The North American timber wolf who suddenly replaces Colonel Hampton's wife is one of many alarming animals - hyenas, tigers, a talking cat, a formidable ferret - that rampage through the stories of `Saki' (H H Munro). Aided by a cast of ruthless children, and by Saki's icy wit, they throw the Edwardian social world into hilarious and appalling disarray. This selection of Saki's fiction, which includes his tragi-comic novel, The Unbearable Bassington , illustrates his power to `dazzle and delight' - as Graham Greene put it - and shows why modern masters of wit from Noel Coward to Evelyn Waugh have found Saki's savage laughter irresistible. This book is intended for students of late 19th/early 20th century English literature and/or the short story, satire; from A-level upwards.