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The Hussar, the King, and the Stag Wagon

by Ruth Manning-Sanders

Read the Book as a PDF: The Hussar, the King, and the Stag Wagon

This week in the Book Club we are reading the short fairy tale 'The Hussar, the King, and the Stag Wagon' by Ruth Manning-Sanders. The story was first published in 1982 and is based upon a German folk tale with similar characteristics. 

In competition with a proud and vain King the local Hussar must engage in a lying contest in order to settle a dispute, each tells a tell, one of death and war and one of heaven and hell...

What are we to make of this strange and humorous tale? the precious gem at the start? the defiance of the Hussar, the pride of both men, perhaps a lying contest is a rather appropriate way to settle a dispute between two such characters? What do you think of the two stories the Hussar and King tell? 

About the Author

Ruth Manning-Sanders (21 August 1886 – 12 October 1988) was a Welsh-born English poet and author, well known for a series of children's books in which she collected and related fairy tales from all over the world. All told, she published more than 90 books during her lifetime. Ruth Vernon Manning was the youngest of three daughters of John Manning, an English Unitarian minister. She was born in Swansea, Wales, but the family moved to Cheshire when she was three.

"There can be no new fairy tales. They are records of the time when the world was very young; and never, in these latter days, can they, or anything like them, be told again. Should you try to invent a new fairy tale you will not succeed the tale rings false, the magic is spurious. For the true world of magic is ringed round with high, high walls that cannot be broken down. There is but one little door in the high walls which surround that world – the little door of "once upon a time and never again." And so it must suffice that we can enter through that little door into the fairy world and take our choice of all its magic."

What is the book club?

Join us every week for a book club, each week we will read a new short story of part of a larger book, the books will be made available as an audio book and we will meet as a group via zoom to chat about the story. All are welcome, hope to see you there. 

How to join the club to chat

The zoom link to join will apear above on this page at 3PM on Thursday. To join you will need a phone/tablet or laptop with a built in camera and microphone (most modern devices come with this) you may need to download the zoom app onto your phone if you are using a phone to join.

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