The short visit which the Emperor Li Shih-ming paid to the Land of Shadows had produced a profound impression on his mind. The pain and misery that men had to endure there,
Read Complete Story
Saturday, 31 May 2014
The Mysterious Buddhist Robe
The Wonderful Man
There is a certain Prefectural city in the south of China, which has earned a reputation distinguishing it from all such towns throughout the Empire.
Read Complete Story
A Predicament
It was a quiet and still afternoon when I strolled forth in the
goodly city of Edina. The confusion and bustle in the streets were
terrible. Men were talking.
Read Complete Story
A Tale of Jerusalem
Let us hurry to the walls," said Abel-Phittim to Buzi-Ben-Levi and Simeon
the Pharisee, on the tenth day of the month Thammuz, in the year of the
world three thousand nine hundred and fortyone--
Read Complete Story
A Tale of the Ragged Mountains
During the fall of the year 1827, while residing near
Charlottesville, Virginia, I casually made the acquaintance of Mr.
Augustus Bedloe.
Read Complete Story
Berenice
Misery is manifold. The wretchedness of earth is multiform. Overreaching the wide horizon as the rainbow, its hues are as various as the hues of that arch - as distinct too, yet as intimately blended.
Read Complete Story
Diddling
Since the world began there have been two Jeremys. The one wrote a
Jeremiad about usury, and was called Jeremy Bentham. He has been much
admired by Mr. John Neal, and was a great man in a small way.
Read Complete Story
Eleonora
I am come of a race noted for vigor of fancy and ardor of passion. Men have called me mad; but the question is not yet settled, whether madness is or is not the loftiest intelligence -- whether much that is glorious-
Read Complete Story
Hop-Frog
I Never knew anyone so keenly alive to a joke as the king was. He
seemed to live only for joking. To tell a good story of the joke kind, and
to tell it well, was the surest road to his favor.
Read Complete Story
How to Write a Blackwood Article
I Presume everybody has heard of me. My name is the Signora Psyche
Zenobia. This I know to be a fact. Nobody but my enemies ever calls
me Suky Snobbs.
Read Complete Story
Landor's Cottage
During A pedestrian trip last summer, through one or two of the river counties of New York, I found myself, as the day declined, somewhat embarrassed about the road I was pursuing.
Read Complete Story
Ligeia
And the will therein lieth, which dieth not. Who knoweth the
mysteries of the will, with its vigor? For God is but a great will
pervading all things by nature of its intentness.
Read Complete Story
Lionizing
I am - that is to say I was - a great man; but I am neither the
author of Junius nor the man in the mask; for my name, I believe, is
Robert Jones, and I was born somewhere in the city of Fum-Fudge.
Read Complete Story
Mystification
The Baron Ritzner Von Jung was a noble Hungarian family, every member
of which (at least as far back into antiquity as any certain records
extend) was more or less remarkable for talent of some description
Read Complete Story
Why the Little Frenchman Wears His Hand in a Sling
IT'S on my visiting cards sure enough (and it's them that's all o' pink
satin paper) that inny gintleman that plases may behould the intheristhin
words, "Sir Pathrick O'Grandison, Barronitt, 39 Southampton Row, Russell
Square, Parrish o' Bloomsbury."
Read Complete Story
The Wives of The Dead
The following story, the simple and domestic incidents of which may be
deemed scarcely worth relating, after such a lapse of time, awakened some
degree of interest, a hundred years ago, in a principal seaport of the
Bay Province.
Read Complete Story
The God Of The City
One evening in the distant past a fisherman anchored his boat near the bank of a stream which flowed close by a great city, whose walls could be seen rising grey and rugged in the near distance.
Read Complete Story
The Tragedy Of The Yin Family
In a certain district in one of the central provinces of China, there lived a man of the name of Yin. He was possessed of considerable property, with a great ambition to become distinguished in life.
Read Complete Story
The Reward Of A Benevolent Life
On the banks of a river flowing through the prefecture of Tingchow, there stood a certain city of about ten thousand inhabitants. Among this mass of people there was a very fair
Read Complete Story
The Baby Eskimo
The little Eskimo away up in the northern part of British America has a pretty hard time of it, as you may know when you think how cold it is there.
Read Complete Story
The Giant
In days of old an enormous man lived with other members of the Inuit tribe in a village beside a large inlet. He was so tall that he could straddle the inlet,
Read Complete Story
Kalopaling
Ka-lo-pa-ling is a strange being who lives in the northern seas. His body is like that of a man except that his feet are very large and look like sealskin muffs.
Read Complete Story
The Woman Magician
Long ago, in Aggo, a country where nobody lives nowadays, there were two large houses standing far apart. In each of these houses many families lived together.
Read Complete Story
About
The site is a small effort to compile all kinds of short stories under one roof. It's effort to make big collection of short stories of different genre, folk tales, literature stories and classic stories.
When we thought about short stories, we come to decision why not to make big collection of...
Read Complete Story
Friday, 30 May 2014
The Bird Wife
Itajung, one of the Inuit tribe, was vexed because a young woman would not marry him, so he left his home and traveled far away into the land of the birds.
Read Complete Story
The Spirit of the Singing House
The singing house of an Eskimo village is used also for feasting and dancing, and always has a spirit owner who is supposed to remain in it all the time.
Read Complete Story
The Tornit
In olden times the Inuit were not the only tribe living in the Eskimo country. Around Cumberland Sound there lived some very large, strong people called the Tornit.
Read Complete Story
The Flight to the Moon
A powerful conjurer, who had a bear for his mascot, thought he would like to go to the Moon. He had his hands tied up and a rope fastened around his knees and neck.
Read Complete Story
The Guest
An old hag lived in a house with her grandson. She was a very bad woman who thought of nothing but playing mischief. She was a witch and tried to harm everybody with witchcraft.
Read Complete Story
The Origin of the Narwhal
A long, long time ago a widow lived with her young son and daughter in a small hut. They had a hard time to get enough to eat. But the boy was anxious to do all he could,
Read Complete Story
What the Eskimo Believes
The first human beings who appeared on the Diomede Islands were a man and a woman who came down from the sky. These two lived on the island for a long time, but had no children.
Read Complete Story
The First Man
In the time before there were any people on earth, a large pea-vine was growing on the beach, and in the pod of this pea the first man lay coiled up for four days.
Read Complete Story
The First Woman
"You will be very lonely by yourself," said Raven to Man one day. "I will make you a companion."
He went to a spot some distance from where he had made the animals,
Read Complete Story
Other Men
Raven went back to the pea-vine and there he found that three other men had just fallen from the pod out of which the first one had dropped.
Read Complete Story
Up to the Top of the Sky, and Down to the Bottom of the Sea
One day Raven came back and, sitting beside Man, talked of many things as if they were brothers. After a little Man said, "I understand that you have made a land in the sky."
Read Complete Story
Taking Away the Sun
People were becoming such good hunters that they killed a great many animals, more than Raven was willing to have killed, lest the animals become too few for the large number of people now on earth.
Read Complete Story
The Dwarf People
Very long ago, before the white people ever went into the land of the Eskimo, there was a large village at Pik-mik-tal-ik. One winter day the people living there were surprised to see a small man
Read Complete Story
What Happened to the Lone Woman of St. Michael
The women south of St. Michael are poor seamstresses but fine dancers, while those to the north are expert needlewomen but poor dancers; and this is the way the Eskimo explain it.
