My Hindi Forum

Go Back   My Hindi Forum > Art & Literature > English Literature

Reply
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
Old 30-04-2012, 01:17 AM   #11
Dark Saint Alaick
Super Moderator
 
Dark Saint Alaick's Avatar
 
Join Date: Nov 2010
Location: Sherman Oaks (LA-CA-USA)
Posts: 51,823
Rep Power: 182
Dark Saint Alaick has a reputation beyond reputeDark Saint Alaick has a reputation beyond reputeDark Saint Alaick has a reputation beyond reputeDark Saint Alaick has a reputation beyond reputeDark Saint Alaick has a reputation beyond reputeDark Saint Alaick has a reputation beyond reputeDark Saint Alaick has a reputation beyond reputeDark Saint Alaick has a reputation beyond reputeDark Saint Alaick has a reputation beyond reputeDark Saint Alaick has a reputation beyond reputeDark Saint Alaick has a reputation beyond repute
Default Re: The Best American Humorous Short Stories

The Angel Of The Odd

By Edgar Allan Poe (1809-1849)

[From The Columbian Magazine, October, 1844]


It was a chilly November afternoon. I had just consummated an unusually hearty dinner, of which the dyspeptic truffe formed not the least important item, and was sitting alone in the dining-room with my feet upon the fender and at my elbow a small table which I had rolled up to the fire, and upon which were some apologies for dessert, with some miscellaneous bottles of wine, spirit, and liqueur. In the morning I had been reading Glover's Leonidas, Wilkie's Epigoniad, Lamartine's Pilgrimage, Barlow's Columbiad, Tuckerman's Sicily, and Griswold's Curiosities, I am willing to confess, therefore, that I now felt a little stupid.
__________________
दूसरों से ऐसा व्यवहार कतई मत करो, जैसा तुम स्वयं से किया जाना पसंद नहीं करोगे ! - प्रभु यीशु
Dark Saint Alaick is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 30-04-2012, 01:18 AM   #12
Dark Saint Alaick
Super Moderator
 
Dark Saint Alaick's Avatar
 
Join Date: Nov 2010
Location: Sherman Oaks (LA-CA-USA)
Posts: 51,823
Rep Power: 182
Dark Saint Alaick has a reputation beyond reputeDark Saint Alaick has a reputation beyond reputeDark Saint Alaick has a reputation beyond reputeDark Saint Alaick has a reputation beyond reputeDark Saint Alaick has a reputation beyond reputeDark Saint Alaick has a reputation beyond reputeDark Saint Alaick has a reputation beyond reputeDark Saint Alaick has a reputation beyond reputeDark Saint Alaick has a reputation beyond reputeDark Saint Alaick has a reputation beyond reputeDark Saint Alaick has a reputation beyond repute
Default Re: The Best American Humorous Short Stories

I made effort to arouse myself by frequent aid of Lafitte, and all failing, I betook myself to a stray newspaper in despair. Having carefully perused the column of "Houses to let," and the column of "Dogs lost," and then the columns of "Wives and apprentices runaway," I attacked with great resolution the editorial matter, and reading it from beginning to end without understanding a syllable, conceived the possibility of its being Chinese, and so re-read it from the end to the beginning, but with no more satisfactory result. I was about throwing away in disgust This folio of four pages, happy work Which not even critics criticise, when I felt my attention somewhat aroused by the paragraph which follows: "The avenues to death are numerous and strange. A London paper mentions the decease of a person from a singular cause. He was playing at 'puff the dart,' which is played with a long needle inserted in some worsted, and blown at a target through a tin tube. He placed the needle at the wrong end of the tube, and drawing his breath strongly to puff the dart forward with force, drew the needle into his throat. It entered the lungs, and in a few days killed him."
__________________
दूसरों से ऐसा व्यवहार कतई मत करो, जैसा तुम स्वयं से किया जाना पसंद नहीं करोगे ! - प्रभु यीशु
Dark Saint Alaick is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 30-04-2012, 01:19 AM   #13
Dark Saint Alaick
Super Moderator
 
