1) Johann, the coach driver, is uneasy about taking a passenger out for a drive on Walpurgis Night due to superstitious fears.
2) Against Johann's warnings, the passenger insists on exploring a deserted village down an unused road.
3) Johann describes a dark history of the village where people who had died and been buried later emerged from their graves alive with blood red mouths, driving the remaining villagers to flee in terror.
This document is an excerpt from the short story "Dracula's Guest" by Bram Stoker. It describes the following:
The narrator is on a carriage ride driven by Johann when they come across a small, winding side road that the narrator wants to explore. Johann is extremely reluctant and refuses, becoming increasingly frightened. He believes that tonight is the night of Walpurgis, when supernatural things can happen. Despite Johann's protests and obvious fear, the narrator insists on taking the side road alone to investigate while Johann returns home.
1) A messenger goes down into the lower vaults of the bank he works at to search for some missing records. He discovers a secret vault containing gold and other valuables.
2) When he tries to leave, he finds that the large stone door has closed, trapping him inside. After freeing himself, he finds all the guards and other bank employees dead.
3) He goes outside and discovers everyone in the city is dead. The comet that had passed Earth earlier in the day released a deadly gas that killed everyone. The only other living person he finds is a wealthy white woman.
Jonathan Harker travels to Transylvania to meet with Count Dracula on business. He arrives at Dracula's castle late at night and is greeted by the mysterious Count. The next morning, Harker explores the castle's library as they begin discussing the real estate deal in London. However, strange events like the howling of wolves at night and the Count's odd behavior, like not eating with Harker, make the visitor feel uneasy in the ominous castle.
The narrator is awakened by a tapping at his chamber door late at night. Upon opening the door, he finds only darkness. Later, a raven enters through his window and perches above the door, speaking only the word "Nevermore" in response to the narrator's questions. The narrator becomes increasingly distressed by the mysterious visitor and its ominous message.
This poem by Edgar Allan Poe tells the story of Prince Prospero's attempts to escape a deadly plague known as the "Red Death" by hiding away in a locked abbey with 1000 other nobles. Prospero believes the abbey is securely protected against the pestilence. However, during a masked ball, a mysterious figure dressed as the Red Death infiltrates their party, exposing them all to the disease and leading to their demise. The poem serves as a commentary on mankind's futile attempts to avoid death and the inevitability of mortality.
The document discusses the negative consequences that result from only doing things halfway or half-heartedly. It provides numerous examples where attempting tasks or activities with only half the effort leads to undesirable outcomes, including embarrassment, deprivation, failure, or harm. The overall message is that living life half-heartedly will guarantee failure, and one must fully commit to be successful.
The document summarizes parts of a chapter from the book "The Alchemist" by Paulo Coelho. It describes the story of a boy who meets a wise old king named Melchizedek who gives him advice. The king tells the boy a story about a shopkeeper's son bringing oil on a spoon to see the wisest man, and being too focused on not spilling the oil to notice the wonders around him. The boy later understands his heart better and realizes happiness can be found in small things like a grain of sand. He continues his journey, selling his sheep and traveling to find his treasure at the pyramids as foretold by Melchizedek.
The document provides a summary and analysis of part 1 of Samuel Taylor Coleridge's poem "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner". It describes how the ancient mariner stops a wedding guest and begins telling his story. The summary then analyzes some of the poetic devices used in part 1, including anaphora, assonance, consonance, elision, imagery, onomatopoeia, oxymoron and personification.
This document is an excerpt from the short story "Dracula's Guest" by Bram Stoker. It describes the following:
The narrator is on a carriage ride driven by Johann when they come across a small, winding side road that the narrator wants to explore. Johann is extremely reluctant and refuses, becoming increasingly frightened. He believes that tonight is the night of Walpurgis, when supernatural things can happen. Despite Johann's protests and obvious fear, the narrator insists on taking the side road alone to investigate while Johann returns home.
1) A messenger goes down into the lower vaults of the bank he works at to search for some missing records. He discovers a secret vault containing gold and other valuables.
2) When he tries to leave, he finds that the large stone door has closed, trapping him inside. After freeing himself, he finds all the guards and other bank employees dead.
3) He goes outside and discovers everyone in the city is dead. The comet that had passed Earth earlier in the day released a deadly gas that killed everyone. The only other living person he finds is a wealthy white woman.
Jonathan Harker travels to Transylvania to meet with Count Dracula on business. He arrives at Dracula's castle late at night and is greeted by the mysterious Count. The next morning, Harker explores the castle's library as they begin discussing the real estate deal in London. However, strange events like the howling of wolves at night and the Count's odd behavior, like not eating with Harker, make the visitor feel uneasy in the ominous castle.
The narrator is awakened by a tapping at his chamber door late at night. Upon opening the door, he finds only darkness. Later, a raven enters through his window and perches above the door, speaking only the word "Nevermore" in response to the narrator's questions. The narrator becomes increasingly distressed by the mysterious visitor and its ominous message.
This poem by Edgar Allan Poe tells the story of Prince Prospero's attempts to escape a deadly plague known as the "Red Death" by hiding away in a locked abbey with 1000 other nobles. Prospero believes the abbey is securely protected against the pestilence. However, during a masked ball, a mysterious figure dressed as the Red Death infiltrates their party, exposing them all to the disease and leading to their demise. The poem serves as a commentary on mankind's futile attempts to avoid death and the inevitability of mortality.
The document discusses the negative consequences that result from only doing things halfway or half-heartedly. It provides numerous examples where attempting tasks or activities with only half the effort leads to undesirable outcomes, including embarrassment, deprivation, failure, or harm. The overall message is that living life half-heartedly will guarantee failure, and one must fully commit to be successful.
The document summarizes parts of a chapter from the book "The Alchemist" by Paulo Coelho. It describes the story of a boy who meets a wise old king named Melchizedek who gives him advice. The king tells the boy a story about a shopkeeper's son bringing oil on a spoon to see the wisest man, and being too focused on not spilling the oil to notice the wonders around him. The boy later understands his heart better and realizes happiness can be found in small things like a grain of sand. He continues his journey, selling his sheep and traveling to find his treasure at the pyramids as foretold by Melchizedek.
The document provides a summary and analysis of part 1 of Samuel Taylor Coleridge's poem "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner". It describes how the ancient mariner stops a wedding guest and begins telling his story. The summary then analyzes some of the poetic devices used in part 1, including anaphora, assonance, consonance, elision, imagery, onomatopoeia, oxymoron and personification.
The document contains a poem titled "Telephone Conversation" by Wole Soyinka. It describes a phone call between a man and a landlady, in which the landlady asks inappropriate questions about the man's race and skin color when inquiring about renting a property. The man responds with humor and metaphor to deflect the landlady's questions, comparing his skin tone to foods like "plain or milk chocolate" and describing how friction has lightened or darkened parts of his skin to different tones.
1) A mysterious raven visits a man late at night and perches above his chamber door.
2) The raven only says the word "Nevermore" in response to the man's questions.
3) The man becomes increasingly disturbed and unsettled by the raven's constant croaking of "Nevermore" as a response.
Dark Master is on a quest to lay his beloved Queen to rest after she sacrificed herself to save everyone. He has been having nightmares and is being consumed by a curse. Dark Master searches Monkey Run Jungle, Pirates Cove, and the Queen's Castle for clues but finds nothing helpful at the jungle or cove. At the castle, Dark Master meets the Great Queen after finding a sword with a key. The Queen tells Dark Master she will perform a spell to end the curse if he brings her the sword.
Background of literature in germany ( Rapunzel Story)Paolo Dela Cruz
This fairy tale is about a young girl named Rapunzel who is locked away in a tall tower by an enchantress. Rapunzel's long golden hair provides the only way to access the tower. A prince hears Rapunzel singing and climbs up her hair to visit her. They fall in love but are discovered by the enchantress, who cuts off Rapunzel's hair and banishes her. Years later, the prince and now blind Rapunzel are reunited in the forest, where her tears heal his eyesight. They return to his kingdom and live happily ever after.
This ppt was made for our stupid projects..... The main purpose behind uploading this ppt is that no one should suffer like us and waste their time behind these stupid things... concentrate on your studies..
The narrator is grieving the loss of his lover Lenore when a raven mysteriously appears at his chamber door. The raven is able to speak, uttering only the word "Nevermore" in response to the narrator's questions. The narrator grows increasingly disturbed by the raven's constant repetition of this melancholy word and realization that the raven will never leave his chamber door.
The story follows two gas station attendants, I and Harnie, and their encounter with a mysterious stranger who arrives in a beautiful car. They recount the story of a beautiful woman who came to their town years ago and sat down with her cello, never moving again. When Harnie plucked one of the cello strings, his hand lit up and was consumed in a shower of sparks. Though a strange event, the townspeople acted like nothing happened. The stranger insists on being taken to see the woman. When they arrive, he plays her a song on his steel guitar, and she opens her eyes for the first time in decades.
