STAGE

Sherlock Holmes
2 Short Stories
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

Introduction

This ungraded summary is for the teacher’s use only

and should not be given to students.

The stories
The Speckled Band. A young woman called Helen
Stoner comes to ask Sherlock Holmes for help. She
explains that she lives with her stepfather, Dr Roylott,
in the country. He married her wealthy widowed
mother in India, and inherited all her money when
she died in an accident; the only stipulation in the will K. K. K. stands for the Ku Klux Klan, a secret group of
was that if Helen or her sister Julia married, Dr Roylott men in America, who wanted John’s uncle to return
would have to pay them a regular allowance. Two years important documents to them; their threat or warning
ago Julia met a young man who asked to marry her, of death was five orange pips. Unfortunately John is
and Dr Roylott agreed, but soon after this she died killed before Holmes can identify the killers. Holmes
mysteriously in her room, calling out, ‘The speckled realises that they must be the captain and two sailors
band!’ Now Helen wants to marry, and Dr Roylott has on a ship just arrived in London, and sends them five
made her sleep in her sister’s room. Holmes is sure orange pips to frighten them. They die when their ship
Helen is in danger, so he and his friend Watson go is lost in a storm later that year.
to the house to investigate. They spend the night in
Helen’s bedroom, and when an Indian snake (which Background to the story
looks like a speckled band) comes through an air-vent, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (1859–1930) was born in
Holmes hits it to make it go back to Dr Roylott’s room, Edinburgh, Scotland. He studied medicine and worked
where it kills its master. as a doctor for eight years. To supplement his income
A Scandal in Bohemia. The King of Bohemia visits he started writing short stories. The main character of
Holmes and Watson, and asks Holmes to get some his first novel, a strange, violin-playing, opium-smoking,
love letters and a photograph back from Irene Adler, intellectual detective called Sherlock Holmes, attracted
a beautiful singer who he had been in love with. The considerable public interest, and there was constant
King explains that if his royal fiancée finds out that demand for more Holmes stories.
he had an affair with Irene, the engagement will be Sherlock Holmes, the best-known detective in
broken and there will be a scandal. Holmes finds out literature, supposedly lived at 221B Baker Street in
where Irene has hidden the photo. He is confident that London, and had a wide range of cultural and other
the next day he and the King can go to her house to interests. He was famous for his powers of deductive
collect it, but Irene has realized what he is planning. reasoning and his arrogance. He was usually assisted
She has got married, and now leaves England with by his faithful friend, Dr Watson.
the photo. However, she promises never to show it to
anyone, so the King is satisfied. Holmes is impressed
by the intelligence of a woman who is cleverer than
he is.
The Five Orange Pips. A young man called John
Openshaw tells Holmes and Watson about his fears.
His uncle and father have both died in accidents, but
John suspects they were murdered. In both cases,
shortly before they died, they received an envelope
with K. K. K. on it, and five orange pips inside. Now
John has received a similar envelope, and Holmes
is concerned for his safety. Holmes discovers that

142
 STAGE
Sherlock Holmes Short Stories
2 Pre-reading activity
Elementary my dear friends!
To the teacher
Aim: To build interest in the stories by drawing on
students’ own knowledge of genre and character, to
speculate about possible plots
Time: 20–30 minutes
Organization: Draw a silhouette of Sherlock Holmes
on the blackboard or show the illustration above. Draw
attention, for example, to the deerstalker hat, the
To the teacher
pipe, and the foggy atmosphere to elicit the name of
the detective. Ask students to tell you how they knew
who it was, feeding in new vocabulary.
Alternatively, invite the students to give you the
names of famous detectives in films and books,
eliciting that of Sherlock Holmes. Then ask students
to tell you what associations they make with this
143
The Speckled Band
A Scandal in Bohemia
The Five Orange Pips
well-known character. Focus on clothes, where he
lives, companions, the types of investigations he
normally undertakes (murder, blackmail, mystery,
intrigue) and why (great intelligence, incompetence
of police, attention to detail when looking at clues).
Then put students into groups of four to five, and
give them the titles of the three short stories. They
will probably need to use a dictionary to find out the
meaning of some of the words.
Ask students to guess what they think the stories
might be about. Each group could write down their
ideas, and then exchange them in a full class group.
Do not tell students if their guesses are right or
wrong.
© OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS PHOTOCOPIABLE
 STAGE
Sherlock Holmes Short Stories
2 While reading activity

The plot thickens

The Speckled Band After reading Chapter 1

. . . will keep a wild animal in her room to kill

anyone who tries to hurt her
. . . will leave her stepfather and live alone
Helen . . . will die soon, like her sister
Stoner . . . . . . murdered her sister and will go to prison
. . . will marry and be happy
. . . will sleep in a hotel from now on
. . . something different

. . . is planning to murder Helen

. . . is going to hurt Sherlock Holmes
. . . keeps wild animals which will suddenly kill him
Helen’s . . . whistles secretly to his friends the gipsies at night
stepfather . . . . . . murdered Julia with the gipsies’ help
. . . killed his wife (it wasn’t an accident) so will go
to prison
. . . something different

. . . will talk to the gipsies

. . . is planning to kill the wild animals
. . . is going to ask Helen’s stepfather some questions
Sherlock
. . . already knows what the speckled band is
Holmes . . .
. . . will kill Helen’s stepfather in the end
. . . wants to stop Helen dying like her sister
. . . something different

continued on page 145

To the teacher

Aim: To check understanding of the story so far, and
anticipate plot development
Time: 30 minutes (for each of the three stories)
Organization: After reading up to a particular point in
the story, divide students into groups and ask them
to consider what could happen next to the main
characters. They should decide which statements
are correct, and choose the most likely outcome,
giving reasons for their choice. It is advisable not to
tell them whether their guesses are right or wrong,
so that interest in continuing with the book is fully
maintained.

PHOTOCOPIABLE © OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS 144

ASTAGE
Scandal in Bohemia After reading Chapter 1

2
King . . . will kill himself because of the scandal
Wilhelm . . . will marry Clotilde because she will never know about Irene
von . . . will marry Irene because he loves her
Ormstein . . . will kill Irene because she won’t give back the photograph
... . . . something different

. . . will fall in love with Sherlock Holmes

. . . will give back the photograph to the King
. . . will ask for a lot of money for the photograph
Irene
. . . only wants to marry the King
Adler
. . . only wants to stop him marrying Clotilde
...
. . . is cleverer than the King
. . . is cleverer than Sherlock Holmes
. . . something different

. . . will tell Clotilde about Irene

. . . will fall in love with Irene
Sherlock . . . will steal back the photograph
Holmes . . . . . . will ask the King for more money
. . . will send Dr Watson to find the photograph
. . . something different

The Five Orange Pips After reading Chapter 2

. . . will go to America
. . . will die on his way home
. . . will soon get another letter from K.K.K.
John . . . is going to meet K.K.K. at Waterloo Station
Openshaw . . . . . . has murdered his uncle and father for their money
. . . is going to run away from K.K.K.
. . . something different

. . . are Brown, Robinson and Williams

. . . are three men who have names beginning with K
. . . is a group of people who are planning to kill their enemies
K.K.K. . . . . . . is a strange word meaning death
. . . are friends of John’s who are playing with him
. . . is something different

. . . will kill John’s enemies

. . . will discover who/what K.K.K. really is
Sherlock
. . . will ask the police to help John
Holmes . . .
. . . will need Dr Watson’s help
. . . will save John’s life
. . . something different

145 © OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS PHOTOCOPIABLE