Uploaded August 2022 | Updated September 2026, 3 days ago
A collection of seven classic tales by the Edwardian master of the macabre, Saki. See below for details and timestamps. As Saki's stories are typically very short, I've put together this compilation featuring four stories already available on the channel to listen to individually, plus three brand new recordings.
00:00:00 Introduction
00:01:04 The Open Window
00:10:14 The Lumber Room
00:25:40 The Hounds of Fate
00:45:32 Tobermory
01:06:03 The Story-Teller
01:19:53 Sredni Vashtar
01:34:03 The Music on the Hill
01:50:49 Credits and thanks
(Story teasers and more details below)
Narrated/performed by Simon Stanhope, aka Bitesized Audio. If you enjoy this content and would like to help me keep creating, there are a few ways you can support me:
* Occasional/one-off support via Buy Me a Coffee: buymeacoffee.com/bitesizedaudio
* Monthly support on Patreon: patreon.com/bitesizedaudio
* Visit my Bandcamp page to hear more of my performances of classic stories, and you can purchase and download high quality audio files to listen offline: bitesizedaudio.bandcamp.com
* Become a Bitesized Audio Classics member on YouTube, from $1 per month with various benefits:
youtube.com/c/BitesizedAudioClassics/join
Saki was the pen name of Hector Hugh Munro, one of the greatest masters of the short story form in English. He was born in 1870 in Burma, then part of British India, where his father was an Inspector General for the Imperial Police, but his life was affected by tragedy when he was just two years old: his mother Mary Munro was charged by a cow while visiting family back in England, and she died as a result of her injuries. Hector and his siblings were sent home to England, to live in Devon with his paternal grandmother and two maiden aunts. The aunts (Augusta and Charlotte) were apparently strict and austere and provided much material for future character studies in Saki's stories, notably ‘The Lumber Room’ and ‘Sredni Vashtar’, which both feature in this compilation. Hector eventually "escaped" to boarding school.
In his early 20s he followed his father's footsteps and enrolled in the Indian Imperial Police, but was invalided home with fever after little over a year. Turning to writing to make his living, Munro began working as a journalist in the late 1890s. He wrote countless pieces for magazine and newspaper publication, and took up the pen name Saki around 1900. His always witty – and sometimes macabre – stories established his reputation as one of the greatest satirists of the Edwardian era.
Despite being officially over-age for military service, turning 44 at the end of 1914, he enlisted in World War I, turning down the offer of a commission and serving as an ordinary trooper in the 2nd King Edward’s Horse regiment. Tragically, he was killed by a sniper while sheltering in a shell hole during the Battle of the Ancre in November 1916. His last words were reported to be “Put that bloody cigarette out”. His resting place is unknown.
The Open Window | 00:01:02
Framton Nuttell, a nervous and neurotic young man on a rest-cure in the country, visits his neighbour Mrs. Sappleton. Her 15 year old niece, Vera, entertains him by explaining the sinister reason that the French windows are kept open every night...
The Lumber Room | 00:10:14
As punishment for bad behaviour at the breakfast table, Nicholas is excluded from a family outing as well as forbidden from playing in the gooseberry garden. But he soon manages to turn the situation to his advantage, allowing him to explore a hitherto forbidden room at the top of the house...
The Hounds of Fate | 00:25:37
Martin Stoner is homeless, penniless and reaching the end of his tether, when Fate does him an unexpected good turn and he finds refuge under extraordinary circumstances. But have the Hounds of Fate truly relented, or are they simply biding their time?
Tobermory | 00:45:32
Lady Blemley has invited clever Mr. Cornelius Appin to join her weekend party in the hope that he might contribute towards the entertainment. She finds he delivers rather more than she bargained for...
The Story-Teller | 01:06:03
A long train journey on a hot day is not an ideal environment for bored children. Luckily one of their fellow passengers, a stranger, knows how to keep them entertained...
Sredni Vashtar | 01:19:51
Sickly 10-year old Conradin lives under the "care" of his older cousin and guardian, Mrs De Ropp, his only escape a vivid imagination which transforms a neglected garden shed into a cathedral in which he worships at the shrine of a polecat-ferret...
The Music on the Hill | 01:34:01
Despite her name, Sylvia doesn't know or understand the countryside. She only knows she'd like to live there. But when she and her husband Mortimer go to live at Yessney, her satisfaction at "settling him down" doesn't last long...