The document provides context and summaries of key passages from Samuel Taylor Coleridge's poem "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner." It introduces the poem as Coleridge's longest work, published in 1798. A summary is then provided of the opening sections where the Mariner stops a wedding guest and tells his story of sailing south where they encounter a storm. The ship becomes trapped in ice until an albatross appears and leads them out of the ice, but the Mariner kills it with his crossbow. The crew then suffers from lack of wind and water, and strange apparitions begin to appear on the ship.
"The Raven" in Pleasantview (Halloween 2014)kgcowbelle
The narrator is disturbed by a tapping sound at his chamber door one night. When he opens the door, nothing is there. Later, a raven flies into his room and perches above the door, uttering the word "Nevermore" in response to the narrator's questions. The narrator becomes increasingly unsettled by the raven's ominous presence and its constant repetition of "Nevermore," which seems to symbolize his inability to forget his lost love Lenore.
The poem describes supernatural events that occur during a sailor's sea voyage. As the sailor, known as the Ancient Mariner, sleeps, he dreams of drinking water which then comes true when he wakes to rain. Strange storms, lights in the sky, and the crew's corpses rising up and singing are witnessed. The ship moves though there is no wind, guided underwater by a mysterious spirit. When the ship suddenly lurches forward, the Mariner blacks out. Upon waking, he hears two voices - one judging him for killing an albatross, while the other says he has done penance and must do more.
This document provides guidance for analyzing a poem, including considering the type of poem, point of view, themes, and figurative language. It then outlines a framework called TPCASST for analyzing different parts of a poem through paraphrasing, predicting, questioning, commenting, clarifying, and connecting. Several other analysis areas are also listed such as archetypes, symbols, and character analysis techniques. The document concludes by suggesting writing a mariner legend incorporating elements from Coleridge's "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner."
The document contains lyrics to 15 songs by the band Blackmore's Night. The songs are in a medieval folk style and tell stories of knights, castles, magic, and romance set in medieval times under a violet moon. Some songs mention dancing, drinking, and pastimes to pass the time with good company in an enchanted wood.
The Rime of the Ancient Mariner - in class noteslramirezcruz
The Ancient Mariner kills an albatross that was seen as a sign of good luck. This act leaves him and his shipmates stranded at sea with no wind to sail. The Mariner is forced to wear the albatross around his neck as a symbol of his sin. After his shipmates die one by one, the Mariner is left alone with their corpses. He is eventually able to pray again and the albatross falls from his neck. The Mariner is rescued by hermits and finds redemption by telling his story to sailors in order to teach them the lesson of his sin.
This is a presentation on the 2nd part of rime of the ancient mariner by S.T.Colerige. This will be useful for class 10 cbse students for their projects
The document summarizes the plot of Samuel Taylor Coleridge's poem "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner". It describes how the Ancient Mariner stops a wedding guest and tells the story of his doomed sea voyage. The Mariner describes how his ship encountered a storm after leaving port and became trapped in ice until an albatross appeared and led them to calm waters. However, the Mariner then shot the albatross with his crossbow, angering the crew who saw it as their savior. The ship was then plagued by mist, drought, and sea creatures as punishment for the killing. The Mariner's tale explains why he now stops guests to share his story.
This is a book that was produced by the students participating to the etwinning Project "Deep to the roots of the world's fairytales":
1. CEIP NTRA. SRA. DE ORETO Y ZUQUECA, Granátula de Calatrava, Spain
2. Scoala Gimnaziala, Zaharia Stancu, Rosiorii de Vede,
Romania
3. ICS di Cadeo e Pontenure, Cadeo (PC)
Italy
4. LICEUL TEHNOLOGIC "OCTAVIAN GOGA",JIBOU,
Romania
5. Kozayağı İlkokulu, Akyurt Turkey
6. Ukmergės vaikų lopšelis-darželis "Buratinas", Ukmergė
Lithuania
7. 11th PRIMARY SCHOOL OF KATERINI, Katerini
Greece
8. 11th Primary School of Elefsina, Elefsina, Greece
9. Regent's Park Children's Centre, London
United Kingdom
10. ОДЗ "Пчелица", Shumen
Bulgaria
The narrator recounts visiting his lover's grave and experiencing a night of terror in the cemetery. He is unable to find her grave and wanders among the tombs in the dark. He sees one tombstone rise up, revealing a skeleton that scratches out the lies written on its headstone and replaces them with the truth about the man's wicked deeds in life. The narrator then sees that all the dead have risen and rewritten their headstones with the hidden truths about their dishonest and malevolent lives. When he finds his lover's grave, he sees that she went out in the rain to deceive him and caught cold, leading to her death. He loses consciousness and is found at dawn, collapsed on her
The document provides instructions and options for students for their work that day, which includes reading a chapter from Treasure Island and completing vocabulary and comprehension questions. It then summarizes a chapter from Treasure Island where the main character Jim Hawkins meets Long John Silver at the Spyglass Inn and they discuss one of Silver's previous customers, Black Dog, a known buccaneer. Silver claims not to know Black Dog but his behavior raises Jim's suspicions.
This document summarizes the first two chapters of Bram Stoker's novel Dracula. It introduces Jonathan Harker, who travels to Transylvania on business for Count Dracula. Harker stays at Dracula's ominous castle and grows suspicious of the Count. Strange events occur, such as Dracula having no reflection and crawling down the castle wall like a lizard. Harker realizes he is trapped in the castle and fears for his safety.
This summary provides an overview of the first chapter of Dracula by Bram Stoker:
Jonathan Harker begins his journal describing his journey from London to Transylvania, where he will meet with Count Dracula to finalize a real estate deal. He notes the cultural differences as he travels further east. Upon arriving in Bistritz, he receives a letter from Count Dracula welcoming him and instructing him to take a coach the next day to the Borgo Pass, where Dracula's carriage will meet him. However, Jonathan's landlord and his wife act strangely when asked about Dracula and his castle, crossing themselves and refusing to talk about the Count. Before Jonathan leaves, the distressed landlady be
The document contains a poem titled "Telephone Conversation" by Wole Soyinka. It describes a phone call between a man and a landlady, in which the landlady asks inappropriate questions about the man's race and skin color when inquiring about renting a property. The man responds with humor and metaphor to deflect the landlady's questions, comparing his skin tone to foods like "plain or milk chocolate" and describing how friction has lightened or darkened parts of his skin to different tones.
1) A mysterious raven visits a man late at night and perches above his chamber door.
2) The raven only says the word "Nevermore" in response to the man's questions.
3) The man becomes increasingly disturbed and unsettled by the raven's constant croaking of "Nevermore" as a response.
Dark Master is on a quest to lay his beloved Queen to rest after she sacrificed herself to save everyone. He has been having nightmares and is being consumed by a curse. Dark Master searches Monkey Run Jungle, Pirates Cove, and the Queen's Castle for clues but finds nothing helpful at the jungle or cove. At the castle, Dark Master meets the Great Queen after finding a sword with a key. The Queen tells Dark Master she will perform a spell to end the curse if he brings her the sword.
Background of literature in germany ( Rapunzel Story)Paolo Dela Cruz
This fairy tale is about a young girl named Rapunzel who is locked away in a tall tower by an enchantress. Rapunzel's long golden hair provides the only way to access the tower. A prince hears Rapunzel singing and climbs up her hair to visit her. They fall in love but are discovered by the enchantress, who cuts off Rapunzel's hair and banishes her. Years later, the prince and now blind Rapunzel are reunited in the forest, where her tears heal his eyesight. They return to his kingdom and live happily ever after.
This ppt was made for our stupid projects..... The main purpose behind uploading this ppt is that no one should suffer like us and waste their time behind these stupid things... concentrate on your studies..
The narrator is grieving the loss of his lover Lenore when a raven mysteriously appears at his chamber door. The raven is able to speak, uttering only the word "Nevermore" in response to the narrator's questions. The narrator grows increasingly disturbed by the raven's constant repetition of this melancholy word and realization that the raven will never leave his chamber door.
The story follows two gas station attendants, I and Harnie, and their encounter with a mysterious stranger who arrives in a beautiful car. They recount the story of a beautiful woman who came to their town years ago and sat down with her cello, never moving again. When Harnie plucked one of the cello strings, his hand lit up and was consumed in a shower of sparks. Though a strange event, the townspeople acted like nothing happened. The stranger insists on being taken to see the woman. When they arrive, he plays her a song on his steel guitar, and she opens her eyes for the first time in decades.
The document provides context and summaries of key passages from Samuel Taylor Coleridge's poem "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner." It introduces the poem as Coleridge's longest work, published in 1798. A summary is then provided of the opening sections where the Mariner stops a wedding guest and tells his story of sailing south where they encounter a storm. The ship becomes trapped in ice until an albatross appears and leads them out of the ice, but the Mariner kills it with his crossbow. The crew then suffers from lack of wind and water, and strange apparitions begin to appear on the ship.
