The gooseberry garden is abruptly introduced at the beginning of this short story by the nameless aunt. Punished for having put a frog in his milk bowl during breakfast, Nicholas cannot enter into it. I imagine this square garden with the clipped gooseberry shrubs lined up along the perimeter, with round translucent green berries and small spring-green leaves that hide sharp spines. The compact rows are interrupted just in proximity of the two doors that allow the entrance into the garden. These are flanked by large ball of glossy-green buxus and framed by scented roses and clematis. Unrestrained plants grow inside the geometric area disturbing the ordered perspective. Over grown artichokes, excessive raspberry canes and other fruit bushes create a screen around this “…forbidden paradise.” They hide beds of vegetables, maybe zucchini, spinach and carrots or potatoes and tomatoes or salads, onions and abundant flowers. Buzzing bees, annoying flies and lonely butterflies are not mentioned, nor is the smell of the earth and the grass, or the drip of water in the watering can. Hector Hugh Munro, the British novelist known by the pen-name Saki, does not linger on this picture full of life, as Nicholas does not attempt to enter into the forbidden garden but twice, after the departure of his cousins and younger brother for an afternoon expedition to Jagborough cove. He has other plans. Finally, when he is sure that the aunt alarmed by his sorties is firmly settled in the garden occupied in “… trivial gardening operations”, Nicholas takes a key and enters into a place “… carefully sealed from youthful eyes and concerning which no questions were ever answered”: the lumber-room. The contrast between the garden and the room is striking: outside life flows in the sunshine while the large room is dimly lighted, damp and maybe cold. But, “… it came up to his expectations.” Beautiful and useless objects, banished from the house to prevent their damaging, lie forgotten in the dust. In his imaginative mind, these wonders recall exotic unknown worlds he can create to his fancy: Indian hangings with hunting scenes, “… twisted candlesticks in the shape of snakes, and a teapot fashioned like a china duck..”, ”… little brass figures, hump-necked bulls, and peacocks and goblins delightful to see and to handle…” A large anonymous square book “… full of coloured pictures of birds.” The gooseberry garden becomes a “…stale delight, a mere material pleasure” compared to this “…unknown land”.
His aunt’s shrieks catch his attention, and he leaves the secret room for the garden. She is calling for help: she slipped in the rain-water tank while she was looking for him, and now she is not able to get out of it. Nicholas’s revenge is firm but measured. And sweet, as he skillfully turns against her all those arguments she usually says to control and scare the children. So, he cannot fetch the ladder to help her because he is an obedient and respectful child who has been told not to enter the garden. Besides, her strange voice awakes his suspicions: is the Evil One hidden in the garden to tempt him? He promptly proves his assertion with a trick, then, satisfied, leaves the garden and the task to rescue the angry woman to a maid who is looking for parsley.
It is easy to love this brave child who challenges the adult world to test its consistency and follow his fantasies. He does not dispute rules and punishments, but this does not prevent him to reason about the “older, wiser and better people”. He observes them concluding with “childish discernment” that they make mistakes, they are unfair and they contradict themselves. But he is a child. He lives the present. The aunt, actually his cousins’ aunt but with extended educational powers on him too, was inspired by the real author’s aunt. She exerts a tyrannical authority that reveals her hypocrisy and unfair character. She has no love and is not able to understand or communicate with these children. She banished beauty, fancy and enjoyment from their lives and with perverse pleasure restraints their education to absurd punishments and prohibitions.
The end of the day is the epilogue of the short story. They gather around the table for the tea in a cold atmosphere and “in a fearsome silence.” His aunt is still angry for the fall in the water-tank and the other children complain a disastrous expedition to the cove. Nicholas does not care. He is absorbed in the magic world he discovered behind the door, in a hunting scene with hounds, wolves and a wounded stag. This short story is included in the collection “Beasts and Super-Beasts”, published for the first time in 1914. I am currently searching this book, I hope to find more about the gooseberry garden in the other 36 short stories.
Photos:
Travelinagarden.
