The Wild Asses of the Devil by H. G. Wells. Short summary

5 seconds

The writer meets a devil exiled from hell who has missed the devil’s wild donkeys and they have scattered. He decides to help the devil find the donkeys and follows him down a path from which there is no return.

1 minute

Once upon a time there was a successful writer. He lived in a beautiful villa, rich, had a beautiful wife and a young daughter. He went out in all kinds of weather. But he was tormented by the thought that he did not know the real life and its difficulties.

One day the author went for a walk in the rain and saw a poor soaked man, whom he mistook for a stoker. He invited him into the house, gave him a drink of grog, and asked him about life to use in the novel.

The stoker turned out to be a strange man — he could pick up glowing coals and smoked a cigar with a lighted side. The writer realized he was facing a devil.

He told him his story. In hell he was herding a herd of devilish wild donkeys, which could only be gathered together by uttering special curses. The donkeys scattered. He was thrown out of hell and ordered not to return until he had brought all the donkeys back.

The author decided to help the devil and went with him to look for the devil’s donkeys. He decided that after this adventure he would return home to his wife and daughter. But there was no return from that journey.