Talk:Sredni Vashtar

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The story says:-

The Houdan hen was never drawn into the cult of Sredni Vashtar. Conradin had long ago settled that she [= the hen] was an Anabaptist. He did not pretend to have the remotest knowledge as to what an Anabaptist was, but he privately hoped that it was dashing and not very respectable. Mrs. De Ropp was the ground plan on which he based and detested all respectability.

If Mrs. De Ropp was an Anabaptist, Conradin would have known what an Anabaptist was. Anthony Appleyard 07:41, 25 Nov 2004 (UTC)

Obviously Mrs. DeRopp was not an Anabaptist. However, the hen being an Anabaptist reflects that it represents redemption in adulthood. When Mrs. DeRopp takes the hen from Conradin she loses her chance for redemption.

I doubt that it is that complicated. Perhaps Mrs DeRopp was a Baptist and Conradin thought that Anabaptists were the opposite ? -- Beardo 22:49, 20 May 2006 (UTC)

That's the way I see it. Real Anabaptists are something like the Amish. However, the idea about redemption in adulthood is an interesting subtext whether Saki intended it or not. --Bluejay Young (talk) 09:02, 18 September 2008 (UTC)

The band Faith and the Muse made a song called Srendi Vashtar on their album The Burning Season, if it matters at all.

SV worship ties to Hinduism?

How is Conradin's form of worship in any way related to Hinduism --Nastymunky 23:02, 28 February 2007 (UTC)

He makes offerings of red flowers and berries. Red is an extremely significant color in Hinduism, representing the life force. That may sound like kind of a nobrainer, though. The really telling element is the nutmeg. Nutmeg incense is commonly used in India as a pleasing offering to The Gods. Nutmeg oil or butter is also very common there. It is supposed to have healing properties applied externally. If he was ever injured or sick in India, they may have used nutmeg butter on him to relieve pain. The smell of nutmeg may have been one of Conradin's closest ties to India. That it has to be stolen to please S.V. is just Conradin's way of making stuff more exciting and against his cousin. --Bluejay Young (talk) 09:02, 18 September 2008 (UTC)

john ballard directed a film version of the story called,"the orphan." it was released in nineteen seventy nine.

Could this story have been very loosely inspired by Kipling's story Rikki-Tikki-Tavi? Also, we only see Mrs. De Ropp through Conradin's eyes, in reality was she all that bad? PatGallacher (talk) 19:01, 22 December 2011 (UTC)

Why is this classified as "Horror"?

Why do Wikipedians think this is a "horror story" under the scope of WikiProject Horror? I honestly can't find any horror in it. The story isn't usually collected in horror anthologies. Sure, there is a violent death (off screen), but that's hardly indicative of horror in general. Conradin isn't horrified but quite pleased that Mrs. de Ropp is finally gone. The reader is not supposed to find her death horrifying either, but is meant to feel relieved for the little boy's sake. Saki wrote very much in the style of Oscar Wilde -- and not precisely The Canterville Ghost in this case! (Not that, oddly enough, The Canterville Ghost is categorized as horror in Wikipedia, in any case) The andf (talk) 05:24, 18 February 2017 (UTC)

It fits - like several of Saki's other stories - in the tradition of English Edwardian horror stories. A decidedly gothic tale of a boy whose pet ferret enacts a terrible revenge on the boy's persecutor. Even if the persecutor is probably acting in the boy's best interests, and it's not clear if the boy's invented, ferret-based, religion has any real effect - except that Sredni Vashtar does do the "one thing" that seems, to the reader, to fit Conradin's most fervent hopes. Horror doesn't have to be either spooky old castles or stamping on people's eyeballs. Ghughesarch (talk) 02:53, 9 September 2017 (UTC)

I'll agree that this is marginally classifiable as a "horror story", but like others of the Chronicles of Clovis, it could also be about "religion." There's a couple of other stories (at least) about Pan being worshipped, and woe betides them that interfere.

DaveyHume (talk) 18:31, 30 March 2019 (UTC)

It definitely fits religion way more than "horror story". In my mind this barely, if at all, qualifies as horror. I know I'd be sorely disappointed if I found this in a collection of horror short stories -- and yes, I know horror isn't just spooky castles or stamping on eyeballs. But whatever, I don't want to challenge Wikipedia's classification 152.170.207.45 (talk) 17:47, 16 May 2019 (UTC)

Origin of the title?

It sounds like a Bulgarian placename… 195.187.108.4 (talk) 17:43, 26 February 2021 (UTC)