Reading Standard
V
.E
Explain howvoice,
Notebook
narrator
affect characterization and the tone, plot, and
credibility ofa text.
,:ur RWN to complete the
c,:ies
3.9
persona, and the choice of a
for this seledion.
Literary Skil,ts Focus
O,mniscient Narrator An omniscient narrator is all-knowing-he
, :1e can tell us everything about a storyl characters. Since an omni=€1t narrator is not a character in the story, he or she can move from the
rrrd of one character to the mind of the next, jump from one place to
rc:her, or zoom in and out of a scene. However, the fact that the narrator
ccrvs everything doesn't mean that you will learn everything all at once.
ar-retimes, an omniscient narrator will save a key piece of information for
fe /ery last moment of the story in order to create a surprise ending.
disputed (dihs PY00T ihd)
y. used
as ad,1.: to engage in an argument.
The disputed border caused
conflict
between the neighbors.
exasperation (ehg zas puh
RAY
shuhn) n.i state of great annoyance.
He could not hide hb exosperotion
when hefound himself otthe mercy
Beading Skitts Focus
kawing Conclusions
When you read, you draw conclusions based
:r :rues in the text and your own knowledge of life. First, look for story ele?€^ts that you think are particularly significant or meaningful. Then, put
fr=e details together with what you know from your own experiences to
,?r, conclusions based on the text.
Lto Action
f,-'
As you read, track
the story details and how they relate to
own knowledge of life. Then, draw a conclusion about each.
t!:' v
!!'n *-
--,
-ike their {amilies,
Ulrich anA 6eorg
have been enemiet
ior years.
*"
yEt:_'-3r-9*:,l
of
his enemy.
condolences (kuhn
DOH luhns ihz) n.
p[: expressions of sympathy.
soys he
Georg
will send condolences upon
Ulrkh\ deoth.
reconciliation (rehk uhn sihl
ee AY
shuhn) n.: friendly end to a quarrel.Uhich ond Georgthinkobout a
reconciliotion ond the chonges it will
bring.
"r
So-e people are
enemiet beeaute o{
family hislory, not
becaute lhey aefually know anA Aislike each other.
$ranguage fissuh
0ral Fluency
To
truly own
a word;
you need to be comfortable pronouncing it so that you can use it in conversation. Study the pronunciation guides
Writing Skitts Focus
lhink
as a
Reader/Writer
above, and answer these questions:
Which word(s) have the primary stress
on the second syllable? How many syl-
ktd lt in Your Reading As you read, notice how the narrator moves
lables does each word have? Practice
ircr
sounding out each word aloud.
character to character and gives us details about each one's situations,
fc.-ghts, and feelings. ln your ReoderMriter Notebook, note at least three
=e-ples in which the narrator
frr<s or feels.
describes what each of the characters
Learn lt Online
Listen to a profesional actor read this story. Visit the
selection online at:
Preparing to Read 197
Read
=nemies
with a Purpose
Read this story to
find out what happens when two
come face to face.
THE INTERLOPERS
by Saki
n a forest of mixed growth somewhere on
the eastern spurs of the Carpathians,l a
man stood one winter night watching and
istening, as though he waited for some beast
:,ithe woods to come within the range of his
-.:sion and, later, of his rifle. But the game for
-"'hose presence he kept so keen an outlook was
:t'rne that figured in the sportsman's calendar
-. lawful and proper for the chase; Ulrich von
,,:adwitz patrolled the dark forest in quest of a
:uman enemy.
The forest lands of Gradwitz were of wide
:rtent and well stocked with game; the nar::,rr strip of precipitous woodland that lay on
:-i outskirt was not remarkable for the game it
:,:rbored or the shooting it afforded, but it was
-:e most jealously guarded of all its owner's ter:-:orial possessions. A famous lawsuit, in the
',r-s of his grandfather, had wrested it from
-:e illegal possession of a neighboring family
-: petty landowners; the dispossessed party
---:d never acquiesced2 in the judgment of the
--r,urts, and a long series of poaching affrays
=d similar scandals had embittered the
:"-ationships between the families for three
l.
Carpathians: mountain range that starts in Slovakia
and extends through Poland, Ukraine, and Romania.
1. acquiesced (ak wee EHST): accepted; complied with.
