Hildebrand Rarity Humor

JamesBondBlog

I've read the story dozens of times. Listening to the audiobook made me remember again a bit of very funny dry humor inserted by Fleming.

<blockquote>Bond was amused to note that Mr Krest's hairy legs, magnified into pale tree-trunks by the glass, were not more than a foot away from the moray's jaws. He gave an encouraging poke at the moray with his spear, but the eel only snapped at the metal points and slid back out of sight.</blockquote>

For some reason, the "encouraging poke" makes me laugh out loud. Outwardly, Bond is in control of his temper while with Mr Krest, but underneath the surface (literally in this case) he's rebelling against him.

FlemingsBond.com

Perilagu_Khan

Fleming's best short story, IMO. And Krest is one of Fleming's greatest characters. The Krest in LTK bears as much resemblance to the genuine article as does Lonsdale's Drax to the original.

Dragonpol

There's also the line that Bond wasn't sure if Krest had trod on on a guitar fish from the jump or exclamation he made. I read it again recently and made copious notes on it. I've been meaning to write them up into a blog paper for some time, though. I agree it is good short story, precisely as it is something different.