Buttercup Day
Encyclopedia
"Buttercup Day" is a short story by P. G. Wodehouse
, which first appeared in the United States in the November 21, 1925 issue of The Saturday Evening Post
, and in the United Kingdom in the December 1925 Strand
. It was included in the collection Eggs, Beans and Crumpets, published in 1940. It features the irrepressible Stanley Featherstonehaugh Ukridge
.
in the grounds of her house while she is away, and he asks Corky to help him guard the place from the revelers.
Arriving at the Heath House, Corky is made to buy a paper flower from a pretty girl who informs him it is "Buttercup Day". Inside, Ukridge tells him it is all a plan of his - he has hired the girl, going in halves with her for the money she collects. Corky is shocked, but Ukridge explains that at no point is any real charity mentioned. With the money, suitably increased by some astute gambling, he plans to found a cat ranch in America.
A stuttering curate
enters, and complains about the Buttercup girl; Corky is heading off to warn her when he runs into Aunt Julia, returned early. He tries to shake her off, and returns to Ukridge, who he finds sleeping soundly; he meets Aunt Julia again, and a detective from Scotland Yard
tells them that a dangerous crook is at the fete, a burglar known for his stuttering. He asks where Julia keeps her jewelry, and rushes off to check on it.
Julia and Corky find they are locked in. Their shouts eventually bring Ukridge, who releases them, and it emerges that Ukridge had been drugged by the curate, while the butler had been locked in the cellar at gunpoint by the fake detective. Aunt Julia's jewels and collection of precious snuff boxes are missing.
Ukridge is once again thrown out of his aunt's house, and is distraught to learn that his friend the Buttercup girl, having met a stuttering curate at the fete, had let him talk her into donating all her ill-gotten money to his church fund.
P. G. Wodehouse
Sir Pelham Grenville Wodehouse, KBE was an English humorist, whose body of work includes novels, short stories, plays, poems, song lyrics, and numerous pieces of journalism. He enjoyed enormous popular success during a career that lasted more than seventy years and his many writings continue to be...
, which first appeared in the United States in the November 21, 1925 issue of The Saturday Evening Post
The Saturday Evening Post
The Saturday Evening Post is a bimonthly American magazine. It was published weekly under this title from 1897 until 1969, and quarterly and then bimonthly from 1971.-History:...
, and in the United Kingdom in the December 1925 Strand
Strand Magazine
The Strand Magazine was a monthly magazine composed of fictional stories and factual articles founded by George Newnes. It was first published in the United Kingdom from January 1891 to March 1950 running to 711 issues, though the first issue was on sale well before Christmas 1890.Its immediate...
. It was included in the collection Eggs, Beans and Crumpets, published in 1940. It features the irrepressible Stanley Featherstonehaugh Ukridge
Stanley Featherstonehaugh Ukridge
Stanley Featherstonehaugh Ukridge is a fictional character from the short stories and novels of P. G. Wodehouse.Ukridge is a schemer who will do anything to increase his funding -- except, of course, work. An alert and creative opportunist, he makes sure that no kindness shown to him, however...
.
Main characters
- Stanley Featherstonehaugh UkridgeStanley Featherstonehaugh UkridgeStanley Featherstonehaugh Ukridge is a fictional character from the short stories and novels of P. G. Wodehouse.Ukridge is a schemer who will do anything to increase his funding -- except, of course, work. An alert and creative opportunist, he makes sure that no kindness shown to him, however...
, the irrepressible entrepreneur- Julia Ukridge, his haughty writer aunt
- Jimmy Corcoran, Ukridge's writer friend
- "Stuttering Sam", a suspicious curate
- "Mr Dawson", a suspicious Scotland Yard detective
- A very pretty girl, a friend of Ukridge, partner in his scheme
Plot
Ukridge, impoverished as ever, complains to his friend Jimmy Corcoran of his lack of funds, and also of the way charity collectors take a heavy toll on what money he does get hold of. His Aunt Julia is holding a feteFête
Fête is a French word meaning festival, celebration or party, which has passed into English as a label that may be given to certain events.-Description:It is widely used in England and Australia in the context of a village fête,...
in the grounds of her house while she is away, and he asks Corky to help him guard the place from the revelers.
Arriving at the Heath House, Corky is made to buy a paper flower from a pretty girl who informs him it is "Buttercup Day". Inside, Ukridge tells him it is all a plan of his - he has hired the girl, going in halves with her for the money she collects. Corky is shocked, but Ukridge explains that at no point is any real charity mentioned. With the money, suitably increased by some astute gambling, he plans to found a cat ranch in America.
A stuttering curate
Curate
A curate is a person who is invested with the care or cure of souls of a parish. In this sense "curate" correctly means a parish priest but in English-speaking countries a curate is an assistant to the parish priest...
enters, and complains about the Buttercup girl; Corky is heading off to warn her when he runs into Aunt Julia, returned early. He tries to shake her off, and returns to Ukridge, who he finds sleeping soundly; he meets Aunt Julia again, and a detective from Scotland Yard
Scotland Yard
Scotland Yard is a metonym for the headquarters of the Metropolitan Police Service of London, UK. It derives from the location of the original Metropolitan Police headquarters at 4 Whitehall Place, which had a rear entrance on a street called Great Scotland Yard. The Scotland Yard entrance became...
tells them that a dangerous crook is at the fete, a burglar known for his stuttering. He asks where Julia keeps her jewelry, and rushes off to check on it.
Julia and Corky find they are locked in. Their shouts eventually bring Ukridge, who releases them, and it emerges that Ukridge had been drugged by the curate, while the butler had been locked in the cellar at gunpoint by the fake detective. Aunt Julia's jewels and collection of precious snuff boxes are missing.
Ukridge is once again thrown out of his aunt's house, and is distraught to learn that his friend the Buttercup girl, having met a stuttering curate at the fete, had let him talk her into donating all her ill-gotten money to his church fund.
See also
- List of Wodehouse's Ukridge stories