Kieran Healy

Two Views of Society

Contrasting images of the social order from a Saki short story called “The Saint and the Goblin”. The Saint and the Goblin are little statues living in a small church somewhere.

The Saint was a philanthropist in an old-fashioned way; he thought the world, as he saw it, was good, but might be improved. In particular he pitied the church mice, who were miserably poor. The Goblin, on the other hand, was of the opinion that the world, as he saw it, was bad, but had better be let alone. It was the function of the church mice to be poor.

Because it’s Saki, the Goblin comes out ahead by the end of the story.

Did Saki do the children’s story where the girl who gets all the medals for being good can’t stop them clinking when she’s hiding from the wolf, and so gets eaten? I’d think that would be very popular with children.

yes, he did. I think it’s called The Storyteller.

i will not speculate why prof. healy links to his amazon store rather than online text of the Saint and the Goblin. ; p but i don’t know if the goblin comes out ahead… perhaps the coin is false because the saint is tempted by the goblin’s worldview.

for Saki’s cynicism, i prefer The Lumber Room or Sredni Vashtar.

Any comment on those who think the world is basically good, and therefore should be left alone?

I remember my sister adored Sredni Vashtar, the name to begin with, when we were about 12. So there’s children for you.

wonderful place that…