# The Three Tall Sons explained — Fifty-One Tales

> Chapter companion for Fifty-One Tales by Lord Dunsany.

## What happens

Man's ultimate city, the pinnacle of civilization, turns away a poor old woman—Nature herself—who comes begging at its gates. She returns with her three tall sons, War, Famine, and Plague, who enter the city unnoticed while Man remains absorbed in his problems and oblivious to their approach.

## Themes in this chapter

### Nature vs. Civilization

The ultimate city represents civilization's triumph, but Nature, personified as a beggar woman, is excluded and retaliates through her sons War, Famine, and Plague.

### The Futility of Human Ambition

Man's proud civilization, built to solve all problems, is undone by the very forces it tried to exclude, highlighting the emptiness of his achievements.

## Character check-ins

### Unknown

The narrator describes the rise of civilization and the arrival of Nature's sons.

### Mother Earth

Appears as a poor old woman begging at the city gates, turned away repeatedly.

## Key lines

> And at last Man raised on high the final glory of his civilization, the towering edifice of the ultimate city.

Humanity built its greatest achievement: a magnificent, towering city representing the peak of civilization.

_Sets the scene of Man's ultimate accomplishment._

> It was Nature that came thus begging in from the fields, whom they always turned away.

The old woman is actually Nature, repeatedly rejected by the city's inhabitants.

_Reveals the allegorical identity of the beggar._

> And these are Nature's sons, the forlorn one's terrible children, War, Famine and Plague.

The three tall sons are War, Famine, and Plague—Nature's devastating forces.

_Identifies the sons and their destructive nature._

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/fifty_one_tales_se/chapters/the-three-tall-sons
- Book: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/fifty_one_tales_se
- All chapters: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/fifty_one_tales_se/chapters