Short stories 121-125

I am changing the short story challenge. Instead of reading stories from all by short story collections books by turn I am going to read the biggest of the unthemed collections, Great Short Stories of the World, from cover to cover. Since it contains over 200 short stories, I expect it will last me until November. When I finish it, I will either go back to the challenge as I originally planned it, or choose another collection.
Henceforth, since some of the stories in this book are so short that including such micro-stories in a challenge like this feels like cheating, I will only count the ones that are over 2 pages long, although I will be reading them all.

And now for the stories:

“The Marvelous Minstrel”. Folk tale. From The Complete Fairy Tales of the Brothers Grimm. One of those supposedly humorous folk tales about pointless cruelty to animals that I just don’t get. Do people really think they are funny?

“Don’t You Know Who I Am?” by Adèle Lang. From Big Night Out . About a typically self-centered celebrity bimbo. Quite funny and totally over the top.

From here onward until I finish the book every story will have come from Great Short Stories of the World.

“The Robbers of Egypt” by Heliodorus . Originally from The Æthiopica, Book I. A melodramatic parable.

“The Matron of Ephesus” by Petronius. Originally from The Satyricon. A bawdy tale of the kind that would later be collected in such books as The Decameron.

“The Haunted House” by Pliny the Younger. Originally from Letters. A prototype ghost story that has been repeated in one form or another for at least 2000 years. Dickens even used elements of it in A Christmas Carol. Well told.

Comments

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