"The Raven" in Pleasantview (Halloween 2014)kgcowbelle
The narrator is disturbed by a tapping sound at his chamber door one night. When he opens the door, nothing is there. Later, a raven flies into his room and perches above the door, uttering the word "Nevermore" in response to the narrator's questions. The narrator becomes increasingly unsettled by the raven's ominous presence and its constant repetition of "Nevermore," which seems to symbolize his inability to forget his lost love Lenore.
The poem describes supernatural events that occur during a sailor's sea voyage. As the sailor, known as the Ancient Mariner, sleeps, he dreams of drinking water which then comes true when he wakes to rain. Strange storms, lights in the sky, and the crew's corpses rising up and singing are witnessed. The ship moves though there is no wind, guided underwater by a mysterious spirit. When the ship suddenly lurches forward, the Mariner blacks out. Upon waking, he hears two voices - one judging him for killing an albatross, while the other says he has done penance and must do more.
This document provides guidance for analyzing a poem, including considering the type of poem, point of view, themes, and figurative language. It then outlines a framework called TPCASST for analyzing different parts of a poem through paraphrasing, predicting, questioning, commenting, clarifying, and connecting. Several other analysis areas are also listed such as archetypes, symbols, and character analysis techniques. The document concludes by suggesting writing a mariner legend incorporating elements from Coleridge's "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner."
The document contains lyrics to 15 songs by the band Blackmore's Night. The songs are in a medieval folk style and tell stories of knights, castles, magic, and romance set in medieval times under a violet moon. Some songs mention dancing, drinking, and pastimes to pass the time with good company in an enchanted wood.
The Rime of the Ancient Mariner - in class noteslramirezcruz
The Ancient Mariner kills an albatross that was seen as a sign of good luck. This act leaves him and his shipmates stranded at sea with no wind to sail. The Mariner is forced to wear the albatross around his neck as a symbol of his sin. After his shipmates die one by one, the Mariner is left alone with their corpses. He is eventually able to pray again and the albatross falls from his neck. The Mariner is rescued by hermits and finds redemption by telling his story to sailors in order to teach them the lesson of his sin.
This is a presentation on the 2nd part of rime of the ancient mariner by S.T.Colerige. This will be useful for class 10 cbse students for their projects
The document summarizes the plot of Samuel Taylor Coleridge's poem "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner". It describes how the Ancient Mariner stops a wedding guest and tells the story of his doomed sea voyage. The Mariner describes how his ship encountered a storm after leaving port and became trapped in ice until an albatross appeared and led them to calm waters. However, the Mariner then shot the albatross with his crossbow, angering the crew who saw it as their savior. The ship was then plagued by mist, drought, and sea creatures as punishment for the killing. The Mariner's tale explains why he now stops guests to share his story.
This is a book that was produced by the students participating to the etwinning Project "Deep to the roots of the world's fairytales":
1. CEIP NTRA. SRA. DE ORETO Y ZUQUECA, Granátula de Calatrava, Spain
2. Scoala Gimnaziala, Zaharia Stancu, Rosiorii de Vede,
Romania
3. ICS di Cadeo e Pontenure, Cadeo (PC)
Italy
4. LICEUL TEHNOLOGIC "OCTAVIAN GOGA",JIBOU,
Romania
5. Kozayağı İlkokulu, Akyurt Turkey
6. Ukmergės vaikų lopšelis-darželis "Buratinas", Ukmergė
Lithuania
7. 11th PRIMARY SCHOOL OF KATERINI, Katerini
Greece
8. 11th Primary School of Elefsina, Elefsina, Greece
9. Regent's Park Children's Centre, London
United Kingdom
10. ОДЗ "Пчелица", Shumen
Bulgaria
The narrator recounts visiting his lover's grave and experiencing a night of terror in the cemetery. He is unable to find her grave and wanders among the tombs in the dark. He sees one tombstone rise up, revealing a skeleton that scratches out the lies written on its headstone and replaces them with the truth about the man's wicked deeds in life. The narrator then sees that all the dead have risen and rewritten their headstones with the hidden truths about their dishonest and malevolent lives. When he finds his lover's grave, he sees that she went out in the rain to deceive him and caught cold, leading to her death. He loses consciousness and is found at dawn, collapsed on her
The document provides instructions and options for students for their work that day, which includes reading a chapter from Treasure Island and completing vocabulary and comprehension questions. It then summarizes a chapter from Treasure Island where the main character Jim Hawkins meets Long John Silver at the Spyglass Inn and they discuss one of Silver's previous customers, Black Dog, a known buccaneer. Silver claims not to know Black Dog but his behavior raises Jim's suspicions.
This document summarizes the first two chapters of Bram Stoker's novel Dracula. It introduces Jonathan Harker, who travels to Transylvania on business for Count Dracula. Harker stays at Dracula's ominous castle and grows suspicious of the Count. Strange events occur, such as Dracula having no reflection and crawling down the castle wall like a lizard. Harker realizes he is trapped in the castle and fears for his safety.
This summary provides an overview of the first chapter of Dracula by Bram Stoker:
Jonathan Harker begins his journal describing his journey from London to Transylvania, where he will meet with Count Dracula to finalize a real estate deal. He notes the cultural differences as he travels further east. Upon arriving in Bistritz, he receives a letter from Count Dracula welcoming him and instructing him to take a coach the next day to the Borgo Pass, where Dracula's carriage will meet him. However, Jonathan's landlord and his wife act strangely when asked about Dracula and his castle, crossing themselves and refusing to talk about the Count. Before Jonathan leaves, the distressed landlady be
This chapter introduces the story and main character Jonathan Harker. It describes his journey from Munich to Bistritz, Transylvania where he is traveling to meet Count Dracula. Harker notes the cultural and linguistic differences as he travels through Eastern Europe. Upon arriving in Bistritz, Harker receives a letter of introduction from Count Dracula directing him to the Golden Krone Hotel. The hotel owner and his wife act strangely when asked about Dracula and the region.
Dracula is an 1897 Gothic horror novel by Irish author Bram Stoker. Famous for introducing the character of the vampire Count Dracula, the novel tells the story of Dracula's attempt to move from Transylvania to England, and the battle between Dracula and a small group of men and women led by Professor Abraham Van Helsing.
Dracula has been assigned to many literary genres including vampire literature, horror fiction, the gothic novel and invasion literature. The novel touches on themes such as the role of women in Victorian culture, sexual conventions, immigration, colonialism, and post-colonialism. Although Stoker did not invent the vampire, he defined its modern form, and the novel has spawned numerous theatrical, film and television interpretations.
Smith, Aaron. Future of Technology.” Pew Research Center Interne.docxpbilly1
Smith, Aaron. “Future of Technology.” Pew Research Center: Internet, Science & Tech, Pew Research Center, 31 Dec. 2019, www.pewresearch.org/internet/2014/04/17/us-views-of-technology-and-the-future/.
Jones, Barry O. Sleepers, Wake!: Technology & the Future of Work. Oxford University Press, 1995.
https://books.google.com/books?hl=zh-TW&lr=&id=sHfmCwAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PR7&dq=Technology+and+the+Future&ots=tS2aNC8cYf&sig=vSPtWlznk9pHhMS_A-a8YuCWlNA#v=onepage&q&f=false
1
FAHRENHEIT 451
by Ray Bradbury
This one, with gratitude,
is for DON CONGDON.
FAHRENHEIT 451:
The temperature at which book-paper catches fire and burns
CONTENTS
one The Hearth and the Salamander 1
two The Sieve and the Sand 67
three Burning Bright 107
PART I
It was a pleasure to burn.
It was a special pleasure to see things eaten, to see things
blackened and changed. With the brass nozzle in his fists, with this
great python spitting its venomous kerosene upon the world, the blood
pounded in his head, and his hands were the hands of some amazing
conductor playing all the symphonies of blazing and burning to bring
down the tatters and charcoal ruins of history. With his symbolic
helmet numbered 451 on his stolid head, and his eyes all orange flame
with the thought of what came next, he flicked the igniter and the
house jumped up in a gorging fire that burned the evening sky red and
yellow and black. He strode in a swarm of fireflies. He wanted above
all, like the old joke, to shove a marshmallow on a stick in the furnace,
while the flapping pigeon-winged books died on the porch and
2
lawn of the house. While the books went up in sparkling whirls and
blew away on a wind turned dark with burning.
Montag grinned the fierce grin of all men singed and driven back
by flame.
He knew that when he returned to the firehouse, he might wink at
himself, a minstrel man, burnt-corked, in the mirror. Later, going to
sleep, he would feel the fiery smile still gripped by his face muscles, in
the dark. It never went away, that. smile, it never ever went away, as
long as he remembered.
