万本电子书0元读

万本电子书0元读

The Green Meadow
The Green Meadow
H.P. Lovecraft
¥9.00
"The Green Meadow" is a short story by H. P. Lovecraft and Winifred V. Jackson written in 1918/1919 and published in the spring 1927 issue of The Vagrant. As in their other collaboration, "The Crawling Chaos", both authors used pseudonyms — the tale was published as by "Elizabeth Neville Berkeley" (Jackson) and "Lewis Theobald, Jun." (Lovecraft). Lovecraft wrote the entire text but Jackson is credited since it was based on a dream she had experienced
The Curse of Yig
The Curse of Yig
H.P. Lovecraft
¥9.00
"The Curse of Yig" is a short story by H. P. Lovecraft and Zealia Bishop in which Yig, "The Father of Serpents", is first introduced.
The Nameless City
The Nameless City
H.P. Lovecraft
¥9.00
"The Nameless City" is a horror story written by H. P. Lovecraft in January 1921 and first published in the November 1921 issue of the amateur press journal The Wolverine. It is often considered the first Cthulhu Mythos story. The Nameless City of the story's title is an ancient ruin located somewhere in the deserts of the Arabian Peninsula and is older than any human civilization
Memory
Memory
H.P. Lovecraft
¥9.00
"Memory" is a flash fiction short story by American horror and science fiction writer H. P. Lovecraft, written in 1919 and published in May 1923 in The National Amateur. This story takes place in the ancient valley of Nis, in vegetation-covered stone ruins described by Lovecraft in great detail. These crumbling blocks of monolithic stone now serve only for grey toads and snakes to nest under. Interspersed in the ruins are large trees that are home to little apes. Through the bottom of this valley runs the great, slimy red river called Than.
Ibid
Ibid
H.P. Lovecraft
¥9.00
"Ibid" is a mock biography of the Roman scholar Ibidus (486-587), whose masterpiece was Op. Cit., "wherein all the significant undercurrents of Graeco-Roman thought were crystallized once and for all." The piece traces the skull of Ibidus, once the possession of Charlemagne, William the Conqueror and other notables, to the United States, where it travels via Salem, Massachusetts and Providence, Rhode Island to a prairie dog hole in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
The Hound
The Hound
H.P. Lovecraft
¥9.00
"The Hound" is a short story written by H. P. Lovecraft in September 1922 and published in the February 1924 issue of Weird Tales. It contains the first mention of Lovecraft's fictional text the Necronomicon, The story focuses around the narrator and his friend St. John, who have a deranged interest in robbing graves. They constantly defile crypts and often keep souvenirs of their nocturnal expeditions. Since they reside in the same house, they have the opportunity to set up a sort of morbid museum in their basement. Using the objects they collect from the various graves they have robbed, they organize the private exhibition. The collection consists of headstones, preserved bodies, skulls, and several heads in different phases of decomposition. It also included statues, frightful paintings, and a locked portfolio bound in tanned human-skin.
The Tree
The Tree
H.P. Lovecraft
¥9.00
On a mountain which was a chosen haunt for the Greek God Pan is an olive grove, and a fearful, human-like olive tree within it
The Street
The Street
H.P. Lovecraft
¥9.00
"The Street" is a short story by American horror fiction writer H. P. Lovecraft, written in late 1919 and first published in the December 1920 issue of the Wolverine amateur journal. The story traces the history of the eponymous street in a New England city, presumably Boston, from its first beginnings as a path in colonial times to a quasi-supernatural occurrence in the years immediately following World War I.
