The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar and Six More is a collection of short stories by Roald Dahl, first published in 1977. Although most are fictional, a few are true and drawn from his life.
Short film adaptations of The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar and The Swan, directed by Wes Anderson, were released on Netflix in 2023.
Tropes for this collection include:
- Artistic License: Obviously, practicing yoga won't grant you supernatural powers.
- Based on a True Story:
- Dahl claims that "The Mildenhall Treasure" was a real
set of Roman tableware that was found by Gordon Butcher and Sydney Ford that he read about in the newspaper and couldn't resist writing about. Ford's grandson confirmed that the gist of the story was true. - Similarly, the fakir from "Henry Sugar" is based on a real performer Dahl wrote a magazine article about early in his career.
- Dahl claims that "The Mildenhall Treasure" was a real
- Bittersweet Ending: Most if not all the stories end this way:
- "The Swan": Peter escapes the two ruffians but collapses in his mother's arms with a bullet in his leg, and she has to get him to the hospital. It's implied he survives, and his tormentors won't be escaping the consequences.
- "The Boy Who Talked with Animals": The turtle is saved, but the boy runs off and has sea adventures with it. It's worrying for his parents, who did nothing to deserve that, but the narrator hopes that the boy is happy.
- Blatant Lies: Ford keeps saying that he thought the Roman silver pieces were made out of pewter. The authorities don't buy it but are forced to accept it when he sticks to his story.
- Combo Platter Powers: While stopping by a roulette table on his way to the blackjack booth, Henry Sugar takes a look at the wheel and concentrates on it out of habit, only to realize he's gained the ability to predict the future in a limited fashion as well as to see the other side of a playing card when all the numbers except one blur out for him, which he didn't even train for.
- Corporal Punishment: In "Lucky Break", Roald Dahl describes in detail being caned at school.
- Direct Line to the Author: "The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar" is explained as being apparently based on someone's actual life.
- Double Standard: According to the doctor's account in "The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar," the Indian magician Imrhat Khan died after telling his secrets to him and for using his powers selfishly. Henry Sugar similarly uses his powers selfishly but instead has a change of heart on realizing the challenge is gone from gambling. The narrator even lampshades this shortly after that first night of gambling, stating that, were this a work of fiction, Henry Sugar would have a similar death, and even describes this hypothetical death in full, gory detail...but that's not the way it actually happened.
- Foreshadowing:
- Mocked in the "if this were a work of fiction" ending, where Imhrat Khan's fate prefigures Henry Sugar's death, but during the chapter where Henry finally puts his new yoga-derived superpowers to the test, he is already looking at his fellow gamblers with new eyes and finds himself mildly repulsed by them, suggesting his change of heart next chapter.
- Furthermore, it took Imhrat Khan many more years than Henry to fully develop his yoga abilities, and Henry himself is noted to be unusually fast. This foreshadows that Henry has a natural aptitude towards spiritual development that leaves him dissatisfied with earthly riches and more compassionate to his fellow man after spending years honing his abilities.
- A Good Way to Die: Henry Sugar dies at a ripe old age without a penny to his name after more than half a century full of adventure traveling around the world with his friends. He left behind twenty-one of the best orphanages in the world everywhere he'd been, having traded the idle greed he started his quest with for the rich happiness and satisfaction of a life well lived.
- Idle Rich:
- Henry is noted to be one of these at the start of the story, and his passion for gambling is a result of simply having nothing better to do with his life. He's able to spend years perfecting his powers of concentration because he has no real need to work.
- The "fingersmith" in "The Hitch-Hiker" targets these types of people at the racetracks, considering them acceptable targets since they don't work for their money. It's implied that he takes a liking to the protagonist because while the protagonist is rich enough to afford a nice car, the protagonist earned their money through their writing, which the titular hitchhiker considers a skilled profession. It doesn't hurt that they gave the fingersmith a ride when he was hitchhiking.
- Insistent Terminology: The eponymous character in "The Hitch-Hiker" disdains the term "pickpocket", preferring to refer to himself as a "fingersmith".
- Just Like Robin Hood: In "The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar", after the policeman suggests that Henry invest his winnings into an orphanage rather than just giving it away to random passers-by, Henry decides to use his newfound power to fund not one, but eventually twenty-one first-class orphanages. He specifically compares himself to Robin Hood, "robbing" the casinos (which are often run by shady figures anyway, which later necessitates him visiting the casinos in disguise once the mobs start to recognize him) and giving to those who really need the help. To underscore this, he opens an orphanage in every country he visits, so that the benefits of his efforts stay within the countries he visits.
- Just One Little Mistake: Ford probably would have gotten away with keeping the Roman silver if he hadn't left it out for a friend to see.
