The

The Hi, everyone. This is your host and storyteller, John Haggardorn.

And this is 1001 classic short stories and tales.

It's just in time this holiday season for a family short

story from William Dean Howells called Turkeys Turning the Tables. William Dean Howells was

considered the dean of American letters. He was an American author and literary critic with a

broad range of works appealing to young and old. His writing style

favored naturalism, in which he related his character's observations in a seemingly casual and

endearing manner by embracing their imperfections. Howells inspired many writers, particularly

Sherwood Anderson. Howells was well known during his time. His short story, Christmas Every Day,

which will bring to light in a few weeks, was widely read in his day, and his novel,

The Rise of Silas Lapham, is still read in high school and college classrooms as an exemplar

of the genre of realism. He was probably best known as the editor of the Atlantic Monthly,

where he was a steady champion of the realist movement in literature.

He saw realism as nothing more and nothing less than the truthful treatment of material.

This next story, Turkey's Turning the Tables, is a great example of his work.

And now our story.

Well, you see, the Papa began on Christmas morning, when the little girl had snuggled in his lap

into just the right shape for listening.

It was the night after Thanksgiving, and you know how everybody feels the night after Thanksgiving.

Yes, but you needn't begin that way, Papa, said the little girl.

I'm not going to have any moral to it this time.

...