Household Tales · Chapter
The Stolen Farthings explained
A stranger visiting a family at noon sees a pale child in white enter the room, dig between floorboards, and leave.
What happens
A stranger visiting a family at noon sees a pale child in white enter the room, dig between floorboards, and leave. The family cannot see the child. The stranger describes it, and the mother recognizes it as her child who died a month ago. They find two farthings the child had hidden instead of giving to a poor man. The parents give the money to a poor man, and the child's ghost is never seen again.
Themes in this chapter
Virtue Rewarded and Vice Punished
The child's selfish act of keeping the farthings leads to unrest after death; only when the money is given to the poor does the spirit find peace.
Promises and Their Consequences
The child's failure to fulfill the intended charitable act results in a haunting, illustrating the lasting impact of broken promises.
Characters to notice
- Unknown
The ghostly child who returns to seek the hidden farthings.
- the stranger
The visitor who sees the ghost child and alerts the family.
- the poor man
The recipient of the farthings, whose acceptance allows the child to rest.
Key passages
“The parents gave the money at once to a poor man, and after that the child was never seen again.”
The parents immediately donated the coins to a beggar, and the ghostly child ceased to appear.
Resolution of the haunting through charitable act.
“It, however, had thought, “Thou canst buy thyself a biscuit for that,” and had kept the farthings, and hidden them in the openings between the boards; and therefore it had had no rest in its grave.”
The child decided to keep the coins to buy a treat, hiding them in the floor, which caused its spirit to be unable to rest.
Explanation of the ghost's origin and motive.