King Arthur Movie Tristan

title: A Moonlight Fable

genre: short story/classic

author: H.G. Wells

first line: There was once a little man whose mother made him a beautiful suit of clothes.

source: http://www.americanliterature.com





In this short story by H.G. Wells, a young man loves a suit that his mother sews for him. He loves this suit so much, he wants to wear it all the time. His mother however insists he keep the suit safely packed away until his wedding day.

It was green and gold and woven so that I cannot describe how delicate and fine it was, and there was a tie of orange fluffiness that tied up under his chin. And the buttons in their newness shone like stars. He was proud and pleased by his suit beyond measure, and stood before the long looking-glass when first he put it on, so astonished and delighted with it that he could hardly turn himself away.

The boy loved his suit so much that he dreamt about it. He would often take the suit out of it's storage and admire it. He is mother allowed him to wear the suit on Sundays to church, but with tissue covering the buttons so they wouldn't tarnish and tacked on protective guards on the elbows and cuffs so they wouldn't tear. Whenever the boy would peek at the buttons under the tissue wrap, he would notice they were becoming duller and duller, and this would cause him anxiety.


One night he sees the moonlight shining into his bedroom and he gets out of bed with an urge to put the suit on. He makes up his mind to tear off the protective tissue and guards off the suit.

Thought joined on to thought like things that whisper warmly in the shadows. Then he sat up in his little bed suddenly, very alert, with his heart beating very fast and a quiver in his body from top to toe. He had made up his mind. He knew now that he was going to wear his suit as it should be worn. He had no doubt in the matter. He was afraid, terribly afraid, but glad, glad.

He hurries quietly out of the house and to his mothers garden wearing his suit.
He starts to run with his arms out wide, tearing his suit on thorns along the way, but he doesn't care. All that matters is that he is wearing his beautiful suit.
He even runs into a duck pond and begins to swim around.


After swimming through the pond and coming out on the other side, he comes along a road. As he is running along, he sees a moth. The moth circles his head and brushes his lips. He is running straight toward a deep pit and does not notice. The next morning he is found dead at the bottom of the pit.




A Moonlight Fable threw me for a loop with its morbid ending. I really didn't expect the boy to die. Was Well's trying to prove a point here? Since the boy didn't listen to his mother and insisted on wearing the suit and then running around at night in it, he wound up suffering the ultimate price?



While reading, I assumed the boy was young since his mother was saving the suit for his wedding day. But wouldn't he outgrow it by then? Unless by 'little man' Wells meant a young adult.







The single thing I did like was the descriptive writing in this story.

There was no darkness in the world, but only warm, mysterious shadows; and all the leaves and spikes were edged and lined with iridescent jewels of dew. The night was warmer than any night had ever been, the heavens by some miracle at once vaster and nearer, and spite of the great ivory-tinted moon that ruled the world, the sky was full of stars.

About the author:



H.G. Wells was an English author, now best known for his work in the science fiction genre. He was also a prolific writer in many other genres, including contemporary novels, history, politics and social commentary, even writing text books. Together with Jules Verne, Wells has been referred to as "The Father of Science Fiction".




You can read A Moonlight Fable online here.