What the Moon Brings
What the Moon Brings
H.P. Lovecraft
¥9.00
What the Moon Brings is a short story by H.P. Lovecraft, written on June 5, 1922. This story was first published in the National Amateur in May 1923, and based upon a dream. This story is told in the first person; the narrator is never named. The story describes a surreal dreamscape. The narrator wanders through his garden one night and in the moonlight sees strange and bizarre things
The Cats of Ulthar
The Cats of Ulthar
H.P. Lovecraft
¥9.00
The Cats of Ulthar" is a short story written by American fantasy author H. P. Lovecraft in June 1920. In the tale, an unnamed narrator relates the story of how a law forbidding the killing of cats came to be in a town called Ulthar. As the narrative goes, the city is home to an old couple who enjoy capturing and killing the townspeople's cats. When a caravan of wanderers passes through the city, the kitten of an orphan (Menes) traveling with the band disappears. Upon hearing of the couple's violent acts towards cats, Menes invokes a prayer before leaving town that causes the local felines to swarm the cat-killers' house and devour them. Upon witnessing the result, the local politicians pass a law forbidding the killing of cats.
The Beast in the Cave
The Beast in the Cave
H.P. Lovecraft
¥9.00
A man touring a Mammoth Cave separates from his guide and becomes lost. His torch expires and he is giving up hope of finding a way out in the pitch dark, when he hears strange non-human footsteps approaching him. Thinking it to be a lost mountain lion or other such beast, he picks up a stone and throws it toward the source of the sound. The beast is hit and crumples to the floor. The guide finds the protagonist, and together they examine the fallen creature with the guide's torchlight. The creature mutters in its last breaths and they see its face, discovering that it is in fact a pale, deformed human, who had also become lost in the cave many years ago.
The Call of Cthulhu
The Call of Cthulhu
H.P. Lovecraft
¥9.00
"The Call of Cthulhu" is one of H. P. Lovecraft's best-known short stories. Written in the summer of 1926, it was first published in Weird Tales, February 1928. It is the only story written by Lovecraft in which the extraterrestrial entity Cthulhu himself makes a major appearance. It is written in a documentary style, with three independent narratives linked together by the device of a narrator discovering notes left by a deceased relative. The narrator pieces together the whole truth and disturbing significance of the information he possesses, illustrating the story's first line: "The most merciful thing in the world, I think, is the inability of the human mind to correlate all its contents. We live on a placid island of ignorance in the midst of black seas of infinity; and it was not meant that we should voyage far."
Collected Works: Complete Editions: The Metamorphosis, In the Penal Colony
Collected Works: Complete Editions: The Metamorphosis, In the Penal Colony
Franz Kafka
¥9.24
This carefully crafted ebook is formatted with a functional and detailed table of contents.Franz Kafka (3 July 1883 – 3 June 1924) was a German-language writer of novels and short stories, regarded by critics as one of the most influential authors of the 20th century. Kafka strongly influenced genres such as existentialism. Most of his works, such as "Die Verwandlung" ("The Metamorphosis"), "Der Prozess" ("The Trial"), and "Das Schloss" ("The Castle"), are filled with the themes and archetypes of alienation, physical and psychological brutality, parent–child conflict, characters on a terrifying quest, labyrinths of bureaucracy, and mystical transformations. Kafka was born into a middle-class, German-speaking Jewish family in Prague, then part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. In his lifetime, most of the population of Prague spoke Czech, and the division between Czech- and German-speaking people was a tangible reality, as both groups were strengthening their national identity. The Jewish community often found itself in between the two sentiments, naturally raising questions about a place to which one belongs. Kafka himself was fluent in both languages, considering German his mother