Gypsy by E.V. Lucas (1907)
Gypsy is a short essay by E. V. Lucas that opens with the narrator's shock at learning, upon visiting the Zoo in Regent's Park, that Delia, an ourang-outang he had been fond of, has died of pneumonia. He recalls her auburn hair, her sad and yearning eyes, her confiding manner, and laments that there will never be another like her. He visits Annie, a chimpanzee who shares Delia's basement quarters with a more melancholy companion called Jerry. Annie is lively and mischievous, seizing hats and rushing to the ceiling with whatever takes her fancy, while Jerry sits quietly with bright eyes full of sorrow. The narrator finds Annie charming but insists she cannot compare with Delia. Wandering the Zoo in grief, he comes upon Gypsy, a young Malayan bear housed in the Small Cats' House among creatures that are swift, predatory, and untrustworthy, which makes her good-natured clumsiness all the more conspicuous. When he finds her she is eating chocolate, picking off the silver paper with her teeth, and then she seizes a visitor's Malacca cane and fondles it with great tenderness, shouldering, hugging, nursing, and biting it before accidentally nearly poking out her own eyes with it. She then flings her arms around the narrator's leg. Gypsy and her keeper engage in a spirited sparring match. Her fighting style consists of delivering open-handed blows and then rolling herself into a ball and squirming on the ground to avoid retaliation, though she appears to enjoy the blows she receives there, rising again each time to renew the contest. She is described as very gentle, somehow softening her claws when she strikes. After the sparring she turns her attention to the narrator's copy of the Pall Mall Gazette, demolishing it methodically over ten minutes while walking among the visitors and tearing the pages to shreds. Throughout this, the Small Cats in their cages watch her with intense glittering eyes, and a young puma flings himself repeatedly toward her before being stopped by his bars. The narrator describes Gypsy as standing about forty-two inches tall, covered in short, strong, soft hair that is nearer black than brown, with a rich tawny yellow neck. Her teeth do not bite and her long horn-like nails do not scratch. She is likened to a magnified mole. Her obedience is immediate: when her keeper tells her to return to her cage she does so, and when told to shut her door she shuts it, after which she climbs to a high perch and settles there contentedly, a contrast to the restless ocelot and unquiet lynx nearby. The narrator goes on to meet other young animals at the Zoo, ruffling the head of a young lion that permits such familiarity, holding an infant jaguar that looks harmless but is not, and clasping a six-weeks-old alligator between finger and thumb while it squirms and snaps. All of these encounters, however pleasant, are acknowledged as no consolation at all for the loss of Delia.
By E.V. Lucas · First published 1907 · Genre: Essay, Nature Writing, Memoir · 1,500 words
First lines
It is a shocking thing, after ringing the bell to inquire after a / friend, to be told that she is dead.
That recently happened to me. I rang the bell and waited on the step. / The door was at last opened by a man in livery, or at any rate uniform, / who knew me. I made to enter, remarking "How is Delia? " "Delia? " he / said. "Delia is dead."
What this Textopian page supports
Gypsy is listed on Textopian as a short story by E.V. Lucas, dated 1907 CE.
This source record anchors work identity, reading entry points, and catalog context for checking claims about the work.
- Work type: Short story
- Author: E.V. Lucas
- Date: 1907 CE
- Language: English
- Genres: Essay, Nature Writing, Memoir, Humorous Fiction, Travel Writing
- Length: 1,500 words
- Structure: 1 section, 17 paragraphs
- Reading fit: Standard (8th-9th Grade)
Good citation fit
- Work identity for Gypsy by E.V. Lucas
- Canonical title URL and first readable passage URL
- Genre and topic classification from the Textopian catalog
- Readability and classroom-planning context
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Genres
- Essay — The work is a personal reflective essay structured around the author's observations and emotional responses to visiting animals at a zoo, with a clear narrative voice and subjective perspective.
- Nature Writing — The text focuses on detailed, affectionate descriptions of animals in their zoo habitat, emphasizing the author's keen observations of animal behavior and characteristics.
- Memoir — The piece contains autobiographical elements, including the author's personal memories of Delia and their emotional journey of loss and discovery in visiting the zoo.
- Humorous Fiction — The work employs wit, irony, and comedic observations throughout, particularly in the surprise revelation that Delia is an orangutan and in the humorous descriptions of Gypsy's antics and other animals' behaviors.
Tags
zoo · animals · grief · death · orangutan · Malayan bear · London · Regent's Park · essay · animal behavior · consolation · sentimental