Dark Saint Alaick's Avatar
 
Join Date: Nov 2010
Location: Sherman Oaks (LA-CA-USA)
Posts: 51,823
Rep Power: 182
Dark Saint Alaick has a reputation beyond reputeDark Saint Alaick has a reputation beyond reputeDark Saint Alaick has a reputation beyond reputeDark Saint Alaick has a reputation beyond reputeDark Saint Alaick has a reputation beyond reputeDark Saint Alaick has a reputation beyond reputeDark Saint Alaick has a reputation beyond reputeDark Saint Alaick has a reputation beyond reputeDark Saint Alaick has a reputation beyond reputeDark Saint Alaick has a reputation beyond reputeDark Saint Alaick has a reputation beyond repute
Default Re: The Best American Humorous Short Stories

Upon seeing this I fell into a great rage, without exactly knowing why. "This thing," I
exclaimed, "is a contemptible falsehood--a poor hoax--the lees of the invention of some
pitiable penny-a-liner, of some wretched concocter of accidents in Cocaigne. These
fellows knowing the extravagant gullibility of the age set their wits to work in the
imagination of improbable possibilities, of odd accidents as they term them, but to a
reflecting intellect (like mine, I added, in parenthesis, putting my forefinger
unconsciously to the side of my nose), to a contemplative understanding such as I myself
possess, it seems evident at once that the marvelous increase of late in these 'odd
accidents' is by far the oddest accident of all. For my own part, I intend to believe nothing
henceforward that has anything of the 'singular' about it."
__________________
दूसरों से ऐसा व्यवहार कतई मत करो, जैसा तुम स्वयं से किया जाना पसंद नहीं करोगे ! - प्रभु यीशु
Dark Saint Alaick is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 30-04-2012, 01:19 AM   #14
Dark Saint Alaick
Super Moderator
 
Dark Saint Alaick's Avatar
 
Join Date: Nov 2010
Location: Sherman Oaks (LA-CA-USA)
Posts: 51,823
Rep Power: 182
Dark Saint Alaick has a reputation beyond reputeDark Saint Alaick has a reputation beyond reputeDark Saint Alaick has a reputation beyond reputeDark Saint Alaick has a reputation beyond reputeDark Saint Alaick has a reputation beyond reputeDark Saint Alaick has a reputation beyond reputeDark Saint Alaick has a reputation beyond reputeDark Saint Alaick has a reputation beyond reputeDark Saint Alaick has a reputation beyond reputeDark Saint Alaick has a reputation beyond reputeDark Saint Alaick has a reputation beyond repute
Default Re: The Best American Humorous Short Stories

"Mein Gott, den, vat a vool you bees for dat!" replied one of the most remarkable voices I
ever heard. At first I took it for a rumbling in my ears--such as a man sometimes
experiences when getting very drunk--but upon second thought, I considered the sound as
more nearly resembling that which proceeds from an empty barrel beaten with a big stick;
and, in fact, this I should have concluded it to be, but for the articulation of the syllables
and words. I am by no means naturally nervous, and the very few glasses of Lafitte which
I had sipped served to embolden me a little, so that I felt nothing of trepidation, but
merely uplifted my eyes with a leisurely movement and looked carefully around the room
for the intruder. I could not, however, perceive any one at all.
__________________
दूसरों से ऐसा व्यवहार कतई मत करो, जैसा तुम स्वयं से किया जाना पसंद नहीं करोगे ! - प्रभु यीशु
Dark Saint Alaick is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 30-04-2012, 01:19 AM   #15
Dark Saint Alaick
Super Moderator
 
Dark Saint Alaick's Avatar
 
Join Date: Nov 2010
Location: Sherman Oaks (LA-CA-USA)
Posts: 51,823
Rep Power: 182
Dark Saint Alaick has a reputation beyond reputeDark Saint Alaick has a reputation beyond reputeDark Saint Alaick has a reputation beyond reputeDark Saint Alaick has a reputation beyond reputeDark Saint Alaick has a reputation beyond reputeDark Saint Alaick has a reputation beyond reputeDark Saint Alaick has a reputation beyond reputeDark Saint Alaick has a reputation beyond reputeDark Saint Alaick has a reputation beyond reputeDark Saint Alaick has a reputation beyond reputeDark Saint Alaick has a reputation beyond repute
Default Re: The Best American Humorous Short Stories

