An Egyptian Hornet

In a grand Egyptian hotel, the Rev. James Milligan begins his Sunday morning with comfort, vanity, and a pleasant sense of clerical importance — until an enormous hornet appears between him and his bath. What should be a minor inconvenience becomes, in his imagination, a monstrous embodiment of evil, temptation, and attack. An Egyptian Hornet by Algernon Blackwood is a sharp comic tale of fear, hypocrisy, and moral exposure. As Milligan’s terror grows, the insect becomes less a creature than a test of character, revealing the spite, cowardice, and self-deception hidden beneath his polished religious manner. Blending satire, psychological comedy, and character study, Blackwood turns a hotel corridor and a single insect into a miniature drama of pride and humiliation. Readers who enjoy ironic short fiction, clerical satire, dark humor, and compact psychological portraits will find this story witty, cruel, and vividly observed.