7 best short stories by Flora Annie Steel
By Flora Annie Steel and August Nemo
()
About this ebook
In this book you will find seven short stories specially selected by the critic August Nemo:
- Sir Buzz
- The Rat's Wedding
- The Faitful Prince
- The Bear's Bad Bargain
- Prince Lionheart and HisThree Friends
- Princess Aubergine
- Valiant Vicky, The Brave Weaver
Read more from Flora Annie Steel
Big Book of Best Short Stories
Related to 7 best short stories by Flora Annie Steel
Titles in the series (100)
7 best short stories by Charlotte Perkins Gilman Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings7 best short stories by H. P. Lovecraft Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/57 best short stories by Herman Melville Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings7 best short stories by Virginia Woolf Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings7 best short stories by Rudyard Kipling Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings7 best short stories by Oscar Wilde Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings7 best short stories by Leonid Andreyev Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings7 best short stories by H. G. Wells Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings7 best short stories by Katherine Mansfield Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings7 best short stories by Bram Stoker Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings7 best short stories by E.T.A. Hoffmann Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings7 Best Short Stories by Sarah Orne Jewett Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings7 best short stories by Fyodor Dostoevsky Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings7 best short stories by Mark Twain Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings7 best short stories by Edgar Allan Poe Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/57 best short stories by Elizabeth Gaskell Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/57 best short stories by Zane Grey Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings7 best short stories by Anton Chekhov Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings7 best short stories by Washington Irving Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings7 best short stories by Louisa May Alcott Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings7 best short stories by Edgar Wallace Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings7 best short stories by Robert Louis Stevenson Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings7 best short stories by Jack London Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings7 best short stories by Arthur Conan Doyle Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings7 best short stories by Nathaniel Hawthorne Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings7 best short stories by D. H. Lawrence Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/57 best short stories by Alice Dunbar-Nelson Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings7 best short stories by Robert E. Howard Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings7 best short stories by Bret Harte Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings7 best short stories by James Joyce Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
Related ebooks
Shehzadi Mircha: Folktales from the Punjab Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA Romance of Billy-Goat Hill Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsWill Waburton: "To be at other people's orders brings out all the bad in me" Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsW.W. Jacobs - The Short Stories - Volume 8 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Prince and the Pauper, Part 6. Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Remnants Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA Soldier's Secret: The Incredible True Story of Sarah Edmonds, a Civil War Hero Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Broom-Squire Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Last Entry Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsVikings of the Gloves (Including The Scandinavian!) Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsGreat Expectations (Deluxe Hardbound Edition) Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The O'Ruddy: A Romance Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsFairy Tales by Hans Christian Andersen - Illustrated by Harry Clarke Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Tale of Pigling Bland Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsWarning Whispers & Other Stories Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings7 best short stories by Hamlin Garland Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsUp the China Sea Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsWith Sully into the Sioux Land Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsRussian and Polish Folk Lore and Legends Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Countess de Saint-Geran (Celebrated Crimes Series) Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsGabrielle: The Dove in the Court of King Henri Iv Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsCaptains Courageous - A Story of the Grand Banks Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsLove Among the Chickens Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Caravan Mystery Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsFinished Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBotany Bay, True Tales of Early Australia Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Christmas Wassail Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5That Printer of Udell's: A Story of the Middle West Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsPunch, or the London Charivari, Volume 99, October 4, 1890 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
General Fiction For You
The Princess Bride: S. Morgenstern's Classic Tale of True Love and High Adventure Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The King James Version of the Bible Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Nettle & Bone Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5It Ends with Us: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Fellowship Of The Ring: Being the First Part of The Lord of the Rings Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Meditations: Complete and Unabridged Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5You: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Alchemist: A Graphic Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Mythos Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Priory of the Orange Tree Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Candy House: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Beyond Good and Evil Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Unhoneymooners Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Heroes: The Greek Myths Reimagined Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Life of Pi: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Persuasion Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Beartown: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Silmarillion Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Canterbury Tales Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Ocean at the End of the Lane: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Babel: Or the Necessity of Violence: An Arcane History of the Oxford Translators' Revolution Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Outsider: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Two Towers: Being the Second Part of The Lord of the Rings Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Pet Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The City of Dreaming Books Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Dante's Divine Comedy: Inferno Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Jackal, Jackal: Tales of the Dark and Fantastic Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Cabin at the End of the World: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Other Black Girl: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Reviews for 7 best short stories by Flora Annie Steel
0 ratings0 reviews
Book preview
7 best short stories by Flora Annie Steel - Flora Annie Steel
Publisher
The Author
FLORA ANNIE STEEL (2 April 1847 – 12 April 1929) was an English writer, who lived in British India for 22 years. She was noted especially for books set or otherwise connected with the sub-continent.