Read Complete Story
Chunks of Daylight
At the northern part of the continent, in the land of the midnight sun, where in the long summer days the sun at midnight is just slipping below the northern horizon and immediately is seen coming up again,
Read Complete Story
The Red Bear
On the tundra south of the mouth of the Yukon River an orphan boy once lived with his aunt. They were all alone with no house within sight;
Read Complete Story
The Last of the Thunderbirds
In ancient times a great many giant eagles or thunderbirds lived in the mountains; but in later years they had all disappeared except one single pair which made their home
Read Complete Story
Thursday, 29 May 2014
Never Be Angry
There was a boy who was always losing his temper. His father gave him a bag full of nails and said to him, “My son, I want you to hammer a nail into our garden fence every time
Read Complete Story
Keeper of the Spring
The old gentleman had been hired many years earlier by a young town councilman to clear away the debris from the pools of water up in the mountain crevices that fed the lovely spring
Read Complete Story
The Old Fisherman
Our house was directly across the street from the clinic Entrance Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore. We lived downstairs and rented the upstairs rooms to out patients at the clinic.
Read Complete Story
Sunday, 18 May 2014
Why the Dog Hates the Cat?
What we shall eat to-morrow, I haven't the slightest idea!" said Widow Wang to her eldest son, as he started out one morning in search of work.
Read Complete Story
The Great Bell
The mighty Yung-lo sat on the great throne surrounded by a hundred attendants. He was sad, for he could think of no wonderful thing to do for his country.
Read Complete Story
The Strange Tale of Doctor Dog
Far up in the mountains of the Province of Hunan in the central part of China, there once lived in a small village a rich gentleman who had only one child.
Read Complete Story
How Footbinding Started
In the very beginning of all things, when the gods were creating the world, at last the time came to separate the earth from the heavens.
Read Complete Story
Bamboo and the Turtle
A party of visitors had been seeing the sights at Hsi Ling. They had just passed down the Holy Way between the huge stone animals when Bamboo,
Read Complete Story
The Mad Goose and the Tiger Forest
Hu-lin was a little slave girl. She had been sold by her father when she was scarcely more than a baby, and had lived for five years with a number of other
Read Complete Story
The Nodding Tiger
Just outside the walls of a Chinese city there lived a young woodcutter named T'ang and his old mother, a woman of seventy.
Read Complete Story
The Princess Kwan-Yin
Once upon a time in China there lived a certain king who had three daughters. The fairest and best of these was Kwan-yin, the youngest.
Read Complete Story
The Two Jugglers
One beautiful spring day two men strolled into the public square of a well-known Chinese city. They were plainly dressed and looked like ordinary
Read Complete Story
The Grasshopper and the Ant
A grasshopper gay
Sang the summer away,
And found herself poor
By the winter's first roar.
Read Complete Story
The Thieves and the Ass
Two thieves, pursuing their profession,
Had of a donkey got possession,
Whereon a strife arose,
Which went from words to blows.
Read Complete Story
The Wolf Accusing the Fox
A wolf, affirming his belief
That he had suffer'd by a thief,
Brought up his neighbour fox—
Of whom it was by all confess'd,
Read Complete Story
The Lion and the Ass Hunting
The king of animals, with royal grace,
Would celebrate his birthday in the chase.
'Twas not with bow and arrows,
To slay some wretched sparrows;
Read Complete Story
The Swan and the Cook
The pleasures of a poultry yard
Were by a swan and gosling shared.
The swan was kept there for his looks,
Read Complete Story
The Weasel in the Granary
A weasel through a hole contrived to squeeze,
(She was recovering from disease,)
Which led her to a farmer's hoard.
Read Complete Story
The Ass and the Little Dog
One's native talent from its course
Cannot be turned aside by force;
But poorly apes the country clown
The polish'd manners of the town.
Read Complete Story
The Ears of the Hare
Some beast with horns did gore
The lion; and that sovereign dread,
Resolved to suffer so no more,
Straight banish'd from his realm, 'tis said,
Read Complete Story
The Ass Carrying Relics
An ass, with relics for his load,
Supposed the worship on the road
Meant for himself alone,
Read Complete Story
The Hare and the Partridge
A field in common share
A partridge and a hare,
And live in peaceful state,
Till, woeful to relate!
Read Complete Story
The Lion Going to War
The lion had an enterprise in hand;
Held a war−council, sent his provost−marshal,
And gave the animals a call impartial—
Read Complete Story
The Old Man and the Ass
An old man, riding on his ass,
Had found a spot of thrifty grass,
And there turn'd loose his weary beast.
Old Grizzle, pleased with such a feast,
Flung up his heels, and caper'd round,
Then roll'd and rubb'd upon the ground,
And frisk'd and browsed and bray'd,
And many a clean spot...
Read Complete Story
The Ass and his Masters
A gardener's ass complain'd to Destiny
Of being made to rise before the dawn.
“The cocks their matins have not sung,” said he,
Read Complete Story
The Wax−Candle
From bowers of gods the bees came down to man.
On Mount Hymettus, first, they say,
They made their home, and stored away
Read Complete Story
The Tortoise and the Two Ducks
A light−brain'd tortoise, anciently,
Tired of her hole, the world would see.
Prone are all such, self−banish'd, to roam—
Read Complete Story
The Two Asses
Two asses tracking, t'other day,
Of which each in his turn,
Did incense to the other burn,
Quite in the usual way,—
Read Complete Story
The Shepherd and his Dog
A shepherd, with a single dog,
Was ask'd the reason why
He kept a dog, whose least supply
Amounted to a loaf of bread
Read Complete Story
The Two Mules
Two mules were bearing on their backs,
One, oats; the other, silver of the tax.
The latter glorying in his load,
Read Complete Story
The Heifer, the Goat, and the Sheep
The heifer, the goat, and their sister the sheep,
Compacted their earnings in common to keep,
Read Complete Story
The Two Rats, the Fox, and the Egg
Two rats in foraging fell on an egg,—
For gentry such as they
A genteel dinner every way;
They needed not to find an ox's leg.
Read Complete Story
The Man and his Image
A man, who had no rivals in the love
Which to himself he bore,
Esteem'd his own dear beauty far above
What earth had seen before.
Read Complete Story
Death and the Woodman
A poor wood−chopper, with his fagot load,
Whom weight of years, as well as load, oppress'd,
Sore groaning in his smoky hut to rest,
Read Complete Story
Saturday, 17 May 2014
The Camel and the Floating Sticks
The first who saw the humpback'd camel
Fled off for life; the next approach'd with care;
The third with tyrant rope did boldly dare
The desert wanderer to trammel.
Read Complete Story
The Wolf, the Goat, and the Kid
As went a goat of grass to take her fill,
And browse the herbage of a distant hill,
She latch'd her door, and bid,
With matron care, her kid;
Read Complete Story
The Rat Retired from the World
The sage Levantines have a tale
About a rat that weary grew
Of all the cares which life assail,
And to a Holland cheese withdrew.
Read Complete Story
Chicken or Eagle
You know the story of the farmer who in his backyard had chicken, and then he had a chicken that was a little odd looking, but he was a chicken. It behaved like a chicken.