"Humph!" resumed the voice as I continued my survey, "you mus pe so dronk as de pig
den for not zee me as I zit here at your zide."
Hereupon I bethought me of looking immediately before my nose, and there, sure
enough, confronting me at the table sat a personage nondescript, although not altogether
indescribable. His body was a wine-pipe or a rum puncheon, or something of that
character, and had a truly Falstaffian air. In its nether extremity were inserted two kegs,
which seemed to answer all the purposes of legs. For arms there dangled from the upper
portion of the carcass two tolerably long bottles with the necks outward for hands. All the
head that I saw the monster possessed of was one of those Hessian canteens which
resemble a large snuff-box with a hole in the middle of the lid. This canteen (with a
funnel on its top like a cavalier cap slouched over the eyes) was set on edge upon the
puncheon, with the hole toward myself; and through this hole, which seemed puckered up
like the mouth of a very precise old maid, the creature was emitting certain rumbling and
grumbling noises which he evidently intended for intelligible talk.
__________________
दूसरों से ऐसा व्यवहार कतई मत करो, जैसा तुम स्वयं से किया जाना पसंद नहीं करोगे ! - प्रभु यीशु
Dark Saint Alaick is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 30-04-2012, 01:19 AM   #16
Dark Saint Alaick
Super Moderator
 
Dark Saint Alaick's Avatar
 
Join Date: Nov 2010
Location: Sherman Oaks (LA-CA-USA)
Posts: 51,823
Rep Power: 182
Dark Saint Alaick has a reputation beyond reputeDark Saint Alaick has a reputation beyond reputeDark Saint Alaick has a reputation beyond reputeDark Saint Alaick has a reputation beyond reputeDark Saint Alaick has a reputation beyond reputeDark Saint Alaick has a reputation beyond reputeDark Saint Alaick has a reputation beyond reputeDark Saint Alaick has a reputation beyond reputeDark Saint Alaick has a reputation beyond reputeDark Saint Alaick has a reputation beyond reputeDark Saint Alaick has a reputation beyond repute
Default Re: The Best American Humorous Short Stories

"I zay," said he, "you mos pe dronk as de pig, vor zit dare and not zee me zit ere; and I
zay, doo, you mos pe pigger vool as de goose, vor to dispelief vat iz print in de print. 'Tiz
de troof--dat it iz--ebery vord ob it."
"Who are you, pray?" said I with much dignity, although somewhat puzzled; "how did
you get here? and what is it you are talking about?"
"As vor ow I com'd ere," replied the figure, "dat iz none of your pizziness; and as vor vat
I be talking apout, I be talk apout vat I tink proper; and as vor who I be, vy dat is de very
ting I com'd here for to let you zee for yourself."
"You are a drunken vagabond," said I, "and I shall ring the bell and order my footman to
kick you into the street."
"He! he! he!" said the fellow, "hu! hu! hu! dat you can't do."
"Can't do!" said I, "what do you mean? I can't do what?"
__________________
दूसरों से ऐसा व्यवहार कतई मत करो, जैसा तुम स्वयं से किया जाना पसंद नहीं करोगे ! - प्रभु यीशु
Dark Saint Alaick is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 30-04-2012, 01:20 AM   #17
Dark Saint Alaick
Super Moderator
 
