Once there was an emperor in the Far East who was growing old and knew it was coming time to choose his successor. Instead of choosing one of his assistants or one of his own children, he decided to do something different.He called all the young people in the kingdom together one day. He said,…
Thomas Edison tried two thousand different materials in search of a filament for the light bulb. When none worked satisfactorily, his assistant complained, “All our work is in vain. We have learned nothing.”Edison replied very confidently, “Oh, we have come a long way and we have learned a lot. We know that there are…
“From the point of view of the criminal expert,” said Mr. Sherlock Holmes, “London has become a singularly uninteresting city since the death of the late lamented Professor Moriarty.” “I can hardly think that you would find many decent citizens to agree with you,” I answered. “Well, well, I must not be selfish,” said…
The Hodja had nothing to eat in his house. So he went for a walk beside the lake of Aksehir. Ducks were swimming in the lake. Then he began to drink the water of the lake. “Hodja Effendi, what are you doing there? asked a man. “I am drinking duck soup, he replied. Nasreddin…
1. The Singular Experience of Mr. John Scott Eccles I find it recorded in my notebook that it was a bleak and windy day towards the end of March in the year 1892. Holmes had received a telegram while we sat at our lunch, and he had scribbled a reply. He made no remark, but the…
The book opens as Meursault recalls his mother’s death. Maman dies prior to the opening, yet, Meursault cannot remember exactly when, why, or any information of related significance. He thinks of his mother in a distant emotional state and continues about with his daily life, as if nothing has changed since her death. The…
One morning, just as I was about to leave for my place of employment, Agrafena (my cook, laundress, and housekeeper all in one person) entered my room, and, to my great astonishment, started a conversation.She was a quiet, simple-minded woman, who during the whole six years of her stay with me had never spoken…
One summer night, a few months after my marriage, I was seated by my own hearth smoking a last pipe and nodding over a novel, for my day’s work had been an exhausting one. My wife had already gone upstairs, and the sound of the locking of the hall door some time before told…
It may have been a comedy, or it may have been a tragedy. It cost one man his reason, it cost me a blood-letting, and it cost yet another man the penalties of the law. Yet there was certainly an element of comedy. Well, you shall judge for yourselves. I remember the date very…
IVAN DMITRITCH, a middle-class man who lived with his family on an income of twelve hundred a year and was very well satisfied with his lot, sat down on the sofa after supper and began reading the newspaper. “I forgot to look at the newspaper today,” his wife said to him as she cleared…
