Summary and analysis of A Moonlight Fable by HGWells?

Answer 1

In this short story by H.G. Wells, a young man loves a suit that his mother sews for him. He loves this suit so much, he wants to wear it all the time. His mother however insists he keep the suit safely packed away until his wedding day.

It was green and gold and woven so that I cannot describe how delicate and fine it was, and there was a tie of orange fluffiness that tied up under his chin. And the buttons in their newness shone like stars. He was proud and pleased by his suit beyond measure, and stood before the long looking-glass when first he put it on, so astonished and delighted with it that he could hardly turn himself away.

The boy loved his suit so much that he dreamt about it. He would often take the suit out of it's storage and admire it. His mother allowed him to wear the suit on Sundays to church, but with tissue covering the buttons so they wouldn't tarnish and tacked on protective guards on the elbows and cuffs so they wouldn't tear. Whenever the boy would peek at the buttons under the tissue wrap, he would notice they were becoming duller and duller, and this would cause him anxiety.

One night he sees the moonlight shining into his bedroom and he gets out of bed with an urge to put the suit on. He makes up his mind to tear off the protective tissue and guards off the suit.

Thought joined on to thought like things that whisper warmly in the shadows. Then he sat up in his little bed suddenly, very alert, with his heart beating very fast and a quiver in his body from top to toe. He had made up his mind. He knew now that he was going to wear his suit as it should be worn. He had no doubt in the matter. He was afraid, terribly afraid, but glad, glad.

He hurries quietly out of the house and to his mother's garden wearing his suit. He starts to run with his arms out wide, tearing his suit on thorns along the way, but he doesn't care. All that matters is that he is wearing his beautiful suit. He even runs into a duck pond and begins to swim around.

After swimming through the pond and coming out on the other side, he comes along a road. As he is running along, he sees a moth. The moth circles his head and brushes his lips. He is running straight toward a deep pit and does not notice. The next morning he is found dead at the bottom of the pit.