Dark Saint Alaick's Avatar
 
Join Date: Nov 2010
Location: Sherman Oaks (LA-CA-USA)
Posts: 51,823
Rep Power: 182
Dark Saint Alaick has a reputation beyond reputeDark Saint Alaick has a reputation beyond reputeDark Saint Alaick has a reputation beyond reputeDark Saint Alaick has a reputation beyond reputeDark Saint Alaick has a reputation beyond reputeDark Saint Alaick has a reputation beyond reputeDark Saint Alaick has a reputation beyond reputeDark Saint Alaick has a reputation beyond reputeDark Saint Alaick has a reputation beyond reputeDark Saint Alaick has a reputation beyond reputeDark Saint Alaick has a reputation beyond repute
Default Re: The Best American Humorous Short Stories

"Ring de pell," he replied, attempting a grin with his little villainous mouth.
Upon this I made an effort to get up in order to put my threat into execution, but the
ruffian just reached across the table very deliberately, and hitting me a tap on the
forehead with the neck of one of the long bottles, knocked me back into the armchair
from which I had half arisen. I was utterly astounded, and for a moment was quite at a
loss what to do. In the meantime he continued his talk.
"You zee," said he, "it iz te bess vor zit still; and now you shall know who I pe. Look at
me! zee! I am te Angel ov te Odd."
"And odd enough, too," I ventured to reply; "but I was always under the impression that
an angel had wings."
"Te wing!" he cried, highly incensed, "vat I pe do mit te wing? Mein Gott! do you take
me for a shicken?"
__________________
दूसरों से ऐसा व्यवहार कतई मत करो, जैसा तुम स्वयं से किया जाना पसंद नहीं करोगे ! - प्रभु यीशु
Dark Saint Alaick is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 30-04-2012, 01:20 AM   #18
Dark Saint Alaick
Super Moderator
 
Dark Saint Alaick's Avatar
 
Join Date: Nov 2010
Location: Sherman Oaks (LA-CA-USA)
Posts: 51,823
Rep Power: 182
Dark Saint Alaick has a reputation beyond reputeDark Saint Alaick has a reputation beyond reputeDark Saint Alaick has a reputation beyond reputeDark Saint Alaick has a reputation beyond reputeDark Saint Alaick has a reputation beyond reputeDark Saint Alaick has a reputation beyond reputeDark Saint Alaick has a reputation beyond reputeDark Saint Alaick has a reputation beyond reputeDark Saint Alaick has a reputation beyond reputeDark Saint Alaick has a reputation beyond reputeDark Saint Alaick has a reputation beyond repute
Default Re: The Best American Humorous Short Stories

"No--oh, no!" I replied, much alarmed; "you are no chicken--certainly not."
"Well, den, zit still and pehabe yourself, or I'll rap you again mid me vist. It iz te shicken
ab te wing, und te owl ab te wing, und te imp ab te wing, und te head-teuffel ab te wing.
Te angel ab not te wing, and I am te Angel ov te Odd."
"And your business with me at present is--is----"
"My pizziness!" ejaculated the thing, "vy vat a low-bred puppy you mos pe vor to ask a
gentleman und an angel apout his pizziness!"
This language was rather more than I could bear, even from an angel; so, plucking up
courage, I seized a salt-cellar which lay within reach, and hurled it at the head of the
intruder. Either he dodged, however, or my aim was inaccurate; for all I accomplished
was the demolition of the crystal which protected the dial of the clock upon the
mantelpiece. As for the Angel, he evinced his sense of my assault by giving me two or
three hard, consecutive raps upon the forehead as before. These reduced me at once to
submission, and I am almost ashamed to confess that, either through pain or vexation,
there came a few tears into my eyes.
__________________
दूसरों से ऐसा व्यवहार कतई मत करो, जैसा तुम स्वयं से किया जाना पसंद नहीं करोगे ! - प्रभु यीशु
Dark Saint Alaick is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 30-04-2012, 01:20 AM   #19
Dark Saint Alaick
Super Moderator
 
