Sredni Vashtar
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"Sredni Vashtar" is a short story written by Saki (Hector Hugh Munro) between 1900 and 1914 and initially published in his book Beasts and Super-Beasts. It has been adapted into a short film and a TV drama.
The story concerns a 10 year old boy called Conradin, who lives with his strict cousin and guardian, Mrs. De Ropp. Conradin rebels against her and invents a new religion for himself, which centres around idolising a polecat-ferret he calls Sredni Vashtar; a vengeful, merciless god. Conradin keeps the polecat hidden in a cage in the garden shed, and worships the idol in secret. The story comes to a climax when his cousin sets out to discover his god.
The method of Conradin's worship contains Hindu elements.
The TV version contains these pointers to India:
- Mrs. De Ropp says that Conradin's parents died "from being in a hot country", i.e. probably from native diseases.
- The introductory sequence includes Indian-style decoration.
The original story has no direct references to Conradin's parents or to Hinduism.
As to what may have inspired Conradin (or Hector Hugh Munro) to choose the name:
- Sredniy is a Russian adjective meaning "middle". Hector Hugh Munro worked as a foreign correspondent in Russia and also wrote a book on "The Rise of the Russian Empire", so most likely will have had contact with the Russian language. Though it is unclear what significance this may have.
- In Sanskrit, shreyas = "welfare, blessing", shraddhā = "believe", vasha (neut.) = "power".
The name "Sredni Vashtar" plays an important role in Raymond Postgate's 1940 mystery novel Verdict of Twelve.
Saki's "Sredni Vashtar" was adapted by the author Richard Adams and the composer Robert Steadman into an opera.
Surprisingly, this story inspired film directors of the Czech Republic three times: Vaclav Bedrich made a cartoon film in 1980, Martin Faltyn made a graduating featuring movie in 1981 (graduating VGIK) and in 1995 also Pavel Marek made this story like a graduating film on FAMU.
This story was also adapted to American Television and aired on a ghost anthology series called Great Ghost Tales, in the summer of 1961.
