The Little Girl Eater, by Septimus Dale Essay Example

The Little Girl Eater, by Septimus Dale Essay Example The Little Girl Eater, by Septimus Dale Essay The Little Girl Eater, by Septimus Dale Essay In class we read the story of The Little Girl Eater, by Septimus Dale. The central character is a man called Mason and the story begins with him lying on sand beneath an old coal jetty; hed been there a long time, after taking a short cut when the tide was out, through the girders. He knew the tide was heading back his way, and would eventually drown him. It was early April so it was very unlikely that some one would find him. Mason felt sick and weak; huge waves of nausea hit him like the waves of the sea. He could no longer feel his lower limbs, nor move them. Mason felt that he must reason out a manner of escape before it was too late. Mason had tried calling out to begin with, but this was a failure. However, an ingenious plan formed in his mind: if he were to burrow downwards, instead of trying to force himself upwards, he might dig himself enough clearance to crawl clear. It all depended on what lay beneath. Miranda was a little girl, not pretty at all; in fact, eminently ugly: her nose was lengthy; she had an extremely obese physique. The road her car was travelling on was jolting; she was on the back seat; her mother in the front with her friend, Johnny, who was driving. Johnny was nice: he didnt mind going anywhere with his car, unlike her dad. They were going to the sea. Johnny wanted to send Miranda down to the beach to play, for obvious reasons. Mason soon stopped burrowing because it had frayed him out. The pier was made on a solid concrete base but the concrete bank was not high enough to hold the girder. Suddenly he saw a tin can lying half-submerged in the sand; he decided, hed give him self an instant death by cutting his throat, a quicker way to die, less tormenting than to be slowly drowned by the waves of the sea. Miranda was gazing down on Mason below, a funny sort of man, because she could only view his shoulder and his arms. She was afraid to ask him what he was doing because she knew grown ups got upset easily. Mason wasnt upset when she ran away because he knew she would tell someone shed seen him. When Miranda told her mother, Mirandas mother was shocked when she said a bloody man. She told Miranda she shouldnt make up silly stories. Johnny told Miranda the man under the pier was a Little Girl Eater: who lived under the sea and, when the tide was out, waited for silly little girls and gobbled them up instantly. Miranda asked her mother if she could go back to play on the beach.