He hung up his black-beetle-colored helmet and shined it, he hung
his flameproof jacket neatly; he showered luxuriously, and then,
whistling, hands in pockets, walked across the upper floor of the fire
station and fell down the hole. At the last moment, when disaster
seemed positive, he pulled his hands from his pockets and broke his
fall by grasping the golden pole. He slid to a squeaking halt, the heels
one inch from the concrete floor downstairs.
He walked out of the fire station and along the midnight street
toward the subway where the silent, air-propelled train slid
soundlessly down its lubricated flue in the earth and let him out with a
great puff of warm air an to the cream-tiled escalator rising to the
suburb.
Whistling, he let the escalator waft him into the still night air. He
walked toward the comer, thinking little at a.
The document is an excerpt from the novel "Dr. Dumany's Wife" by Mór Jókai. It describes a chance encounter on a train, where the narrator must share his sleeping compartment with the governess and young son of a wealthy American businessman, after their private car becomes detached from the train. Details are provided about the other people travelling with the boy, and a description of the pale, quiet child and his initial interactions with those in the compartment.
The narrator lures his acquaintance Fortunato to the catacombs under the pretense of sharing a pipe of Amontillado wine. As they descend into the catacombs, Fortunato becomes increasingly intoxicated. The narrator leads Fortunato into a small alcove and chains him inside, then begins sealing him in with bricks and mortar as Fortunato screams for help. The narrator finishes walling up the alcove, leaving Fortunato to die alone in the catacombs.
The poem describes a snake that comes to drink water from the poet's trough on a hot day in Sicily. As the snake drinks, the poet is conflicted between letting it drink in peace or killing it, as he was taught snakes in Sicily can be venomous. Though afraid, the poet feels honored by the snake seeking hospitality. When the snake finishes and leaves, the poet regrets startling it with a log, seeing it as a mean act. The snake seemed a king in exile, and the poet feels he missed a chance with one of life's lords.
The poem describes a snake that comes to drink water from the poet's trough on a hot day in Sicily. As the snake drinks, the poet is conflicted between letting it drink in peace or killing it, as he was taught snakes in Sicily can be venomous. Though afraid, the poet feels honored by the snake seeking hospitality. When the snake finishes and leaves, the poet regrets startling it with a log, seeing it as a mean act. The snake seemed a king in exile, and the poet feels he missed a chance with one of life's lords.
The document is a PDF containing the English translation and notes of Dante Alighieri's Divine Comedy - Inferno by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, along with illustrations by Paul Gustave Doré. It includes the full text of the Inferno divided into 34 cantos, with Longfellow's translation and notes for each canto. The PDF was prepared and typeset by Josef Nygrin and is being released under a Creative Commons license for non-commercial sharing and remixing with attribution.
THE COMETW.E.B. DuBoisHe stood a moment on the steps of .docxrtodd643
THE COMET
W.E.B. DuBois
He stood a moment on the steps of the bank, watching the human river that swirled down
Broadway. Few noticed him. Few ever noticed him save in a way that stung. He was outside the
world—"nothing!" as he said bitterly. Bits of the words of the walkers came to him.
"The comet?"
"The comet——"
Everybody was talking of it. Even the president, as he entered, smiled patronizingly at him, and
asked:
"Well, Jim, are you scared?"
"No," said the messenger shortly.
"I thought we'd journeyed through the comet's tail once," broke in the junior clerk affably.
"Oh, that was Halley's," said the president; "this is a new comet, quite a stranger, they say—
wonderful, wonderful! I saw it last night. Oh, by the way, Jim," turning again to the messenger, "I
want you to go down into the lower vaults today."
The messenger followed the president silently. Of course, they wanted him to go down to the
lower vaults. It was too dangerous for more valuable men. He smiled grimly and listened.
"Everything of value has been moved out since the water began to seep in," said the president;
"but we miss two volumes of old records. Suppose you nose around down there,—it isn't very
pleasant, I suppose."
"Not very," said the messenger, as he walked out.
"Well, Jim, the tail of the new comet hits us at noon this time," said the vault clerk, as he passed
over the keys; but the messenger passed silently down the stairs. Down he went beneath
Broadway, where the dim light filtered through the feet of hurrying men; down to the dark
basement beneath; down into the blackness and silence beneath that lowest cavern. Here with
his dark lantern he groped in the bowels of the earth, under the world.
He drew a long breath as he threw back the last great iron door and stepped into the fetid slime
within. Here at last was peace, and he groped moodily forward. A great rat leaped past him and
cobwebs crept across his face. He felt carefully around the room, shelf by shelf, on the muddied
floor, and in crevice and corner. Nothing. Then he went back to the far end, where somehow the
wall felt different. He sounded and pushed and pried. Nothing. He started away. Then something
brought him back. He was sounding and working again when suddenly the whole black wall
swung as on mighty hinges, and blackness yawned beyond. He peered in; it was evidently a
secret vault—some hiding place of the old bank unknown in newer times. He entered
hesitatingly. It was a long, narrow room with shelves, and at the far end, an old iron chest. On a
high shelf lay the two missing volumes of records, and others. He put them carefully aside and
stepped to the chest. It was old, strong, and rusty. He looked at the vast and old-fashioned lock
and flashed his light on the hinges. They were deeply incrusted with rust. Looking about, he
found a bit of iron and began to pry. The rust had eaten a hundred years, and it had gone deep.
Slowly, wearily, the old lid lifted, .
THE COMETW.E.B. DuBoisHe stood a moment on the steps of .docxcherry686017
THE COMET
W.E.B. DuBois
He stood a moment on the steps of the bank, watching the human river that swirled down
Broadway. Few noticed him. Few ever noticed him save in a way that stung. He was outside the
world—"nothing!" as he said bitterly. Bits of the words of the walkers came to him.
"The comet?"
"The comet——"
Everybody was talking of it. Even the president, as he entered, smiled patronizingly at him, and
asked:
"Well, Jim, are you scared?"
"No," said the messenger shortly.
"I thought we'd journeyed through the comet's tail once," broke in the junior clerk affably.
"Oh, that was Halley's," said the president; "this is a new comet, quite a stranger, they say—
wonderful, wonderful! I saw it last night. Oh, by the way, Jim," turning again to the messenger, "I
want you to go down into the lower vaults today."
The messenger followed the president silently. Of course, they wanted him to go down to the
lower vaults. It was too dangerous for more valuable men. He smiled grimly and listened.
"Everything of value has been moved out since the water began to seep in," said the president;
"but we miss two volumes of old records. Suppose you nose around down there,—it isn't very
pleasant, I suppose."
"Not very," said the messenger, as he walked out.
"Well, Jim, the tail of the new comet hits us at noon this time," said the vault clerk, as he passed
over the keys; but the messenger passed silently down the stairs. Down he went beneath
Broadway, where the dim light filtered through the feet of hurrying men; down to the dark
basement beneath; down into the blackness and silence beneath that lowest cavern. Here with
his dark lantern he groped in the bowels of the earth, under the world.
He drew a long breath as he threw back the last great iron door and stepped into the fetid slime
within. Here at last was peace, and he groped moodily forward. A great rat leaped past him and
cobwebs crept across his face. He felt carefully around the room, shelf by shelf, on the muddied
floor, and in crevice and corner. Nothing. Then he went back to the far end, where somehow the
wall felt different. He sounded and pushed and pried. Nothing. He started away. Then something
brought him back. He was sounding and working again when suddenly the whole black wall
swung as on mighty hinges, and blackness yawned beyond. He peered in; it was evidently a
secret vault—some hiding place of the old bank unknown in newer times. He entered
hesitatingly. It was a long, narrow room with shelves, and at the far end, an old iron chest. On a
high shelf lay the two missing volumes of records, and others. He put them carefully aside and
stepped to the chest. It was old, strong, and rusty. He looked at the vast and old-fashioned lock
and flashed his light on the hinges. They were deeply incrusted with rust. Looking about, he
found a bit of iron and began to pry. The rust had eaten a hundred years, and it had gone deep.
Slowly, wearily, the old lid lifted, ...
This document provides a summary of Edgar Allan Poe's short story "The Cask of Amontillado". It notes that the story, published in 1846, is in the public domain. It was created as a PDF ebook by José Menéndez. The summary then provides a brief synopsis of the plot in 3 sentences: The story is about a man named Montresor who seeks revenge on Fortunato for some insult, and lures Fortunato into his wine cellar under the guise of evaluating a wine, where he then bricks Fortunato alive within the walls.
