Short Stories 2 E-Book

Edgar Allan Poe

• Herausgeber: adlima GmbH
• Kategorie: Gesellschafts- und Liebesromane
• Sprache: Englisch

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2025

Beschreibung

Englisch Lernen mit klassischen Werken. Die Bücher dieser Reihe eignen sich für Jugendliche und Erwachsene, die mit klassischen Werken ihre Lesefähigkeit verbessern wollen. Englisch Niveaus A2 bis B2. Durchgehend in englischer Sprache. Diese kleine Sammlung umfasst die folgenden Erzählungen von Poe: Das ovale Porträt - Die Maske des roten Todes - Wassergrube und Pendel - Das schwatzende Herz - Die schwarze Katze - Eine Erzählung aus den Ragged Mountains - Lebendig begraben - Die Tatsachen im Falle Waldemar - Das Fass Amontillado – Ligeia.

Leseprobe

Edgar Allan Poe

Short Stories 2

Englisch Lektüre A2 - B2

Englisch lernen mit klassischen Werken. Die Bücher dieser Reihe eignen sich für Jugendliche und Erwachsene, die mit klassischen Werken ihre Lesefähigkeit verbessern wollen. Englisch Niveaus A2 bis B2. Durchgehend in englischer Sprache.

Inhaltsverzeichnis

The Oval Portrait

The Masque of the Red Death

The Pit and the Pendulum

The Tell-Tale Heart

The Black Cat

A Tale of the Ragged Mountains

The Premature Burial

The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar

The Cask of Amontillado

Ligeia

Impressum

The Oval Portrait

I am lying in a strong and long fever. All the remedies we find are of no use. My servant is the only person with me. He cannot help me. I cannot send him away; otherwise, I will be left all alone. I have already lost too much blood. Then I remember the opium that is with my tobacco. I have started smoking tobacco with opium.

Pedro hands me the tobacco box. When smoking, it does not matter how much opium is added to the tobacco. I usually fill the pipe bowl half full with a mixture of opium and tobacco. Sometimes I smoke the whole mixture without feeling any particular effects. Sometimes I feel confused after smoking two-thirds of the pipe.

This time the situation is different. I have never swallowed opium. Pedro also doesn't know how much one can take. Therefore, I have to guess what the right amount is. I plan to start with a very small amount. If this has no effect, I take another small amount. I continue like this until the fever subsides or I can finally sleep. I haven't slept properly in a long time.

I am confused and do not realize that my plan might not be good. The amount of opium I want to take is way too large. I just estimate how big the piece is compared to the whole lump, so I swallow a lot, which seems very small to me.

I was seriously injured. That's why my servant took me to a castle. It is big and gloomy. It seems to have been abandoned recently. We settled into a room which is beautiful, but old. Carpets are everywhere and many different pictures hang in golden frames.

These pictures fascinate me very much, maybe because I am a bit confused. I ask Pedro to close the shutters and light the candles. I want to open the curtains at the bed. I do all this to be able to see the pictures better. I also want to read a small book that I found. The book explains what the pictures mean.

I read and look at the pictures for a long time. It is midnight. I want the light to fall better on my book. That's why I move the candle. The movement causes the light to shine on a picture that I have not seen before. It shows the portrait of a young girl.

I glance quickly at the picture and close my eyes. I don't immediately understand why I am doing this. But then I think about it. I closed my eyes to think. I want to make sure that I am not mistaken. After a moment, I look again.

Now I am sure that I am awake and of sound mind. Because when the light fell on the picture for the first time, I immediately woke up.

The picture shows a young girl, only her head and shoulders. Her arms, bosom, and hair merge into dark shadows that form the background. The frame is oval and made of gilded carving. The picture is very beautifully done. But it is not only the beauty of the picture or the art that touches me so deeply.

I think about it for a long time. I lie there, look at the picture, and try to understand why it fascinates me so much. After a while, I think I understand the secret of its effect. It lies in the similarity of the expression to life, which surprises, confuses, frightens, and overwhelms me.

I push the candleholder back into place. I am impressed. Then I take the book that tells the story of the pictures. I read about the portrait of a very beautiful girl.

She is happy and full of joie de vivre. She marries the painter, who is very serious and devoted to his art. She loves everything except art. For her, art is like an enemy.

It is difficult for the girl when her husband paints her. But she is patient and sits for weeks in a dark room. Only a little light comes into the room. The painter is happy with his work, which is getting better and better. He is very passionate and absorbed in his art. He does not realize that the weak light in his wife's tower room is not good for her.

She is getting weaker and weaker, but she never complains. She smiles because she sees how happy her husband is with his work. He works on her painting day and night because he loves her very much. The painting looks very much like her. Many say that it is almost a miracle. The painting shows how good the painter is and how much he loves her. But when the painting is almost finished, the painter no longer lets anyone into the room. He is so absorbed in his work that he hardly looks at his wife anymore.

He does not notice that she is getting weaker and weaker as he paints the picture. After many weeks, the picture needs only a few final brushstrokes. At the moment he finishes the picture, his wife comes to life again. She flares up like a flame before dying out. Then the picture is finished and the painter is thrilled with his work. But when he turns to look at his wife, she has died.

The Masque of the Red Death

The red death is spreading across the land. It is the plague. It is a very bad disease. The disease starts with severe pain. It causes blood to come out of every pore. Those who have this disease get red spots all over their bodies. This disease can kill within half an hour.

Prince Prospero remains cheerful nonetheless. He takes a thousand friends with him. He withdraws with them to a large, secure abbey. This abbey is very large and has a high wall with iron gates. After they have settled in, they close the gates tightly. This way, no one can get in or out. They have enough supplies and believe that they can escape the disease this way. They think there is no point in worrying now.

Prince Prospero provides entertainment in his castle. There are jugglers, musicians, and dancers. They all enjoy beauty and wine safely from the plague.

After a few months, the prince throws a big masked ball. The party is magnificent, with lots of wealth and joy. The rooms for the party are specially designed. There are seven rooms. They do not form a long row as usual. They are arranged so that you can only see one room at a time. Each room has a large window that glows in the color of the room. The first room is blue with blue windows. The next is purple, then green, orange, white, and violet. The seventh room is all black with red windows that look like blood.

All the rooms are full of golden decorations, but there are no candles or lamps. Instead, there are large tripods with fire bowls outside the windows, casting light through the colorful windows into the rooms. This creates special lighting effects. In the darkest room, decorated in black, the light through the red windows makes everything very creepy. Few guests dare to enter there.

In this room stands a large grandfather clock made of ebony. Its pendulum moves heavily and evenly. When the clock strikes the hour, you can hear a deep, loud tone. This tone is so solemn that the music stops every time and everyone stops dancing. The guests become quiet and look worried until the sound has passed. Then everyone laughs again.

Every hour, when the big clock strikes, everyone feels a brief sense of unease and reflection. But other than that, the party is great. The prince has special tastes. He likes unusual colors and ideas. Some think he's crazy.

The decoration of the seven rooms has been designed exactly according to his ideas. The masquerade is very unusual, with a lot of splendor and strange costumes. There are masks that look like dislocated figures or the imaginings of a madman. Everything is colorful and lively without being unpleasant. The rooms look like a dream, illuminated by the colored light of the fire pits.

When the clock strikes in the black room, it gets quiet for a moment.

---ENDE DER LESEPROBE---