The Interlopers

The Interlopers is a short story by Saki, the pen name of British writer Hector Hugh Munro, first published in 1919.

The story centers on a bitter feud between two neighboring landowners whose families have disputed ownership of a forest for generations. One night, the two men encounter each other in the woods, each prepared to confront his enemy once and for all.

Before either can act, a falling tree traps them together. Unable to escape, they are forced to reconsider their hatred, and their hostility gradually gives way to reconciliation. They agree to end the long-running feud and imagine a future in which their families can live in peace.

Saki builds the story around irony, suspense, and a sudden final twist. Through the conflict between human pride and the power of nature, The Interlopers explores hatred, forgiveness, fate, and the fragility of human plans.

"In a forest of mixed growth somewhere on the eastern spurs of the Carpathians, a man stood one winter night watching and listening, as though he waited for some beast of the woods to come within the range of his vision, and, later, of his rifle. But the game for whose presence he kept so keen an outlook was none that figured in the sportsman’s calendar as lawful and proper for the chase; Ulrich von Gradwitz patrolled the dark forest in quest of a human enemy."