ස්මිත් සහ පාරාවෝවරු

by H. Rider Haggard, ප්‍රභාත් මිරිහාගල්ල (Translator)

Collection includes "Smith and the Pharaohs," "Magepa the Buck," "The Blue Curtains," "The Little Flower," "Only a Dream," and "Barbara Who Came Back."

Short excerpt: When he was a good-looking and able young man at college, but before he had taken his degree, trouble came to him, the particulars of which do not matter, and he was thrown penniless, also friendless, upon the rocky bosom of the world.

Genres: Fiction, Classics, Short Stories, Fantasy, Adventure, Egypt

248 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1920

About the author

Sir Henry Rider Haggard, KBE was an English writer of adventure novels set in exotic locations, predominantly Africa, and the creator of the Lost World literary genre. His stories, situated at the lighter end of the scale of Victorian literature, continue to be popular and influential. He was also involved in agricultural reform and improvement in the British Empire.

His breakout novel was King Solomon's Mines (1885), which was to be the first in a series telling of the multitudinous adventures of its protagonist, Allan Quatermain.

Haggard was made a Knight Bachelor in 1912 and a Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 1919. He stood unsuccessfully for Parliament as a Conservative candidate for the Eastern division of Norfolk in 1895. The locality of Rider, British Columbia, was named in his memory.

Reviews

[John Anthony · Rating 4 out of 5]

Short story. Enjoyed it.

Must read more Rider Haggard.

(Brings back childhood memories of being read to - brilliantly - by my first head teacher. I remember King Solomon's Mines especially. I realise H.R.H. is rather frowned upon now as he's not considered 'PC'. For me that's an excellent incentive to read him)!!

[Susan Molloy · Rating 3 out of 5]

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️Smith and the Pharaohs: 🖍️️ Clever story about a self-taught Egyptologist who experiences some odd encounters with ancient Egyptians – or did he? Nicely written. 𓅓 𓀿 𓄁 𓀡 𓆙 𓂻 𓁹 𓃠 𓃒 𓂀

⭐️⭐️Magepa the Buck: 🖍️️ Meh. I was bored by this story.

⭐️⭐️The Blue Curtains: 🖍️️ Meh. It was OK, but nothing to write home about.

⭐️⭐️Little Flower: 🖍️️ Meh.

⭐️⭐️Only a Dream: 🖍️️ Meh.

⭐️⭐️Barbara Who Came Back: 🖍️️ Meh.

Overall rating for all six stories in this book: 2.5 stars, rounded up to 3.

જ⁀➴🟢The e-book version can be found at Project Gutenberg.

📙Published in 1920.

🟣 Kindle.
✴︎⋆✴︎⋆✴︎⋆✴︎

[Paul Cornelius · Rating 4 out of 5]

This collection of stories with a supernatural bent came rather late in Haggard's career, at a time when the quality of his writing was in clear decline. With Smith and the Pharaohs, however, you get an exception to that state of affairs. The title story, about an archaeologist trapped for the night in the Cairo Museum, is remarkable not only for its ghostly narrative but for the application of Haggard's usual melancholy mood at the end, which transcends all notions of fright. Other tales focus on a missionary in Zululand, a sacrificing mother in the English countryside and her frail lawyer husband, a Quatermain story, and a lovelorn soldier. Ghosts, black magic, white magic, reincarnation, and karmic speculations run throughout as themes.

[Trounin · Rating 3 out of 5]

До чего только не додумается человек увлекающийся. Ему будет мниться реальным абсолютно всё, к чему он имеет склонность. Возможно и присутствие фантастических допущений. Давайте представим, мумии фараонов способны оживать. Теперь обратимся к главному герою произведения, где об этом рассказано. Райдер взялся сообщить историю египтолога, раскопавшего гробницу, куда не ступала нога грабителя, а если и ступала — покинуть стены усыпальницы не смогла. Но целью Хаггард поставил другое — он имел желание сообщить о недопустимости тревожить покой древних. Собственно, о том и будет провозглашён суд.

(c) Trounin

[Elf · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really enjoyed Smith and the Pharaohs, Magepa the Buck and (most of) Little Flower (though there was too much superfluous background in the buildup to the 'real' story and it ended a tad too abruptly), the rest is frankly not worth the time it takes to read.

[George · Rating 3 out of 5]

From around 1920, this is a compilation of six short stories: Smith and the Pharaohs, Magepa the Buck, The Blue Curtains, Little Flower, Only a Dream and Barbara Who Came Back.

[Kay · Rating 3 out of 5]

Having gone wild downloading free e-texts for my Nook, I've found that these texts vary considerably in their quality. This one reads reasonably well -- what scanning errors there are don't render it unintelligible. It had been a long while since I'd read any H. Rider Haggard, and this collection took up our acquaintance nicely.

As an enthusiast of mummy tales and fantasies, I found the title story of this collection moderately appealing, though it really is more a romance than a mystery or horror story. I sensed that H. Rider Haggard, much like his protagonist in the story, had developed an appetite for ancient Egypt, and this tale's plot is as good an excuse as any to trot out his learning.

Four of the tales (the most engaging, to my mind) are set in Africa. I particularly liked ""Magepa the Buck" and "Little Flower," the first of which concerns an act of uncommon bravery and the second a wry tale of an epic cultural clash.

The last tale in the set, "Barbara Who Came Back," seemed overwrought to me and indulged (at great length and sentiment) in the theme of love that endures beyond the grave.

[Jeff Hobbs · Rating 3 out of 5]

Smith and the pharaohs --3
Magepa the buck --3
The blue curtains --3
Little flower --4
Only a dream --3
Barbara who came back --2

[Neil Davies · Rating 5 out of 5]

There's a reason H Rider Haggard remains one of my favourite all time authors