Included in the bundle 'Thirteen detectives' are two stories about Mr. Pond. Having read them, I sure hope Chesterton wrote more stories with this main character: both 'The three horsemen of the apocalypse' and 'When doctors agree' were wonderful.
Mr. Pond is not really a detective, this unassuming civil servant merely excels in solving riddles. In Chesterton's words: 'Pond himself had had some very curious experiences; but, as he would not turn them into long stories, they appeared only as short stories; and the short stories were so very short as to be quite unintelligible.' The unassuming Mr. Pond indeed has the tendency to speak in riddles, for example: "Grock failed because his soldiers obeyed him.", or "I did know two men who came to agree so completely that one of them naturally murdered the other".
I will not spoil your enjoyment by telling the details about the riddles Mr. Pond explains to us. But read carefully, and think while you read, for as one of Pond's friends says to him: "That's what's the matter with you, my boy. There are always such a damned lot of things you have mentioned but not explained."
No comments:
Post a Comment