Ten small negros , published in 1939 is, probably, with the Crime of the East-Express train , most famous of the detective novels written by Agatha Christie.

He is known, in English, under three different titles: Ten Little Niggers (British original version, conforms to the title of the song of 1869), Ten Little Indians (American original version, copied on the title of the song of 1868, and in addition considered to be more “politically correct”), and finally And Then There Were None (title employed initially for first film of the history, and considered to be even more “suitable”).

The intrigue of the novel

Ten people of very different horizons are invited by a mysterious character, to come to remain in a villa located in the island of the Negro, lost at the edge of the coast of the Devon. They do not find there their host, but only one couple of servants who, not more than the guests, do not know it or mysterious () the U.N Owen (French version: A.N.O' Nyme).

A series of ten apparently unexplainable murders, all copied on a famous English counting rhyme follows ( Ten Little Niggers ). The explanation will be finally given by a confession written by the assassin and pier in a bottle to the sea.

In the theatrical version, only eight murders are made, the two small last negro/Indian managing to survive the plan machiavelic of the assassin, thus drawing a “happy” end.

Each murder is directly inspired by the counting rhyme. Moreover, the following order which the murders occur were learnedly studied so that the least guilty of all the first die while guiltiest will undergo a true torture psychology. Indeed, it appears soon clearly that the murderer is necessarily one of the guests. Each one is thus tiny room to be wondered which is the murderer.

The first small negro who drank to strangle himself some is Anthony Marston, who will choke itself while swallowing through his wine glass the evening even of his arrival.

The second small negro is Ethel Rogers which will die during its sleep, " one of them forever endormit".

The third murder will be that of MacArthur which " in Devon was allé" , it will receive a blow of cane on the head.

The following murder is that of Thomas Rogers who was occupied outputting wood and which " in two my foi" was cut;

The fifth murder is that of Emily Brent which will be made prick by a bee during its sleep. Certain versions make of it allergic to their venom.

The next victim is Wargrave judge who will be killed of a ball in full head and which will be then disguised as a judge of the high court.

Then the turn comes from Dr. Armstrong who fell from cliff in the sea, there or a fish of April could the gober.

Of the last three, William Blore will be made kill by the bulky marble clock in the shape of bear of the room of Vera Claythorne which fell to him on the head.

Finally Vera will assassinate Lombard believing that he was the murderer, then she will be hung in her own room.

The question remains now suspended, which remains it since at the end of the book, it is indicated that one found ten corpses well on the island of the Negro.

Characters

Edward Georges Armstrong

Armstrong is a very qualified doctor suspected of having operated a patient of a peritonitis whereas it was drunk. Emily Caroline Brent

Miss Brent is 65 years old. Very attached to the religion, she is suspected of having pushed with the suicide a named expectant mother Béatrice Taylor while returning it of to her. William Henri Blore

Blore is a former police officer who directs from now on an agency of detectives in Plymouth. It is made pass for certain Mr. Davis, but its true name is quickly known other guests present on the island of the Negro. He is suspected of false witness about called Landor, is condemned to the forced labors with perpetuity and is died during his sorrow. Véra E. Claythorne

Miss Claythorne is suspected of negligence towards the child of which it was controlling it at the time of her accidental death.

Philip Lombard

Lombard is a soldier suspected of being themselves seized the vivres of its men lost in the jungle and of having let them die of hunger.

John Gordon MacArthur

MacArthur is a former general which fought during the Great War. It is an old man, suspected of having sent in recognition the lover of his wife so that this one is made kill by the enemy.

Anthony James Marston

Marston is a dandy but also a true roadhog. One withdrew his driving license to him by twice, in particular after it crushed two children who played on the road.

Lawrence John Wargrave

Wargrave is seemingly an honest judge with whom one can make confidence. The magistrate led to the bracket a marked man to have assassinated an old woman, only the judge having considered it guilty.

Ethel Rogers

Mrs Rogers is domestic, committed recently like her husband by certain Mrs O' Nyme (in French) or Mrs Owen (in English) in order to be useful in a villa built on an isolated island.

