7 h 4 minAudiobook13 minSummaryRead it, hear it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at cost
Audiobook edition · 7 h 4 minPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
What if good manners leave you helpless against a child with a better imagination?
In Beasts and Super-Beasts, Saki brings animals, unruly children, and clever troublemakers into lives built on order. Drawing rooms and country houses become unexpectedly dangerous places. These short stories find dark humour in the gap between polite manners and bad intentions, where respectability offers little protection.
In The Open Window, Framton Nuttel seeks rest for his nerves, but his hostess’s young niece supplies an alarming family account. In The Storyteller, an aunt tries to entertain children in a railway carriage with a morally improving tale. Across the collection, adult authority meets opponents who know how to unsettle it.
What you’ll discover
- Politeness under pressure Enter orderly rooms where good manners cannot keep mischief or bad intentions at bay.
- Children with an edge Meet resourceful children who challenge adults rather than simply suffer their foolishness.
- An alarming family account Join Framton Nuttel as a young niece unsettles his search for quiet and rest.
- Trouble on the railway Watch an aunt bring a morally improving story to children in her care.
- The wild breaks through Discover how animals disturb human control, while people prove troublesome in their own right.
Who will love it
Readers who enjoy dry wit, short tales with a sting in the last line, and Edwardian drawing rooms full of pranksters, snobs, clever children and unlikely animals will find a friend here.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- People are the real beasts
- Boasting gives tricksters an opening
- An otter leaves room for suspicion
- Clovis makes invention a social tool
- Children notice what adults miss
- A request can become a performance
- Fashionable crowds invite their own satire
- Animals unsettle carefully arranged plans
- Harmless details can carry the joke
Who’s who
- Clovis SangrailA quick-witted young man who invents miracles and lies to rescue friends, tease bores and puncture pretension at house parties.
- Lady CarlottaA bold, unflappable woman who is mistaken for a governess and decides to play the part with her own method.
- VeraA sharp niece who tells wild stories to guests and aunts, and who is always one step ahead of the adults.
- NicholasA small boy in disgrace who outwits his guarding aunt and slips into the forbidden lumber room.
- LauraA mischievous woman who expects to return as an otter and who tells her friend what she plans to do.
- Sir Lulworth QuayneA lazy, witty gentleman who loves good food, clever talk and the quiet comfort of his own opinions.
- Matilda CuveringA thirteen-year-old with a boar-pig, a punishment and a talent for collecting money from trapped visitors.
- Framton NuttelA nervous visitor who wants rest for his nerves and finds a hostess with a window open to the lawn.
Formats and delivery
- eBook
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- Large-print eBook
- The same book in bigger, clearer type, once the book texts are online.
- Audiobook
- Read by Lucas Linden, complete. It opens once the recording is online.
- 15-minute summary
- The key ideas in about 13 minutes, to read today.
- Paperback
- 6 × 9 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Hardcover
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- Large print paperback
- 8.5 × 11 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Large print hardcover
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Beasts and Super-Beasts in 25 languages, side by side, paragraph by paragraph, once the book texts are online: the way to learn a language with a book you love.
Beasts and Super-Beasts
by Saki · 1914
A boastful mystic meets a borrowed wolf, and Clovis Sangrail enjoys every minute of the house party.
Medium level2–5 hours to read2 languages
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In short
What happens when a bore boasts that he can turn a woman into a wolf? In the first tale of this book, a grand house party watches a gray beast step out of the azaleas, and the man who boasted of magic cannot say how it got there.
Beasts and Super-Beasts at a glance
- Reading time
- About 4 h3 h 10 min fast, 4 h 45 min slow
- Length
- 57,300 words
- Library level
- Medium longer sentences, everyday words
- First published
- 1914by Saki
Reading time at 238 words a minute (fast 300, slow 200). How long the classics take to read · Updated
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
A boaster of magic meets a better trickster
Leonard Bilsiter has found the world dull, so he invents an unseen one. At a Russian railway station he picks up scraps of folklore, and he calls the result Siberian Magic. Back home he hints at huge powers to anyone who will listen.
At Mary Hampton's house party, the hostess teases him. She asks to be turned into a she-wolf, though not today, because the bridge tables need players. Bilsiter answers with solemn lectures, and his claims grow as his audience grows.
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Which edition is right for me
- 15-minute summary
- The key ideas of the whole book in about 13 minutes. A good first look, or a refresher.
Details
- First published
- 1914
- Language
- English
- Reading time
- 4 h 35 min
- Level
- Medium level
Cite this edition
Saki. Beasts and Super-Beasts. Library of Alexandria, 2026, libraryofalexandria.com/products/beasts-and-super-beasts.
Saki. (2026). Beasts and super-beasts. Library of Alexandria. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/beasts-and-super-beasts (Original work published 1914)
Saki. Beasts and Super-Beasts. Library of Alexandria, 2026. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/beasts-and-super-beasts.
@book{saki2026beasts,
author = {Saki},
title = {Beasts and Super-Beasts},
publisher = {Library of Alexandria},
year = {2026},
url = {https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/beasts-and-super-beasts},
note = {First published 1914}
}
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What is Beasts and Super-Beasts about?
It is a collection of thirty-six short satirical stories by Saki about Edwardian society. Animals such as an otter, an elk and a boar-pig appear, but the book's real beasts are snobs, bores, schemers and the clever people who outwit them.
Who is Clovis Sangrail?
Clovis is a recurring character, a witty young man who plays pranks, invents elaborate lies and rescues his friends from awkward situations. He appears in several stories, including The She-Wolf, The Brogue, The Hen and The Feast of Nemesis.
Is The Open Window in this book?
Yes, The Open Window is one of the tales. It follows nervous Framton Nuttel, who visits a country house with a letter of introduction and hears a strange story from the hostess's fifteen-year-old niece about the window left open.
The author
Saki
1870–1916 · British short story writer
Saki was the pen name of Hector Hugh Munro (1870–1916), a British writer born in Burma. He lived in England and worked as a journalist. He wrote short stories and the novel The Unbearable Bassington (1912). His collections included Beasts and Super-Beasts (1914). He died in France during the First World War.
More by Saki
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