There is not a modern short story writer anywhere to be compared with Roald Dahl. Each of his stories is so clever and has such a startling twist at the end of it that it leaves the reader gasping. The ten short stories in this book may depict human nature at its darkest, but they are also brilliantly funny and definitely completely unforgettable.
One of the stories that I liked was " The Umbrella Man ". In " The Umbrella Man ", an old man went around on a rainy day exchanging an umbrella for one pound. As it was raining cats and dogs, the people waiting at the taxi stand were desperate for an umbrella.
The old man of about seventy years of age claimed that he had walked to the shopping mall but forgot to bring a pound for the taxi fare. He said that he did this everyday as he was too tired to walk back home.
The old man spoke politely to the author's mother and successfully completed the trade. Upon getting the pound, the old man walked off hurriedly to the opposite road. This led the author and her mum to get suspicious. He did not seem tired to them at all! They followed him until he reached a bar.
The old man hung up his coat and hat and ordered a drink worth one pound. After finishing the drink, he grabbed his coat and hat, and in a manner so superbly cool and casual, he took one of the wet umbrellas hanging at the coat-rack and went back to the shopping mall.He went on exchanging his new umbrella for another pound but when to another bar this time. He was very clever, he never went to the same bar twice.
Another story I like alot is " Parson's Pleasure " . Mr Boggis is a knowledgeable but not honest antique dealer. He disguises himself as a clergyman and claims to be the president of the Society for the preservation of Rare Furniture.He travels around the countryside to buy antiques far less than they are worth.
Mr Boggis parks his rather large estate car far away so as not to arouse suspicion. At one of the farmhouses, me meets three men: Mr Rummins, the owner, Bert, his son, and a neighbour named Claud. After alot of persuasion, Mr Rummins finally allows Mr Boggis to enter his house and have a look.
Boggis sees an extremely valuable and rare piece of furniture, only four of existence. It is a type of chest of drawers named The Chippendale Commode. Although Boggis is excited, he keeps his emotions to himself in order not to arouse the men's suspicion. He pretends to be scornful of the furniture. Eventually, he claims that although it is of very little value, the legs from the chest of drawers might be useful to him because he has a coffee table whose legs are damaged.
Boggis casually offers to buy the chest of drawers. In order to get the drawers at a lower price than Mr Rummins claims, he keeps persuading Rummins that it is a fake and merely a reproduction. After some bargaining, Rummins agrees to sell it at a price of 20 pounds.
Boggis immediately left to fetch his car,and the three men think that the furniture will definitely not be able to fit inside Boggis' car as clergyman will only have a small vehicle.
The three men decide to cut off the legs of the chest of drawers as they think this will save Boggis time instead of doing it himself. Afterwards, they still think that the furniture is too large to fit inside a car, so they chop it further into smaller pieces. At this point, with the priceless furniture in small pieces, they see Mr Boggis returning.
This story left me laughing away while the previous story impressed me. I would have never thought of such a clever way to get money. " Ten Short Stories" is a really interesting as well as funny book and I encourage all to pick up this book and read it. It really gave me a good impression.
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