Great Short Stories: #21-30

21. "The Phantom Rickshaw" (1885) by Rudyard Kipling. In this ghostly yet whimsical story, a man is pursued by the phantom image of a woman he spurned, following him everywhere in her rickshaw. It seems to be a manifestation of his own guilty conscience, believing he drived her to her death, but no amount of psychoanalysis seems able to drive the phantom away.

"The Phantom Rickshaw" can be found in The Phantom Rickshaw and Other Ghost Stories. You can read the text online here.

22. "The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde" (1886) by Robert Louis Stevenson. Again delving into novellas, this is Stevenson's great tale of Jekyll letting out his other side, but discovering that the more exercise he grants his baser self, the more powerful it becomes and he faces the threat of losing out to himself.

"The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde" can be found in Three Tales. You can read the text online here.

23. "The Horla" (1887) by Guy de Maupassant. This is easily Maupassant's best-remembered story, one which has been given particular attention because of his own descent into madness (Maupassant suffered from syphilis). A man is haunted by an invisible...something. A Horla. As he becomes more and more convinced of the reality of his premonitions, his actions seem more and more like madness to those around him.

"The Horla" can be found in The Complete Works of Guy de Maupassant. You can read the text online here.

24. "Baa, Baa, Black Sheep" (1888) by Rudyard Kipling. This is a sad story about a young boy from India sent to be raised in England. The boy encounters difficulties, partly due to culture shock, but he also develops a horrible persecution complex and when he finds himself punished regardless of whether he does good or ill, he sees no point in trying to be good.

"Baa, Baa, Black Sheep" can be found in The Man Who Would be King and Other Stories. You can read the text online here.

25. "The Man Who Would be King" (1888) by Rudyard Kipling. This is Kipling's great story of two men who seek to carve out a kingdom for themselves and, against all odds, succeed; the problem is that having become kings by setting themselves up as gods, the fiction can only hold for so long...

"The Man Who Would be King" can be found in The Man Who Would be King and Other Stories. You can read the text online here.

26. "Hautot Senior and Hautot Junior" (1889) by Guy de Maupassant. This is a strangely cynical yet affecting work by Maupassant. As he lies dying from a hunting accident, Hautot tells his son his shameful secret: he kept a mistress. The son sets out to put things right with his father's woman, but discovers she is now like a part of his family.

"Hautot Senior and Hautot Junior" can be found in The Complete Works of Guy de Maupassant. You can read the text online here.

27. "An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge" (1890) by Ambrose Bierce. This is Bierce's best-known tale, told with simplicity and forcefulness. During the US Civil War, a man is sentenced to be hung over a bridge. He survives the hanging and a pursuit begins, but...well, as you may already know, the escape occurs only in his mind and the entire tale comprises the hopes of a man at the moment of his death.

"An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge" can be found in The Spook House. You can read the text online here.

28. "The Five Orange Pips" (1891) by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. This is one of the most remarkable of Doyle's Sherlock Holmes stories, memorable because it's the story in which the villains are the Klu Klux Klan and that it's one of the few times Holmes solves a mystery, but fails the case!

"The Five Orange Pips" can be found in The Complete Sherlock Holmes. You can read the text online here.

29. "The Graveyard Sisterhood" (1891) by Guy de Maupassant. Another cynical romance by Maupassant; a man comforts a woman weeping over the grave of her beloved and is drawn into a relationship with her; he realizes just a little too late that he's being played.

"The Graveyard Sisterhood" can be found in The Complete Works of Guy de Maupassant. You can read the text online here.

30. "The Red-Headed League" (1891) by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. This is a great Holmes story about a red-haired man who is hired for a job seemingly because of his hair color. After losing the unusual job he asks Holmes to investigate and it turns out the man wasn't wanted for the color of his hair, but for the proximity of his home to the bank!

"The Red-Headed League" can be found in The Complete Sherlock Holmes. You can read the text online here.