OlallaRobert Louis StevensonNow, said the doctor, my part.docxcherishwinsland
Olalla
Robert Louis Stevenson
'Now,' said the doctor, 'my part is done, and, I may say, with some vanity, well done. It remains only to get you out of this cold and poisonous city, and to give you two months of a pure air and an easy conscience. The last is your affair. To the first I think I can help you. It fells indeed rather oddly; it was but the other day the Padre came in from the country; and as he and I are old friends, although of contrary professions, he applied to me in a matter of distress among some of his parishioners. This was a family - but you are ignorant of Spain, and even the names of our grandees are hardly known to you; suffice it, then, that they were once great people, and are now fallen to the brink of destitution. Nothing now belongs to them but the residencia, and certain leagues of desert mountain, in the greater part of which not even a goat could support life. But the house is a fine old place, and stands at a great height among the hills, and most salubriously; and I had no sooner heard my friend's tale, than I remembered you. I told him I had a wounded officer, wounded in the good cause, who was now able to make a change; and I proposed that his friends should take you for a lodger. Instantly the Padre's face grew dark, as I had maliciously foreseen it would. It was out of the question, he said. Then let them starve, said I, for I have no sympathy with tatterdemalion pride. There-upon we separated, not very content with one another; but yesterday, to my wonder, the Padre returned and made a submission: the difficulty, he said, he had found upon enquiry to be less than he had feared; or, in other words, these proud people had put their pride in their pocket. I closed with the offer; and, subject to your approval, I have taken rooms for you in the residencia. The air of these mountains will renew your
blood; and the quiet in which you will there live is worth all the medicines in the world.'
'Doctor,' said I, 'you have been throughout my good angel, and your advice is a command. But tell me, if you please, something of the family with which I am to reside.'
'I am coming to that,' replied my friend; 'and, indeed, there is a difficulty in the way. These beggars are, as I have said, of very high descent and swollen with the most baseless vanity; they have lived for some generations in a growing isolation, drawing away, on either hand, from the rich who had now become too high for them, and from the poor, whom they still regarded as too low; and even to-day, when poverty forces them to unfasten their door to a guest, they cannot do so without a most ungracious stipulation. You are to remain, they say, a stranger; they will give you attendance, but they refuse from the first the idea of the smallest intimacy.'
I will not deny that I was piqued, and perhaps the feeling strengthened my desire to go, for I was confident that I could break down that barrier if I desired. 'There is nothing offensive .
This document provides an overview of Victorian poetry and poets such as Tennyson, Browning, and Arnold. It discusses their backgrounds and major works. It also analyzes sample poems, including Tennyson's "In Memoriam A.H.H." which mourns the loss of his friend Hallam, and Browning's dramatic monologue "My Last Duchess" which reveals the controlling nature of the Duke through his story. The document examines poetic forms, themes of loss and faith, and encourages close reading and considering the speaker's perspective.
Fortunato, who had insulted the narrator, is lured into the catacombs under the pretense of sampling Amontillado wine. As Fortunato becomes increasingly inebriated, the narrator leads him deeper into the catacombs and chains him inside a niche, walling him in with stone and mortar to die as revenge for the insults. The narrator leaves Fortunato entombed in the catacombs to meet a slow death.
The Happy Prince statue is covered in gold and precious jewels. He watches over the city from his perch and sees the suffering of its people. A swallow decides to stay with the prince for the winter. The prince has the swallow remove his jewels to help those in need - first a ruby for a sick boy, then one of his sapphire eyes for a poor seamstress. In the end, the prince is blind but content knowing his jewels helped others in need.
Orpah Winfrey Dwayne Johnson: Titans of Influence and Inspirationgreendigital
Introduction
In the realm of entertainment, few names resonate as Orpah Winfrey Dwayne Johnson. Both figures have carved unique paths in the industry. achieving unparalleled success and becoming iconic symbols of perseverance, resilience, and inspiration. This article delves into the lives, careers. and enduring legacies of Orpah Winfrey Dwayne Johnson. exploring how their journeys intersect and what we can learn from their remarkable stories.
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Early Life and Backgrounds
Orpah Winfrey: From Humble Beginnings to Media Mogul
Orpah Winfrey, often known as Oprah due to a misspelling on her birth certificate. was born on January 29, 1954, in Kosciusko, Mississippi. Raised in poverty by her grandmother, Winfrey's early life was marked by hardship and adversity. Despite these challenges. she demonstrated a keen intellect and an early talent for public speaking.
Winfrey's journey to success began with a scholarship to Tennessee State University. where she studied communication. Her first job in media was as a co-anchor for the local evening news in Nashville. This role paved the way for her eventual transition to talk show hosting. where she found her true calling.
Dwayne Johnson: From Wrestling Royalty to Hollywood Superstar
Dwayne Johnson, also known by his ring name "The Rock," was born on May 2, 1972, in Hayward, California. He comes from a family of professional wrestlers, with both his father, Rocky Johnson. and his grandfather, Peter Maivia, being notable figures in the wrestling world. Johnson's early life was spent moving between New Zealand and the United States. experiencing a variety of cultural influences.
Before entering the world of professional wrestling. Johnson had aspirations of becoming a professional football player. He played college football at the University of Miami. where he was part of a national championship team. But, injuries curtailed his football career, leading him to follow in his family's footsteps and enter the wrestling ring.
Career Milestones
Orpah Winfrey: The Queen of All Media
Winfrey's career breakthrough came in 1986 when she launched "The Oprah Winfrey Show." The show became a cultural phenomenon. drawing millions of viewers daily and earning many awards. Winfrey's empathetic and candid interviewing style resonated with audiences. helping her tackle diverse and often challenging topics.
Beyond her talk show, Winfrey expanded her empire to include the creation of Harpo Productions. a multimedia production company. She also launched "O, The Oprah Magazine" and OWN: Oprah Winfrey Network, further solidifying her status as a media mogul.
Dwayne Johnson: From The Ring to The Big Screen
Dwayne Johnson's wrestling career took off in the late 1990s. when he became one of the most charismatic and popular figures in WWE. His larger-than-life persona and catchphrases endeared him to fans. making him a household name. But, Johnson had ambitions beyond the wrestling ring.
In the early 20
Unveiling Paul Haggis Shaping Cinema Through Diversity. .pdfkenid14983
Paul Haggis is undoubtedly a visionary filmmaker whose work has not only shaped cinema but has also pushed boundaries when it comes to diversity and representation within the industry. From his thought-provoking scripts to his engaging directorial style, Haggis has become a prominent figure in the world of film.
The Unbelievable Tale of Dwayne Johnson Kidnapping: A Riveting Sagagreendigital
Introduction
The notion of Dwayne Johnson kidnapping seems straight out of a Hollywood thriller. Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, known for his larger-than-life persona, immense popularity. and action-packed filmography, is the last person anyone would envision being a victim of kidnapping. Yet, the bizarre and riveting tale of such an incident, filled with twists and turns. has captured the imagination of many. In this article, we delve into the intricate details of this astonishing event. exploring every aspect, from the dramatic rescue operation to the aftermath and the lessons learned.
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The Origins of the Dwayne Johnson Kidnapping Saga
Dwayne Johnson: A Brief Background
Before discussing the specifics of the kidnapping. it is crucial to understand who Dwayne Johnson is and why his kidnapping would be so significant. Born May 2, 1972, Dwayne Douglas Johnson is an American actor, producer, businessman. and former professional wrestler. Known by his ring name, "The Rock," he gained fame in the World Wrestling Federation (WWF, now WWE) before transitioning to a successful career in Hollywood.
Johnson's filmography includes blockbuster hits such as "The Fast and the Furious" series, "Jumanji," "Moana," and "San Andreas." His charismatic personality, impressive physique. and action-star status have made him a beloved figure worldwide. Thus, the news of his kidnapping would send shockwaves across the globe.
Setting the Scene: The Day of the Kidnapping
The incident of Dwayne Johnson's kidnapping began on an ordinary day. Johnson was filming his latest high-octane action film set to break box office records. The location was a remote yet scenic area. chosen for its rugged terrain and breathtaking vistas. perfect for the film's climactic scenes.
But, beneath the veneer of normalcy, a sinister plot was unfolding. Unbeknownst to Johnson and his team, a group of criminals had planned his abduction. hoping to leverage his celebrity status for a hefty ransom. The stage was set for an event that would soon dominate worldwide headlines and social media feeds.
The Abduction: Unfolding the Dwayne Johnson Kidnapping
The Moment of Capture
On the day of the kidnapping, everything seemed to be proceeding as usual on set. Johnson and his co-stars and crew were engrossed in shooting a particularly demanding scene. As the day wore on, the production team took a short break. providing the kidnappers with the perfect opportunity to strike.
The abduction was executed with military precision. A group of masked men, armed and organized, infiltrated the set. They created chaos, taking advantage of the confusion to isolate Johnson. Johnson was outnumbered and caught off guard despite his formidable strength and fighting skills. The kidnappers overpowered him, bundled him into a waiting vehicle. and sped away, leaving everyone on set in a state of shock and disbelief.