tongue. Kafka trained as a lawyer and, after completing his legal education, obtained employment with an insurance company. He began to write short stories in his spare time. For the rest of his life, he complained about the little time he had to devote to what he came to regard as his calling. He regretted having to devote so much attention to his "Brotberuf" ("day job", literally "bread job"). Kafka preferred to communicate by letter; he wrote hundreds of letters to family and close female friends, including his father, his fiancée Felice Bauer, and his youngest sister Ottla. He had a complicated and troubled relationship with his father that had a major effect on his writing. He also suffered conflict over being Jewish, feeling that it had little to do with him, although critics argue that it influenced his writing.This collection contains the following works:- The Metamorphosis- A Country Doctor- A Hunger Artist- A Report for an Academy- An Imperial Message- Before the Law- In the Penal Colony- Jackals and Arabs- The Great Wall of China- The Hunter Gracchus- The Trial- Up in the Gallery
The Life of Our Lord in Simple Language for Little Children
The Life of Our Lord in Simple Language for Little Children
Anonymous
¥9.24
In preparing this brief account of the chief incidents in Our Lord's Life, the writer has endeavoured to keep as close as possible to the sacred text; its divine simplicity being far preferable to any other style of writing the story. The easiest words and those most familiar to children have generally been used and every effort has been made to adapt the volume to the intelligence of the young with the view of instilling into their minds the love of our Saviour for mankind as shown in the beautiful story of His life. ? KING DAVID. In ages past God made the world: the earth, the sea, the hills, the streams, the trees; the fish, birds and beasts; last of all He made Adam, the first man, and Eve his wife, and they lived in the Garden of Eden. They were quite good at first, but tempted by Satan they ate the fruit of a tree God told them not to eat, and that brought sin into the world; they could not live for ever now, they must die; but that their souls might go to heaven, God's own Son said He would come down on earth and die to save them. God said His Son should be born of Abraham's nation, and should be one of the sons of the line of King David, who sang the sweet psalms in praise of God. Abraham was a good man, so good that God called him His friend; and from him came the people called Jews. David was one of their kings. God always keeps His word, but He makes men wait till it is His time to do as He says; and it was a long, long time after Abraham and David that our Lord came to live among men. At last God sent His angel Gabriel to a young maiden, named Mary, who lived at a town called Nazareth, to tell her that God loved her, and that she should have God's Son for her own son. Our Lord would be her little babe. When Mary saw the angel she was at first afraid, but he said to her, "Fear not, Mary," and he told her that she must call the child's name Jesus—that means Saviour—for He would save the people from their sins. Then Mary must have been glad. She said, "I am God's servant; may His will be done." Mary was to be the wife of her cousin Joseph—they were both of David's family—so the angel went and told him too, that Mary should have God's Son for her own, and that he must call the child Jesus.
Little Red Riding Hood
Little Red Riding Hood
Wilhelm Grimm
¥9.24
LITTLE RED RIDING HOOD from "Brothers Grimm" ONCE upon a time... in the middle of a thick forest stood a small cottage, the home of a pretty little girl known to everyone as Little Red Riding Hood. One day, her Mummy waved her goodbye at the garden gate, saying, "Grandma is ill. Take her this basket of cakes, but be very careful. Keep to the path through the wood and don't ever stop. That way, you will come to no harm." Little Red Riding Hood kissed her mother and ran off. "Don't worry", she said, "I'll run all the way to Grandma's without stopping". Full of good intensions, the little girl made her way through the wood, but she was soon to forget her mother's wise words. "What lovely strawberries! And so red..."
