Saturday 11 September 2021

THE BEST CHRISTMAS STORIES – CHRISTMAS NOVELLA # 3 - The Cricket on the Hearth

 

The Cricket on the Hearth. A Fairy Tale of Home

 

The Cricket on the Hearth. A Fairy Tale of Home was the third of the Christmas novella written by Charles Dickens and published in 1845

The Cricket of the story constantly chirps on the hearth and acts as the Peerybingles family guardian angel.

At the start of the tale a mysterious elderly stranger comes to visit and takes up lodging at Peerybingle's house for a few days.

The villain of the piece is the miser Tackleton who is on the eve of marrying Edward Plummer's sweetheart, May.

Edward having gone off to South America and was believed to be dead leaving May at the mercy of Tackleton who she did not love.

During the course of the story, the miser does his best to cause mischief but, in the end, the mysterious lodger is revealed to be none other than Edward who has returned home in disguise.

And in the best traditions of dickens all ends well.

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