Ririro.com - Short Stories

In Edgar Allan Poe's "Mesmeric Revelation," a mesmerist engages in a philosophical dialogue with his dying patient, Mr. Vankirk, while the latter is under hypnosis. Seeking clarity on the soul's immortality before his death, Vankirk explains a complex cosmology revealed through the mesmeric trance: he posits that God is not spirit but an "unparticled matter," the fundamental substance of existence...

In Edgar Allan Poe's "The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar," a mesmerist narrator decides to conduct a unique experiment: mesmerising a man precisely at the moment of death to see if the process can be arrested and what the effects might be. His friend, M. Valdemar, dying from consumption, agrees to be the subject. The narrator successfully places Valdemar into a mesmeric trance just as he expires...

In Edgar Allan Poe's "Silence—A Fable," a Demon tells the narrator about a desolate, noisy region in Libya where a man seeking solitude sits on a rock marked "DESOLATION." The Demon tries to frighten the man by adding terrifying sounds like roaring beasts and a violent storm to the already chaotic landscape, but the man remains unmoved. Finally, the Demon curses the region with absolute silence, m...

Amidst a devastating plague known as the Red Death, the arrogant Prince Prospero locks himself and a thousand wealthy friends inside a sealed, fortified abbey, determined to defy death through extravagant pleasure and isolation. They throw a lavish masquerade ball within a suite of seven symbolic, color-coded rooms, ignoring the suffering outside and the unsettling chimes of an ebony clock that ma...

In Edgar Allan Poe's "The Imp of the Perverse," the narrator explores a dark psychological force he believes is overlooked: the innate human tendency to do something wrong or self-destructive precisely because one knows they shouldn't. He illustrates this with examples like procrastination or the urge to jump from a height, arguing it's a powerful, irrational impulse separate from other motivation...

In Edgar Allan Poe's "The Island of the Fay," a solitary narrator contemplates the beauty of nature and discovers a unique, small island divided into two distinct halves: one bathed in the vibrant light of the setting sun, representing life and joy, and the other engulfed in deep, somber shadow, evoking death and sorrow. He observes a tiny Fay (a fairy) in a fragile canoe repeatedly circling the i...

In Edgar Allan Poe's "The Assignation," set in Venice, the narrator witnesses a mysterious, unnamed stranger rescue the young child of the beautiful Marchesa Aphrodite from drowning. A strong, unspoken connection exists between the stranger and the Marchesa, who is trapped in a marriage with the elderly Mentoni, culminating in a brief, cryptic agreement for them to meet shortly after sunrise. The...

In Edgar Allan Poe's "The Pit and the Pendulum," a prisoner condemned by the Spanish Inquisition awakens in total darkness, narrowly escaping a fall into a deep central pit within his dungeon. Later, drugged and bound beneath a giant, razor-sharp pendulum descending slowly to slice him, he cleverly lures rats with his meager food rations to gnaw through his bonds, escaping just in time. His relief...

In Edgar Allan Poe's "The Premature Burial," the narrator suffers from catalepsy, a condition causing temporary death-like trances, leading to an obsessive and paralyzing fear of being buried alive. He recounts several chilling anecdotes of others who supposedly suffered this fate and details the elaborate precautions he takes for his own potential burial, including a specially designed coffin and...

In Edgar Allan Poe's "The Domain of Arnheim," the narrator describes his friend Ellison, a man uniquely blessed with fortune, intellect, and beauty, who inherits an almost unimaginable sum of money. Believing happiness stems from four conditions (exercise, love, contempt of ambition, and a spiritual object of pursuit), Ellison decides the highest form of poetic expression is landscape gardening. H...

In "Landor's Cottage," Edgar Allan Poe's narrator, lost during a walk in the New York countryside, discovers a hidden, perfectly beautiful small valley and the exquisitely designed cottage within it. The story serves primarily as an intensely detailed description of this idyllic landscape and dwelling, focusing on how every element – paths, plants, water features, architecture, and even interior d...

Edgar Allan Poe's "William Wilson" is a chilling psychological tale about a man recounting his descent into vice, haunted throughout his life by a mysterious doppelgänger who shares his name, appearance, and birthday. This double appears at critical moments, always acting to thwart the narrator's immoral schemes and seemingly representing his own conscience, whispering warnings the narrator increa...