Metamorphosis: {Illustrated}
Metamorphosis: {Illustrated}
Franz Kafka
¥9.24
The third novel, The Vicomte de Bragelonne (serialized October, 1847—January, 1850), has enjoyed a strange history in its English translation. It has been split into three, four, or five volumes at various points in its history. The five-volume edition generally does not give titles to the smaller portions, but the others do. In the three-volume edition, the novels are entitled The Vicomte de Bragelonne, Louise de la Valliere, and The Man in the Iron Mask. For the purposes of this etext, I have chosen to split the novel as the four-volume edition does, with these titles: The Vicomte de Bragelonne, Ten Years Later, Louise de la Valliere, and The Man in the Iron Mask. In the first three etexts: The Vicomte de Bragelonne (Etext 2609): It is the year 1660, and D'Artagnan, after thirty-five years of loyal service, has become disgusted with serving King Louis XIV while the real power resides with the Cardinal Mazarin, and has tendered his resignation. He embarks on his own project, that of restoring Charles II to the throne of England, and, with the help of Athos, succeeds, earning himself quite a fortune in the process. D'Artagnan returns to Paris to live the life of a rich citizen, and Athos, after negotiating the marriage of Philip, the king's brother, to Princess Henrietta of England, likewise retires to his own estate, La Fere. Meanwhile, Mazarin has finally died, and left Louis to assume the reigns of power, with the assistance of M. Colbert, formerly Mazarin's trusted clerk. Colbert has an intense hatred for M. Fouquet, the king's superintendent of finances, and has resolved to use any means necessary to bring about his fall. With the new rank of intendant bestowed on him by Louis, Colbert succeeds in having two of Fouquet's loyal friends tried and executed. He then brings to the king's attention that Fouquet is fortifying the island of Belle-Ile-en-Mer, and could possibly be planning to use it as a base for some military operation against the king. Louis calls D'Artagnan out of retirement and sends him to investigate the island, promising him a tremendous salary and his long-promised promotion to captain of the musketeers upon his return. At Belle-Isle, D'Artagnan discovers that the engineer of the fortifications is, in fact, Porthos, now the Baron du Vallon, and that's not all. The blueprints for the island, although in Porthos's handwriting, show evidence of another script that has been erased, that of Aramis. D'Artagnan later discovers that Aramis has become the bishop of Vannes, which is, coincidentally, a parish belonging to M. Fouquet. Suspecting that D'Artagnan has arrived on the king's behalf to investigate, Aramis tricks D'Artagnan into wandering around Vannes in search of Porthos, and sends Porthos on an heroic ride back to Paris to warn Fouquet of the danger. Fouquet rushes to the king, and gives him Belle-Isle as a present, thus allaying any suspicion, and at the same time humiliating Colbert, just minutes before the usher announces someone else seeking an audience with the king. Ten Years Later (Etext 2681): As 1661 approaches, Princess Henrietta of England arrives for her marriage, and throws the court of France into complete disorder. The jealousy of the Duke of Buckingham, who is in love with her, nearly occasions a war on the streets of Le Havre, thankfully prevented by Raoul's timely and tactful intervention. After the marriage, though, Monsieur Philip becomes horribly jealous of Buckingham, and has him exiled. Before leaving, however, the duke fights a duel with M. de Wardes at Calais. De Wardes is a malicious and spiteful man, the sworn enemy of D'Artagnan, and, by the same token, that of Athos, Aramis, Porthos, and Raoul as well. Both men are seriously wounded, and the duke is taken back to England to recover. Raoul's friend, the Comte de Guiche, is the next to succumb to Henrietta's charms, and Monsieur obtains his exile as well, though De Guiche soon effects a reconciliation.
Lords of the Stratosphere
Lords of the Stratosphere
Arthur J. Burks
¥9.24
It is a cumulative tale that does not tell the story of Jack's house, or even of Jack who built the house, but instead shows how the house is indirectly linked to other things and people, and through this method tells the story of "The man all tattered and torn", and the "Maiden all forlorn", as well as other smaller events, showing how these are interlinked. Origins: It has been argued that the rhyme is derived from an Aramaic hymn Chad Gadya (lit., "One Young Goat") in Sepher Haggadah, first printed in 1590; but although this is an early cumulative tale that may have inspired the form, the lyrics bear little relationship. It was suggested by James Orchard Halliwell that the reference to the "priest all shaven and shorn" indicates that the English version is probably very old, presumably as far back as the mid-sixteenth century. There is a possible reference to the song in The Boston New Letter of 12 April 1739 and the line: "This is the man all forlorn, &c". However, it did not appear in print until it was included in Nurse Truelove's New-Year's-Gift, or the Book of Books for Children, printed in London in 1755. It was printed in numerous collections in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. Randolph Caldecott produced an illustrated version in 1878. Cherrington Manor, a handsome timber-framed house in North East Shropshire, England, is reputed to be the actual house that Jack built. There is a former malt house in the grounds. Syntactic structure: Each sentence in the story is an example of an increasingly deeply nested relative clause. The last version, "This is the horse...", would be quite difficult to untangle if the previous ones were not present. See the Noun Phrase for more details about postmodification of the noun phrase in this manner. References in popular culture: The rhyme continues to be a popular choice for illustrated children's books, with recent examples by Simms Taback and Quentin Blake showing how illustrators can introduce a fresh angle and humour into a familiar tale. The popularity of the rhyme can be seen in its use in a variety of other cultural contexts..
