This collection is built around the late, unfinished tale The Mysterious Stranger, in which a young angel named Satan visits a group of boys in a village in sixteenth-century Austria. His casual power and indifference to human affairs lead them to see human cruelty, folly and mortality in a new light.
The story was left incomplete at Twain's death and published after it, and the versions in print differ. Its mood is much darker than his boyhood tales, showing his late doubts about humanity and religion. The volume also includes other short pieces by him.
Quotes
Nothing exists; all is a dream.