Read Complete Story
The Interview
A group of applicants was waiting to be interviewed for a job as wireless operator.
But they were talking so loudly that they paid no attention to the sound which began coming out of the loudspeaker.
Read Complete Story
Potatoes, Eggs and Coffee
Once upon a time a daughter complained to her father that her life was miserable and that she didn’t know how she was going to make it.
Read Complete Story
The Cunning Fox
A fox once practised, 'tis believed,
A stratagem right well conceived.
The wretch, when in the utmost strait
By dogs of nose so delicate,
Read Complete Story
The Fox, the Flies, and the Hedgehog
A fox, old, subtle, vigilant, and sly,—
By hunters wounded, fallen in the mud,—
Attracted by the traces of his blood,
That buzzing parasite, the fly.
Read Complete Story
The Eagle and the Magpie
The eagle, through the air a queen,
And one far different, I ween,
In temper, language, thought, and mien,—
The magpie,—once a prairie cross'd.
Read Complete Story
The Lion and the Hunter
A braggart, lover of the chase,
Had lost a dog of valued race,
And thought him in a lion's maw.
He ask'd a shepherd whom he saw,
Read Complete Story
The Fox, the Monkey, and the Animals
Left kingless by the lion's death,
The beasts once met, our story saith,
Some fit successor to install.
Forth from a dragon−guarded, moated place,
Read Complete Story
The Sun and the Frogs
Rejoicing on their tyrant's wedding−day,
The people drown'd their care in drink;
While from the general joy did Asop shrink,
And show'd its folly in this way.
Read Complete Story
The Carter in the Mire
The Phaëton who drove a load of hay
Once found his cart bemired.
Poor man! the spot was far away
From human help—retired,
Read Complete Story
The Heron
One day,—no matter when or where,—
A long−legg'd heron chanced to fare
By a certain river's brink,
With his long, sharp beak
Read Complete Story
The Dog And His Master's Dinner
Our eyes are not made proof against the fair,
Nor hands against the touch of gold.
Fidelity is sadly rare,
And has been from the days of old.
Read Complete Story
The Joker and the Fishes
A joker at a banker's table,
Most amply spread to satisfy
The height of epicurean wishes,
Had nothing near but little fishes.
Read Complete Story
The Rat and the Oyster
A country rat, of little brains,
Grown weary of inglorious rest,
Left home with all its straws and grains,
Resolved to know beyond his nest.
Read Complete Story
The Hog, the Goat, and the Sheep
A goat, a sheep, and porker fat,
All to the market rode together.
Their own amusement was not that
Which caused their journey thither.
Read Complete Story
The Rat and the Elephant
A rat, of quite the smallest size,
Fix'd on an elephant his eyes,
Read Complete Story
Education
Lapluck and Cæsar brothers were, descended
From dogs by Fame the most commended,
Read Complete Story
The Monkey and the Leopard
A monkey and a leopard were
The rivals at a country fair.
Each advertised his own attractions.
Read Complete Story
The Acorn and the Pumpkin
God's works are good. This truth to prove
Around the world I need not move;
Read Complete Story
Friday, 16 May 2014
The Fool who Sold Wisdom
A fool, in town, did wisdom cry;
The people, eager, flock'd to buy.
Each for his money got,
Read Complete Story
The Oyster and the Litigants
Two pilgrims on the sand espied
An oyster thrown up by the tide.
In hope, both swallow'd ocean's fruit;
Read Complete Story
The Wolf and the Lean Dog
A Troutling, some time since,
Endeavour'd vainly to convince
A hungry fisherman
Read Complete Story
Nothing too Much
Look where we will throughout creation,
We look in vain for moderation.
Read Complete Story
The Monkey and the Cat
Sly Bertrand and Ratto in company sat,
(The one was a monkey, the other a cat,)
Read Complete Story
The Spider and the Swallow
“O Jupiter, whose fruitful brain,
By odd obstetrics freed from pain,
Bore Pallas, erst my mortal foe,
Read Complete Story
The Dog whose Ears were Cropped
“What have I done, I'd like to know,
To make my master maim me so?
A pretty figure I shall cut!
Read Complete Story
An Angel Sent By God
A woman was at work when she received a phone call that her daughter was very sick with fever.
She left her work and stopped by the pharmacy to get some medication for her daughter.
Read Complete Story
Right Direction
The captain of the boat lost his way in the middle of a storm. While trying to control the ship and maneuver to avoid sinking, he started feeling anguish and frustration.
Read Complete Story
Horse and Goat
There was a farmer who had a horse and a goat.
One day, the horse became ill, so he called the veterinarian, who said:
Read Complete Story
Wilma Rudolph
Wilma Rudolph was born into a poor home in Tennessee. At the age of four, she had double pneumonia with scarlet fever, a deadly combination which left her paralyzed with polio.
Read Complete Story
Joy of Giving
A woman who was traveling alone in the mountains found a precious stone in a stream.
The next day she met another traveler who was hungry, the woman opened her bag to share her food.
Read Complete Story
The Lioness and the Bear
The lioness had lost her young;
A hunter stole it from the vale;
The forests and the mountains rung
Responsive to her hideous wail.
Nor night, nor charms of sweet repose,
Could still the loud lament that rose
From that grim forest queen.
No animal, as you might think,
With such a noise...
Read Complete Story
The Cat and the Two Sparrows
Contemporary with a sparrow tame
There lived a cat; from tenderest age,
Of both, the basket and the cage
Had household gods the same.
Read Complete Story
The Old Cat and the Young Mouse
A young and inexperienced mouse
Had faith to try a veteran cat,—
Raminagrobis, death to rat,
And scourge of vermin through the house,—
Read Complete Story
The Sick Stag
A stag, where stags abounded,
Fell sick and was surrounded
Forthwith by comrades kind,
All pressing to assist,
Read Complete Story
The Quarrel of the Dogs and Cats
In mansion deck'd with frieze and column,
Dwelt dogs and cats in multitudes;
Decrees, promulged in manner solemn,
Had pacified their ancient feuds.
Read Complete Story
The Wolf and the Fox
“Dear wolf,” complain'd a hungry fox,
“A lean chick's meat, or veteran cock's,
Is all I get by toil or trick:
Of such a living I am sick.
Read Complete Story
The Ploughman and his Sons
The farmer's patient care and toil
Are oftener wanting than the soil.
A wealthy ploughman drawing near his end,
Call'd in his sons apart from every friend,
Read Complete Story
The Ass Dressed in the Lion's Skin
Clad in a lion's shaggy hide,
An ass spread terror far and wide,
And, though himself a coward brute,
Put all the world to scampering rout:
Read Complete Story
The Woods and the Woodman
A certain wood−chopper lost or broke
From his axe's eye a bit of oak.
The forest must needs be somewhat spared
While such a loss was being repair'd.
Read Complete Story
The Fox, the Wolf, and the Horse
A fox, though young, by no means raw,
Had seen a horse, the first he ever saw:
“Ho! neighbour wolf,” said he to one quite green,
“A creature in our meadow I have seen,—
Read Complete Story
The Fox and the Turkeys
Against a robber fox, a tree
Some turkeys served as citadel.