Dark Saint Alaick's Avatar
 
Join Date: Nov 2010
Location: Sherman Oaks (LA-CA-USA)
Posts: 51,823
Rep Power: 182
Dark Saint Alaick has a reputation beyond reputeDark Saint Alaick has a reputation beyond reputeDark Saint Alaick has a reputation beyond reputeDark Saint Alaick has a reputation beyond reputeDark Saint Alaick has a reputation beyond reputeDark Saint Alaick has a reputation beyond reputeDark Saint Alaick has a reputation beyond reputeDark Saint Alaick has a reputation beyond reputeDark Saint Alaick has a reputation beyond reputeDark Saint Alaick has a reputation beyond reputeDark Saint Alaick has a reputation beyond repute
Default Re: The Best American Humorous Short Stories

"Mein Gott!" said the Angel of the Odd, apparently much softened at my distress; "mein
Gott, te man is eder ferry dronk or ferry zorry. You mos not trink it so strong--you mos
put te water in te wine. Here, trink dis, like a good veller, and don't gry now--don't!"
Hereupon the Angel of the Odd replenished my goblet (which was about a third full of
port) with a colorless fluid that he poured from one of his hand-bottles. I observed that
these bottles had labels about their necks, and that these labels were inscribed
"Kirschenwässer."
The considerate kindness of the Angel mollified me in no little measure; and, aided by
the water with which he diluted my port more than once, I at length regained sufficient
temper to listen to his very extraordinary discourse. I cannot pretend to recount all that he
told me, but I gleaned from what he said that he was a genius who presided over the
contretemps of mankind, and whose business it was to bring about the odd accidents
which are continually astonishing the skeptic.
__________________
दूसरों से ऐसा व्यवहार कतई मत करो, जैसा तुम स्वयं से किया जाना पसंद नहीं करोगे ! - प्रभु यीशु
Dark Saint Alaick is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 30-04-2012, 01:21 AM   #20
Dark Saint Alaick
Super Moderator
 
Dark Saint Alaick's Avatar
 
Join Date: Nov 2010
Location: Sherman Oaks (LA-CA-USA)
Posts: 51,823
Rep Power: 182
Dark Saint Alaick has a reputation beyond reputeDark Saint Alaick has a reputation beyond reputeDark Saint Alaick has a reputation beyond reputeDark Saint Alaick has a reputation beyond reputeDark Saint Alaick has a reputation beyond reputeDark Saint Alaick has a reputation beyond reputeDark Saint Alaick has a reputation beyond reputeDark Saint Alaick has a reputation beyond reputeDark Saint Alaick has a reputation beyond reputeDark Saint Alaick has a reputation beyond reputeDark Saint Alaick has a reputation beyond repute
Default Re: The Best American Humorous Short Stories

Once or twice, upon my venturing to express my total incredulity in respect to his pretensions, he grew very angry indeed, so that at length I considered it the wiser policy to say nothing at all, and let him have his own way. He talked on, therefore, at great length, while I merely leaned back in my chair with my eyes shut, and amused myself with munching raisins and filiping the stems about the room. But, by and by, the Angel suddenly construed this behavior of mine into contempt. He arose in a terrible passion, slouched his funnel down over his eyes, swore a vast oath, uttered a threat of some character, which I did not precisely comprehend, and finally made me a low bow and departed, wishing me, in the language of the archbishop in "Gil Bias," beaucoup de bonheur et un peu plus de bon sens.
His departure afforded me relief. The very few glasses of Lafitte that I had sipped had the
effect of rendering me drowsy, and I felt inclined to take a nap of some fifteen or twenty
minutes, as is my custom after dinner. At six I had an appointment of consequence, which
it was quite indispensable that I should keep. The policy of insurance for my dwellinghouse
had expired the day before; and some dispute having arisen it was agreed that, at
six, I should meet the board of directors of the company and settle the terms of a renewal.
__________________
दूसरों से ऐसा व्यवहार कतई मत करो, जैसा तुम स्वयं से किया जाना पसंद नहीं करोगे ! - प्रभु यीशु
Dark Saint Alaick is offline   Reply With Quote
Reply

Bookmarks

Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off



All times are GMT +5. The time now is 06:10 PM.


Powered by: vBulletin
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.
MyHindiForum.com is not responsible for the views and opinion of the posters. The posters and only posters shall be liable for any copyright infringement.