The cricket on the flock

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The Cricket on the herd , original title The Cricket on the Hearth , is a story by Charles Dickens from the year 1845th

The novella is one of the five Christmas stories that Dickens published as separate books for Christmas between 1843 and 1847. The best known is A Christmas Carol from 1843, followed by Chimes (1844) and The Cricket on the Hearth as the third volume. The Battle of Life followed in 1846 and The Haunted Man in 1847 .

The original illustrations were by Daniel Maclise , John Leech , Richard Doyle , Clarkson Stanfield and Edward Landseer . Based on the song of the Heimchen (crickets), the work is not divided into chapters, but into three of Dickens's so-called “chirps” (chirps).

Charles Dickens wrote the story between October 17th and December 1st, 1845. After that, it was immediately published for the holiday season.

Cricket on the Hearth is a story about the luck that crickets in the oven are supposed to bring.

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First chirp

John Peerybingle marries a much younger woman and already has one child with her. He just keeps calling his wife Mary Dot. She herself likes the nickname he gave her, but says he should stop treating her like a little kid. One evening, Mr. Peerybingle, a carter by trade, brings a stranger home with him. Mary doesn't like him, but eventually takes him in. John also thinks the stranger is a weird owl.

John gets around a lot as a courier, and the Peerybingles have many friends, including Mr. Tackleton, a cold-hearted old man who one day comes by to tell them he wants to marry May. May once went to school with Dot and was a little younger than her. Dot is outraged when she hears this because she thinks Mr. Tackleton is way too old for May. However, Mr. Peerybingle believes that Tackleton is only a little older than himself, and therefore the age difference between the two is not significant than with him and his wife.

Second chirp

Mr. Tackleton is a toy dealer, which doesn't seem to fit his personality at all. His employee Caleb Plummer has a blind daughter and a son whom he believes dead. What nobody knows until then: The stranger whom the Peerybingles have taken in is Caleb's son. But Mary is said to be the first to know on the evening she and her husband are invited to dinner at Mr. Tackleton's. May's mother and the Plummers are also invited. Mr. and Mrs. Peerybingle bring the stranger to dinner because they don't want to leave him at home alone. After dinner, the stranger takes Dot into a back room and Mr. Tackeleton looks closely at them from a window; he thinks they are having an affair and calls John Peerybingle over. When John sees Mary and the stranger through the window in the house, he too believes his wife is having an affair.

Third chirp

All night long, John Peerybingle sits waiting at the stranger's door. He listens to the chirping of the crickets at the stove.

The next morning the maid Tilly Slowbody wants to get the stranger out of the room, but he is no longer there. It is Mr. Tackleton's and May Fielding's wedding day when the groom stops by his friend Peerybingle. At first he believes that John chased the stranger away, but he assures that he did nothing. Finally, Mr. Peerybingle decides to leave his wife immediately, not out of jealousy or revenge, but because he thinks he is simply too old for her. He thinks she'd be happier with a younger man. Tackleton asks John to stay at least until the wedding and John agrees.

Dot is now with the Plummers. John, the coachman, brings the stranger to the Plummer family and when Dot tells everyone that the stranger is Edward, the son of Mr. Plummer, believed dead, John is no longer angry and takes Dot back. Then come May and shortly afterwards Mr. Tackleton, who was dumped in front of the church by his bride. She had married Edward, Caleb's missing son, early that morning. May is exactly the same age as Edward and was promised to him from childhood. The missing person had reappeared just in time. It turns out that May wanted to marry Mr. Tackleton just for the money and to help her mother, who had no more money to survive.

At the Peerybingles' wedding party for Edward and May takes place afterwards. Tackleton also meets the wedding party and even gives the couple the wedding cake that had actually been prepared for him and May. After all, everyone is reconciled and dancing. And the cricket in the stove chirps happily with them.

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Wikisource: en: The Cricket on the Hearth  - Sources and full texts