That villain, much provoked to see
Each standing there as sentinel,
Read Complete Story
The Wallet
From heaven, one day, did Jupiter proclaim,
“Let all that live before my throne appear,
And there if any one hath aught to blame,
In matter, form, or texture of his frame,
Read Complete Story
The Woodman and Mercury
A man that labour'd in the wood
Had lost his honest livelihood;
That is to say,
His axe was gone astray.
He had no tools to spare;
This wholly earn'd his fare.
Read Complete Story
The Lion and the Monkey
The lion, for his kingdom's sake,
In morals would some lessons take,
And therefore call'd, one summer's day,
The monkey, master of the arts,
Read Complete Story
The Shepherd and the Lion
A shepherd from his flock began to miss,
And long'd to catch the stealer of, his sheep.
Read Complete Story
Thursday, 15 May 2014
The Toll Gatherer's Day
A Sketch of Transitory Life.
Methinks, for a person whose instinct bids him rather to pore over the
current of life,
Read Complete Story
Wednesday, 14 May 2014
A Virtuoso's Collection
The other day, having a leisure hour at my disposal, I stepped into a new museum,
Read Complete Story
The Vision of the Fountain
At fifteen, I became a resident in a country village, more than a hundred
miles from home.
Read Complete Story
Bertha
Dr. Bonnet, my old friend--one sometimes has friends older than one's self--had often invited me to spend
Read Complete Story
Belhomme's Beast
The coach for Havre was ready to leave Criquetot, and all the passengers were waiting for their names
Read Complete Story
At Sea
"A fearful accident has thrown our sea-faring population, which has suffered so much in the last two years,
Read Complete Story
An Uncomfortable Bed
One autumn I went to stay for the hunting season with some friends in a
chateau in Picardy.
Read Complete Story
An Artifice
The old doctor sat by the fireside, talking to his fair patient who was lying on the lounge.
Read Complete Story
All Over
Compte de Lormerin had just finished dressing. He cast a parting glance at the large mirror
Read Complete Story
Alexandre
At four o'clock that day, as on every other day, Alexandre rolled the three-wheeled chair for cripples up to the door of the little house;
Read Complete Story
Abandoned
"I really think you must be mad, my dear, to go for a country walk in such weather as this. You have had some
Read Complete Story
A Widow
This story was told during the hunting season at the Chateau Baneville. The autumn had been rainy and sad.
Read Complete Story
A Wedding Gift
For a long time Jacques Bourdillere had sworn that he would never marry, but he suddenly changed his mind.
Read Complete Story
A Vendetta
The widow of Paolo Saverini lived alone with her son in a poor little house on the outskirts of Bonifacio.
Read Complete Story
A Vagabond
He was a journeyman carpenter, a good workman and a steady fellow, twenty-seven years old,
Read Complete Story
A Tress of Hair
The walls of the cell were bare and white washed. A narrow grated window, placed so high that one could not
Read Complete Story
A Stroll
When Old Man Leras, bookkeeper for Messieurs Labuze and Company, left the store,
Read Complete Story
A Sale
The defendants, Cesaire-Isidore Brument and Prosper-Napoleon Cornu, appeared before the Court of Assizes
Read Complete Story
A Recollection
How many recollections of youth come to me in the soft sunlight of early spring!
Read Complete Story
A Queer Night in Paris
Mattre Saval, notary at Vernon, was passionately fond of music. Although still young he was already bald;
Read Complete Story
A Portrait
"Hello! there's Milial!" said somebody near me. I looked at the man who had been pointed out
Read Complete Story
A Parricide
The lawyer had presented a plea of insanity. How could anyone explain this strange crime otherwise?
Read Complete Story
A Normandy Joke
It was a wedding procession that was coming along the road between the tall trees that bounded the farms
Read Complete Story
A New Year's Gift
Jacques de Randal, having dined at home alone, told his valet he might go out, and he sat down at his table to write some letters.
Read Complete Story
A Mother of Monsters
I recalled this horrible story, the events of which occurred long ago, and this horrible woman, the other day
Read Complete Story
A Meeting
It was nothing but an accident, an accident pure and simple. On that particular evening
Read Complete Story
A Lively Friend
They had beer, constantly in each other's society for a whole winter in
Paris.
Read Complete Story
A Father's Confession
All Veziers-le-Rethel had followed the funeral procession of M. Badon-Leremince to the grave, and the last words of the funeral oration pronounced by
Read Complete Story
A Family Affair
The small engine attached to the Neuilly steam-tram whistled as it passed the Porte Maillot to warn all obstacles to get out of its way and puffed
Read Complete Story
A Family
I was to see my old friend, Simon Radevin, of whom I had lost sight for fifteen years. At one time he was my most intimate friend,
Read Complete Story
A Cremation
Last Monday an Indian prince died at Etretat, Bapu Sahib Khanderao Ghatay, a relation of His Highness, the Maharajah Gaikwar, prince of Baroda,
Read Complete Story
A Coward
In society he was called "Handsome Signoles." His name was Vicomte Gontran-Joseph de Signoles.
Read Complete Story
A Coup d'Etat
Paris had just heard of the disaster at Sedan. A republic had been declared.
Read Complete Story
A Country Excursion
For five months they had been talking of going to take luncheon in one of the country suburbs of Paris
Read Complete Story
Tuesday, 13 May 2014
The Adopted Son
The two cottages stood beside each other at the foot of a hill near a little seashore resort.
Read Complete Story
The Baroness
"Come with me," said my friend Boisrene, "you will see some very interesting bric-a-brac and works of art there."
Read Complete Story
The Blind Man
How is it that the sunlight gives us such joy? Why does this radiance when it falls on the earth fill us with the joy of living?
Read Complete Story
The Cake
Let us say that her name was Madame Anserre so as not to reveal her real name.
Read Complete Story
The Child
Lemonnier had remained a widower with one child. He had loved his wife devotedly, with a tender and exalted
Read Complete Story
The Colonel's Ideas
"Upon my word," said Colonel Laporte, "although I am old and gouty, my legs as stiff as two pieces of wood,
Read Complete Story
The Confession
Marguerite de Thérelles was dying. Although but fifty-six, she seemed
like seventy-five at least.
Read Complete Story
The Corsican Bandit
The road, with a gentle winding, reached the middle of the forest. The
huge pine-trees spread above our heads
Read Complete Story
The Cripple
The following adventure happened to me about 1882. I had just taken the train and settled down in a corner,
Read Complete Story
The Devil
The peasant and the doctor stood on opposite sides of the bed, beside the old, dying woman.
Read Complete Story
The Diamond Necklace
The girl was one of those pretty and charming young creatures who sometimes are born, as if by a slip of fate,
Read Complete Story
The Diary of a Madman
He was dead—the head of a high tribunal, the upright magistrate whose irreproachable life was a proverb
Read Complete Story
The Dispenser of Holy Water
We lived formerly in a little house beside the high road outside the village. He had set up in business
Read Complete Story
The Donkey
There was not a breath of air stirring; a heavy mist was lying over the river. It was like a layer of cotton
Read Complete Story
The Door
"Bah!" exclaimed Karl Massouligny, "the question of complaisant husbands is a difficult one.
Read Complete Story
The Dowry
The marriage of Maitre Simon Lebrument with Mademoiselle Jeanne Cordier was a surprise to no one.
