Chapter 4 ‘My uncle, gentlemen,’ said the bagman, ‘was one of the merriest, pleasantest, cleverest fellows, that ever lived. I wish you had known him, gentlemen. On second thoughts, gentlemen, I don’t wish you had known him, for if you had, you would have been all, by this time, in the ordinary course of nature, […]
Chapter 3 In an old abbey town, down in this part of the country, a long, long while ago-so long, that the story must be a true one, because our great-grandfathers implicitly believed it-there officiated as sexton and grave-digger in the churchyard, one Gabriel Grub. It by no means follows that because a man is
Chapter 2 ‘Yes!-a madman’s! How that word would have struck to my heart, many years ago! How it would have roused the terror that used to come upon me sometimes, sending the blood hissing and tingling through my veins, till the cold dew of fear stood in large drops upon my skin, and my knees
Chapter 1 Winter’s evening, about five o’clock, just as it began to grow dusk, a man in a gig might have been seen urging his tired horse along the road which leads across Marlborough Downs, in the direction of Bristol. I say he might have been seen, and I have no doubt he would have
A farmer had kept many pigeons in his house. He used to feed them millet grains and rice. A crow also lived on a tree near by. He saw the pigeons eating rich grains every day. He also wanted to eat the grains and rice.One day, he flew to the roof of the house where
A horse was crunching his fodder and oats at his manger in a stable. The stable was outside a house near a forest. The horse was quite healthy and strong.A wild horse used to pass by that way. He was jealous to see the pet horse who was served tasty fodder. One day, the wild
Once, a man was coming with an egg. The egg was closed in his fist.Sheikhchilli happened to be coming from the other side. Naturally he asked the man, “What are you carrying in your fist?”The man thought it was a good chance to rake up the silly brain of Sheikhchilli. So, he said, “Sheikhchilli, you
Once, there was a large garden with many fruit trees. The gardener used to water the plants and trees regularly.One day, the gardener saw that one tree was dying. Its leaves had fallen. It was a barren tree now. He planned to cut down the tree.When the gardener went to the tree, he saw that
Story 4 (i) Mr Charles Salisbury One evening in autumn, when the deformities of London were veiled in faint blue mist, and its vistas and far-reaching streets seemed splendid, Mr. Charles Salisbury was slowly pacing down Rupert Street, drawing nearer to his favourite restaurant by slow degrees. His eyes were downcast in study of the
Story 3 (i) THE EXPERIMENT ‘I AM glad you came, Clarke; very glad indeed. I was not sure you could spare the time.’‘I was able to make arrangements for a few days; things are not very lively just now. But have you no misgivings, Raymond? Is it absolutely safe?’The two men were slowly pacing the
Story 2 (i) PROLOGUE‘SORCERY and sanctity,’ said Ambrose, ‘these are the only realities. Each is an ecstasy, a withdrawal from the common life.’Cotgrave listened, interested. He had been brought by a friend to this mouldering house in a northern suburb, through an old garden to the room where Ambrose the recluse dozed and dreamed over
Story 1 (i) The Darnells Edward Darnell awoke from a dream of an ancient wood, and of a clear well rising into grey film and vapour beneath a misty, glimmering heat; and as his eyes opened he saw the sunlight bright in the room, sparkling on the varnish of the new furniture. He turned and
There was a crow who lived on a tree. He was fond of eating the eggs of other birds. Whenever he saw eggs in other nests, he would fly there, destroy them and eat the eggs.The birds who suffered for his greed for eating eggs became his enemies. They stopped talking to him. The crow
Once, a cunning fox saw a crow sitting on the high branch of a tree with a piece of cake in its beak. He went and sat under the tree and began thinking of some possible way to make the crow drop the piece of cake to the ground.The fox thought of a ruse and
Chapter 10 My sense of how he received this suffered for a minute from something that I can describe only as a fierce split of my attention—a stroke that at first, as I sprang straight up, reduced me to the mere blind movement of getting hold of him, drawing him close, and, while I just