Release date is 2025-12-30

The wondrous sickle -- The zamindar -- The village and the city -- The strait gate -- An hour of peril -- The generous benefactor -- The desecrated temple -- The twenty-four pieces of silver -- The bad bargain -- The ill-favoured bride -- The ladder of life -- The Brahmin boy.

"The wondrous sickle, and other stories" by A. L. O. E. is a collection of short stories written in the late 19th century. Set mainly in India, these evangelical tales blend parable, village realism, and gentle moralizing to advocate Christian faith, humility, and active charity. Readers meet humble figures—clerks, peasants, merchants, and wives—whose everyday trials become turning points toward hope and spiritual renewal.

The opening of the collection moves from a village parable to multiple conversion dramas and allegories. In the title story, a discouraged Christian patwari, urged by a friend’s “wondrous sickle” parable, regains joy as he and his wife begin teaching children, nursing neighbors, and sharing Scripture. “The Zamindar” follows Matrá, a debt-crushed farmer, whose talks with a Christian railway worker kindle belief; a shocking train accident is followed by an unexpected reunion with his father, who clears the family’s debts and leads them, despite persecution, toward baptism and hope. “The Village and the City” contrasts jungle noises with urban vices, as a villager hears a street preacher in Kashi and brings the Gospel home, tempering local speech with truth and kindness. “The Strait Gate” is an allegory on pride and the humility needed to enter salvation, and “An Hour of Peril” likens a merchant’s rescue from a bog by a rope to salvation by faith rather than works. “The Generous Benefactor” begins with Gangi, a Hindu wife bereft by her husband’s conversion, who unexpectedly meets him again by a lotus tank—where the scene breaks off. (This is an automatically generated summary.)

Originally published: London: Gall and Inglis, 1892