Thomas Rogers

Also domestic, Mr. Rogers officiates in company of his Ethel wife on the island of the Negro. Like she, he is shown of negligence: he let die the old woman in which he was previously employed.

The nursery rhyme

See also the English article

Agatha Christie, which was on several occasions to use the constraints related to the nursery rhymes (counting rhymes) in its novels, made of them to use for the first time in Ten small negros , by copying in a narrow way each murder on one of the worms of the counting rhyme.

It will re-use this technique the following year, in the novel One, two, three… ( One, Two, Buckle My Shoe ), in a rather free and sometimes humorous way, then in 1942 in the novel Five small pigs ( Five Little Pigs ) and in some other later works.

It was based, to write its novel, on a song written in 1869 by Frank Green, Ten Little Niggers , which was itself the English adaptation of another American song written in 1868 by Septimus Winner, Ten Little Indians . It modified simply last the worms of the song for the needs for its criminal intrigue (in the novel), while returning to the original words for the theatrical version.

French translation

Ten small negros of it were to dine,
One of them drank with of étrangler
- remained nothing any more but neuf.
about it

Last nine small negros lay down at midnight,
One of them forever endormit
- remained nothing any more but huit.
about it

Eight small negros in Devon had gone,
One of them wanted there demeurer
- remained nothing any more but sept.
about it

Seven small negros split glazing bar,
In two one cut my foi
- remained nothing any more but six.
about it

Six small negros rêvassaient with the apiary,
A bee one of them has piqué
- remained nothing any more but cinq.
about it

Five small negros were lawyers at the court,
One of them finishes into high cour
- remained nothing any more but quatre.
about it

Four small negros bathed in the morning,
Poisson of goba April one
- remained nothing any more but trois.
about it

Three small negros from went away to the zoo,
A bear of the one made the peau
- remained nothing any more but deux.
about it

Two small negros gilded themselves with the sun,
One of them became vermeil
- thus did not remain more but un.
about it

A small negro found himself very esseulé,
To hang itself it is allé
- did not remain about it any more… whole.

Ten Little Niggers

Song written in 1869 by Frank Green, on a music of Mason Mark, for singer G.W. “Pony” Moore.

Ten little nigger servant boys went out to dines;
One choked his little coil, and then there were nine.

Nine little nigger servant boys sat up very late;
One overslept himself, and then there were eight.

Eight little nigger servant boys dolly in Devon;
One said he' D stay there, and then there were seven.

Seven little nigger servant boys chopping up stick;
One chopped himself in half, and then there were six.

Six little nigger servant boys playing with has hive;
With bumble-bee stung one, and then there were five.

Five little nigger servant boys going in for law;
One got in chancery, and then there were furnace.

Furnace little nigger servant boys going out to sea;
With red herring swallowed one, and then there were three.

Three little nigger servant boys walking in the zoo;
With big bear hugged one, and then there were two.

Two little nigger servant boys sitting in the sun;
One got frizzled up, and then there was one.

One little nigger servant boys living room all alone;
He got married, and then there were nun.

Agatha Christie, for the needs for its novel, transformed the history of the negro small last:

One little nigger servant boy left all alone;

He went out and hanged himself and then there were None.

Ten Little Indians

Song of Septimus Winner, American lyric writer resident with Philadelphia, published in July 1868 with London.

Ten little Injuns standin' in has line,
One toddled home and then there were nine;
Nine little Injuns swingin' one has spoils,
One tumbled off and then there were eight.

Refrain:

One little, two little, three little, furnace little, five little Injuns servant boys,

Six little, seven little, eight little, nine little, ten little Injuns boys.

Eight little Injuns gayest under heav' N,
One went to sleep and then there were seven;
Seven little Injuns cutting up to their tricks,
One broke his neck and then there were six.

Six little Injuns kickin' all alive,
Five One kick' D the bucket and then there were;
Five little Injuns one has cellar door,
One tumbled in and then there were furnace.

Furnace little Injuns up one has spree,
One He got fuddled and then there were three;
Three little Injuns out in has canoe,
One tumbled overboard and then there were two.

Two little Injuns foolin' with has gun,
One shot you other and then there was one;
One little Injuns livin' all alone,
He got married and then there were nun.