O EI![[[[!@0mniscient Narrator Whatinsightdoyou
rr iom the omnis(ient narrator that you probably would not get if
:rr
rrf
generations. The neighbor feud had grown
into a personal one since Ulrich had come to
be head of his family; if there was a man in the
world whom he detested and wished ill to, it
was Georg Znaeym, the inheritor of the quarrel and the tireless game snatcher and raider
of the disputed border forest. The feud might,
perhaps, have died down or been compromised
if the personal illwillof the two men had not
stood in the way; as boys they had thirsted for
one another's blood, as men each prayed that
misfortune might fall on the other, and this
wind-scourged winter night Ulrich had banded
together his foresters to watch the dark forest,
not in quest of four-footed quarry, but to keep
a lookout for the prowling thieves whom he
suspected of being afoot from across the land
boundary. The roebuck,3 which usually kept
in the sheltered hollows during a storm wind,
were running like driven things tonight, and
there was movement and unrest among the
creatures that were wont to sleep through the
dark hours. Assuredly there was a disturbing
element in the forest, and Ulrich could guess
the quarter from whence it came.
O
He strayed away by himself from the watch3. roebuck (ROH buhk): male (or males) of the roe
deet small deer that live in Europe and Asia.
'#,;*:;ri*q,s i u
r",r disputed (dihs PY00T ihd)
u. used as odl.;
to
engage in an argument.
the two men were telling the story?
The lnterlopers 199
whom he had placed in ambush on the crest
of the hill and wandered far down the steep
slopes amid the wild tangle of undergrowth,
peering through the tree trunks and listening
through the whistling and skirling of the wind
and the restless beating of the branches for sight
or sound of the marauders.a If only on this wild
night, in this dark,lone spot, he might come
across Georg Znaeym, man to man, with none
to witness-that was the wish that was uppermost in his thoughts. And as he stepped round
the trunk of a huge beech he came face to face
with the man he sought.
The two enemies stood glaring at one
another for a long silent moment. Each had a
rifle in his hand, each had hate in his heart and
murder uppermost in his mind. The chance
had come to give full play to the passions of
a lifetime. But a man who has been brought
up under the code of a restraining civilization
cannot easily nerve himself to shoot down his
neighbor in cold blood and without a word
spoken, except for an offense against his hearth
and honor. And before the moment of hesitation had given way to action, a deed of Nature's
own violence overwhelmed them both. A
fierce shriek of the storm had been answered
by a splitting crash over their heads, and ere
they could leap aside, a mass of falling beech
tree had thundered down on them. Ulrich
von Gradwitz found himself stretched on the
ground, one arm numb beneath him and the
other held almost as helplessly in a tight tangle
of forked branches, while both legs were pinned
beneath the fallen mass. His heavy shooting
boots had saved his feet from being crushed to
pieces, but if his fractures were not as serious
as they might have been, at least it was evident
ers
@
f,llfi@|tr@
Drawing (onclusions What conclusion
can you draw about how seriously the men are taking their situation?
200 Unit 1 . Chapter
3
that he could not move from his present position till someone came to release him. The
descending twigs had slashed the skin of his
face, and he had to wink away some drops of
blood from his eyelashes before he could take
in a general view of the disaster. At his side,
so near that under ordinary circumstances
he could almost have touched him,lay Georg
Znaep, alive and struggling, but obviously as
helplessly pinioned down as himself. All round
them lay a thick-strewn wreckage of splintered
branches and broken twigs.
Relief at being alive and exasperation at
his captive plight brought a strange medley
of piouss thank offerings and sharp curses to
Ulrich's lips. Georg, who was nearlyblinded
with the blood which trickled across his eyes,
stopped his struggling for a moment to listen,
and then gave a short, snarling laugh.
O
"So you're not killed, as you ought to be, but
you're caught, anyway,' he cried,'taught fast.
Ho, what a jest, Ulrich von Gradwitz snared in
his stolen forest. There's real justice for you!"
And he laughed again, mockingly and
savagely.
"I'm caught in my own forest landi'retorted
Ulrich. "\Mhen my men come to release us, you
will wish, perhaps, that you were in a better
plight than caught poaching on a neighbor's
land, shame on you."
Georg was silent for a moment; then he
answered quietly:
'Are you sure that your men will find much
to release? I have men, too, in the forest tonight,
4. marauders (muh RAW duhrz): people who roam
in search ofloot, or goods to steal; raiders.
5. pious (PY uhs): showing religious devotion.
Vocabu la ry exasperation
great annoyance.
