Story summary
Краткое содержание: Звери и сверхзвери
- Чтение: 8 мин.
- 10 parts
- Аудио скоро
A boastful mystic meets a borrowed wolf, and Clovis Sangrail enjoys every minute of the house party.
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Звери и сверхзвери — кратко о книге
Краткое содержание: 8 min на чтение
- Время чтения
- Около 4 h3 h 10 min fast, 4 h 45 min slow
- Длительность
- Слов: 57 300
- Уровень в библиотеке
- Средний longer sentences, everyday words
- Первая публикация
- 1914by Саки
Reading time at 238 words a minute (fast 300, slow 200). Сколько времени нужно на чтение классики · Обновлено
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Звери и сверхзвери in short
Beasts and Super-Beasts is a book of short, sharp stories in which animals and people trade places. Wolves, otters, pigs and elks appear, but the real beasts are hostesses, bores, snobs and schemers. Clovis Sangrail and his friends meet them with lies, pranks and quick tongues.
What Звери и сверхзвери is about
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 is a collection of thirty-six short stories by Saki, the pen name of Hector Hugh Munro, who died in 1916. They first appeared in London newspapers, and each one fits a few minutes of reading. The beasts are real animals, but the super-beasts are people, and they behave far worse. You get Clovis Sangrail, sharp children, fierce hostesses and a sting in the last line.
Для кого. 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.
The story in 10 parts
Key idea 1 · free to read
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.
Clovis Sangrail listens quietly and then slips off to Lord Pabham, who keeps a private menagerie. He asks to borrow a timber wolf named Louisa, as casually as someone asking for a tennis racket. The reader watches a plan take shape while Bilsiter sees nothing. Saki lets the fool trap himself with his own words.
A loud claim to power is an invitation for someone cleverer to test it.
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A dying woman promises to return as an otter
Laura tells her friend Amanda that the doctor has allowed her to live until Tuesday.
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Clovis solves other people's problems with invented stories
Clovis Sangrail is the book's fixer, a young man who treats a lie as a craft.
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Children see through grown-ups and win
Saki's children are small strategists.
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Invented stories travel faster than true ones
In The Open Window, nervous Framton Nuttel pays a call on Mrs. Sappleton.
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Smooth talkers always want something
Many of the tales are duels between someone who asks and someone who guards.
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Strikes, fads and crowds make fools of the clever
Several tales imagine modern fashions pushed to extremes.
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Manners and duties make a harmless war
Social habits are Saki's favorite battlefield.
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Animals and odd chances overturn careful plans
Plans in these stories rarely survive.
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Short tales, dry wit and a sting at the end
The tales first appeared in newspapers.
Read all 10 key ideas now
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Characters, plot and themes
Main characters
- Clovis Sangrail A quick-witted young man who invents miracles and lies to rescue friends, tease bores and puncture pretension at house parties.
- Lady Carlotta A bold, unflappable woman who is mistaken for a governess and decides to play the part with her own method.
- Vera A sharp niece who tells wild stories to guests and aunts, and who is always one step ahead of the adults.
- Nicholas A small boy in disgrace who outwits his guarding aunt and slips into the forbidden lumber room.
- Laura A mischievous woman who expects to return as an otter and who tells her friend what she plans to do.
- Sir Lulworth Quayne A lazy, witty gentleman who loves good food, clever talk and the quiet comfort of his own opinions.
- Matilda Cuvering A thirteen-year-old with a boar-pig, a punishment and a talent for collecting money from trapped visitors.
- Framton Nuttel A nervous visitor who wants rest for his nerves and finds a hostess with a window open to the lawn.
How it ends (spoiler)
The tales close on a sting. Bilsiter hears Clovis claim superior magical powers and wishes he could turn him into a cockroach and step on him. Laura's next life carries her to a Cairo hotel as a Nubian boy who throws Egbert's shirts in the bath. Framton's ghosts are the niece's invention. Blenkinthrope's tall tales cost him sympathy at his wife's death. The elk helps Bertie and Dora to marry. Knopfschrank returns home.
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Вопросы о книге Звери и сверхзвери
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.
Is Beasts and Super-Beasts easy to read?
Its brief tales run only a few pages each, so you can read one in a sitting. The language is plain and conversational, the dialogue is quick and the jokes build to a clear final line.
Как сослаться на это издание
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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