The Hobo and the Fairy

by Jack London

The Hobo and the Fairy is a short story by Jack London. John Griffith "Jack" London (born John Griffith Chaney, January 12, 1876 – November 22, 1916) was an American author, journalist, and social activist. He was a pioneer in the then-burgeoning world of commercial magazine fiction and was one of the first fiction writers to obtain worldwide celebrity and a large fortune from his fiction alone. He is best remembered as the author of The Call of the Wild and White Fang, both set in the Klondike Gold Rush, as well as the short stories "To Build a Fire", "An Odyssey of the North", and "Love of Life". He also wrote of the South Pacific in such stories as "The Pearls of Parlay" and "The Heathen", and of the San Francisco Bay area in The Sea Wolf. London was a passionate advocate of unionization, socialism, and the rights of workers and wrote several powerful works dealing with these topics such as his dystopian novel The Iron Heel, his non-fiction exposé The People of the Abyss, and The War of the Classes. On July 12, 1897, London (age 21) and his sister's husband Captain Shepard sailed to join the Klondike Gold Rush. This was the setting for some of his first successful stories. London's time in the Klondike, however, was detrimental to his health. Like so many other men who were malnourished in the goldfields, London developed scurvy. His gums became swollen, leading to the loss of his four front teeth. A constant gnawing pain affected his hip and leg muscles, and his face was stricken with marks that always reminded him of the struggles he faced in the Klondike. Father William Judge, "The Saint of Dawson," had a facility in Dawson that provided shelter, food and any available medicine to London and others. His struggles there inspired London's short story, "To Build a Fire" (1902, revised in 1908), which many critics assess as his best. His landlords in Dawson were mining engineers Marshall Latham Bond and Louis Whitford Bond, educated at Yale and Stanford. The brothers' father, Judge Hiram Bond, was a wealthy mining investor. The Bonds, especially Hiram, were active Republicans. Marshall Bond's diary mentions friendly sparring with London on political issues as a camp pastime. London left Oakland with a social conscience and socialist leanings; he returned to become an activist for socialism. He concluded that his only hope of escaping the work "trap" was to get an education and "sell his brains". He saw his writing as a business, his ticket out of poverty, and, he hoped, a means of beating the wealthy at their own game. On returning to California in 1898, London began working deliberately to get published, a struggle described in his novel, Martin Eden (serialized in 1908, published in 1909). His first published story since high school was "To the Man On Trail", which has frequently been collected in anthologies. When The Overland Monthly offered him only five dollars for it—and was slow paying—London came close to abandoning his writing career. In his words, "literally and literarily I was saved" when The Black Cat accepted his story "A Thousand Deaths", and paid him $40—the "first money I ever received for a story." London began his writing career just as new printing technologies enabled lower-cost production of magazines. This resulted in a boom in popular magazines aimed at a wide public and a strong market for short fiction. In 1900, he made $2,500 in writing, about $71,000 in today's currency. Among the works he sold to magazines was a short story known as either "Diable" (1902) or "Bâtard" (1904), in two editions of the same basic story; London received $141.25 for this story on May 27, 1902. In the text, a cruel French Canadian brutalizes his dog, and the dog retaliates and kills the man. London told some of his critics that man's actions are the main cause of the behavior of their animals, and he would show this in another story, The Call of the Wild.

Genres: Audiobook, Short Stories

155 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1910

About the author

John Griffith Chaney, better known as Jack London, was an American novelist, journalist and activist. A pioneer of commercial fiction and American magazines, he was one of the first American authors to become an international celebrity and earn a large fortune from writing. He was also an innovator in the genre that would later become known as science fiction.

London was part of the radical literary group "The Crowd" in San Francisco and a passionate advocate of animal rights, workers’ rights and socialism. London wrote several works dealing with these topics, such as his dystopian novel The Iron Heel, his non-fiction exposé The People of the Abyss, War of the Classes, and Before Adam.

His most famous works include The Call of the Wild and White Fang, both set in Alaska and the Yukon during the Klondike Gold Rush, as well as the short stories "To Build a Fire", "An Odyssey of the North", and "Love of Life". He also wrote about the South Pacific in stories such as "The Pearls of Parlay" and "The Heathen".

Reviews

[Michael · Rating 4 out of 5]

Jack London writes novels on experiences he had in life. The Hobo and the Fairy is one of those experiences. When he was young London left home at fifteen. He enjoyed riding the rails as a hobo and enjoyed free trips across America. Hobo and the Fairy is a lesser know story than The Road which details his life as hobo and spending time in Erie County Penitentiary arrested for vagrancy. Yet, it still recants many of London's experiences with being incarcerated and disillusion with the system. London introduces us to Ross Shanklin a tramp, outcast and ex convict who has survived brutalities and human cruelties while incarcerated. The story picks up after he is discharged from prison and is sleeping on the ground when Joan a little girl discovers him. He wakens and believes she is a fairy because of how she treats him. What London wants us to remember in the encounter is that there is still good Samaritans in this world. That no matter how bad things are some people do care.