Read Complete Story
The Drunkard
The north wind was blowing a hurricane, driving through the sky big, black, heavy clouds from which the rain
Read Complete Story
The Effeminates
How often we hear people say, "He is charming, that man, but he is a girl, a regular girl." They are alluding to the effeminates, the bane of our land.
Read Complete Story
The Englishman of Etretat
A great English poet has just crossed over to France in order to greet Victor Hugo. All the newspapers are
Read Complete Story
The False Gems
Monsieur Lantin had met the young girl at a reception at the house of the second head of his department,
Read Complete Story
Monday, 12 May 2014
The Farmer's Wife
Said the Baron Rene du Treilles to me:
"Will you come and open the hunting season with me at my farm at Marinville?
Read Complete Story
The Father
He was a clerk in the Bureau of Public Education and lived at Batignolles. He took the omnibus to Paris every
Read Complete Story
The First Snowfall
The long promenade of La Croisette winds in a curve along the edge of the blue water. Yonder, to the right,
Read Complete Story
The Fishing Hole
"Cuts and wounds which caused death." Such was the charge upon which Leopold Renard, upholsterer,
Read Complete Story
The Gamekeeper
It was after dinner, and we were talking about adventures and accidents which happened while out shooting.
Read Complete Story
The Grave
The seventeenth of July, one thousand eight hundred and eighty-three, at half-past two in the morning,
Read Complete Story
The Hand
All were crowding around M. Bermutier, the judge, who was giving his opinion about the Saint-Cloud mystery. For a month this in explicable crime
Read Complete Story
The Horla, or Modern Ghosts
May 8th. What a lovely day! I have spent all the morning lying in the
grass in front of my house,
Read Complete Story
The Lancer's Wife
It was after Bourbaki's defeat in the east of France. The army, broken up, decimated, and worn out, had been obliged to retreat into Switzerland after that terrible campaign,
Read Complete Story
The Little Cask
He was a tall man of forty or thereabout, this Jules Chicot, the innkeeper of Spreville, with a red face and a round stomach, and said by those who knew him to be a smart business man.
Read Complete Story
The Log
The drawing-room was small, full of heavy draperies and discreetly fragrant. A large fire burned in the grate and a solitary lamp at one end of the mantelpiece threw a soft light
Read Complete Story
The Love of Long Ago
The old-fashioned chateau was built on a wooded knoll in the midst of tall trees with dark-green foliage; the park extended to a great distance, in one direction to the edge of the forest,
Read Complete Story
The Magic Couch
The Seine flowed past my house, without a ripple on its surface, and gleaming in the bright morning sunlight. It was a beautiful, broad, indolent silver stream,
Read Complete Story
The Maison Tellier
They went there every evening about eleven o'clock, just as they would go to the club. Six or eight of them; always the same set, not fast men,
Read Complete Story
The Man with the Pale Eyes
Monsieur Pierre Agénor De Vargnes, the Examining Magistrate, was the
exact opposite of a practical joker
Read Complete Story
The Marquis de Fumerol
Roger de Tourneville was whiffing a cigar and blowing out small clouds of smoke every now and then, as he sat astride a chair amid a party of friends. He was talking.
Read Complete Story
The Mask
There was a masquerade ball at the Elysee-Montmartre that evening. It was the 'Mi-Careme', and the crowds were pouring into the brightly lighted passage which leads to the dance ball,
Read Complete Story
The Model
Curving like a crescent moon, the little town of Etretat, with its white cliffs, its white, shingly beach and its blue sea, lay in the sunlight at high noon one July day.
Read Complete Story
The Moribund
The warm autumn sun was beating down on the farmyard. Under the grass, which had been cropped close by the cows, the earth soaked by recent rains,
Read Complete Story
The Mountain Pool
My dear friend: You asked me to write to you often and to tell you in
particular about the things I might see. You also begged me to rummage
Read Complete Story
The Mustache
My Dear Lucy:
I have no news. We live in the drawing-room, looking out at the rain. We cannot go out in this frightful weather, so we have theatricals.
Read Complete Story
The Orphan
Mademoiselle Source had adopted this boy under very sad circumstances. She was at the time thirty-six years old.
Read Complete Story
The Parrot
Everybody in Fecamp knew Mother Patin's story. She had certainly been unfortunate with her husband, for in his lifetime he used to beat her, just as wheat is threshed in the barn.
Read Complete Story
The Patron
We never dreamed of such good fortune! The son of a provincial bailiff, Jean Marin had come, as do so many others, to study law in the Quartier Latin.
Read Complete Story
The Penguin's Rock
From April to the end of May, before the Parisian visitors arrive, one sees, all at once, on the little beach at Etretat several old gentlemen,
Read Complete Story
The Piece of String
It was market-day, and from all the country round Goderville the peasants and their wives were coming toward the town. The men walked slowly,
Read Complete Story
The Prisoners
There was not a sound in the forest save the indistinct, fluttering sound of the snow falling on the trees. It had been snowing since noon; a little fine snow,
Read Complete Story
The Question of Latin
This subject of Latin that has been dinned into our ears for some time past recalls to my mind a story--a story of my youth.
Read Complete Story
The Rabbit
Old Lecacheur appeared at the door of his house between five and a quarter past five in the morning, his usual hour, to watch his men going to work.
Read Complete Story
The Relic
My Dear Abbe.
"My marriage with your cousin is broken off in the most stupid way, all on account of an idiotic trick which I almost involuntarily played
Read Complete Story
The Rondoli Sisters
I set out to see Italy thoroughly on two occasions, and each time I was stopped at the frontier and could not get any further. So I do not know Italy,
Read Complete Story
The Snipe
Old Baron des Ravots had for forty years been the champion sportsman of his province. But a stroke of paralysis had kept him in his chair for the last five or six years.
Read Complete Story
The Son
The two old friends were walking in the garden in bloom, where spring was bringing everything to life.
Read Complete Story
The Spasm
The hotel guests slowly entered the dining-room and took their places. The waiters did not hurry themselves, in order to give the late comers a chance and
Read Complete Story
The Story of a Farm Girl
As the weather was very fine, the people on the farm had hurried through their dinner and had returned to the fields.
Read Complete Story
The Terror
You say you cannot possibly understand it, and I believe you. You think I am losing my mind?
Read Complete Story
The Test
The Bondels were a happy family, and although they frequently quarrelled about trifles, they soon became friends again.
Read Complete Story
The Thief
While apparently thinking of something else, Dr. Sorbier had been listening quietly to those amazing accounts of burglaries and daring deeds that might have been taken from
Read Complete Story
The Trip of the Horla
On the morning of July 8th I received the following telegram: "Fine day. Always my predictions. Belgian frontier.
Read Complete Story
The Umbrella
Mme. Oreille was a very economical woman; she knew the value of a centime, and possessed a whole storehouse of strict principles with regard to the multiplication of money,
Read Complete Story
The Unknown
We were speaking of adventures, and each one of us was relating his story of delightful experiences, surprising meetings, on the train,
Read Complete Story
The Wardrobe
As we sat chatting after dinner, a party of men, the conversation turned on women, for lack of something else.
Read Complete Story
The Will
I knew that tall young fellow, Rene de Bourneval. He was an agreeable man, though rather melancholy and seemed prejudiced against everything,
Read Complete Story
The Wolf
This is what the old Marquis d'Arville told us after St. Hubert's dinner at the house of the Baron des Ravels.
