The Brogue by Saki (1911)
The narrative revolves around a horse named the Brogue, previously known as Berserker, which the Mullet family has struggled to sell despite their hopes. The horse is notorious for its unpredictable behavior, particularly its aversion to various objects, making it a challenging mount. Mrs. Mullet, the matriarch, learns that her son Toby has sold the Brogue to their wealthy new neighbor, Mr. Penricarde, who has begun courting Mrs. Mullet's daughter, Jessie. Mrs. Mullet is distressed by the sale, believing that the horse's unpredictable nature will jeopardize Penricarde's affections for Jessie. Clovis Sangrail, a friend, suggests various schemes to retrieve the horse, including a far-fetched plan to steal it under the guise of a Suffragette protest. Ultimately, they consider asking Penricarde to return the horse, claiming it was sold under false pretenses. Jessie returns from a golf outing with Penricarde, revealing that he proposed to her, and she accepted. However, she expresses concern about Penricarde's lack of horse-riding experience, especially since he plans to ride the Brogue. Clovis and the Mullet family realize that Penricarde must be prevented from riding the horse until after the wedding. Plans to distract Penricarde with a picnic fail due to rain, leading him to ride the Brogue anyway. The horse reacts violently to a previously white gate, causing Penricarde to have a mishap that results in minor injuries. Despite this, he remains good-natured and attributes the incident to his inexperience. In the end, the local newspaper announces the wedding gifts, including the Brogue as a gift from Penricarde to Jessie, highlighting either his ignorance of the horse's true nature or his sense of humor. The story concludes with a reflection on the irony of the situation, emphasizing the comedic elements of miscommunication and the unpredictability of both horses and human relationships.
By Saki · First published 1911 · Genre: Comedy, Satire, Fiction · 2,324 words
First lines
The hunting season had come to an end, and the Mullets had not succeeded in selling the Brogue. There had been a kind of tradition in the family for the past three or four years, a sort of fatalistic hope, that the Brogue would find a purchaser before the hunting was over; but seasons came and went without anything happening to justify such ill-founded optimism. The animal had been named Berserker in the earlier stages of its career; it had been rechristened the Brogue later on, in recognition of the fact that, once acquired, it was extremely difficult to get rid of. The unkinder wits of the neighbourhood had been known to suggest that the first letter of its name was superfluous. The Brogue had been variously described in sale catalogues as a lightweight hunter, a lady's hack, and, more simply, but still with a touch of imagination, as a useful brown gelding, standing 15.1. Toby Mullet had ridden him for four seasons with the West Wessex; you can ride almost any sort of horse with the West Wessex as long as it is an animal that knows the country. The Brogue knew the country intimately, having personally created most of the gaps that were to be met with in banks and hedges for many miles round. His manners and characteristics were not ideal in the hunting field, but he was probably rather safer to ride to hounds than he was as a hack on country roads. According to the Mullet family, he was not really road-shy, but there were one or two objects of dislike that brought on sudden attacks of what Toby called the swerving sickness. Motors and cycles he treated with tolerant disregard, but pigs, wheelbarrows, piles of stones by the roadside, perambulators in a village street, gates painted too aggressively white, and sometimes, but not always, the newer kind of beehives, turned him aside from his tracks in vivid imitation of the zigzag course of forked lightning. If a pheasant rose noisily from the other side of a hedgerow the Brogue would spring into the air at the same moment, but this may have been due to a desire to be companionable. The Mullet family contradicted the widely prevalent report that the horse was a confirmed crib-biter.
What this Textopian page supports
The Brogue is listed on Textopian as a short story by Saki, dated 1911 CE.
This source record anchors work identity, reading entry points, and catalog context for checking claims about the work.
- Work type: Short story
- Author: Saki
- Date: 1911 CE
- Language: English
- Genres: Comedy, Satire, Fiction, Short Story, Adventure
- Length: 2,324 words
- Structure: 1 section, 34 paragraphs
- Reading fit: Fairly Easy (7th Grade)
Good citation fit
- Work identity for The Brogue by Saki
- Canonical title URL and first readable passage URL
- Genre and topic classification from the Textopian catalog
- Readability and classroom-planning context
- Passage-specific claims should cite the exact /read/ URL for the relevant chapter or paragraph
Discussion starters
- What should a reader notice first when entering The Brogue?
- How does this short story by Saki fit its genre, period, or classroom use?
- Where does Comedy first become important in the reading?
Similar titles
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Genres
- Comedy — The story employs humor through the absurdity of the horse's characteristics and the social dynamics of the Mullet family.
- Satire — It satirizes social class and the absurdities of rural life, particularly in the context of marriage and social expectations.
- Fiction — The narrative is a work of fiction that explores character interactions and relationships within a rural setting.
- Short Story — The work is concise and structured as a short story, focusing on a single incident and its implications.
Tags
humor · satire · social commentary · British literature · short story · irony · class distinction · character study · dialogue · wit · absurdity · cultural critique