The Hungry Stones (Masterplots II: Short Story Series, Revised Edition)
At a glance:
- Author: Rabindranath Tagore
- First Published: 1895
- Type of Plot: Ghost story, frame story
- Time of Work: The late nineteenth or early twentieth century
- Setting: India
- Principal Characters: The narrator, Srijut, Meher Ali, Karim Khan
- Genres: Short fiction
- Subjects: Traveling or travelers, Twentieth century, Nineteenth century, Ghosts or apparitions, Asia or Asians, Reality, Storytelling, Fantasy, India or East Indian people, Truthfulness and falsehood, Trains, Houses, mansions, or manors, Skepticism
- Locales: India
The Story
“The Hungry Stones” uses two first-person narratives. It begins and ends with the voice of an unnamed narrator, who describes himself as a traveler returning to Calcutta on a train with his kinsman from a puja, or Hindu religious pilgrimage. While waiting at a junction for the train, the narrator and his kinsman meet a man who impresses them with his learning and knowledge of current events. The man, Srijut, launches into his own story, which becomes the main part of the tale.
When he was young, Srijut recalls, he was appointed collector of cotton...
[The entire page is 1334 words long]