(ehg zas puh RAY shuhn) n.; state
of
close behind me, and they will, be here first and
out his wine flask. Even when he had accomdo the releasing. When they dragme out from
plished that operation, it was )ongbeforehe
under these branches, it won't need much clumcould manage the unscrewing of the stopper or
siness on their part to roll this mass of trunk
get any of the liquid down his throat. But what
right over on the top of you. Your men will find
a heaven-sent draft6 it seemed! It was an open
you dead under a fallen beech tree. For form's
winter,Tand little snow had fallen as yet, hence
sake I shall send my condolences to your family''
the captives suffered less from the cold than
"It is a useful hinti'said Ulrich fiercely. "My
might have been the case at that season of the
men had orders to follow in ten minutes'time,
year; nevertheless, the wine was warming and
seven of which must have gone by already, and
reviving to the wounded man, and he looked
when they get me out-I will remember the
across with something like a throb of pity to
hint. Only as you will have
where his enemy lay, just
*We
met your death poaching
fight this quarrel out keeping the groans of
on my lands, I dont think
pain and weariness from
to the death, you and
I can decently send any
crossing his lips.
message of condolence to
"Could you reach this
and our foresters,
no
your family''
flask if I threw it over to
"Goodl' snarled Georg, cursed interlopers to come
you?" asked Ulrich sud"good. We fight this quardenly. "There is good
between us."
rel out to the death, you
wine in it, and one may
and I and our foresters, with no cursed interas well be as comfortable as one can. Let us
lopers to come between us. Death and damnadrink, even if tonight one of us dies."
"No, I can scarcely see anything; there is so
tion to you, Ulrich von Gradwitz."
"The same to you, Georg Znaeym, forest
much blood caked round my eyesi'said Georg;
thiel game snatcher."
O 'hnd in any case
Both men spoke with the bitterness of posI dont drink wine with an enemy."
sible defeat before them, for each knew that it
Ulrich was silent for a few minutes and lay
might be long before his men would seek him
listening to the weary screeching of the wind.
out or find him; it was a bare matter of chance
An idea was slowly forming and growing in his
which party would arrive first on the scene. O
brain, an idea that gained strength every time
Both had now given up the useless struggle
that he looked across at the man who was fightto free themselves from the mass of wood that
ing so grimly against pain and exhaustion. In
held them down; Ulrich limited his endeavors
to an effort to bring his one partially free arm
6. draft: drink.
near enough to his outer coat pocket to draw
7. open winter: mild winter.
I
with
O
]Rtl?Iifffill
0mniscient Narrator
Does the narrator
portray one character more sympathetically than the
other-that
is,
does the narrator make you like one character more than the other?
Explain.
O
Elsfif[lst
0mniscient Narrator What do we learn
about the two men from the nanator
202 Unit 1 . Chapter
3
here-how
do they really feel?
Vocabulary
ofsympathy.
condolences (kuhn
DOH luhns
ihz)n.: expressions
Ulrich himself was
fierce
hatred
the
old
seemed to be dying
=eling,
: t,\{n.
0
"Neighborj'he said presently, "do as you
:-ease if your men come first. It was a fair com:.ct. But as for me, I've changed my mind. If
:i'men are the first to come, you shall be the
-:st to be helped, as though you were my guest.
-,',-e
have quarreled like devils all our lives over
--is stupid strip of forest, where the trees cant
.'..en stand upright in a breath of wind. Lying
-:re tonight, thinking, I've come to think we've
: -en rather fools; there are better things in life
.:..rn getting the better of a boundary dispute.
:.:ighboa if you will help me to bury the old
:.rarrel, I-I will ask you to be my friend."
Georg Znaeym was silent for so long that
,- rich thought perhaps he had fainted with the
-:in of his injuries. Then he spoke slowly and
: ierks.
"How the whole region would stare and
.:bble if we rode into the market square
: -'qether. No one living can remember seeing
. Znaeym and a von Gradwitz talking to one
.rother in friendship. And what peace there
,.,truld be among the forester folk if we ended
.rr feud tonight. And if we choose to make
r eace among our people, there is none other
. --, interfere, no interlopers from outside. . . .
':-,-ru
would come and keep the Sylvester nighte
:eneath my roof, and I would come and feast
r some high day at your castle. . . . I would
:ever fire a shot on your land, save when you
--.: pain and languors that
8. languor (LANG guhr): weakness; weariness.
9. Sylvester night: feast day honoring Saint Sylvester
that is observed on December 31.
t3
Effiffi
'.-.:,,rr
O
.
Ornniseient
fllarrator
What hint does the
drop about Ulrich here?
[!![fu[!!@
- rou draw about
a feud
invited me as a guest; and you should come and
shoot with me down in the marshes where the
wildfowl are. In all the countryside there are
none that could hinder if we willed to make
peace. I never thought to have wanted to do
other than hate you all my life, but I think I
have changed my mind about things too, this
last half-hour. And you offered me your wine
flask. . . . Ulrich von Gradwitz,I will be your
friendl'
e
For a space both men were silent, turning
over in their minds the wonderful changes that
this dramatic reconciliation would bring about.
In the cold, gloomy forest, with the wind tearing in fitful gusts through the naked branches
and whistling round the tree trunks, they lay
and waited for the help that would now bring
release and succorlo to both parties. And each
prayed a private prayer that his men might be
the first to arrive, so that he might be the first to
show honorable attention to the enemy that had
become a friend.
