History Literature / TheWonderfulStoryOfHenrySugar

* AGoodWayToDie: Henry Sugar dies at a ripe old age without a penny to his name, having lived a rich full life of adventure with his friends, leaving behind twenty-one of the best orphanages in the world everywhere he traveled, having traded the idle greed he started his quest with for the rich happiness and satisfaction of a life well lived.

** Dahl confirms that "The Mildenhall Treasure" was a [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mildenhall_Treasure real]] set of Roman tableware that was found by Gordon Butcher and Sydney Ford. Ford's grandson confirmed that the gist of the story was true.

** Furthermore, it took Imhrat Khan many more years than Henry to fully develop his yoga abilities, and Henry himself is noted to be unusually fast. This foreshadows that Henry has a natural aptitude towards spiritual development that leaves him dissatisfied with earthly riches and more compassionate to his fellow man.

** The "fingersmith" in "The Hitch-Hiker" targets these types of people at the racetracks, considering them acceptable targets since they don't work for their money. It's implied that he takes a liking to the protagonist because while the protagonist is rich enough to afford a nice car, the protagonist ''[[SelfMadeMan earned]]'' their money through their writing, which the titular hitchhiker considers a skilled profession.

* BasedOnATrueStory: Dahl confirms that "The Mildenhall Treasure" was a [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mildenhall_Treasure real]] set of Roman tableware that was found by Gordon Butcher and Sydney Ford. Ford's grandson confirmed that the gist of the story was true.

* IdleRich: Henry is noted to be one of these at the start of the story, and his passion for gambling is a result of simply having nothing better to do with his life. He's able to spend ''years'' perfecting his powers of concentration because he has no real need to work.

* JustLikeRobinHood: In "The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar", after the policeman suggests that Henry invest his winnings into an orphanage rather than just [[MoneyToThrowAway giving it away to random passers-by]], Henry decides to use his newfound power to fund not one, but eventually twenty-one first-class orphanages. He specifically compares himself to Robin Hood, "robbing" the casinos (which are often run by shady figures anyway, which later necessitates him visiting the casinos in disguise once the mobs start to recognize him) and giving to those who really need the help.

* MuggedForDisguise: In "The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar", invoked by a bellhop in Las Vegas hoping for a bit of extra cash on the side. He warns Henry that the local casino mobs were looking for him, and gives him a chance of escape: Take his uniform, then bound him hand and foot and leave immediately. Henry does so, leaving a thousand dollars for the bellhop to pick up later. From this point on, Henry Sugar never enters a casino again without a disguise.
* MundaneUtility: Henry Sugar is fascinated by one of Imrhat Khan's exercises while gaining the power of eyeless sight, namely, being able to see what's printed on the other side of a playing card, something he recognizes can be used to cheat at gambling.

* VeryLooselyBasedOnATrueStory: "The Swan" has alarming parallels to the real-life case of James Bulger (which happened some years after the book was written), in that a boy is abducted and tormented by two stronger boys, who also tie him to a railway line. Some parents campaigned for the book to be banned.

* InsistentTerminology: The eponymous character in ''The Hitch-Hiker'' disdains the term "pickpocket", preferring to refer to himself as a "fingersmith".

* KarmicTwistEnding: Discussed; the narrator claims that "[[DirectLineToTheAuthor if this were a work of fiction]]", Henry Sugar would die for using magic selfishly, as {{foreshadow|ing}}ed by Imrhat Khan's death for that very reason -- possibly he would use his magic to see through his own body, revealing a deadly blood clot moving swiftly and inescapably towards his heart... But as ThisIsReality, what happened did not, in fact, follow these strict genre conventions.

* ThatCloudLooksLike: In ''The Swan'': Eight-year-old Peter Watson plays a game of trying to see faces in clouds. He does this to distract himself from the terrifying situation he is in: tied to a railway line by two sadistic boys, who are waiting for a train to run him over.

* YouFool: A cop calls out Henry for giving money away in the street rather than donating it to a charity like an orphanage.

* NarrativeFiligree: In ''The Swan'', a succession of three unimportant characters are mentioned by their full names. Soon after this, the mother of a principal character Peter Watson is merely referred to as "Mrs Watson".

* DirectLineToTheAuthor: The story of Henry Sugar is explained as being apparently based on someone's actual life.
* DoubleStandard: According to the doctor's account in "Henry Sugar," the Indian magician Imrhat Khan died after telling his secrets to him and for using his powers selfishly. Henry Sugar similarly uses his powers selfishly but instead has a change of heart on realizing the challenge is gone from gambling. The narrator even [[LampshadeHanging lampshades this]] shortly after that first night of gambling, stating that, [[DirectLineToTheAuthor were this a work of fiction]], Henry Sugar would have a similar death, and even describes this hypothetical death in full, gory detail...but that's not the way it ''actually'' happened.

* MuggedForDisguise: In ''Henry Sugar'', invoked by a bellhop in Las Vegas hoping for a bit of extra cash on the side. He warns Henry that the local casino mobs were looking for him, and gives him a chance of escape: Take his uniform, then bound him hand and foot and leave immediately. Henry does so, leaving a thousand dollars for the bellhop to pick up later. From this point on, Henry Sugar never enters a casino again without a disguise.

* ScrewTheRulesIHaveMoney: The boy's parents in "The Boy Who Talks With Animals" pay the fishermen more than what the giant turtle is worth, so that their son will stop begging.

[[quoteright:254:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/henrysugar.jpg]]

''The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar and Six More'' is a collection of tales by Creator/RoaldDahl, first published in 1977. While many are fiction, a few are true and drawn from his life.

Short film adaptations of ''[[Film/TheWonderfulStoryOfHenrySugar The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar]]'' and ''Film/{{The Swan|2023}}'' directed by Creator/WesAnderson were released on Creator/{{Netflix}} in September 2023, along with two other Dahl short stories, "The Ratcatcher" and "Poison".

** "The Boy Who Talked With Animals": The turtle is saved, but the boy runs off and has sea adventures with it. It's worrying for his parents, who did nothing to deserve that, but the narrator hopes that the boy is happy.

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* TaxmanTakesTheWinnings: When Henry Sugar tells his accountant of his plan to win money from the casinos to set up orphanages over the world, his accountant tells him that he would have to move out of England, as the taxman would have it all.