Tales of Mystery and Imagination; Edgar Allan Poe

• William Wilson
[Before starting, please note that when I write in kursive, I'm talking about the namesake, not about the main
character]
William was a student at school. His life was goin well: he had lots of friends there, and he was proud of
himself until he came to his life. His name was also William Wilson, but he never talked to anyone, he used to
dress like him (they were classmates), and he used to imitate him, using a really similar voice in whisper. That
always annoyed him. A few years later, he went to college far away from there, trying to get rid of him, and in
a way he made it, because he had no news about him for years. But a couple of years later, someone was
standing still on the oposite site of the road, watching him. It was him, as you could imagine. His clothes were
exactly like his. Then he crossed the road, and took him by the arm: −William Wilson!− he whispered, and in
a moment he was gone. That brought thousands of memories to his mind, and for a few moths he could not
stop thinking about it. A few years after that, he had become a heavy drinker, trying to get rid of that thought,
all in vain; but one night when he was walking on a dark street, he heard that whisper near his ear again. Of
course, it was him, and he was dressed exactly like him, and they both wore swords. He turned arround and
drawed his sword. −Devil! You shall trouble me no longer! Draw your sword! −He said, and his namesake
prepared to defend himself. In a few minutes Will's sword went through his namesake's chest with terrible
anger again and again. Once the dead body was on the floor his face turned very pale, and started to change all
the small details to end up getting his own face; William Wilson's face. Between the feeling of anger,
proudness, panic, and surprise, this words came out from his own mouth, like someone was using his voice to
express himself: −You have conquered, and I yield. But from now on you also are dead; −dead to the world,
to heaven, and to hope! You were a part of me. In my death, see by this body which is your own how surely
you have murdered yourself.
• The Gold Bug
Mr. William Legrand was my friend since a long time ago. Some misfortunes have made him go from
richness to poornes in a short period of time. Now he lived in a small island in South Carolina, and he asked
me to go and see him for a couple of days. Already there he talked to me about a strange kind of bug he found
the other day walking in the forest. He said he didn't have it with him, he lent it to a friend of him that lived
not too far away from there, so he drew it for me. That drawing looked to me like a skull, as I told him a little
later. He got annoyed because he thought I was making fun of his drawing skill, so, angrily he threw it to the
fire. Just before the paper got between the flames, something in it attracted my friend's attention, and he
picked it up violently and kept it away form the flames. Then he had another look to it, and placed it inside an
envelope, and locked it in the drawer. A couple of months later, he sent Jupiter, his servant, to look for me
again. Jupiter said that his boss was ill because of a bite of the strange bug, and he wanted me to go there in
order to solve some business of the highest importance. So did I. I got there with Jupiter, that was carrying
three new spades he just bought in the city, at about three o'clock in the afternoon. And I could see a terribly
pale faced man that was suposed to be my old friend. We then rolled on a journey to the hills. After a two
hours walk, we arrived at a big and old tree that seemed to be the biggest in that forest. Then Jupiter was
asked to climb the tree with the bug in one hand. The bug was attached to a long string. Jupiter got up on the
tree and found an old skull. As his master said, he dropped the bug through the left eye of the skull. Legrand
marked the zone arround the insect on the ground and when the servant went down again, they all started to
dig a big hole. We spent two hours digging until the boss realized that there was nothing in there. −But wait!−
He looked at the servant with brightning eyes. −You idiot! Which one is your left eye?− he screamed. Scared,
Jupiter pointed at his right eye in confusion. After repeating the operation, the bug now fell three meters away
from the hole, and we dug for like half an hour before we found something hard and big. It was an old wooden
box. When we opened it, we saw a really big amount of gold all toghether. It was about five hundred english
pounds of weight, and it took us such a long time to transport it back to the hut, in two journeys. At last, my
friend told me all the story about how he realized that the paper where he had drown the bug, there was
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actually a skull, but in the other side, and it only shew up when the paper was heated. It was the old story
about Capitain Kidd, the leyend of the pirates. From there, Legrand started to think and think and he built up
again the mystery of that old treasure. Finally, I was given some of the treasure.
• The Fall of The House of Usher
The journey to the house of my old friend, Usher, was not very pleasant, and I was very tired when I got there.