- Karma Houdini Warranty: Peter Watson thinks about how Ernie and Raymond have gotten away with breaking boys' arms and twisted them, while also bullying him for being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Consider this, however: his story ends with him escaping the pair thanks to the swan wings they forcibly tied to him. He's able to tell his mother that he's injured when landing in the backyard, and she gets him to a hospital after cutting off the wings. The boys have shot a swan, mutilated it, and accidentally sent the evidence to a responsible adult's backyard. It's also illegal to kill swans in the U.K., as Peter warned them. Peter can testify they tied him to railroad tracks and were disappointed when he survived by the skin of his teeth. The boys are in for a load of trouble, because their victim is alive, and the government isn't so oblivious to ignore that they broke federal law.
- Karmic Twist Ending: Discussed in "The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar". The narrator claims that "if this were a work of fiction", Henry would die for using magic selfishly, as foreshadowed by Imrhat Khan's death for that very reason — possibly he would use his magic to see through his own body, revealing a deadly blood clot moving swiftly and inescapably towards his heart... but as This Is Reality, what happened did not, in fact, follow these strict genre conventions.
- Master of Disguise: Max Engleman became this for Henry Sugar, cooking up various disguises for him once the casinos started to get wise to Henry's improbable winning streak.
- Money to Throw Away: After Henry Sugar's first big night of gambling and taking money from the first casino (and realizing it wasn't fun for him anymore), he tosses his winnings to passers-by in the street. A policeman witnessing this asks why Henry doesn't donate it to charity instead, like say, an orphanage. This is what inspires Henry Sugar to create the plan that becomes the driving force for the rest of his life.
- Mugged for Disguise: In "The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar", invoked by a bellhop in Las Vegas hoping for a bit of extra cash on the side. He warns Henry that the local casino mobs were looking for him, and gives him a chance of escape: Take his uniform, then bind him hand and foot and leave immediately. Henry does so, leaving a thousand dollars in a hidden place for the bellhop to pick up later. From this point on, Henry Sugar never enters a casino again without a disguise.
- Mundane Utility: Henry Sugar is fascinated by one of Imrhat Khan's exercises while gaining the power of eyeless sight, namely, being able to see what's printed on the other side of a playing card, something he recognizes can be used to cheat at gambling. In the doctor's manuscript, Imrhat Khan specifically notes that in most cases he needs his exposed skin (like the palm of his hand) able to "see" the object in question, but this was not the case with playing cards, which he speculates is because they are a "thin flimsy thing" that isn't solid like a sheet of metal or thick like a wooden door.
- Narrative Filigree: In "The Swan", a succession of three unimportant characters are mentioned by their full names. Soon after this, the mother of a principal character Peter Watson is merely referred to as "Mrs Watson".Three different people reported seeing a great white swan circling over the village that morning: a school teacher called Emily Mead, a man who was replacing some tiles on the roof of the chemist's shop whose name was William Eyles, and a boy called John Underwood who was flying his model aeroplane in a nearby field.
- No Challenge Equals No Satisfaction: Henry realizes that gambling isn't fun when he can use his powers to win, because it takes away from the joy of uncertainty. He decides to try a different challenge: win the money from all over the world and donate it to charity.
- No Plans, No Prototype, No Backup: Defied; Henry's accountant gives the nameless author the book with the doctor's account of Imrhat Khan. The author transcribes it word-for-word.
- Persona Non Grata: Henry Sugar ends up blacklisted from most of the world's casinos, either legitimately (he won too much, so they kicked him out on suspicion of cheating) or otherwise (he won too much, now the mob has his face on posters). He hires an expert Hollywood makeup artist to supply him with disguises and fake passports (because many of the highest-stakes casinos require ID) and continues his "fundraising" work.
- Room Disservice: Inverted, when Henry Sugar disguises himself as a bellhop to escape from a hotel, following a tip-off from the real bellhop. This happens because the owner of several casinos has discovered that he has cheated them out of a lot of money, and has sent the heavy mob to his hotel to catch him.
- Screw the Rules, I Have Money!: The boy's parents in "The Boy Who Talks with Animals" pay the fishermen more than what the giant turtle is worth, so that their son will stop begging.
- Taxman Takes the Winnings: When Henry Sugar tells his accountant of his plan to win money from casinos to set up orphanages over the world, his accountant tells him that he will have to move out of England, or the taxman would have it all.
- That Cloud Looks Like...: In "The Swan", eight-year-old Peter Watson plays a game of trying to see faces in clouds. He does this to distract himself from the terrifying situation he is in: tied to a railway line by two sadistic boys, who are waiting for a train to run him over.
- You Fool!: A cop calls out Henry Sugar for giving money away in the street rather than donating it to a charity like an orphanage.