Presently, as the wind dropped for a
moment, Ulrich broke the silence.
"Lett shout for helpi'he said; "in this lull
our voices may carry a little way''
"They wont carry far through the trees
and undergrowth," said Georg, "but we can try.
Together, then."
The two raised their voices in a prolonged
hunting call.
"Together again]' said Ulrich a few minutes
later, after listening in vain for an answering
halloo.
10. succor (SUHK uhr): help given to someone in
distress; relief.
' L
I
reconciliatlon(retrt<utrnsihleeAYshuhn)n.:
friendly end to a quanel.
Drawing (onclusions What conclusion
that
is ended so quickly?
lir+
ln'oirlr.r ; 203
Rompoging Wolves Aftocking by Mikhail Belomlinsky. Engraving.
"I heard something that time, I thinkj'said
Ulrich.
"I heard nothing but the pestilentialll
windi' said Georg hoarsely.
There was silence again for some minutes,
and then Ulrich gave a joyful cry.
"I can see figures coming through the wood.
They are following in the way I came down the
hillside."
Both men raised their voices in as loud a
shout as they could muster.
"They hear us! Theyve stopped. Now they
see us. They're running down the hill toward
usi'cried Ulrich.
I
l.
pestilential (pehs tuh LEHN shuhl): Strictly speaking, pestilential means 'deadly; causing disease;
harmfull'Here, Georg
'tursedl'
204 Unit '1 . Chapter
uses the
word to mean
"How many of them are there?" asked
Georg.
"I can't
see distinctly," said
ten."
"Then they are yours," said Georg; "I had
only seven out with mel'
"They are making all the speed they can,
brave ladsl'said Ulrich gladly.
'Are they your men?" asked Georg. 'Are
they your men?" he repeated impatiently, as
Ulrich did not answer.
"No]said Ulrich with a laugh, the idiotic
chattering laugh of a man unstrung with hideous fear.
"Who are they?" asked Georg quickly,
straining his eyes to see what the other would
gladly not have seen.
"Wolves."
3
Ulrich; "nine or
Reading Standard
3.9
persona, and the choice
affect characterization
credibility ofa text.
Explain how voice,
ofa narrator
and the tone,
plot and
The Interlopers
Literary Response and Ana
Reading Skitts Focus
QuickCheck
1. How do Ulrich and Georg resolve their conflict?
2. What happens when the men end their feud?
Read with a Purpose
3. Were you surprised when Ulrich and Georg
became friends? Why or why not?
Reading Skills: Drawing Conclusions
4. What conclusion can you draw about the writer's feelings about family feuds? Complete your
chart by listing your conclusion.
i-ory Detail
-'ke
lheir
:amilies,
-1.rich and
-'eorg have
;een enemiet
:c, yearg.
'-!t^.!*1
_
i,
$y
Conclusion-
Some people are
enemies becaute
8. Analyze
When something turns out different
from what we expect, it is called irony. What is
ironic about the ending of the story?
9. Evaluate
Literary Skills: Omniscient Narrator
10. Analyze A writer's choice of narrator affects
a storyt tone-the writer's attitude toward a
subject or character. What tone does Saki create
through the use of an omniscient narrator?
11. Analyze Howdoes Sakit choiceof narrator
help bring about a surprise sending?
Literary Skills Review: Characterization
12. Compare The process of revealing the personality of a character is called characterization.
ln what way are Georg's and Ulrich's characters
similar? How does this affect the story's plot?
ol lamily hislont
notbeeause lhey
actually know anA
Airlike each ofher.
Writing Skitts Focus
Think
Literary Skitls Focus
Literary Analysis
5. lnterpret An interloper
is someone
Doyou thinkthatstories aboutfamily
feuds are still relevant today? Why or why not?
that
intrudes or interferes in a place or activity. Who
are the interlopers in the story? ls there more
as a
Reader/Writer
Use !t in Your Writing The narrator of this story
doesn't take sides but lets us discover each character
by describing his innermost thoughts and feelings.
Write a brief scene that takes place between two
people in conflict. Like Saki, create an omniscient
narrator who lets us see inside the characters'minds.
than one kind of interloper? Explain.
6. lnterpret
What conclusion can you draw about
how Saki feels about fate?
7. Compare and Contrast
There are two distinct
conflicts in this story. One is between two men;
the other is between humans and nature. Which
conflict is harder to resolve? Why?
\Vhat Do
You
Think
Now
that Ulrich and Georg
will remain friends if they are able
to escape? Why or why not?
Do you think
Applying Your Skills 205