Recordings © Bitesized Audio 2020–22
A collection of seven classic tales by the Edwardian master of the macabre, Saki. See below for details and timestamps. As Saki's stories are typically very short, I've put together this compilation featuring four stories already available on the channel to listen to individually, plus three brand new recordings.
00:00:00 Introduction
00:01:04 The Open Window
00:10:14 The Lumber Room
00:25:40 The Hounds of Fate
00:45:32 Tobermory
01:06:03 The Story-Teller
01:19:53 Sredni Vashtar
01:34:03 The Music on the Hill
01:50:49 Credits and thanks
(Story teasers and more details below)
Narrated/performed by Simon Stanhope, aka Bitesized Audio. If you enjoy this content and would like to help me keep creating, there are a few ways you can support me:
* Occasional/one-off support via Buy Me a Coffee: buymeacoffee.com/bitesizedaudio
* Monthly support on Patreon: patreon.com/bitesizedaudio
* Visit my Bandcamp page to hear more of my performances of classic stories, and you can purchase and download high quality audio files to listen offline: bitesizedaudio.bandcamp.com
* Become a Bitesized Audio Classics member on YouTube, from $1 per month with various benefits:
youtube.com/c/BitesizedAudioClassics/join
Saki was the pen name of Hector Hugh Munro, one of the greatest masters of the short story form in English. He was born in 1870 in Burma, then part of British India, where his father was an Inspector General for the Imperial Police, but his life was affected by tragedy when he was just two years old: his mother Mary Munro was charged by a cow while visiting family back in England, and she died as a result of her injuries. Hector and his siblings were sent home to England, to live in Devon with his paternal grandmother and two maiden aunts. The aunts (Augusta and Charlotte) were apparently strict and austere and provided much material for future character studies in Saki's stories, notably ‘The Lumber Room’ and ‘Sredni Vashtar’, which both feature in this compilation. Hector eventually "escaped" to boarding school.
In his early 20s he followed his father's footsteps and enrolled in the Indian Imperial Police, but was invalided home with fever after little over a year. Turning to writing to make his living, Munro began working as a journalist in the late 1890s. He wrote countless pieces for magazine and newspaper publication, and took up the pen name Saki around 1900. His always witty – and sometimes macabre – stories established his reputation as one of the greatest satirists of the Edwardian era.
Despite being officially over-age for military service, turning 44 at the end of 1914, he enlisted in World War I, turning down the offer of a commission and serving as an ordinary trooper in the 2nd King Edward’s Horse regiment. Tragically, he was killed by a sniper while sheltering in a shell hole during the Battle of the Ancre in November 1916. His last words were reported to be “Put that bloody cigarette out”. His resting place is unknown.
The Open Window | 00:01:02
Framton Nuttell, a nervous and neurotic young man on a rest-cure in the country, visits his neighbour Mrs. Sappleton. Her 15 year old niece, Vera, entertains him by explaining the sinister reason that the French windows are kept open every night...
The Lumber Room | 00:10:14
As punishment for bad behaviour at the breakfast table, Nicholas is excluded from a family outing as well as forbidden from playing in the gooseberry garden. But he soon manages to turn the situation to his advantage, allowing him to explore a hitherto forbidden room at the top of the house...
The Hounds of Fate | 00:25:37
Martin Stoner is homeless, penniless and reaching the end of his tether, when Fate does him an unexpected good turn and he finds refuge under extraordinary circumstances. But have the Hounds of Fate truly relented, or are they simply biding their time?
Tobermory | 00:45:32
Lady Blemley has invited clever Mr. Cornelius Appin to join her weekend party in the hope that he might contribute towards the entertainment. She finds he delivers rather more than she bargained for...
The Story-Teller | 01:06:03
A long train journey on a hot day is not an ideal environment for bored children. Luckily one of their fellow passengers, a stranger, knows how to keep them entertained...
Sredni Vashtar | 01:19:51
Sickly 10-year old Conradin lives under the "care" of his older cousin and guardian, Mrs De Ropp, his only escape a vivid imagination which transforms a neglected garden shed into a cathedral in which he worships at the shrine of a polecat-ferret...
The Music on the Hill | 01:34:01
Despite her name, Sylvia doesn't know or understand the countryside. She only knows she'd like to live there. But when she and her husband Mortimer go to live at Yessney, her satisfaction at "settling him down" doesn't last long...
Recordings © Bitesized Audio 2020–22