J.H. Ewing's "Old Father Christmas" is a charming, nostalgic tale capturing childhood innocence and the magic surrounding early Christmas tree traditions. The story follows the narrator and their sister Patty, who excitedly mistake a kindly, deaf old man carrying a fir tree for Father Christmas himself, leading to humorous misunderstandings that fuel their belief. Their adventure involves anticipa...

This story celebrates "Christmas Aunts" as cherished relatives who offer affection and appropriate gifts, bridging the gap between parental obligation and casual acquaintance. Wells emphasizes that the true value of a gift lies in the giver's character, affection, and understanding of the recipient, regardless of the aunt's marital status or wealth. These aunts provide children with a unique sense...

In William Osborn Stoddard's "How Santa Claus Came," the Burnell children worry that a severe Christmas Eve snowstorm will prevent Santa Claus from arriving, a concern their parents secretly share as they couldn't get gifts from the village. However, embodying the spirit of Santa, their Aunt Sally, Uncle Frank, and cousin Mid brave the storm, arriving late by train. They sneak into the house in th...

Set during Christmastime, this Sherlock Holmes mystery begins when a commissionaire brings Holmes a lost hat and a goose, inside which the priceless, stolen Blue Carbuncle gem is unexpectedly found. Holmes uses his remarkable deductive skills, starting with clues from the hat, to track down its innocent owner and subsequently trace the goose's journey through London's markets. This clever investig...

In Arthur Conan Doyle's "A Case of Identity," a distraught young woman, Miss Mary Sutherland, consults Sherlock Holmes after her fiancé, Hosmer Angel, mysteriously vanishes just before their wedding. Through keen observation of details like typed letters and descriptions of the secretive fiancé who only appeared when her stepfather was away, Holmes swiftly deduces a cruel deception: Hosmer Angel n...

In Arthur Conan Doyle's "The Red-Headed League," Sherlock Holmes investigates the peculiar case of Jabez Wilson, a pawnbroker hired for a high-paying but nonsensical job seemingly just because of his fiery red hair. When the sponsoring "League" abruptly dissolves, Holmes's suspicion is aroused. Through keen observation and deduction, he uncovers that the entire League was an elaborate hoax orchest...

In "A Scandal in Bohemia," the brilliant detective Sherlock Holmes is hired by the King of Bohemia to retrieve a compromising photograph from Irene Adler, a clever American opera singer and former lover, before it can disrupt his upcoming royal marriage. Holmes employs elaborate disguises and stages an incident to locate the photo, but Adler proves remarkably perceptive, anticipates his plan, and...

In "The Boscombe Valley Mystery," Sherlock Holmes investigates the murder of Charles McCarthy, whose son James is the prime suspect after being seen arguing with his father shortly before the death. Holmes travels to the scenic valley and, through meticulous examination of clues missed by the police, uncovers a hidden history connecting the victim and a wealthy local landowner, John Turner, to pas...

In "The Man with the Twisted Lip," Sherlock Holmes investigates the sudden disappearance of respectable family man Neville St. Clair, last seen by his wife in the window of an opium den. Suspicion falls on Hugh Boone, a deformed beggar living in the room where St. Clair vanished, but a later letter from the missing man confuses matters. Holmes ultimately uncovers a secret double life: St. Clair di...

In Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's "The Five Orange Pips," Sherlock Holmes investigates a terrifying family mystery when John Openshaw receives five orange pips by post – a sinister warning that preceded the mysterious deaths of his uncle and father. Holmes uncovers a link to the Ku Klux Klan in America, revealing the pips are a death sentence demanding the return of incriminating papers stolen years ago...

This story tells of a cruel Mandarin who moves to America and is annoyed by local children. Using a stolen magic book, he forces a captured butterfly to help him seek revenge by turning children into pigs with a magic compound. The butterfly, however, dislikes the task and deceives the Mandarin, only using the magic once to turn a genuinely cruel boy (who was magically turned from a pig) back into...

In Edgar Allan Poe's "The Oval Portrait," an injured narrator sheltering in an abandoned château becomes captivated by a strikingly lifelike portrait of a beautiful young woman. Reading an accompanying book, he learns the tragic story behind it: the subject was the young bride of a passionate painter obsessed with his art. Eager to capture her beauty, the artist painted her portrait tirelessly in...

In this spooky, repetitive folktale, a woman working late wishes for company, only to have a strange visitor arrive piece by piece – starting with feet and ending with a head – assembling itself by her fire. Despite the unnerving arrival, she questions the creature about its bizarre proportions, receiving cryptic and varied explanations for its features (like broad feet from "much tramping" or a h...