Editions

• 1939 : Ten Little Niggers , London: Hakes
• 1940: And Then There Were Nun , New York: Dodd Mead
• 1940 : Ten small negros , Paris: Bookstore of the Fields-Élysées, coll “the Mask”, n° 299
• 1965: Ten Little Indians , New York: Pocket Books

Note: all the French republications of the novel preserved the title Ten small negros .

Adaptations

Theater

• 1943 : Ten Little Niggers , part of Agatha Christie (with a “happy” end), put in scene by Irene Hentschel and played for the first time Saint James Theater, in London, on November 17th, 1943;
• 1944 : Ten Little Indians , taken again American of the part, in a setting in scene of Albert de Courville, played for the first time at Broadhust Theater, New York on June 27th, 1944.
• 2003 : Devinez which? , adaptation of Sebastien Azzopardi in which the Negros are replaced by cats. The part was created in 2003, at the theater of the Palais Royal, was put in scene by Bernard Murat (with Jean-Pierre Bouvier, Alice Taglioni, Yves Gasc, Roger Dumas, Philippe Laudenbach, Josiane Lévêque, Eric Desmaretz, Michel Crémadès, Laurent Gerard and Agnès Pelletier). Sebastien Azzopardi was nominated in the category Meilleure adaptation to Molières 2004.
• 2006: The troop “Estrade” of Daniel Pitolet gives the part to the last style for representations in 2007.

Cinema

• 1945 : Ten small Indians ( And Then There Were Nun ), American film , carried out by Clear Rene, on a scenario of Dudley Nichols according to the part Ten Little Indians of Agatha Christie;
• 1965 : the ten small Indians ( Ten Little Indians ), British film of George Pollock, on a scenario of Peter Yeldham based on the preceding scenario of Dudley Nichols and on the novel and the part of Agatha Christie, with Hugh O' Brian, Shirley Eaton, Stanley Holloway;
• 1974 : Ten small negros film in coproduction hispano - italo - germano - French, realized by Peter Collinson, on a scenario of Harry Alan Towers (pseudonym of Peter Yeldham already quoted), Enrique Llovet and Erich Krohnke, according to the novel of Agatha Christie with Charles Aznavour, Maria Rohm; (with an end " heureuse" since remain two survivors, a man and a woman…) ;
• 1987 : Desyat negrityat , Soviet film (in Russian), carried out by Stanislav Govorukhin, on a scenario of Gennadi Engstrem. Apparently ever left to France. Exploited in the Anglo-Saxon countries under the title Ten Little Niggers or Ten Little Indians , according to the cases.
• 1989 : Ten Little Indians or Death one Safari , American film or British (divergent sources…), realized by Alan Birkin, on a scenario of Jackson Hunsicker and Gerry O' Hara, according to the part of Agatha Christie. Note: The film, presented to the Cannes festival on May 17th 1989 under the title Ten Little Indians , apparently never left in French version. There exists at least a poster carrying this title in conformity with that of the part, while the title Death one Safari seems to be used at the time of the exit into the room in certain countries (to be determined).
• 1989: the Reception , Canadian film (turned in French and video) carried out by the Québécois scenario writer Robert Morin. It is about a very free adaptation of the novel of Agatha Christie " 10 small nègres".

Television

• 1949 : Ten Little Niggers , British telefilm, carried out by Kevin Sheldon on its scenario. Diffused on the antenna of BBC on August 20th, 1949. Apparently ever diffused in France.
• 1953 : Ten small negros , French telefilm. Diffused on the antenna of rtf on March 19th, 1953. Fragmentary information.
• 1969: Zehn kleine Negerlein , German telefilm, carried out by Hans Quest on a scenario of Gerd Krauss and Fritz Peter Busch. Diffused on the antenna of ZDF on July 5th 1969. Apparently ever diffused in France.
• 1970 : Ten small negros , televised part (series “With the theater this evening”), put in scene by Raymond Gérôme, according to the part of Agatha Christie (fine “happy”). Diffused on the first chain of ORTF on October 1st 1970.

Video plays

• Devinez which? takes again the original screen of the novel by adding some enigmas to it.

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