Read Complete Story
The Wreck
It was yesterday, the 31st of December.
I had just finished breakfast with my old friend Georges Garin when the servant handed him a letter covered with seals and foreign stamps.
Read Complete Story
The Wrong House
Quartermaster Varajou had obtained a week's leave to go and visit his sister, Madame Padoie. Varajou, who was in garrison at Rennes and was leading a pretty gay life,
Read Complete Story
Theodule Sabot's Confession
When Sabot entered the inn at Martinville it was a signal for laughter. What a rogue he was, this Sabot! There was a man who did not like priests, for instance! Oh, no, oh, no!
Read Complete Story
Timbuctoo
The boulevard, that river of humanity, was alive with people in the golden light of the setting sun. The whole sky was red, blinding, and behind
Read Complete Story
Toine
He was known for thirty miles round was father Toine—fat Toine, Toine-my-extra, Antoine Macheble, nicknamed Burnt-Brandy—the innkeeper of Tournevent.
Read Complete Story
Tombstones
The five friends had finished dinner, five men of the world, mature, rich, three married, the two others bachelors. They met like this every month in memory
Read Complete Story
Two Friends
Besieged Paris was in the throes of famine. Even the sparrows on the roofs and the rats in the sewers were growing scarce. People were eating anything they could get.
Read Complete Story
Two Little Soldiers
Every Sunday, as soon as they were free, the little soldiers would go for a walk. They turned to the right on leaving the barracks, crossed Courbevoie with rapid strides,
Read Complete Story
Useless Beauty
About half-past five one afternoon at the end of June when the sun was shining warm and bright into the large courtyard,
Read Complete Story
Walter Schnaffs' Adventure
Ever since he entered France with the invading army Walter Schnaffs had considered himself the most unfortunate of men. He was large, had difficulty in walking,
Read Complete Story
Yvette Samoris
"The Comtesse Samoris."
"That lady in black over there?"
"The very one. She's wearing mourning for her daughter, whom she killed."
Read Complete Story
Sunday, 11 May 2014
A Descent into the Maelstrom
We had now reached the summit of the loftiest crag. For some minutes the old man seemed too much exhausted to speak.
Read Complete Story
Mesmeric Revelation
Whatever doubt may still envelop the rationale of mesmerism, its startling facts are now almost universally admitted.
Read Complete Story
Metzengerstein
Horror and fatality have been stalking abroad in all ages. Why
then give a date to this story I have to tell?
Read Complete Story
Friday, 9 May 2014
Morella
With a feeling of deep yet most singular affection I regarded my
friend Morella. Thrown by accident into her society many years ago,
Read Complete Story
Shadow
Ye who read are still among the living; but I who write shall have
long since gone my way into the region of shadows.
Read Complete Story
Silence -- a Fable
"Listen to me," said the Demon as he placed his hand upon my head. "The region of which I speak is a dreary
Read Complete Story
Some Words with a Mummy
The symposium of the preceding evening had been a little too much
for my nerves. I had a wretched headache, and was desperately drowsy.
Read Complete Story
The Angel of the Odd
It was a chilly November afternoon. I had just consummated an
unusually hearty dinner, of which the dyspeptic _truffe_ formed
Read Complete Story
The Assignation
Ill-fated and mysterious man ! - bewildered in the brilliancy of thine own imagination, and fallen in the flames of thine own youth !
Read Complete Story
The Black Cat
For the most wild, yet most homely narrative which I am about to pen, I neither expect nor solicit belief.
Read Complete Story
Wednesday, 7 May 2014
The Business Man
I am a business man. I am a methodical man. Method is the thing,
after all. But there are no people I more heartily despise than
Read Complete Story
The Cask of Amontillado
The thousand injuries of Fortunato I had borne as I best could ; but when he ventured upon insult, I vowed revenge.
Read Complete Story
The Conversation of Eiros and Charmion
Eiros.
WHY do you call me Eiros?
Charmion
So henceforward will you always be called. You must forget too,
my earthly name, and speak to me as Charmion.
Read Complete Story
The Devil in the Belfry
Everybody knows, in a general way, that the finest place in the world is -- or, alas, was -- the Dutch borough of Vondervotteimittiss.
Read Complete Story
The Domain of Arnheim
From his cradle to his grave a gale of prosperity bore my friend Ellison along. Nor do I use the word prosperity in its mere worldly sense.
Read Complete Story
The Duc de L'Omelette
Keats fell by a criticism. Who was it died of "The Andromache"? *1
Ignoble souls! -- De L'Omelette perished of an ortolan. L'histoire en
est breve.
Read Complete Story
The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar
Of course I shall not pretend to consider it any matter for wonder, that the extraordinary case of M. Valdemar has excited discussion.
Read Complete Story
The Fall of the House of Usher
During the whole of a dull, dark, and soundless day in the autumn of the year, when the clouds hung oppressively low in the heavens,
Read Complete Story
The Gold-Bug
Many years ago, I contracted an intimacy with a Mr. William Legrand. He was of an ancient Huguenot family,
Read Complete Story
The Imp of the Perverse
In the consideration of the faculties and impulses -- of the prima mobilia of the human soul, the phrenologists have failed to make room for a propensity which,
Read Complete Story
The Island of the Fay
"La Musique," says Marmontel, in those "Contes Moraux" which in all our translations, we have insisted upon calling "Moral Tales,"
Read Complete Story
The Landscape Garden
No more remarkable man ever lived than my friend, the young Ellison.
Read Complete Story
The Man of the Crowd
It was well said of a certain German book that "er lasst sich nicht lesen"--it does not permit itself to be read.
Read Complete Story
Tuesday, 6 May 2014
The Masque of the Red Death
The "Red Death" had long devastated the country. No pestilence had ever been so fatal, or so hideous.
Read Complete Story
The Murders in the Rue Morgue
The mental features discoursed of as the analytical, are, in themselves, but little susceptible of analysis.
Read Complete Story
The Oblong Box
Some years ago, I engaged passage from Charleston, S. C, to the city of New York, in the fine packet-ship "Independence," Captain Hardy.
Read Complete Story
The Pit and the Pendulum
I was sick -- sick unto death with that long agony; and when they at length unbound me, and I was permitted to sit, I felt that my senses were leaving me.
Read Complete Story
The Power of Words
Oinos. Pardon, Agathos, the weakness of a spirit new-fledged with
immortality!
Read Complete Story
The Premature Burial
There are certain themes of which the interest is all-absorbing, but which are too entirely horrible for the purposes of legitimate fiction.
Read Complete Story
The Purloined Letter
At Paris, just after dark one gusty evening in the autumn of 18-, I was enjoying the twofold luxury of meditation and a meerschaum, in company with my friend C. Auguste Dupin,
Read Complete Story
The Spectacles
Many years ago, it was the fashion to ridicule the idea of "love at
first sight;" but those who think, not less than those who feel
deeply, have always advocated its existence.
Read Complete Story
The Sphinx
During the dread reign of the Cholera in New York, I had accepted the
invitation of a relative to spend a fortnight with him in the retirement
of his _cottage ornee_ on the banks of the Hudson.