She was born Flora Annie Webster in Sudbury, Middlesex, the sixth child of George Webster. In 1867, she married Henry William Steel, a member of the Indian Civil Service, and lived there until 1889, chiefly in the Punjab, with which most of her books are connected. She grew deeply interested in native Indian life and began to urge educational reforms on the government of India. Mrs Steel became an Inspectress of Government and Aided Schools in the Punjab and also worked with John Lockwood Kipling, Rudyard Kipling's father, to foster Indian arts and crafts. When her husband's health was weak, Flora Annie Steel took over some of his responsibilities.
Flora Annie Steel was interested in relating to all classes of Indian society. The birth of her daughter gave her a chance to interact with local women and learn their language. She encouraged the production of local handicrafts and collected folk-tales, a collection of which she published in 1894.
Her interest in schools and the education of women gave her a special insight into native life and character. A year before leaving India, she coauthored and published The Complete Indian Housekeeper, giving detailed directions to European women on all aspects of household management in India.
In 1889 the family moved back to Scotland, and she continued her writing there. Some of her best work, according to the 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica, is contained in two collections of short stories, From the Five Rivers and Tales of the Punjab.
Her novel On the Face of the Waters (1896) describes incidents in the Indian Mutiny. She also wrote a popular history of India. John F. Riddick describes Steel's The Hosts of the Lord as one of the three significant works
produced by Anglo-Indian writers on Indian missionaries, along with The Old Missionary (1895) by William Wilson Hunter and Idolatry (1909) by Alice Perrin. Among her other literary associates in India was Bithia Mary Croker.
She died at her daughter's house in Minchinhampton, Gloucestershire on 12 April 1929.
SIR BUZZ
ONCE UPON A TIME A soldier died, leaving a widow and one son. They were dreadfully poor, and at last matters became so bad that they had nothing left in the house to eat.
'Mother,' said the son, 'give me four shillings, and I will go seek my fortune in the wide world.'
'Alas!' answered the mother, 'and where am I, who haven't a farthing wherewith to buy bread, to find four shillings?'
'There is that old coat of my father's,' returned the lad; 'look in the pocket—perchance there is something there.'
So she looked, and behold! there were six shillings hidden away at the very bottom of the pocket!
'More than I bargained for,' quoth the lad, laughing.' See, mother, these two shillings are for you; you can live on that till I return, the rest will pay my way until I find my fortune.'
So he set off to find his fortune, and on the way he saw a tigress, licking her paw, and moaning mournfully. He was just about to run away from the terrible creature, when she called to him faintly, saying, 'Good lad, if you will take out this thorn for me, I shall be for ever grateful.'
'Not I!' answered the lad. 'Why, if I begin to pull it out, and it pains you, you will kill me with a pat of your paw.'
'No, no!' cried the tigress, 'I will turn my face to this tree, and when the pain comes I will pat it.'
To this the soldier's son agreed; so he pulled out the thorn, and when the pain came the tigress gave the tree such a blow that the trunk split all to pieces. Then she turned towards the soldier's son, and said gratefully, 'Take this box as a reward, my son, but do not open it until you have travelled nine miles'
So the soldier's son thanked the tigress, and set off with the box to find his fortune. Now when he had gone five miles, he felt certain that the box weighed more than it had at first, and every step he took it seemed to grow heavier and heavier. He tried to struggle on— though it was all he could do to carry the box—until he had gone about eight miles and a quarter, when his patience gave way. 'I believe that tigress was a witch, and is playing off her tricks upon me,' he cried, 'but I will stand this nonsense no longer. Lie there, you wretched old box!—heaven knows what is in you, and I don't care.'
So saying, he flung the box down on the ground: it burst open with the shock, and out stepped a little old man. He was only one span high, but his beard was a span and a quarter long, and trailed upon the ground.
The little mannikin immediately began to stamp about and scold the lad roundly for letting the box down so violently.
'Upon my word!' quoth the soldier's son, scarcely able to restrain a smile at the ridiculous little figure, 'but you are weighty for your size, old gentleman! And what may your name be?'
'Sir Buzz!' snapped the one-span mannikin, still stamping about in a great rage.
'Upon my word!' quoth the soldier's son once more, 'if you are all the box contained, I am glad I didn't trouble to carry it farther.'
'That's not polite,' snarled the mannikin; 'perhaps if you had carried it the full nine miles you might have found something better; but that's neither here nor there. I'm good enough for you, at any rate, and will serve you faithfully according to my mistress's orders.'
'Serve me!—then I wish to goodness you'd serve me with some dinner, for I am mighty