The Immediate Aftermath
The immediate aftermath of the Dwayne Johnson kidnappin
Christian Louboutin: Innovating with Red Solesget joys
Christian Louboutin is celebrated for his innovative approach to footwear design, marked by his trademark red soles. This in-depth look at his life and career explores the origins of his creativity, the milestones in his journey, and the impact of his work on the fashion industry. Learn how Louboutin's bold vision and dedication to excellence have made his brand synonymous with luxury and style.
Top IPTV UK Providers of A Comprehensive Review.pdfXtreame HDTV
The television landscape in the UK has evolved significantly with the rise of Internet Protocol Television (IPTV). IPTV offers a modern alternative to traditional cable and satellite TV, allowing viewers to stream live TV, on-demand videos, and other multimedia content directly to their devices over the internet. This review provides an in-depth look at the top IPTV UK providers, their features, pricing, and what sets them apart.
The Evolution of the Leonardo DiCaprio Haircut: A Journey Through Style and C...greendigital
Leonardo DiCaprio, a name synonymous with Hollywood stardom and acting excellence. has captivated audiences for decades with his talent and charisma. But, the Leonardo DiCaprio haircut is one aspect of his public persona that has garnered attention. From his early days as a teenage heartthrob to his current status as a seasoned actor and environmental activist. DiCaprio's hairstyles have evolved. reflecting both his personal growth and the changing trends in fashion. This article delves into the many phases of the Leonardo DiCaprio haircut. exploring its significance and impact on pop culture.
Everything You Need to Know About IPTV Ireland.pdfXtreame HDTV
The way we consume television has evolved dramatically over the past decade. Internet Protocol Television (IPTV) has emerged as a popular alternative to traditional cable and satellite TV, offering a wide range of channels and on-demand content via the internet. In Ireland, IPTV is rapidly gaining traction, with Xtreame HDTV being one of the prominent providers in the market. This comprehensive guide will delve into everything you need to know about IPTV Ireland, focusing on Xtreame HDTV, its features, benefits, and how it is revolutionizing TV viewing for Irish audiences.
Modern Radio Frequency Access Control Systems: The Key to Efficiency and SafetyAITIX LLC
Today's fast-paced environment worries companies of all sizes about efficiency and security. Businesses are constantly looking for new and better solutions to solve their problems, whether it's data security or facility access. RFID for access control technologies have revolutionized this.
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Leonardo DiCaprio House: A Journey Through His Extravagant Real Estate Portfoliogreendigital
Introduction
Leonardo DiCaprio, A name synonymous with Hollywood excellence. is not only known for his stellar acting career but also for his impressive real estate investments. The "Leonardo DiCaprio house" is a topic that piques the interest of many. as the Oscar-winning actor has amassed a diverse portfolio of luxurious properties. DiCaprio's homes reflect his varied tastes and commitment to sustainability. from retreats to historic mansions. This article will delve into the fascinating world of Leonardo DiCaprio's real estate. Exploring the details of his most notable residences. and the unique aspects that make them stand out.
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Leonardo DiCaprio House: Malibu Beachfront Retreat
A Prime Location
His Malibu beachfront house is one of the most famous properties in Leonardo DiCaprio's real estate portfolio. Situated in the exclusive Carbon Beach. also known as "Billionaire's Beach," this property boasts stunning ocean views and private beach access. The "Leonardo DiCaprio house" in Malibu is a testament to the actor's love for the sea and his penchant for luxurious living.
Architectural Highlights
The Malibu house features a modern design with clean lines, large windows. and open spaces blending indoor and outdoor living. The expansive deck and patio areas provide ample space for entertaining guests or enjoying a quiet sunset. The house has state-of-the-art amenities. including a gourmet kitchen, a home theatre, and many guest suites.
Sustainable Features
Leonardo DiCaprio is a well-known environmental activist. whose Malibu house reflects his commitment to sustainability. The property incorporates solar panels, energy-efficient appliances, and sustainable building materials. The landscaping around the house is also designed to be water-efficient. featuring drought-resistant plants and intelligent irrigation systems.
Leonardo DiCaprio House: Hollywood Hills Hideaway
Privacy and Seclusion
Another remarkable property in Leonardo DiCaprio's collection is his Hollywood Hills house. This secluded retreat offers privacy and tranquility. making it an ideal escape from the hustle and bustle of Los Angeles. The "Leonardo DiCaprio house" in Hollywood Hills nestled among lush greenery. and offers panoramic views of the city and surrounding landscapes.
Design and Amenities
The Hollywood Hills house is a mid-century modern gem characterized by its sleek design and floor-to-ceiling windows. The open-concept living space is perfect for entertaining. while the cozy bedrooms provide a comfortable retreat. The property also features a swimming pool, and outdoor dining area. and a spacious deck that overlooks the cityscape.
Environmental Initiatives
The Hollywood Hills house incorporates several green features that are in line with DiCaprio's environmental values. The home has solar panels, energy-efficient lighting, and a rainwater harvesting system. Additionally, the landscaping designed to support local wildlife and promote
Leonardo DiCaprio House: A Journey Through His Extravagant Real Estate Portfolio
Dracula's guest by bram stoker
1. Dracula's Guest by Bram Stoker www.world-english.org
When we started for our drive the sun was shining brightly on Munich, and the air was full
of the joyousness of early summer. Just as we were about to depart, Herr Delbruck (the
maitre d'hotel of the Quatre Saisons, where I was staying) came down bareheaded to the
carriage and, after wishing me a pleasant drive, said to the coachman, still holding his
hand on the handle of the carriage door, "Remember you are back by nightfall. The sky
looks bright but there is a shiver in the north wind that says there may be a sudden storm.
But I am sure you will not be late." Here he smiled and added, "for you know what night it
is."
Johann answered with an emphatic, "Ja, mein Herr," and, touching his hat, drove off
quickly. When we had cleared the town, I said, after signalling to him to stop:
"Tell me, Johann, what is tonight?"
He crossed himself, as he answered laconically: "Walpurgis nacht." Then he took out
his watch, a great, old-fashioned German silver thing as big as a turnip and looked at it,
with his eyebrows gathered together and a little impatient shrug of his shoulders. I
realized that this was his way of respectfully protesting against the unnecessary delay and
sank back in the carriage, merely motioning him to proceed. He started off rapidly, as if to
make up for lost time. Every now and then the horses seemed to throw up their heads and
sniff the air suspiciously. On such occasions I often looked round in alarm. The road was
pretty bleak, for we were traversing a sort of high windswept plateau. As we drove, I saw
a road that looked but little used and which seemed to dip through a little winding valley.
It looked so inviting that, even at the risk of offending him, I called Johann to stop - and
when he had pulled up, I told him I would like to drive down that road. He made all sorts
of excuses and frequently crossed himself as he spoke. This somewhat piqued my
curiosity, so I asked him various questions. He answered fencingly and repeatedly looked
at his watch in protest.
Finally I said, "Well, Johann, I want to go down this road. I shall not ask you to come
unless you like; but tell me why you do not like to go, that is all I ask." For answer he
seemed to throw himself off the box, so quickly did he reach the ground. Then he
stretched out his hands appealingly to me and implored me not to go. There was just
enough of English mixed with the German for me to understand the drift of his talk. He
seemed always just about to tell me something - the very idea of which evidently
frightened him; but each time he pulled himself up saying, "Walpurgis nacht!"
I tried to argue with him, but it was difficult to argue with a man when I did not know
his language. The advantage certainly rested with him, for although he began to speak in
English, of a very crude and broken kind, he always got excited and broke into his native
tongue - and every time he did so, he looked at his watch. Then the horses became
restless and sniffed the air. At this he grew very pale, and, looking around in a frightened
way, he suddenly jumped forward, took them by the bridles, and led them on some twenty
feet. I followed and asked why he had done this. For an answer he crossed himself,
pointed to the spot we had left, and drew his carriage in the direction of the other road,
indicating a cross, and said, first in German, then in English, "Buried him - him what killed
themselves."
I remembered the old custom of burying suicides at cross roads: "Ah! I see, a suicide.
How interesting!" But for the life of me I could not make out why the horses were
frightened.
Whilst we were talking, we heard a sort of sound between a yelp and a bark. It was far
away; but the horses got very restless, and it took Johann all his time to quiet them. He
was pale and said, "It sounds like a wolf - but yet there are no wolves here now."
"No?" I said, questioning him. "Isn't it long since the wolves were so near the city?"
"Long, long," he answered, "in the spring and summer; but with the snow the wolves
have been here not so long."
Whilst he was petting the horses and trying to quiet them, dark clouds drifted rapidly
across the sky. The sunshine passed away, and a breath of cold wind seemed to drift over
us. It was only a breath, however, and more of a warning than a fact, for the sun came
out brightly again.
Johann looked under his lifted hand at the horizon and said, "The storm of snow, he
comes before long time." Then he looked at his watch again, and, straightway holding his
reins firmly - for the horses were still pawing the ground restlessly and shaking their heads
- he climbed to his box as though the time had come for proceeding on our journey.