Read Complete Story
The System of Dr. Tarr and Professor Fether
During the autumn of 18--, while on a tour through the extreme
southern provinces of France, my route led me within a few miles of a
certain Maison de Sante or private mad-house,
Read Complete Story
The Tell-Tale Heart
True! - nervous - very, very dreadfully nervous I had been and am; but why will you say that I am mad? The disease had sharpened my senses - not destroyed - not dulled them.
Read Complete Story
The Thousand-and-Second Tale of Scheherezade
Having had occasion, lately, in the course of some Oriental investigations, to consult the Tellmenow Isitsoornot, a work which (like the Zohar of Simeon Jochaides) is scarcely known at all,
Read Complete Story
Thou Art the Man
I will now play the Oedipus to the Rattleborough enigma. I will expound to
you -- as I alone can -- the secret of the enginery that effected the
Rattleborough miracle
Read Complete Story
Monday, 5 May 2014
The Horse and the Wolf
A wolf who, fall'n on needy days,
In sharp look-out for means and ways,
Espied a horse turn'd out to graze.
Read Complete Story
The Eagle and the Owl
The eagle and the owl, resolved to cease
Their war, embraced in pledge of peace.
On faith of king, on faith of owl, they swore
That they would eat each other's chicks no more.
Read Complete Story
Three Sundays in a Week
You hard-headed, dunder-headed, obstinate, rusty, crusty, musty,
fusty, old savage!" said I, in fancy, one afternoon,
Read Complete Story
Little Frenchman
It's on my visiting cards sure enough (and it's them that's all o' pink
satin paper) that inny gintleman that plases may behould the intheristhin
words,
Read Complete Story
Von Kempelen and his Discovery
After the very minute and elaborate paper by Arago, to say nothing of the summary in 'Silliman's Journal,' with the detailed statement just published by Lieutenant Maury,
Read Complete Story
X-ing a Paragrab
As it is well known that the 'wise men' came 'from the East,' and as
Mr. Touch-and-go Bullet-head came from the East, it follows that Mr.
Bullet-head was a wise man;
Read Complete Story
William Wilson
Let me call myself, for the present, William Wilson. The fair page now lying before me need not be sullied with my real appellation.
Read Complete Story
Saturday, 3 May 2014
Joy of Giving
A woman who was traveling alone in the mountains found a precious stone in a stream.
The next day she met another traveler who was hungry, the woman opened her bag to share her food.
Read Complete Story
The Dog in the Well
In old times, there was a village having only one well for drinking water. One day a dog fell down in the well and died. The water became filthy and undrinkable.
Read Complete Story
The Miser and the Monkey
A Man amass'd. The thing, we know,
Doth often to a frenzy grow.
No thought had he but of his minted gold—
Stuff void of worth when unemploy'd, I hold.
Read Complete Story
The Vultures and the Pigeons
Mars once made havoc in the air:
Some cause aroused a quarrel there
Among the birds;—not those that sing,
The courtiers of the merry Spring,
Read Complete Story
The Stag and the Vine
A stag, by favour of a vine,
Which grew where suns most genial shine,
And form'd a thick and matted bower
Which might have turn'd a summer shower,
Read Complete Story
King Nimi
In Hindu mythology, the new yuga was started by Manu who was the son of Lord Surya, the Sun God. There is a very interesting story of his grandson, Nimi.
Read Complete Story
One Tusk Ganesha
The Mahabharatha is a very big story. In fact it is one of the biggest stories every written. It is the story of the Pandavas and the Kauravas and tells about how good will win over evil.
Read Complete Story
Ganesha Wins the Mango
Lord Shiva and Goddess Parvati lived in Kailash with their two children – Ganesha and Kartikeya. Kartikeya was a beautiful boy with strong limbs,
Read Complete Story
No Loving - Kindness
There was an old woman in China who had supported a monk for over twenty years. She had built a little hut for him and fed him while he was meditating.
Read Complete Story
Great Waves
In the early days of the Meiji era there lived a well-known wrestler called O-nami, Great Waves.
Read Complete Story
A Cup of Tea
Nan-in, a Japanese master during the Meiji era (1868-1912), received a university professor who came to inquire about Zen.
Read Complete Story
Obedience
The master Bankei's talks were attended not only by Zen students but by persons of all ranks and sects. He never quoted sutras nor indulged in scholastic dissertations.
Read Complete Story
The Moon Cannot Be Stolen
Ryokan, a Zen master, lived the simplest kind of life in a little hut at the foot of a mountain. One evening a thief visited the hut only to discover there was nothing in it to steal.
Read Complete Story
Is That So?
The Zen master Hakuin was praised by his neighbors as one living a pure life.
A beautiful Japanese girl whose parents owned a food store lived near him.
Read Complete Story
Annoucement
Tanzan wrote sixty postal cards on the last day of his life, and asked an attendant to mail them. Then he passed away.
Read Complete Story
A Buddha
In Tokyo in the Meiji era there lived two prominent teachers of opposite characteristics. One, Unsho, an instructor in Shingon,
Read Complete Story
Stingy in Teaching
A young physician in Tokyo named Kusuda met a college friend who had been studying Zen. The young doctor asked him what Zen was.
Read Complete Story
A Parable
Buddha told a parable in a sutra:
A man traveling across a field encountered a tiger.
Read Complete Story
The Story of Shunkai
The exquisite Shunkai whose other name was Suzu was compelled to marry against her wishes when she was quite young. Later, after this marriage had ended,
Read Complete Story
Happy Chinaman
Anyone walking about Chinatowns in America will observe statues of a stout fellow carrying a linen sack. Chinese merchants call him Happy Chinaman or Laughing Buddha.
Read Complete Story
The First Principle
When one goes to Obaku temple in Kyoto he sees carved over the gate the words "The First Principle." The letters are unusually large,
Read Complete Story
Shoan and His Mother
Shoun became a teacher of Soto Zen. When he was still a student his father passed away, leaving him to care for his old mother.
Read Complete Story
The Last Poem of Hoshin
The Zen master Hoshin lived in China many years. Then he returned to the northeastern part of Japan, where he taught his disciples. When he was getting very old,
Read Complete Story
A Mother's Advice
Jiun, a Shogun master, was a well-known Sanskrit scholar of the Tokugawa era. When he was young he used to deliver lectures to his brother students.
Read Complete Story
Not Far From Buddhahood
A university student while visiting Gasan asked him: "Have you even read the Christian Bible?"
"No, read it to me," said Gasan.
Read Complete Story
Trading Dialogue For Lodging
Provided he makes and wins an argument about Buddhism with those who live there, any wandering monk can remain in a Zen temple. If he is defeated, he has to move on.
Read Complete Story
The Sound of One Hand
The master of Kennin temple was Mokurai, Silent Thunder. He had a little protégé named Toyo who was only twelve years old.
Read Complete Story
The Voice of Happiness
After Bankei had passed away, a blind man who lived near the master's temple told a friend: "Since I am blind, I cannot watch a person's face,
Read Complete Story
Reciting Sutras
A farmer requested a Tendai priest to recite sutras for his wife, who had died. After the recitation was over the farmer asked: "Do you think my wife will gain merit from this?"
Read Complete Story
Open Your Own Treasure House
Daiju visited the master Baso in China. Baso asked: "What do you seek?"
"Enlightenment," replied Daiju.
