Summary
The story begins on a farm in the English countryside. An unnamed young girl narrates the story. She informs the reader that she lives next to the Gregg family. She says that the Greggs have two sons, one named Philip and one named William. She says that she occasionally goes over to their house to play with them. Both she and Philip are eight years old, while William is eleven. The week before, something happened to the family, although she doesn't specify what it was.
She says that the Greggs really enjoyed hunting. They went every Saturday and all had guns. The narrator detests hunting and was always angry when they went. She used to attempt to convince them to not go, but no one would listen to her. The boys would tease and make fun of her and Mr Gregg would simply ignore her entirely.
On one particular morning, she sees the Greggs coming out of the forest with a dead deer. She begins to yell at them. The boys make fun of her and Mr Gregg tells her to mind her own business. She feels herself getting enraged and she loses control over her emotions. Suddenly, before she can stop herself, her magical powers come out. She uses what she refers to as her "magic finger" on the whole family.
She is immediately upset, as she did not intend to do this, particularly to Mrs Gregg who wasn't even present at the scene. She says that another time she used the finger by accident and regretted it. In class one day, the narrator's teacher, Mrs Winter, scolds her for misspelling the word cat.
The narrator spells it k-a-t and the teacher calls her a "stupid little girl." She tells her to go stand in the corner of the room. She gets very angry and suddenly she sees that Mrs Winter has sprouted whiskers. She notes that they are very long and go out to her ears. The whole class laughs and Mrs Winter asks what is so funny.
She turns back to the board and the class sees that she has a bushy tail growing out of her back. The narrator says she can't say any more about Mrs Winter, but that she is not alright and never will be. The narrator says that she does not know how it happened and that she has had the magic finger her whole life, but has never understood how it works. She experiences a tingling sensation and then lightning shoots out of her fingertips and hits the person who made her mad.
The same thing happened with the Greggs. The narrator goes home after the zapping occurs and waits. She got the story of what happened to the Greggs the following morning. William and Philip went hunting with their father again. They killed sixteen ducks and had an easy time doing it. Their father is ecstatic the whole time.
Analysis
Animal rights is the book's core theme. The narrator immediately informs the reader that she loves nature and is upset by the brutality of the Greggs' hunting. She makes a number of arguments to them in an effort to get them to reform their ways, but they laugh off her suggestions. Her disgust at their killing ducks and deer is reflective of the way that she believes these animals deserve as much respect as people. While she wouldn't necessarily label this belief, as she is just eight years old, her passion is informed by a sense that the rights of animals need to be protected and conserved. Her visceral reaction to seeing the deer that the Greggs have killed is indicative of her passionate desire to safeguard the animals around her.
Childhood is also a major theme in the book. Both times the narrator uses her magic powers, it comes about from a negative interaction with an adult. In the first, Mrs Winter cruelly mocks her, calling her "stupid" for misspelling a word. In the second, Mr Gregg brusquely tells her to mind her own business after criticizing his hunting. In these two instances, she feels harshly rebuked by adults and responds with an intense anger that triggers her special ability. She dislikes feeling dismissed by these figures and gets back at them for it. These experiences highlight how the narrator's experience of childhood is largely colored by feelings of being ignored and mocked, a feeling that the finger seems to push back on.
Magic is another key theme in the story. The narrator is aware of her magical power but is also disturbed by its capacity to do harm. Instead of feeling righteous about getting back at Mrs Winter, she feels remorse for giving her the appearance of a cat. Likewise, she feels guilty about using her magic finger on the Greggs, particularly Mrs Gregg who is not even present for the hunt. This aspect of her powers highlights both her youth and lack of practice. It emphasizes the potential danger of this magic, as it is deployed unintentionally and has unintended consequences.
Morality is also a main theme in the book's opening section. Despite her relative youth, the narrator has a strong sense of right and wrong. She is angry with the Greggs for hunting because she thinks killing animals is wrong. She tries to express this to them, but they ignore her and treat her comments with mocking derision. The strength of her convictions shows how much she believes in her morals. The Greggs' treatment of her only further underscores the cruelty of their beliefs. Unbeknownst to them, the magical finger will force them to undertake a major reevaluation of their morals.
The first part of the book states its main conflict. It shows the young narrator's passion for protecting the natural world as well as her well-defined moral compass. She is met with hostility from the adults in her world, but Dahl seems to suggest that she actually has a better, more empathetic understanding of the world than her neighbors do. Her unpredictable magic will ultimately reshape the Greggs' worldview and show them why she has been right all along.
