Out of Africa Part 3, Chapter 6 Summary

Visits of Friends

  • Whenever the Baroness' "friend" (probably with benefits) Denys Finch-Hatton finishes leading a safari he comes to chill on the farm, and all of her servants announce it and help her get ready.
  • Her friends love the farm, because it is a constant in their wandering lives.
  • An old lady in Denmark gives her some peony bulbs to plant, and only one grows. She cuts it and puts it in a vase, and later learns that if she had let it grow and taken the seeds then they could have started peonies in Africa. Oops.
  • Several friends come to hang out and the Baroness describes them all. In particular, her friend Ingrid, a Swede, who also has a farm and shares her struggles with Blixen.
  • Another friend, Old Mr. Bulpett, who had been the lover of a famous actress/courtesan called La Belle Otéro. He tells her that it was worth all the heartache.
  • Mr. Bulpett, Denys, and the Baroness go for a picnic on old Mr. Bulpett's 77th birthday, and discuss whether or not they would take a pair of real wings if they were offered them, but could never take them off. Mr. Bulpett says he would take them, but that if he were a lady he would have to think it over.