2. I felt a little obstinate and did not at once get into the carriage.
"Tell me," I said, "about this place where the road leads," and I pointed down.
Again he crossed himself and mumbled a prayer before he answered, "It is unholy."
"What is unholy?" I enquired.
"The village."
"Then there is a village?"
"No, no. No one lives there hundreds of years."
My curiosity was piqued, "But you said there was a village."
"There was."
"Where is it now?"
Whereupon he burst out into a long story in German and English, so mixed up that I
could not quite understand exactly what he said. Roughly I gathered that long ago,
hundreds of years, men had died there and been buried in their graves; but sounds were
heard under the clay, and when the graves were opened, men and women were found
rosy with life and their mouths red with blood. And so, in haste to save their lives (aye,
and their souls! - and here he crossed himself) those who were left fled away to other
places, where the living lived and the dead were dead and not - not something. He was
evidently afraid to speak the last words. As he proceeded with his narration, he grew more
and more excited. It seemed as if his imagination had got hold of him, and he ended in a
perfect paroxysm of fear - white-faced, perspiring, trembling, and looking round him as if
expecting that some dreadful presence would manifest itself there in the bright sunshine
on the open plain.
Finally, in an agony of desperation, he cried, "Walpurgis nacht!" and pointed to the
carriage for me to get in.
All my English blood rose at this, and standing back I said, "You are afraid, Johann -
you are afraid. Go home, I shall return alone, the walk will do me good." The carriage door
was open. I took from the seat my oak walking stick - which I al ways carry on my holiday
excursions - and closed the door, pointing back to Munich, and said, "Go home, Johann -
Walpurgis nacht doesn't concern Englishmen."
The horses were now more restive than ever, and Johann was trying to hold them in,
while excitedly imploring me not to do anything so foolish. I pitied the poor fellow, he was
so deeply in earnest; but all the same I could not help laughing. His English was quite
gone now. In his anxiety he had forgot ten that his only means of making me understand
was to talk my language, so he jabbered away in his native German. It began to be a little
tedious. After giving the direction, "Home!" I turned to go down the cross road into the
valley.
With a despairing gesture, Johann turned his horses towards Munich. I leaned on my
stick and looked after him. He went slowly along the road for a while, then there came
over the crest of the hill a man tall and thin. I could see so much in the distance. When he
drew near the horses, they began to jump and kick about, then to scream with terror.
Johann could not hold them in; they bolted down the road, running away madly. I watched
them out of sight, then looked for the stranger; but I found that he, too, was gone.
With a light heart I turned down the side road through the deepening valley to which
Johann had objected. There was not the slightest reason, that I could see, for his
objection; and I daresay I tramped for a couple of hours without thinking of time or
distance and certainly without seeing a person or a house. So far as the place was
concerned, it was desolation itself. But I did not notice this particularly till, on turning a
bend in the road, I came upon a scattered fringe of wood; then I recognized that I had
been impressed unconsciously by the desolation of the region through which I had passed.
I sat down to rest myself and began to look around. It struck me that it was
considerably colder than it had been at the commencement of my walk - a sort of sighing
sound seemed to be around me with, now and then, high overhead, a sort of muffled roar.
Looking upwards I noticed that great thick clouds were drafting rapidly across the sky from
north to south at a great height. There were signs of a coming storm in some lofty stratum
of the air. I was a little chilly, and, thinking that it was the sitting still after the exercise of
walking, I resumed my journey.
The ground I passed over was now much more picturesque. There were no striking
objects that the eye might single out, but in all there was a charm of beauty. I took little
heed of time, and it was only when the deepening twilight forced it self upon me that I
began to think of how I should find my way home. The air was cold, and the drifting of
clouds high overhead was more marked. They were accompanied by a sort of far away
rushing sound, through which seemed to come at intervals that mysterious cry which the
3. driver had said came from a wolf. For a while I hesitated. I had said I would see the
deserted village, so on I went and presently came on a wide stretch of open country, shut
in by hills all around. Their sides were covered with trees which spread down to the plain,
dotting in clumps the gentler slopes and hollows which showed here and there. I followed
with my eye the winding of the road and saw that it curved close to one of the densest of
these clumps and was lost behind it.
As I looked there came a cold shiver in the air, and the snow began to fall. I thought of
the miles and miles of bleak country I had passed, and then hurried on to seek shelter of
the wood in front. Darker and darker grew the sky, and faster and heavier fell the snow,
till the earth before and around me was a glistening white carpet the further edge of which
was lost in misty vagueness. The road was here but crude, and when on the level its
boundaries were not so marked as when it passed through the cuttings; and in a little
while I found that I must have strayed from it, for I missed underfoot the hard surface,
and my feet sank deeper in the grass and moss. Then the wind grew stronger and blew
with ever increasing force, till I was fain to run before it. The air became icy- cold, and in
spite of my exercise I began to suffer. The snow was now falling so thickly and whirling
around me in such rap id eddies that I could hardly keep my eyes open. Every now and
then the heavens were torn asunder by vivid lightning, and in the flashes I could see
ahead of me a great mass of trees, chiefly yew and cypress all heavily coated with snow.
I was soon amongst the shelter of the trees, and there in comparative silence I could
hear the rush of the wind high overhead. Presently the blackness of the storm had become
merged in the darkness of the night. By-and-by the storm seemed to be passing away, it
now only came in fierce puffs or blasts. At such moments the weird sound of the wolf
appeared to be echoed by many similar sounds around me.
Now and again, through the black mass of drifting cloud, came a straggling ray of
moonlight which lit up the expanse and showed me that I was at the edge of a dense mass
of cypress and yew trees. As the snow had ceased to fall, I walked out from the shelter
and began to investigate more closely. It appeared to me that, amongst so many old
foundations as I had passed, there might be still standing a house in which, though in
ruins, I could find some sort of shelter for a while. As I skirted the edge of the copse, I
found that a low wall encircled it, and following this I presently found an opening. Here the
cypresses formed an alley leading up to a square mass of some kind of building. Just as I
caught sight of this, however, the drifting clouds obscured the moon, and I passed up the
path in darkness. The wind must have grown colder, for I felt myself shiver as I walked;
but there was hope of shelter, and I groped my way blindly on.
I stopped, for there was a sudden stillness. The storm had passed; and, perhaps in
sympathy with nature's silence, my heart seemed to cease to beat. But this was only
momentarily; for suddenly the moonlight broke through the clouds showing me that I was
in a graveyard and that the square object before me was a great massive tomb of marble,
as white as the snow that lay on and all around it. With the moonlight there came a fierce
sigh of the storm which appeared to resume its course with a long, low howl, as of many
dogs or wolves. I was awed and shocked, and I felt the cold perceptibly grow upon me till
it seemed to grip me by the heart. Then while the flood of moonlight still fell on the marble
tomb, the storm gave further evidence of renewing, as though it were returning on its
track. Impelled by some sort of fascination, I approached the sepulchre to see what it was
and why such a thing stood alone in such a place. I walked around it and read, over the
Doric door, in German -
COUNTESS DOLINGEN OF GRATZ
IN STYRIA
SOUGHT AND FOUND DEATH
1801
On the top of the tomb, seemingly driven through the solid marble - for the structure was
composed of a few vast blocks of stone - was a great iron spike or stake. On going to the
back I saw, graven in great Russian letters:
4. "The dead travel fast."
There was something so weird and uncanny about the whole thing that it gave me a turn
and made me feel quite faint. I began to wish, for the first time, that I had taken Johann's
advice. Here a thought struck me, which came under almost mysterious circumstances and
with a terrible shock. This was Walpurgis Night!
Walpurgis Night was when, according to the belief of mill ions of people, the devil was
abroad - when the graves were opened and the dead came forth and walked. When all evil
things of earth and air and water held revel. This very place the driver had specially
shunned. This was the depopulated village of centuries ago. This was where the suicide
lay; and this was the place where I was alone - unmanned, shivering with cold in a shroud
of snow with a wild storm gathering again up on me! It took all my philosophy, all the
religion I had been taught, all my courage, not to collapse in a paroxysm of fright.
And now a perfect tornado burst upon me. The ground shook as though thousands of
horses thundered across it; and this time the storm bore on its icy wings, not snow, but
great hailstones which drove with such violence that they might have come from the
thongs of Balearic slingers - hailstones that beat down leaf and branch and made the
shelter of the cypresses of no more avail than though their stems were standing corn. At
the first I had rushed to the nearest tree; but I was soon fain to leave it and seek the only
spot that seemed to afford refuge, the deep Doric doorway of the marble tomb. There,
crouching against the massive bronze door, I gained a certain amount of protection from
the beating of the hail stones, for now they only drove against me as they ricochetted from
the ground and the side of the marble.
