When I picked up my copy of The Weird for 50 cents at the booksale, some discord buddies were very excited about the inclusion of ‘Sredni Vashtar’. I had a Saki collection when I was a child that I read all the time, though I recall none of the stories. I don’t think this was included, because it absolutely would’ve spoken to a deep place of understanding in me as a child.
My discord buddies described ‘Sredni Vashtar’ as “A horror story written by a comedy writer.” I love that idea because I think a lot of very good horror recognizes that most terrible things that can happen to a person also have a shred of absurdity that makes them, at least a little, very funny. The collection’s intro calls it ‘one of Saki’s more subtle and enigmatic tales (53).” and that, too, is true.
‘Sredni Vashtar’ is a deceptively simply story. A sickly, isolated, strange little boy, who is at odds with his guardian, buys a ferret and becomes obsessed with it, the way strange isolated children often do. I was this kind of kid. Often alone, often considered too disabled to be included in Normal Kid Things, wandering around the yard making up deities and rituals. I understand Conradin, which what I am saying.
This story is an interesting little tale about imagination, the power of belief, and the tension between the separate worlds inhabited by children and adults. Even Conradin himself seems to believe that his ferret god is just a game he’s playing: he “almost succeeded in persuading himself that Sredni Vashtar himself was responsible….(54)” for his guardian falling ill for three days. He declares a houdan hen (please google that: you will see a very fancy chicken) “…an Anabaptist. He did not pretend to have the slightest knowledge as to what an Anabaptist was, but he privately hoped it was something dashing and not very respectable (54).” This the the humor that shines through, the world interpreted through the eyes of a weird little kid. And it would be very easy to make this story just that: a weird little kid who learns a lesson about imagination going too far.
But that’s where the weird comes in. When Mrs. De Ropp, Conradin’s guardian, sells his very fancy chicken, he begins begging his little ferret god to “‘Do one thing for me, Sredni Vashtar.’ The thing was not specified. As Sredni Vashtar was a god he must be supposed to know (54).” Which indicates a shift in Conradin’s belief, from a little game to something with real emotional heft behind it. And when he leaves the shed he keeps his god in he goes “back to the world he so hated (54).” Children often live in separate worlds than the adults around him and for Conradin, this begins to become literal.
Conradin, of course, looses his pet. Mrs. De Ropp goes to clean out the ferret hutch and Conradin “knew…he did not believe…..in an hour or two the gardner would carry away his wonderful god, a god no longer, but simply a brown ferret in a hutch (55).” And he gets so angry he starts chanting a death prayer in honor of his ferret. And then something very remarkable happens. Instead of our hero learning a lesson about the dangers of excess imagination (I read Anne Of Green Gables when I was 11 and it was the first book I ever got mad at. Can you tell?) his prayer seems to work.
Mrs. De Ropp never returns from the toolshed. And: “out through that doorway came a long, low, yellow-and-brown beast, with eyes a-blink in the waning daylight, and dark wet stains around the fur jaws and throat. Conradin dropped to his knees….Such was the passing of Sredni Vashtar (55).” And at this confirmation that his god is real and his tormentor defeated? Conradin eats some toast, and lets the maid, and other adults of the house, decide what to do about it.
This story had me looking up if ferrets can kill people. I found two fatal ferret attacks in the last 30 years, both infants. I. therefore, am forced to believe that Conradin, through the sheer force of being a miserable ten year old, willed a god into existence and to come to his aid. And that’s the element of the Weird, here, for me. That a god exists, not because of a long tradition, but because of the worship of it. It’s a break from religious traditions in horror that continue to this day (I love the Conjuring movies for example, but they are kinda religious propaganda) where the Good Christians defeat the Dark Forces. A god is a god if you make it a god, this story posits, and the god you make only has the morality you give it.
I have a deep fondness for this story. It presents a real understanding of the inherent darkness of childhood, and also the inherent humor in being a deeply miserable child. And Saki’s writing style is so witty and engaging. There is a slyness to it that I really appreciate. I do think this unseats ‘The Willows’ as my favorite. I swear I won’t have every new story as my favorite going foreward. It’s just when one is only four stories in, there is not a deep pool to draw from. You come across spooky ferret stories from time to time and I always take great care to see if they happened contemporaneously with Gef the Mongoose, a story I first heard as a child that compels me to this day, and they almost never are. This one was published a good 30 years before. Which makes me wonder if there was an extant bed of spooky ferret/weasel/mongoose stories that the Irvings were drawing from. Which! Has little to do with Saki Srendi Vashtar.
In conclusion: good story. Worth checking out. And don’t forget to thank your local ferrets for vanquishing your enemies.
Signing off,
Marlowe
Marlowe Writes 