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| Castle Chojnik ("Hoynik"), the original of Kynast Castle (Wikipedia) |
Note: This is a story of cruelty--and revenge, a warning to all who would trifle with the hearts of others.
Get Ready: How much should a person put up with in order to win the one they love?
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| The shepherd boy David plays the harp for troubled King Saul (Wikimedia) |
Note: No one in the history of Israel made a bigger splash than King David. Here is the story of his unlikely rise to power.
Get Ready: Do you think a country needs a monarch (king or queen), president, etc.? Or is a military leader good enough?
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| Holmes strikes at the speckled band (Wikipedia) |
Note: British doctor Sir Arthur Conan Doyle wrote 56 stories about the adventures of Sherlock Homes, and four novels. "The Adventure of the Speckled Band" was his personal favorite.
Get Ready: Have you--or anyone you know--ever kept an exotic pet? If so, what was it? If not, is there one you would like to have?
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| Adventure, Feb., 1912 (Gutenberg Australia) |
Note: There was a time--before television, even before movies--when people got their entertainment from weekly and monthly magazines--stories we still read today. Here's one.
Get Ready: How important are symbols--flags, patriotic songs, and so on--to you?
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| Walter Hartright is accosted by the Woman in White on a lonely road--at night (Wikimedia) |
Note: Wilkie Collins was a popular novelist, but this and The Moonstone are his two best-known works.
Get Ready: Have you ever had someone tap you on the shoulder (or otherwise get your attention) when you thought no one was there? What happened?
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| Hannay crashes a meeting (Gutenberg) |
Note: A thrilling movie, and an even more thrilling book, featuring one of the prototypes for James Bond.
Get Ready: Can the actions of one common man really affect the fate of nations? Can you think of examples?
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| From the German film poster (Wikipedia) |
Note: This is one of the most harrowing movie experiences ever, made more so by its backstory.
Get Ready: Have you ever acted on an "impossible dream"? Why or why not?
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| "Vincent Spaulding" tells Jabez Wilson of a vacancy in the Red-headed League (Wikimedia) |
Note: Here's another clever story--with a surprise solution--featuring the estimable Sherlock Holmes!
Get Ready: If you wanted to get someone out of his or her house, how would you do it?
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| "Look at the man's face. It is a face disguised--and here's the proof of it!" (Wikimedia) |
Note: Wilkie Collins may be a minor shadow of Dickens, but his novels give the same pleasure to the reader. Here. the intrigue ends with a surprise, and coincidences abound.
Get Ready: Can a person do something under the influence of drugs or alcohol that goes against his or her basic nature?
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| A railroad bridge in Alabama (Wikimedia) |
Note: A Buddhist sutra tells us life is "a bubble in a stream, A flash of lightening in a summer cloud, A flickering lamp, a phantom, and a dream." No story I know illustrates the point better than this one.
Get Ready: What do you think happens in a person's mind at the moment of death?
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| Illustration from the first publication of the story (Wikipedia) |
Note: Another amazing story from the hand of Hemingway, this time about love and cowardice.
Get Ready: Is fear anything to be ashamed of? Must a person always be brave?
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| Elsie Leslie Lyde as Little Lord Fauntleroy, painted by William Merritt Chase (Wikiart) |
Note: To a certain generation of Americans, "Little Lord Fauntleroy" inspired a way of dress; for the next, he inspired ridicule.
Get Ready: Is there a past fad in clothing or hairstyle that today is commonly made fun of?
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| "Lord Jim" and Jewel in a publicity still from the 1925 film version (Wikimedia) |
Note: Conrad's anti-hero Jim is, like Kurtz in Heart of Darkness, a European who gets tangled up in local affairs, with tragic results.
Get Ready: What benefits--and what difficulties--might be experienced by a person living in a culture other than the one he was born in--a "foreign" culture?
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| The group encountering Iguanodon (Wikipedia) |
Note: Step aside, Sherlock. You're not the only famous character to spring from the fertile mind of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Meet Professor George Edward Challenger!
Get Ready: Do you think it's possible that somewhere in the world dinosaurs still exist?
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| The Adarna Bird (Wikipedia) |
Note: This is one of the few works of Filipino literature that virtually every schoolchild knows. Sadly, it's not widely available online in English.
Get Ready: Can you think of any stories where the third son (or pig, or...) emerges victorious where the first two have failed?
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| Wild worshipers of Cthulhu (Wikipedia) |
Note: We continue with one of the most frightening stories I've ever read, about the "Great Old One," Cthulhu.
Get Ready: Do you find a story scarier if it seems to be a cold, objective account of events, or do you prefer those where the characters are acting emotionally to things as they happen?
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| Lovecraft's sketch of Cthulhu (Wikipedia) |
Note: Few stories have chilled me like this one, the work of H.P. Lovecraft.
Get Ready: What sorts of stories really scare you?
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| Momotaro and his companions (Wikipedia) |
Note: Many folk tales feature an old couple wishing for a child, and their request is fulfilled in a most unusual way. Here's a fine example from Japan.
Get Ready: Why do you think so many "heroes" have supernatural births?
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| Robin Hood meets Little John (Wikipedia) |
Note: How the famous outlaw met his "right-hand man."
Get Ready: Do you have any friends who were at first rivals, and only became friends later?
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| From the cover of a Burmese comic about Pauk Kyaing |
Note: How a poor student followed his teacher's advice and became the founder of a great Burmese dynasty.
Get Ready: Why isn't "history" enough? Why do so many culture need to attach legends to their founding heroes (like George Washington and the cherry tree)?
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