The Phoenix Summary

Lord Strawberry, a British aristocrat who collects birds, owns the grandest aviary in Europe. His only missing specimen is a phoenix, so he travels to Arabia in search of the rare bird. There, he finds a phoenix, gains its trust, captures it, and brings it back to England, where it becomes a public sensation. When all the buzz dies down, however, the phoenix can finally live comfortably in Lord Strawberry’s aviary—it’s a friendly and charming bird who loves Lord Strawberry.

Lord Strawberry eventually dies, and the phoenix is sold at auction to Mr. Tancred Poldero. Mr. Poldero runs “Poldero’s Wizard Wonderworld” and he buys the bird with the hope that the legendary animal will boost his ticket sales. Business is good for a while, but eventually the crowds start to dwindle and the cost of taking care of the phoenix outweighs its profits. After realizing that phoenix is a creature that, upon its death, will light itself on fire and be reborn, Mr. Poldero decides that he must do whatever he can to get the phoenix to burst into flames so that he can sell tickets to the event.

Mr. Poldero’s attempts to prematurely age the bird initially prove futile. He restricts the bird’s food, cuts off the bird’s heat, forces it to share a cage with less friendly birds, and sets cats after the bird. Yet each time, the bird triumphs, adapting to less food and heat, winning over the unfriendly birds, and flying out of reach of the cats. Finally, Mr. Poldero consults a book about the phoenix’s habitat, which he discovers is dry. So Mr. Poldero attaches a sprinkler to the bird’s cage and begins tormenting the bird himself.

The phoenix grows sickly and, recognizing that the phoenix is about to die, Mr. Poldero starts advertising the once-in-a-lifetime event of witnessing the bird’s death. He sells tickets to a newly intrigued audience and hires a film crew to capture the event on camera.

On the night of the phoenix’s death, there is a camera crew at the ready, a packed audience, and a pyre ready in the bird’s cage. But the phoenix does not simply catch on fire; its flames shoot past its cage and scorch Mr. Poldero and his audience, killing “some thousand” people.