Tuesday Terror! Sredni Vashtar by Saki

Beware the child…

 

Many moons ago when I first started my journey into horror, regular commenter BigSister (who coincidentally is my big sister) recommended a story that she described as “seriously scary”. So it seems like a good choice for this week’s…

TUESDAY TERROR!

Sredni Vashtar by Saki

 

Conradin is ten years old, an orphan under the care of his cousin, Mrs de Ropp. He is a sickly child, though the impression is quickly given that that has more to do with nurture than nature. Though she provides him with the basics…

Mrs. de Ropp would never, in her honestest moments, have confessed to herself that she disliked Conradin, though she might have been dimly aware that thwarting him “for his good” was a duty which she did not find particularly irksome.

In return, Conradin hates her. Deprived of everything that might be enjoyable in life, Conradin has found himself a little bolthole in the tool-shed in the dismal garden, where he keeps two treasures hidden – a hen which he loves and a polecat-ferret which he both fears and treasures. In his loneliness, Conradin lives within his imagination, and he has spun a story around the ferret that he has almost come to believe himself…

…one day, out of Heaven knows what material, he spun the beast a wonderful name, and from that moment it grew into a god and a religion…Every Thursday, in the dim and musty silence of the tool-shed, he worshipped with mystic and elaborate ceremonial before the wooden hutch where dwelt Sredni Vashtar, the great ferret.

Slowly Conradin develops rituals around his new god, making offerings at his shrine, especially when he feels grateful for something – such as when Mrs de Ropp is suffering from severe toothache. This escape into his imagination is the only thing in his life that Conradin cherishes.

But Mrs de Ropp soon notices that Conradin is disappearing more and more into the garden and sets out to discover what he does there. It’s not long before she discovers his hiding place in the tool-shed and, although in the gloom she fails to spot Sredni Vashtar in his hutch, she finds the boy’s beloved hen…

… and at breakfast one morning she announced that the Houdan hen had been sold and taken away overnight. With her short-sighted eyes she peered at Conradin, waiting for an outbreak of rage and sorrow, which she was ready to rebuke with a flow of excellent precepts and reasoning. But Conradin said nothing: there was nothing to be said. Something perhaps in his white set face gave her a momentary qualm…

In his rage and sorrow, Conradin turns to his god, this time not to praise him, but to ask a boon. He doesn’t feel he needs to specify its nature, since surely his god will know, so he simply asks…

“Do one thing for me, Sredni Vashtar.”

And, half-believing, he repeats this request each night. Until one day, having noticed that Conradin was still visiting the tool-shed regularly, Mrs de Ropp decides to investigate further. As she disappears inside, Conradin stands watching from a window in the house, and fervently repeats his prayer…

“Do one thing for me, Sredni Vashtar.”

…then chants the hymn he has made for his idol…

Sredni Vashtar went forth,
His thoughts were red thoughts and his teeth were white.
His enemies called for peace, but he brought them death.
Sredni Vashtar the Beautiful…

* * * * * * *

Ooh, this is a scary one! Although it’s always fairly clear where the story is heading, Saki builds up an atmosphere of oppression and dread, and given that it’s only a few pages long, he packs in enough character development for us to hate Mrs de Ropp nearly as much as Conradin does. The horrific climax is beautifully played out off the page, with us working out the course of events from noises heard through a door. But it’s not so much what happens in the tool-shed as Conradin’s reaction to it that provides the chilling effect (and a generous dollop of blackish humour). I feel it may be a while before I can look at toast and butter in quite the same way again…

Good choice, BigSister! The Fretful Porpentine thanks you…

Want to read it? http://www.classicshorts.com/stories/vashtar.html

Or enjoy this fabulous reading as the wonderful Tom Baker brings out all the horror and humour in the story…

 

Fretful Porpentine Rating:      😯 😯 😯 😯

Overall story rating:                😀 😀 😀 😀 😀