Sing a Song of Sixpence: [Illustrated]
Sing a Song of Sixpence: [Illustrated]
Mary Holdsworth
¥9.24
A brand new sixpence fresh from the Mint! How it sparkled and glittered in the dancing sunlight! Such a treasure for a small girl to possess! But then, on the other hand, what a heavy responsibility!??All day long it had been burning a hole in her pocket, and as for learning lessons, not an idea would enter her head. Everything went in at one ear and out of the other, as Miss Primmer sternly remarked when Nellie could not say her poetry. But, indeed, Nellie did try hard to learn her lessons; she squeezed her eyes together as tightly as possible, though how shutting her eyes was to prevent the lessons from coming out of her ears was not very clear. ??"But I must learn them now," she sighed, "or Miss Primmer will keep me in tomorrow, and I shan't be able to go out with Nursie and Reggie to spend my sixpence. Oh dear! I wish I could learn my poetry and keep it in, I guess I'd better get a bit of cotton wool to put in my ears and then it can't come out. There, now!
Cinderilla: "Or, the Little Glass Slipper"
Cinderilla: "Or, the Little Glass Slipper"
Charles Perrault
¥9.24
Cinderella, or "The Little Glass Slipper", is a folk tale embodying a myth-element of unjust oppression/triumphant reward. Thousands of variants are known throughout the world. The title character is a young woman living in unfortunate circumstances, that are suddenly changed to remarkable fortune. The oldest documented version comes from China, and the oldest European version from Italy. The most popular version was first published by Charles Perrault in Histoires ou contes du temps passé in 1697, and later by the Brothers Grimm in their folk tale collection Grimms' Fairy Tales. Although the story's title and main character's name change in different languages, in English-language folklore "Cinderella" is the archetypal name. The word "Cinderella" has, by analogy, come to mean one whose attributes were unrecognized, or one who unexpectedly achieves recognition or success after a period of obscurity and neglect. The still-popular story of "Cinderella" continues to influence popular culture internationally, lending plot elements, allusions, and tropes to a wide variety of media. ONCE there was a gentleman who married, for his second wife, the proudest and most haughty woman that was ever seen. She had, by a former husband, two daughters of her own humour and they were indeed exactly like her in all things. He had likewise, by another wife, a young daughter, but of unparalleled goodness and sweetness of temper, which she took from her mother, who was the best creature in the world. No sooner were the ceremonies of the wedding over, but the stepmother began to shew herself in her colours. She could not bear the good qualities of this pretty girl; and the less, because they made her own daughters appear the more odious. She employed her in the meanest work of the house; she scoured the dishes, tables, &c. and rubbed Madam's chamber, and those of Misses, her daughters; she lay up in a sorry garret, upon a wretched straw-bed, while her sisters lay in fine rooms, with floors all inlaid, upon beds of the very newest fashion, and where they had looking-glasses so large, that they might see themselves at their full length, from head to foot.
