Summary
Summary of The Ivory Child
The Ivory Child at a glance
Summary: 8 min to read
- Reading time
- About 7 h 15 min5 h 45 min fast, 8 h 35 min slow
- Length
- 103,500 words
- Library level
- Medium longer sentences, everyday words
- First published
- 1916by H. Rider Haggard
Reading time at 238 words a minute (fast 300, slow 200). How long the classics take to read · Updated
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Key ideas
Key idea 1
A hunter receives an unlikely invitation
Allan Quatermain, an old hunter living in Natal, is told that he alone can kill a god. The claim comes from two white-robed conjurers in an English drawing room, where it sounds more like entertainment than a serious request. But a lady's disappearance from a boat on the Nile gives the invitation a darker meaning. Allan's journey will lead from an English castle toward a hidden land, where worship of a child and worship of an elephant divide two peoples.
Key idea 2
The conjurers know more than expected
At dinner, Lord Ragnall's fiancée, Miss Holmes, tells Allan that she feels her life will be tied to Africa.
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Key idea 3
Grief turns friendship into a quest
Lord Ragnall arrives at Allan's door with his butler, Savage, carrying news of loss.
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Key idea 4
A promised release hides another danger
In Kendahland, the Black Kendah demand that the white men be handed over.
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Key idea 5
Hans turns loyalty into rescue
Left without weapons, Allan and Marut reach a black lake surrounded by elephant skeletons.
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Key idea 6
The mountain draws the rescuers onward
Among the White Kendah, Allan recovers under Ragnall's and Savage's care.
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Key idea 7
Loyalty matters more than promised treasure
The journey is driven less by the promise of ivory than by what people willingly give for one another.
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Key idea 8
Wonder and doubt remain side by side
Allan distrusts wonders and looks for ordinary explanations, yet events keep testing his confidence.
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Key idea 9
The rescue story rests on generosity
From an English shoot to the Holy Mount, the adventure follows a rescue made possible by people who give more than they must.
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Who it’s for
Readers who love lost-world adventure, with desert caravans, hidden temples and a giant elephant, will find it here. It suits anyone who enjoys a loyal servant, a plain-spoken hunter's voice and a quest driven by love.
What this book is
What would you do if a stranger told you that you alone could kill a god? Allan Quatermain, an old hunter living in Natal, hears exactly that from two white-robed conjurers in an English drawing room. It sounds like a party trick until a lady vanishes from a boat on the Nile.
The Ivory Child was written by H. Rider Haggard, and Quatermain tells it himself. It carries him from a pheasant shoot at an English castle to a hidden land inside a ring of desert, where one people worships a child and another worships an elephant. Along the way you meet a swindler, a faithful Hottentot named Hans and a butler who fears snakes. You get the story scene by scene, and then a look at how Haggard builds it.
In this summary
- 1A hunter receives an unlikely invitationFree
- 2The conjurers know more than expected
- 3Grief turns friendship into a quest
- 4A promised release hides another danger
- 5Hans turns loyalty into rescue
- 6The mountain draws the rescuers onward
- 7Loyalty matters more than promised treasure
- 8Wonder and doubt remain side by side
- 9The rescue story rests on generosity
A pigeon lesson and a bet win a friend
Allan Quatermain, a hunter from Natal, wanders into the grounds of Ragnall Castle in Essex. There he watches Lord Ragnall miss wood pigeons again and again with a small rifle. Allan tells him he is shooting a foot too high, then takes the rifle and shows how it is done.
Lord Ragnall is handsome, rich and kind, and he takes the lesson with good humor. He invites Allan to the great winter shoot the next day. Among the guests Allan meets Sir Junius Fortescue, once the swindler Van Koop, who cheated him of 250 pounds. Van Koop offers a bet on who kills more birds. Allan agrees, though he is ashamed of the whole affair.
The count ends level. Then the keeper drags a muddy pheasant from the lake, and the shot in its brain is Allan's. Van Koop must pay, and Allan hands the cheque to Lord Ragnall for the Cottage Hospital. A long friendship begins. A small act of honesty can win a friend for life.
That’s 1 of 9 key points.
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Check yourself
Why does Ragnall travel across Africa?
Right. “Ragnall's loyalty is to his wife.”Not quite. “Ragnall's loyalty is to his wife.”
What force drives the story most strongly?
Right. “Loyalty is the strongest force in the story, stronger than gold, rank or magic.”Not quite. “Loyalty is the strongest force in the story, stronger than gold, rank or magic.”
How does the book treat supernatural events?
Right. “Strange events can sit beside plain explanations, and the story lets both stand.”Not quite. “Strange events can sit beside plain explanations, and the story lets both stand.”
Go deeper: the whole of The Ivory Child
About 7 h 30 min to read.Start freePaperback, hardcover and large print, printed for you at cost, are on their way.Email me when it is printed
About this edition
Every format is free to start, and print and large print are at cost.
- LengthAbout 103,500 words
- Reading timeAbout 7 h 15 min
Questions about The Ivory Child
What is The Ivory Child about?
It follows the hunter Allan Quatermain as he joins Lord Ragnall on a quest into Africa. They seek the lord's lost wife and face a war between two peoples, one that worships a child and one that worships an elephant.
Who are Harut and Marut in The Ivory Child?
They are priests of the White Kendah, a hidden people in Central Africa. They arrive in an English drawing room in white robes, perform tricks and ask Allan to kill the elephant god Jana, promising ivory.
Who or what is Jana?
Jana is the huge elephant worshipped by the Black Kendah as the embodiment of evil. The White Kendah see him as an evil spirit in animal form, while Allan thinks he is an unusually large and savage rogue elephant.
Is The Ivory Child a true story, and when was it written?
No, it is an adventure novel by H. Rider Haggard, one of his Allan Quatermain tales. The Kendah, Jana and the Holy Mount are invented, though the book draws on real African settings and on ancient Egyptian religion.
Is The Ivory Child worth reading today?
It offers a strong story told in a dry, humorous voice, with loyal friendships, desert journeys and a mystery about a lost wife. Hans and Savage supply comedy and heart, and the plot moves steadily from scene to scene.
Cite this edition
Haggard, H. Rider. The Ivory Child. Library of Alexandria, 2026, libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-ivory-child.
Haggard, H. R. (2026). The ivory child. Library of Alexandria. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-ivory-child (Original work published 1916)
Haggard, H. Rider. The Ivory Child. Library of Alexandria, 2026. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-ivory-child.
@book{haggard2026ivory,
author = {Haggard, H. Rider},
title = {The Ivory Child},
publisher = {Library of Alexandria},
year = {2026},
url = {https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-ivory-child},
note = {First published 1916}
}
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