Ten Little Niggers (also known as Ten Little Indians and And Then There Were None) is a work of detective fiction by Agatha Christie, first published in England in 1939. (She also adapted the book for the stage.) It takes its name from a nursery rhyme, in common with several other Christie titles (e.g. One, Two, Buckle my Shoe).

In 1940 it was republished in New York as And Then There Were None, a less offensive title, taken from the same rhyme.

It has been adapted for the cinema under that name in 1945 and again in 1974; and also filmed as Ten Little Indians in 1959, 1966, and 1989. It has also been performed regularly as a stage play, since Christie's original adaptation in 1943; interestingly, she decided that the play demanded a more upbeat ending than the book.

The 1945 film version was the most successful and took less liberties with Christie's plot than some of the other versions. It was directed by Rene Clair from a screenplay by Dudley Nichols. Its cast featured Barry Fitzgerald, Walter Huston, Louis Hayward, Roland Young, June Duprez, Mischa Auer, C. Aubrey Smith, Judith Anderson, Richard Haydn and Queenie Leonard as the people stranded on the island.

The rhyme

The "nursery rhyme" itself is the chorus of an American comic song, written by Septimus Winner in 1868; there are many variants of the lyrics. The song is now considered racist and offensive.

Ten little Injuns standin' in a line,

One toddled home and then there were nine;

Nine little Injuns swingin' on a gate,

One tumbled off and then there were eight.

One little, two little, three little, four little, five little Injuns 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 their tricks,

One broke his neck and then there were six.

One little, two little, three little, four little, five little Injuns boys,

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

Six little Injuns kickin' all alive,

One kick'd the bucket and then there were five;

Five little Injuns on a cellar door,

One tumbled in and then there were four.

One little, two little, three little, four little, five little Injuns boys,

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

Four little Injuns up on a spree,

One he got fuddled and then there were three;

Three little Injuns out in a canoe,

One tumbled overboard and then there were two.

Two little Injuns foolin' with a gun,

One shot t'other and then there was one;

One little Injuns livin' all alone,

He got married and then there were none.

The plot

Ten people are invited to a remote place - in Christie's original novel, an island off the southern coast of England, although the locale was changed for several of the film adaptations - by an eleventh person who never arrives, and are killed one by one. The killer turns out to be one of the ten, but by the end of the book all ten of the people have been killed leaving a "locked room mystery." They are killed, each death getting worse as you go, from potassium cyanide to a head crushed by a clock.

External link

• Notes about the book and its adaptations (http://www.enotes.com/ten-little/)

fr:Dix petits nègres fi:Kymmenen pientä neekeripoikaa