The Galoshes of Fortune
The Galoshes of Fortune
Hans Christian Andersen
¥9.24
I t was in Copenhagen, in one of the houses on East Street, not far from King's Newmarket, that someone was giving a large party. For one must give a party once in a while, if one expects to be invited in return. Half of the guests were already at the card tables, and the rest were waiting to see what would come of their hostess's query: "What can we think up now?" Up to this point, their conversation had gotten along as best it might. Among other things, they had spoken of the Middle Ages. Some held that it was a time far better than our own. Indeed Councilor of Justice Knap defended this opinion with such spirit that his hostess sided with him at once, and both of them loudly took exception to Oersted's article in the Almanac, which contrasted old times and new, and which favored our own period. The Councilor of Justice, however, held that the time of King Hans, about 1500 A.D., was the noblest and happiest age. While the conversation ran pro and con, interrupted only for a moment by the arrival of a newspaper, in which there was nothing worth reading, let us adjourn to the cloak room, where all the wraps, canes, umbrellas, and galoshes were collected together. Here sat two maids, a young one and an old one. You might have thought they had come in attendance upon some spinster or widow, and were waiting to see their mistress home. However, a closer inspection would reveal that these were no ordinary serving women. Their hands were too well kept for that, their bearing and movements too graceful, and their clothes had a certain daring cut. They were two fairies. The younger one, though not Dame Fortune herself, was an assistant to one of her ladies in waiting, and was used to deliver the more trifling gifts of Fortune. The older one looked quite grave. She was Dame Care, who always goes in her own sublime person to see to her errands herself, for then she knows that they are well done. They were telling each other about where they had been that day. The assistant of Fortune had only attended to a few minor affairs, she said, such as saving a new bonnet from the rain, getting a civil greeting for an honest man from an exalted nincompoop, and such like matters. But her remaining errand was an extraordinary one.
The Babes in the Wood: Illustrated
The Babes in the Wood: Illustrated
Anonymus
¥9.24
Now ponder well, you parents deare,?These wordes which I shall write;?A doleful story you shall heare,?In time brought forth to light.??A gentleman of good account?In Norfolke dwelt of late.?Who did in honour far surmount?Most men of his estate.??Sore sicke he was, and like to dye,?No helpe his life could save;?His wife by him as sicke did lye,?And both possest one grave.??No love between these two was lost,?Each was to other kinde;?In love they liv'd, in love they dyed,?And left two babes behinde:??The one a fine and pretty boy,?Not passing three yeares olde;?The other a girl more young than he?And fram'd in beautye's molde. Randolph Caldecott (1846 – 1886) was an English artist and illustrator, born in Chester. The Caldecott Medal was named in his honour. He exercised his art chiefly in book illustrations. His abilities as an artist were promptly and generously recognised by the Royal Academy. Caldecott gre-atly influenced illustration of children's books during the nineteenth century. Two books illustrated by him, priced at a shilling each, were published every Christmas for eight years. Caldecott also illustrated novels and accounts of foreign travel, made humorous drawings depicting hunting and fashionable life, drew cartoons and he made sketches of the Houses of Parliament inside and out, and exhibited sculptures and paintings in oil and watercolour in the Royal Academy and galleries. After six years at Whitchurch, Caldecott moved to the head office in Manchester of the Manchester & Salford Bank. He lodged variously in Aberdeen Street, Rusholme Grove and at Bowdon. He took the opportunity to study at night school at the Manchester School of Art and practised continually, with success in local papers and some London publications. It was a habit of his at this time, which he maintained all his life, to decorate his letters, papers and documents of all descriptions with marginal sketches to illustrate the content or provide amusement. A number of his letters have been reprinted with their illustrations in Yours Pictorially, a book edited by Michael Hutchings. In 1870, a painter friend in London, Thomas Armstrong, put Caldecott in touch with Henry Blackburn, the editor of London Society, who published a number of his drawings in several issues of the monthly magazine. Encouraged by this evidence of his ability to support him-self by his art, Caldecott decided to quit his job and move to London; this he did in 1872 at the age of 26. Within two years he had become a successful magazine illustrator working on commission. His work included individual sketches, illustrations of other articles and a series of illustrations of a holiday which he and Henry Blackburn took in the Harz Mountains in Germany. The latter became the first of a number of such series.