An hilarious collection of short stories written about animals by one of Britain's greatest satirists of the 20th Century, Saki, real name Hector Hugh Monroe. In this hilarious and occasionally macabre collection of Saki's off-beat and unusual short stories all featuring animals, the cutting edge of the satirist is never far away.. Mice in the undeerwear; an ox in the drawing room; the dreadful indiscretions of a cat that learns to talk; the just downfall of Miss Packletide whose Achilles heal is snobbery, and the party guest who did or did not turn into a she-wolf are all grist to Saki's mill.
The pen-name 'Saki' (mysteriously filched from Edward Fitzgerald's translation of Omar Khayyam) conceals the identity of the intriguing short story writer, Hector Huigh Monroe (1870-1916) - a pseudonym he adopted when wickedly lampooning the Boer War and the buffonery of its management. Saki tragically fell to a German sniper's bullet in the first World War at the age of 46 thus depriving us of more consistently funny, well observed and stylish stories in the English language.