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I would like to find this short story again. It was originally printed in an anthology about ghouls. The title was something like "Softly softly they might hear"? The story was about a man who encountered a beautiful single mom and her children only to discover that they were ghouls.

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    Welcome, you've provided some good details, but take a look at this guide to see if you can edit in any more details? Commented Aug 16, 2017 at 19:12
  • And then what happened? Commented Aug 16, 2017 at 20:28
  • The story might be "Amina", by Edward Lucas White. "Amina" concerns a man who encounters a desert ghoul and her family. I read the tale in the anthology "100 Creepy Little Creature Stories", edited by Stephan R. Dzienianewisc and Robert E. Weinberg. Commented Oct 14, 2022 at 15:09

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This sounds like "Amina" a 1906 horror story by American author Edward Lucas White: Waldo, a young adventurer from Rhode Island, goes on a trek into the back country of Persia with a (presumably American) consul. While separated from his party, he encounters an unusual woman named Amina, who leads him to her home, where he meets her large brood of children. Amina and her young make some unnerving statements about their diets, but then Waldo either escapes or is rescued, and Amina is shot dead. He at first refuses to believe the consul's explanation that she is a monster, justifying the creature's teeth as bad human dentition, but then the consul tears off the top of the corpse's clothing, revealing that she has the multiple teats of a litter-bearing animal instead of breasts. The story begins after these event, when the consul assigns Waldo to a firing position and instructs him to mercilessly shoot anything that appears in his range, regardless of what it appears to be.

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I know it's several years later, but for others that might come across this: The story described is most likely "Quietly Now" by Charles L. Grant. The line "Quietly Now. Don't let him hear you." occurs in it and seems to be what the OP is remembering as "Softly softly they might hear". It was published in The Arbor House Necropolis, which consists of the sections Voodoo!, Mummy!, and Ghoul!. Obviously, "Quietly Now" is found in the Ghoul! section.

The premise of a single ghoul mom and her children is from "The Prince and the Ghoul" of 1001 Nights. White used this story as basis for "Amina" (as well as a poem titled "The Ghoula"). Grant is likely to have been inspired by one of these.

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  • Hi, welcome to SF&F! Does "Quietly Now" have a mother and her children who turn out to be ghouls? Commented Jan 5, 2025 at 16:01
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    Yes, there is a mom ghoul and two ghoul sons. No dad. There is a little bit of deception on how the family dynamics work, but that deception doesn't become known until the final two pages. And very technically, the story doesn't confirm they are ghouls, but it is the strongest suggestion. Commented Jan 5, 2025 at 17:36
  • There is a review at mporcius.blogspot.com/2014/05/… which confirms the ghoul mother and children. Commented Jan 5, 2025 at 18:00
  • The Arbor House Necropolis can be borrowed (for free but registration required) from the Internet Archive. They have two copies, one with that title and one with the alternate title Tales of the Dead. Commented Jan 5, 2025 at 20:11

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