On the way there, I found myself amazed by a really scarying landscape that showed Usher's house with a
dark landscape behind it. Usher was a friend of mine since a long time ago, but I hadn't seen him for a very
long time. Once there, I found that my friend had really changed. He was as white as the milk, his eyes were
terribly big, and his lips thin and dark. He told me that he got an illness of the family that makes your senses
get so sharp, and that makes you go mad whenever you hear, see, touch, taste, or smell something in a strong
way. Once in his room, we were siting and talking when his sister, Lady Madeline walked across the room
without realizing that we were there. −She cares no more about she is alive or dead. She has a terrible illness,
and you probably won't see her alive again− said my friend. We went on talking, listening to the music of
Usher's strange instruments, painting, ang enjoying our time together for a couple of weeks. One day Usher
told me that his sister was not in this world any more. We put her into a coffin and carried her to a room
downstairs. He said he didn't want to burry her yet, just to be sure of her death. Days after, I felt a strange
feeling in the night, and couldn't sleep. I went to see my friend who was also up. We read a book for a minute,
and then we started to hear weird noises. After that, his sister opened the door and fell on the floor. Usher was
shocked. So was I. Actually, He died from the shock; and after a short period of time, I found myself riding
my horse back to town, back to home.
• The Red Death
The red death killed thousands of people. It's signs were red stains on the body, especially on the face, a lot of
bleeding through the skin, and that was it: death was there in less than half an hour.
Prince Prospero did not care about that. He just worried about himself and his friends. When the red death
came to town, he went with his friends to a castle far away from there. He and his friends all went in there and
they locked the doors. Then they melt the locks so that no one could enter or go out from there. Inside the
castle there was good food and good wine, and parties all the time. Outside was the red death.
One day, Prince Prospero organized a big party, in which everyone had to wear a mask. There were seven
rooms all in a row, in which the party would develop. Each one was painted of a colour, and had windows of
glass made of the same colour of the colour of the room, all but the last one. The last room was all painted in
black. It's windows were made of a red glass, and a big clock was put in one of it's walls. The party was going
on as usual: there was wine, food, music, and a lot of people wearing masks, drinking, eating, dancing and
talking. Every time the clock rang, the musicians stopped, like in a dream, listening to it's bell; then, when
finished, they looked in a foolish way to each other, like saying to themselves that it would not happen again.
But it did. In fact, they did it every single time the clock rang (every hour).
But not everything was going well that night: at twelve o'clock a stranger came to dance. He was dressed all in
black, and his mask had red spots, like stains of blood. Everyone looked at him in confusion, and no one
recognised him as a friend. The prince then ordered to kill him, for disturbing the dance, but the guards could
not catch him. He went straight to the black room that was empty, because no one was bold enough to dance
in there. The prince followed him, and tryed to kill him with his sword, but as soon as he stepped in the black
room, he fell dead on the floor. Then, when the others got his clothes off, they found nothing. And nothing
means nothing. There was no body inside those clothes. Then they all started to run away from the black
room, but it was already too late. They all began to die. One by one. All victims, of the red death.
• The Cask of Amontillado
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Fortunato was my enemy. He allways insulted and make fun of me in front of my friends and wife. Nothing
did ever make me fell that bad. But it was not going to go on like that. Things would change in one or other
way, and I was going to take my revenge, soon or late. From then, I made sure to be always gentle with him, I
always smiled at him, and always treated him with extreme kindness. For months I prepared my revenge, and
one day, I had it ready. I met him in that evening on the street, and I said that I was so pleased to see him
because I had just bought a cask of Amontillado (the spanish wine), and I had my doubts about it, so I was
trying to find Luchresi, but I could not. Would you come and have a drink of it to prove it?. Of course, he
could not say no, so I led him home. Once there we went downstairs to the wine−store. I adviced him many
times that it was very damp down there, and he had a cold, but he did not care about that, he wanted to taste it.
We went through a really long and dark passage, where the air was really dense, and it was difficult to
breathe. On the way, I offered him a bottle just to clean his throat. He had just been drinking a lot, but,
actually, he drank it anyway. After a 15 minutes−walk, we arrived at a room with a hole in one corner. Where
is the Amontillado? −he said. Its over here, come −I answered, and went through the small hole. It was so
dark and damp there, that we were nearly breathing water. Once inside there, he was so drunk that I did not
hav to do much effort to get his wrists between the iron rings that I attached to the big rock with chains. Then
I started to build the wall to cover the small hole with the tools I left there days ago. Meanwhile my enemy,
begging for his life consumed his voice in that small damp hole.
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