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The Mouse
A short story by Saki
4 pages, Paperback
Published January 1, 1910
1 person is currently reading
12 people want to read
About the author
Saki
1,677 books592 followersBritish writer Hector Hugh Munro under pen name Saki published his witty and sometimes bitter short stories in collections, such as
The Chronicles of Clovis
(1911).
His sometimes macabre satirized Edwardian society and culture. People consider him a master and often compare him to William Sydney Porter and Dorothy Rothschild Parker. His tales feature delicately drawn characters and finely judged narratives. "The Open Window," perhaps his most famous, closes with the line, "Romance at short notice was her specialty," which thus entered the lexicon. Newspapers first and then several volumes published him as the custom of the time.
His works include
* a full-length play, The Watched Pot , in collaboration with Charles Maude;
* two one-act plays;
* a historical study, The Rise of the Russian Empire , the only book under his own name;
* a short novel, The Unbearable Bassington ;
* the episodic The Westminster Alice , a parliamentary parody of Alice in Wonderland ;
* and When William Came: A Story of London under the Hohenzollerns , an early alternate history.
Oscar Wilde, Lewis Carroll, and Joseph Rudyard Kipling, influenced Munro, who in turn influenced A. A. Milne, and Pelham Grenville Wodehouse.
His sometimes macabre satirized Edwardian society and culture. People consider him a master and often compare him to William Sydney Porter and Dorothy Rothschild Parker. His tales feature delicately drawn characters and finely judged narratives. "The Open Window," perhaps his most famous, closes with the line, "Romance at short notice was her specialty," which thus entered the lexicon. Newspapers first and then several volumes published him as the custom of the time.
His works include
* a full-length play, The Watched Pot , in collaboration with Charles Maude;
* two one-act plays;
* a historical study, The Rise of the Russian Empire , the only book under his own name;
* a short novel, The Unbearable Bassington ;
* the episodic The Westminster Alice , a parliamentary parody of Alice in Wonderland ;
* and When William Came: A Story of London under the Hohenzollerns , an early alternate history.
Oscar Wilde, Lewis Carroll, and Joseph Rudyard Kipling, influenced Munro, who in turn influenced A. A. Milne, and Pelham Grenville Wodehouse.
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
December 19, 2025
This story exemplifies Saki’s ability to transform social anxiety into lethal comedy. Set within the brittle etiquette of polite society, the story unfolds with deceptive simplicity, gradually revealing how fragile civility becomes when confronted with irrational fear.
The humour arises not from chaos, but from the meticulous maintenance of appearances in the face of disruption.
Saki’s prose is controlled to the point of elegance. Every sentence advances tension while preserving decorum, creating a comic dissonance that intensifies with each polite evasion.
The mouse itself is less a creature than a catalyst, exposing the disproportion between cause and reaction.
Structurally, the story thrives on escalation through restraint. Saki understands that excess dulls satire; instead, he allows implication to do the work. Social rituals become absurd precisely because they are observed so carefully. The result is humour that feels earned, almost inevitable.
Viewed through a postmodern lens, The Mouse interrogates the performative nature of adulthood. Fear is not eliminated by maturity, only concealed beneath protocol. Saki reveals how institutions of politeness often function as elaborate avoidance mechanisms.
The tone remains impeccably dry. Saki never signals where the joke lies, trusting the reader to recognise it. This trust elevates the comedy, transforming a minor incident into a meditation on repression and self-deception.
The Mouse is a small story with disproportionate resonance—a reminder that civilisation’s veneer can crack under pressures both trivial and profound, and that laughter often follows the sound of that crack.
Recommended.
The humour arises not from chaos, but from the meticulous maintenance of appearances in the face of disruption.
Saki’s prose is controlled to the point of elegance. Every sentence advances tension while preserving decorum, creating a comic dissonance that intensifies with each polite evasion.
The mouse itself is less a creature than a catalyst, exposing the disproportion between cause and reaction.
Structurally, the story thrives on escalation through restraint. Saki understands that excess dulls satire; instead, he allows implication to do the work. Social rituals become absurd precisely because they are observed so carefully. The result is humour that feels earned, almost inevitable.
Viewed through a postmodern lens, The Mouse interrogates the performative nature of adulthood. Fear is not eliminated by maturity, only concealed beneath protocol. Saki reveals how institutions of politeness often function as elaborate avoidance mechanisms.
The tone remains impeccably dry. Saki never signals where the joke lies, trusting the reader to recognise it. This trust elevates the comedy, transforming a minor incident into a meditation on repression and self-deception.
The Mouse is a small story with disproportionate resonance—a reminder that civilisation’s veneer can crack under pressures both trivial and profound, and that laughter often follows the sound of that crack.
Recommended.
October 25, 2020
The ending definitely made me smile (though I should've seen it coming), and the very humorous prose throughout elicited plenty of chuckles from me too. Surprisingly raunchy and funny for the time it was written - well-worth the ten minutes it took to read it! Thanks, Marc!
May 8, 2021
A man has an uncomfortable experience on a train involving a mouse and a fellow passenger. Cute, and very British. Audible edition; from a free collection of Saki's work. Narrated by Frederick Davidson.
July 10, 2023
Love all the Saki stories I've read so far.
January 31, 2025
If her name were Murine, Saki would have taken the cheesecake.
February 18, 2025
The MIDouse
July 2, 2025
A short story about a man and a woman in a train compartment. And a mouse. He is embarrassed... and the little twist at the end made me chuckle.
September 12, 2025
I would really like to
give this 10 stars.
Amazingly well written
and with a clever and
really unique plot.
One of the things I
like about this story
is how totally realistic
it is.
I think it is one of the best short
stories I have read in
my life and I have read very
many.
give this 10 stars.
Amazingly well written
and with a clever and
really unique plot.
One of the things I
like about this story
is how totally realistic
it is.
I think it is one of the best short
stories I have read in
my life and I have read very
many.
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews