army and an old witch-doctor along the way.
Who is Indaba-zimbi?
Indaba-zimbi, whose name means tongue of iron, is an old witch-doctor with a white lock of hair. He joins Allan's journey, makes accurate prophecies, saves his life and uses strange powers to find the missing.
Is Allan's Wife part of the Allan Quatermain series?
Yes, it is one of H. Rider Haggard's tales of Allan Quatermain, the hunter who narrates King Solomon's Mines. It fills in the story of his wife and early adventures, and stands well as a separate novel.
Who is Hendrika, the Baboon-woman?
Hendrika is a white woman found as a child among baboons and taken into Stella's household. She speaks the baboons' language, is very strong and agile, and loves Stella with a fierce jealousy.
Is Allan's Wife easy to read?
It moves quickly through short scenes, with vivid action, clear dialogue and a warm, chatty narrator. Each chapter has a distinct adventure, so the story is easy to follow from one episode to the next.