"The Interlopers" by Saki

This is a story, which I can say in advance, will leave the reader with an enormous sensation of suspense.

It truly has a very short plot, with well-defined events and a background that gives the reader an idea of what can be happening through the characters' minds.

This short story tells the story about two enemies: Ulrich vonGradwitz and Georg Znaeym, which were not the creators of their feud. This feud, or heritage hatred had been born, as if to be said, with their grandparents, who fought for a stripe of forest. These two families where neighbours, and for three generations, had not been able to sort out their problems yet.

The setting of the story is the forest, on Ulrich's side. Time's setting is breve, as the story unfolds only in a matter of hours during night-time.

These two men were hunting for each other in the forest. The best reward for both would be to find the other and kill him. At least this was Ulrich's thought. And so Georg appeared before him. This was the perfect time to kill each other, but as civilized and well educated men, they could not shoot without some words first. (This, besides the fact that both own enormous quantities of forest, suggest the social class they belonged to).

All of a sudden there was a lot of wind and a shriek was heard. This was the sound of a tree falling, probably because of lightning that preceded a storm. This caught both under the heavy branches of the trees.

At first, they did not care a lot about being saved and going home. They cared more for their men to arrive first and save them and kill the other, which was the important part. Georg, wrestling against the weight, said that his men would save him and put that weight on Ulrich so that he would die. Then he would show his condolences to his family. Then Ulrich turned the idea in his favour. It was a complete disaster, still fighting about that.

After some time, Ulrich got his wine and, although it was difficult, drank a little bit. He offered a bit to Georg. This unexpected action would start the end of the hatred and the beginning of a friendship between both. Georg denied the offer, by still keeping his hatred towards him. Silence was all that could be heard for some time. Then another surprising act from Ulrich: he said that if Georg's men were to appear first, that he could do whatever he wanted to; but if it was his men who arrived first, Georg would be the one who would be saved first and then him. This action made Georg calm down his hate towards Ulrich and finally say that he would agree to be his friend.

All that remained in that silent night was to be rescued. They tried shouting at the same time, but it would not work... no one came to save them. Then finally they noticed a sign of life, which meant, by the number, that Ulrich's men had finally arrived. They heard the running, and Ulrich was the one who could see them coming. Georg asked if those were Ulrich's men. Ulrich answered "No". They were wolves. This is where the story ends.

I think it is a wonderful story. The characters are dynamic, specially Ulrich, as suddenly, he changes his mind towards Georg. In the beginning of the story, he was the furious one, the one who seemed to hate the most. And all of a sudden, that completely changed.

The ending is just set in the perfect place: The climax. The objectives of this story are:

• To show us the change from hate to friendship in a difficult situation.
  
• To give the reader an unexpected ending so that he or she can imagine how the story of these men is going to end. Each reader has the decision on it.
  
  

The ending is the combination of suspense and the unexpected, which makes it so wonderful, and makes the reader eager for more. Probably in the case of a movie, this would be the not-previewed ending that would make the audience ask for a second part.

I liked the story a lot, specially the ending.

(Image from: http://media.photobucket.com/image/forest%20lightning/Bea_Douglas/Forest/IMG_5584.jpg)