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    Roald Dahl - The Land Lady

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    Billy Weaver arrives at a bed and breakfast in Bath, run by a kindly old landlady. When he signs the guest book, he sees that the only two names entered are from two years ago. The landlady reveals that those two young men are still residing on the fourth floor. Billy realizes with horror that she had stuffed the two previous guests and intends to do the same to him, as evidenced by the bitter almond taste in his tea from potassium cyanide poison.

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    Roald Dahl - The Land Lady

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    api-3754905
    4K views1 page
    Billy Weaver arrives at a bed and breakfast in Bath, run by a kindly old landlady. When he signs the guest book, he sees that the only two names entered are from two years ago. The landlady reveals that those two young men are still residing on the fourth floor. Billy realizes with horror that she had stuffed the two previous guests and intends to do the same to him, as evidenced by the bitter almond taste in his tea from potassium cyanide poison.

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    Billy Weaver arrives at a bed and breakfast in Bath, run by a kindly old landlady. When he signs the guest book, he sees that the only two names entered are from two years ago. The landlady reveals that those two young men are still residing on the fourth floor. Billy realizes with horror that she had stuffed the two previous guests and intends to do the same to him, as evidenced by the bitter almond taste in his tea from potassium cyanide poison.

    Copyright:

    Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
    Download as DOC, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as doc, pdf, or txt
    4K views1 page

    Roald Dahl - The Land Lady

    Uploaded by

    api-3754905
    Billy Weaver arrives at a bed and breakfast in Bath, run by a kindly old landlady. When he signs the guest book, he sees that the only two names entered are from two years ago. The landlady reveals that those two young men are still residing on the fourth floor. Billy realizes with horror that she had stuffed the two previous guests and intends to do the same to him, as evidenced by the bitter almond taste in his tea from potassium cyanide poison.

    Copyright:

    Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
    Download as DOC, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as doc, pdf, or txt
    of 1

    The Landlady

    The Landlady is one of Dahl's most famous stories and it's been dramatized on
    television at least once. Billy Weaver arrives in Bath after taking the train
    from London. He's never been to the town before, but he's due to start a new
    job there soon and he's excited at the prospect. He heads toward The Bell and
    Dragon, which is a pub he's been told he could spend the night at. On the way
    though, he notices a sign in the window of a nearby house: "BED AND
    BREAKFAST." Billy looks in the window and notices that it's a charming house,
    with a roaring fire and a little dog curled up asleep on the rug. On an impulse, he
    decides to check it out and rings the bell. It is answered immediately a little old
    lady who invites him to enter and tells him the room rate. As it's less than half
    what he was prepared to pay, Billy decides to stay. She tells him that he is the
    only guest as she takes him to his room. When he goes downstairs to sign the
    guest-book, he notices that there are only two names in the entire book. The
    names are over two years old... and what's more, they strike him as being
    familiar. As he struggles to remember where he's heard the names before, the
    landlady brings him a cup of tea. He seems to remember that one of them was an
    Eton schoolboy that disappeared, but she assures him that her Mr. Temple was
    different. Billy sits down before the fire with his tea and notices a strange odor
    that comes from the woman, something like walnuts or new leather. They begin
    talking about the former guests, and she notes that both of them were
    handsome young men just like him. He asks if they left recently, and she replies
    that both of them are still in the house on the fourth floor. Billy is confused and
    tries to change the subject by commenting on a parrot in a cage, which he
    thought was alive but just realized is stuffed. The landlady reveals that she
    herself stuffed the bird, and as she is a taxidermist she stuffs all her own pets.
    Billy realizes with a shock that the little dachsund by the fire isn't alive. He also
    notices a curious bitter almond taste in his tea, and he asks the landlady again:
    "Haven't there been any other guests here except them in the last two or three
    years?" She gives him a little smile as she replies, "No, my dear. Only you."

    (If you don't get it, here's what happens: she poisoned the other two men and
    stuffed them. Billy has read of their disappearances in the newspaper, and now
    he's to be the next victim! The bitter almond taste in his tea is potassium
    cyanide.)

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