Project Gutenberg 2019-11-20 Public domain in the USA. 133 St. Clair, Margaret 1911 1995 Saint Clair, Margaret Clair, Margaret St. Hazzard, Wilton Seabright, Idris Clair, M. St. The Autumn After Next Produced from Worlds of If Science Fiction, January 1960 Produced by Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net "The Autumn After Next" by Margaret St. Clair is a science fiction novella written in the early 1960s. The story explores themes of magic and cultural dissonance through the experiences of Neeshan, a wizard missionary trying to teach a lazy and indifferent tribe called the Free'l about the proper use of magic. The novella highlights the challenges of bridging different worldviews, especially when one party lacks the motivation to engage with the teachings being offered. The plot centers around Neeshan's frustrating attempts to instruct the Free'l in performing spells accurately. Despite his efforts to demonstrate the efficacy and power of magic, the Free'l remain mostly apathetic to the practices he teaches, preferring simple pleasures over the diligence required for true magical mastery. When Neeshan's attempts to implement a more aggressive teaching strategy backfire, he discovers that the very spells he influenced them to cast to rid themselves of him inadvertently result in his transformation into a stone statue. Ultimately, the story reflects on human (and non-human) behavior, the consequences of manipulation, and the persistence of community faith in magic, even in the face of failure. (This is an automatically generated summary.) Reading ease score: 76.0 (7th grade). Fairly easy to read. en Science fiction Short stories Life on other planets -- Fiction Magic -- Fiction PS Text Category: Science-Fiction & Fantasy 41848 2025-07-24T07:51:18.648219 text/html 18020 2024-10-17T14:44:40 text/html 87347 2025-07-24T07:51:20.395195 application/epub+zip 86172 2025-07-24T07:51:19.013251 application/epub+zip 71063 2025-07-24T07:51:18.810234 application/epub+zip 121035 2025-07-24T07:51:21.609206 application/x-mobipocket-ebook 113477 2025-07-24T07:51:20.200219 application/x-mobipocket-ebook 98600 2022-09-27T12:52:43.215014 application/x-mobipocket-ebook 35452 2025-07-24T07:51:18.524226 text/plain; charset=us-ascii 15627 2024-10-17T14:44:40 text/plain; charset=us-ascii 16937 2025-07-24T07:51:21.739183 application/rdf+xml 26776 2025-07-24T07:51:18.894209 image/jpeg 4683 2025-07-24T07:51:18.851209 image/jpeg 294386 2025-07-24T07:51:18.657221 application/octet-stream application/zip Archives containing the RDF files for *all* our books can be downloaded at https://book.klll.cc/wiki/Gutenberg:Feeds#The_Complete_Project_Gutenberg_Catalog en.wikipedia