[عُ · Rating 5 out of 5]

فتاةً صغيرة من العالم الصالح تلتقي بـ صعلوك من العالم السيء
يصطحبك هذا الكتابُ القصير الذي يَحملُ في طيّاته كثيرًا من العبارات و الكلمات التي تفكر وتتعمق فيها بشدة على الرغم من قلته وقلة أوراقه
إلى عالمًا سيء لا يوجد به غير الصعاليك و الحطّام لكن في هذا العالم المُدمَر المئيَوس منه
يوجد هُناك حوريَّات رقيقات طيبات يّرن “إن كل فردٍ يحملُ الخير في داخله” و “أن علينا ألا نخاف من أي شيء وأنهُ إذا كنت صالحًا ، و تُحسِن التفكير في الآخرين، فسوف يكونون صالحين أيضًا”
“ليس هُناك شيء في العالم يُضَاهي الوقت الذي تجلسين فيه على حصانٍ متعَب في نهاية يوم طويل، وتتحدثين إليه فحسب ،فينهض هذا الحصان المتعب امتثالًا لإرادتك ويتحرك مسرعًا”
الفرصة و التغيير ممكن أن يأتيك من حديث مع طفل أو “حوريَّة” فـ لا تستسلم إلى الأشياء المُحطمة والمُدمرة فيك فـ ربما يومًا من الأيام تصبح ما أنت تُريده و تتمناه فـ كل إنسان لديه الخير و الصُلح بداخله .

[Mahmoud Moftah · Rating 4 out of 5]

قالت الفتاة: «وداعًا .. أيها السيد من العالم السيئ الشرير»
تمتم قائلًا: «وداعًا .. أيتها الحوريَّة الصغيرة»

[Mustafa Alsinan · Rating 5 out of 5]

قصيرة و لطيفة للغاية.

[Станислав · Rating 4 out of 5]

Духоподъёмная история, про то, как случайная встреча с маленькой девочкой стала для бывшего каторжника первой ступенькой для возвращения к социальной жизни. Думаю, здесь довольно важно, что местом действия является цветущая земля Калифорнии, в последние годы жизни Джек Лондон как-то верил в целительность калифорнийской земли для американской жизни. Очень сильные сцены описания жизни каторжника, который за предполагаемое хищение пары лошадей получил 14 лет "исправительных" работ, где орудием исправления были топор, кирка, палка надзирателя и пуля.

[Emelie Gustafsson · Rating 4 out of 5]

4,5
It was interesting. Loved when the little girl and the man said goodbye to each other, it made me think of my bond with my youngest little sister

Listened to it on youtube. The Youtube channel is called: neuralsurfer. The voice was good and I also found the text online so it was easy to follow along. The website is called: americanliterature.

I recommend this if you are looking for something short after reading a series or just feel like listening/reading something short.

[Lou Hughes · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thank you to Neuralsurfer Audiobooks & Films for Creative Minds on Youtube for their reading of the book.

"If you're good, and you think good of other people, they'll be good too." and "There's good in everyone."

***

This story was sad yet also sweet. It explores the differences between man and woman, child and adult. The two main characters are from opposing realities within society. I thought the pacing was brilliant, and that the story had a beautiful anecdote within its lines.

[Tahera · Rating 3 out of 5]

الفتاة الصغيرة (الحورية) اعطت الصعلوك الأمل في الحياة وجددت فيه الشغف للبحث عن عمل والتحول إلى أنسانٍ أفضل فقط بمحاورتها له بشكل لطيف وأنساني.

تغير روس الصعلوك بفضل النظرة الايجابية للطفلة وامها واحيت فيه الأمل بالرجوع إلى المجتمع وذلك من بعد سنوات القهر والتعذيب بسبب الحكم عليه ظلماً وحبسه لمدة طويلة من غير ارتكاب أي جرم.

[Rut · Rating 4 out of 5]

Short story, but London did not need more to bring our imagination into the depths of life, with all its ups and downs, its miseries and joys. I really liked it. I had never read one of his short stories, now I am ready to look for some more.

[Greg · Rating 5 out of 5]

Merge the hobo and the fairy, maintain a symphony of society's splendour.

[elisabeth ♡ · Rating 4 out of 5]

Takes a fairy (act of humanity and kindness) for a hobo to be seen and to gain confidence in himself. This was a beautiful story of second chances.

essentially: all is not deplorable

[Forked Radish · Rating 2 out of 5]

"If you're good, and you think good of other people, they'll be good too." and "There's good in everyone." -But it's a fairy tale.