As I leaned against the door, it moved slightly and opened inwards. The shelter of even
a tomb was welcome in that pitiless tempest and I was about to enter it when there came
a flash of forked lightning that lit up the whole expanse of the heavens. In the instant, as I
am a living man, I saw, as my eyes turned into the darkness of the tomb, a beautiful
woman with rounded cheeks and red lips, seemingly sleeping on a bier. As the thunder
broke overhead, I was grasped as by the hand of a giant and hurled out into the storm.
The whole thing was so sudden that, before I could realize the shock, moral as well as
physical, I found the hailstones beating me down. At the same time I had a strange,
dominating feeling that I was not alone. I looked towards the tomb. Just then there came
another blinding flash which seemed to strike the iron stake that surmounted the tomb and
to pour through to the earth, blasting and crumbling the marble, as in a burst of flame.
The dead woman rose for a moment of agony while she was lapped in the flame, and her
bitter scream of pain was drowned in the thundercrash. The last thing I heard was this
mingling of dreadful sound, as again I was seized in the giant grasp and dragged away,
while the hailstones beat on me and the air around seemed reverberant with the howling
of wolves. The last sight that I remembered was a vague, white, moving mass, as if all the
graves around me had sent out the phantoms of their sheeted dead, and that they were
closing in on me through the white cloudiness of the driving hail.
Gradually there came a sort of vague beginning of consciousness, then a sense of
weariness that was dreadful. For a time I remembered nothing, but slowly my senses
returned. My feet seemed positively racked with pain, yet I could not move them. They
seemed to be numbed. There was an icy feeling at the back of my neck and all down my
spine, and my ears, like my feet, were dead yet in torment; but there was in my breast a
sense of warmth which was by comparison delicious. It was as a nightmare - a physical
nightmare, if one may use such an expression; for some heavy weight on my chest made
it difficult for me to breathe.
This period of semi-lethargy seemed to remain a long time, and as it faded away I
must have slept or swooned. Then came a sort of loathing, like the first stage of
seasickness, and a wild desire to be free of something - I knew not what. A vast stillness
enveloped me, as though all the world were asleep or dead - only broken by the low
panting as of some animal close to me. I felt a warm rasping at my throat, then came a
consciousness of the awful truth which chilled me to the heart and sent the blood surging
up through my brain. Some great animal was lying on me and now licking my throat. I
5. feared to stir, for some instinct of prudence bade me lie still; but the brute seemed to
realize that there was now some change in me, for it raised its head. Through my
eyelashes I saw above me the two great flaming eyes of a gigantic wolf. Its sharp white
teeth gleamed in the gaping red mouth, and I could feel its hot breath fierce and acrid
upon me.
For another spell of time I remembered no more. Then I be came conscious of a low
growl, followed by a yelp, renewed again and again. Then seemingly very far away, I
heard a "Hol loa! holloa!" as of many voices calling in unison. Cautiously I raised my head
and looked in the direction whence the sound came, but the cemetery blocked my view.
The wolf still continued to yelp in a strange way, and a red glare began to move round the
grove of cypresses, as though following the sound. As the voices drew closer, the wolf
yelped faster and louder. I feared to make either sound or motion. Nearer came the red
glow over the white pall which stretched into the darkness a round me. Then all at once
from beyond the trees there came at a trot a troop of horsemen bearing torches. The wolf
rose from my breast and made for the cemetery. I saw one of the horsemen (soldiers by
their caps and their long military cloaks) raise his carbine and take aim. A companion
knocked up his arm, and I heard the ball whiz over my head. He had evidently taken my
body for that of the wolf. Another sighted the animal as it slunk away, and a shot followed.
Then, at a gallop, the troop rode forward - some towards me, others following the wolf as
it disappeared amongst the snow-clad cypresses.
As they drew nearer I tried to move but was powerless, al though I could see and hear
all that went on around me. Two or three of the soldiers jumped from their horses and
knelt beside me. One of them raised my head and placed his hand over my heart.
"Good news, comrades!" he cried. "His heart still beats!"
Then some brandy was poured down my throat; it put vigor into me, and I was able to
open my eyes fully and look around. Lights and shadows were moving among the trees,
and I heard men call to one another. They drew together, uttering frightened
exclamations; and the lights flashed as the others came pouring out of the cemetery pell-
mell, like men possessed. When the further ones came close to us, those who were around
me asked them eagerly, "Well, have you found him?"
The reply rang out hurriedly, "No! no! Come away quick - quick! This is no place to
stay, and on this of all nights!"
"What was it?" was the question, asked in all manner of keys. The answer came
variously and all indefinitely as though the men were moved by some common impulse to
speak yet were restrained by some common fear from giving their thoughts.
"It - it - indeed!" gibbered one, whose wits had plainly given out for the moment.
"A wolf - and yet not a wolf!" another put in shudderingly.
"No use trying for him without the sacred bullet," a third remarked in a more ordinary
manner.
"Serve us right for coming out on this night! Truly we have earned our thousand
marks!" were the ejaculations of a fourth.
"There was blood on the broken marble," another said after a pause, "the lightning
never brought that there. And for him- -is he safe? Look at his throat! See comrades, the
wolf has been lying on him and keeping his blood warm."
The officer looked at my throat and replied, "He is all right, the skin is not pierced.
What does it all mean? We should never have found him but for the yelping of the wolf."
"What became of it?" asked the man who was holding up my head and who seemed the
least panic-stricken of the party, for his hands were steady and without tremor. On his
sleeve was the chevron of a petty officer.
"It went home," answered the man, whose long face was pall id and who actually shook
with terror as he glanced around him fearfully. "There are graves enough there in which it
may lie. Come, comrades - come quickly! Let us leave this cursed spot."
The officer raised me to a sitting posture, as he uttered a word of command; then
several men placed me upon a horse. He sprang to the saddle behind me, took me in his
arms, gave the word to advance; and, turning our faces away from the cypresses, we rode
away in swift military order.
6. As yet my tongue refused its office, and I was perforce silent. I must have fallen
asleep; for the next thing I remembered was finding myself standing up, supported by a
soldier on each side of me. It was almost broad daylight, and to the north a red streak of
sunlight was reflected like a path of blood over the waste of snow. The officer was telling
the men to say nothing of what they had seen, except that they found an English stranger,
guarded by a large dog.
"Dog! that was no dog," cut in the man who had exhibited such fear. "I think I know a
wolf when I see one."
The young officer answered calmly, "I said a dog."
"Dog!" reiterated the other ironically. It was evident that his courage was rising with
the sun; and, pointing to me, he said, "Look at his throat. Is that the work of a dog,
master?"
Instinctively I raised my hand to my throat, and as I touched it I cried out in pain. The
men crowded round to look, some stooping down from their saddles; and again there
came the calm voice of the young officer, "A dog, as I said. If aught else were said we
should only be laughed at."
I was then mounted behind a trooper, and we rode on into the suburbs of Munich. Here
we came across a stray carriage into which I was lifted, and it was driven off to the Quatre
Saisons - the young officer accompanying me, whilst a trooper followed with his horse, and
the others rode off to their barracks.
When we arrived, Herr Delbruck rushed so quickly down the steps to meet me, that it
was apparent he had been watching within. Taking me by both hands he solicitously led
me in. The officer saluted me and was turning to withdraw, when I recognized his purpose
and insisted that he should come to my rooms. Over a glass of wine I warmly thanked him
and his brave comrades for saving me. He replied simply that he was more than glad, and
that Herr Delbruck had at the first taken steps to make all the searching party pleased; at
which ambiguous utterance the maitre d'hotel smiled, while the officer plead- duty and
withdrew.
"But Herr Delbruck," I enquired, "how and why was it that the soldiers searched for
me?"
He shrugged his shoulders, as if in depreciation of his own deed, as he replied, "I was
so fortunate as to obtain leave from the commander of the regiment in which I serve, to
ask for volunteers."
"But how did you know I was lost?" I asked.
"The driver came hither with the remains of his carriage, which had been upset when
the horses ran away."
"But surely you would not send a search party of soldiers merely on this account?"
"Oh, no!" he answered, "but even before the coachman arrived, I had this telegram
from the Boyar whose guest you are," and he took from his pocket a telegram which he
handed to me, and I read:
Bistritz.
Be careful of my guest - his safety is most precious to me. Should aught happen to him, or
if he be missed, spare nothing to find him and ensure his safety. He is English and
therefore adventurous. There are often dangers from snow and wolves and night. Lose not
a moment if you suspect harm to him. I answer your zeal with my fortune.
- Dracula.
As I held the telegram in my hand, the room seemed to whirl around me, and if the
attentive maitre d'hotel had not caught me, I think I should have fallen. There was
something so strange in all this, something so weird and impossible to imagine, that there
grew on me a sense of my being in some way the sport of opposite forces - the mere
vague idea of which seemed in a way to paralyze me. I was certainly under some form of
mysterious protection. From a distant country had come, in the very nick of time, a
message that took me out of the danger of the snow sleep and the jaws of the wolf.
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