Read Complete Story
My Heart Burns Like Fire
Soyen Shaku, the first Zen teacher to come to America, said: "My heart burns like fire but my eyes are as cold as dead ashes." He made the following rules which he practiced every day of his life.
Read Complete Story
Friday, 2 May 2014
No Water, No Moon
When the nun Chiyono studied Zen under Bukko of Engaku she was unable to attain the fruits of meditation for a long time.
Read Complete Story
Eshun's Departure
When Eshun, the Zen nun, was past sixty and about to leave this world, she asked some monks to pile up wood in the yard.
Read Complete Story
Calling Card
Keichu, the great Zen teacher of the Meiji era, was the head of Tofuku, a cathedral in Kyoto. One day the governor of Kyoto called upon him for the first time.
Read Complete Story
Three Days More
Suiwo, the disciple of Hakuin, was a good teacher. During one summer seclusion period, a pupil came to him from a southern island of Japan.
Read Complete Story
Publishing the Sutras
Tetsugen, a devotee of Zen in Japan, decided to publish the sutras, which at that time were available only in Chinese.
Read Complete Story
Inch Time Foot Gem
Tetsugen, a devotee of Zen in Japan, decided to publish the sutras, which at that time were available only in Chinese.
Read Complete Story
Every-Minute Zen
Zen students are with their masters at least two years before they presume to teach others. Nan-in was visited by Tenno, who, having passed his apprenticeship,
Read Complete Story
Sleeping in the Daytime
The master Soyen Shaku passed from this world when he was sixty-one years of age. Fulfilling his life's work, he left a great teaching,
Read Complete Story
A Smile in His Lifetime
Mokugen was never known to smile until his last day on earth. When his time came to pass away he said to his faithful ones:
Read Complete Story
Gisho's Work
Gisho was ordained as a nun when she was ten years old. She received training just as the little boys did.
Read Complete Story
Mokusen's Hand
Mokusen Hiki was living in a temple in the province of Tamba. One of his adherents complained of the stinginess of his wife.
Read Complete Story
In Dreamland
"Our schoolmaster used to take a nap every afternoon," related a disciple of Soyen Shaku. "We children asked him why he did it and he told us: 'I go to dreamland to meet the old sages just as Confucius did.'"
Read Complete Story
Everything is Best
When Banzan was walking through a market he overheard a conversation between a butcher and his customer.
Read Complete Story
Flower Shower
Subhuti was Buddha's disciple. He was able to understand the potency of emptiness, the viewpoint that nothing exists except in its relationship of subjectivity and objectivity.
Read Complete Story
How Grass and Trees Become Enlightened
During the Kamakura period, Shinkan studied Tendai six years and then studied Zen seven years; then he went to China and contemplated Zen for thirteen years more.
Read Complete Story
Black Nosed Buddha
A nun who was searching for enlightenment made a statue of Buddha and covered it with gold leaf. Wherever she ent she carried this golden Buddha with her.
Read Complete Story
Right and Wrong
When Bankei held his seclusion-weeks of meditation, pupils from many parts of Japan came to attend. During one of these gatherings a pupil was caught stealing.
Read Complete Story
The Stingy Artist
Gessen was an artist monk. Before he would start a drawing or painting he always insisted upon being paid in advance, and his fees were high. He was known as the "Stingy Artist."
Read Complete Story
The Dead Man's Answer
When Mamiya, who later became a well-known preacher, went to a teacher for personal guidance, he was asked to explain the sound of one hand.
Read Complete Story
Accurate Proportion
Sen no Rikyu, a tea-master, wished to hang a flower basket on a column. He asked a carpenter to help him, directing the man to place it a little higher or lower,
Read Complete Story
Zen in a Beggar's Life
Tosui was a well-known Zen teacher of his time. He had lived in several temples and taught in various provinces.
Read Complete Story
Ryonen's Clear Realization
The Buddhist nun known as Ryonen was born in 1797. She was a graddaughter of the famous Japanese warrior Shingen.
Read Complete Story
Joshu's Zen
Joshu began the study of Zen when he was sixty years old and continued until he was eighty, when he realized Zen.
He taught from the age of eighty until he was one hundred and twenty.
Read Complete Story
The Thief Who Became a Disciple
One evening as Shichiri Kojun was reciting sutras a thief with a sharp sword entered, demanding either money or his life.
Read Complete Story
The True Path
Just before Ninakawa passed away the Zen master Ikkyu visited him. "Shall I lead you on?" Ikkyu asked.
Read Complete Story
Arresting the Stone Buddha
A merchant bearing fifty rolls of cotton goods on his shoulders stopped to rest from the heat of the day beneath a shelter where a large stone Buddha was standing.
Read Complete Story
The Giver Should Be Thankful
While Seietsu was the master of Engaku in Kamakura he required larger quarters, since those in which he was teaching were overcrowded.
Read Complete Story
The Gates of Paradise
A soldier named Nobushige came to Hakuin, and asked: "Is there really a paradise and a hell?"
"Who are you?" inquired Hakuin.
Read Complete Story
Your Light May Go Out
A student of Tendai, a philosophical school of Buddhism, came to the Zen abode of Gasan as a pupil. When he was departing a few years later,
Read Complete Story
The Tunnel
Zenkai, the son of a samurai, journeyed to Edo and there became the retainer of a high official. He fell in love with the official's wife and was discovered.
Read Complete Story
Soldiers of Humanity
Once a division of the Japanese army was engaged in a sham battle, and some of the officers found it necessary to make their headquarters in Gasan's temple.
Read Complete Story
Sour Miso
The cook monk Dairyo, at Bankei's monastery, decided that he would take good care of his old teacher's health and give him only fresh miso,
Read Complete Story
The Last Will and Testament
Ikkyu, a famous Zen teacher of the Ashikaga era, was the son of the emperor. When he was very young, his mother left the palace and went to study Zen in a temple.
Read Complete Story
Thursday, 1 May 2014
Children of His Majesty
Yamaoka Tesshu was a tutor of the emperor. He was also a master of fencing and a profound student of Zen.
Read Complete Story
Killing
Gasan instructed his adherents one day: "Those who speak against killing and who desire to spare the lives of all conscious beings are right.
Read Complete Story
One Note of Zen
After Kakua visited the emperor he disappeared and no one knew what became of him. He was the first Japanese to study Zen in China,
Read Complete Story
In the Hands of Destiny
A great Japanese warrior named Nobunaga decided to attack the enemy although he had only one-tenth the number of men the opposition commanded. He knew that he would win,
Read Complete Story
The Most Valuable Thing in the World
Sozan, a Chinese Zen master, was asked by a student: "What is the most valuable thing in the world?"
The master replied: "The head of a dead cat."
Read Complete Story
The Subjugation of a Ghost
A young wife fell sick and was about to die. "I love you so much," she told her husband, "I do not want to leave you. Do not go from me to any other woman.
Read Complete Story
Gudo and the Emperor
The emperor Goyozei was studying Zen under Gudo. He inquired: "In Zen this very mind is Buddha. Is this correct?"
Read Complete Story
Eating the Blame
Circumstances arose one day which delayed preperation of the dinner of a Soto Zen master, Fukai, and his followers.
Read Complete Story
What Are You Doing! What Are You Saying!
In modern times a great deal of nonsense is talked about masters and disciples, and about the inheritance of a master's teaching by favorite pupils,
Read Complete Story