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مشاهدة النسخة كاملة : اقرأواسمع..نجتمع نتحكى..نتحاور


إلهامااات
2012- 6- 6, 03:37 PM
السلام عليكم ورحمة الله

طبعا اجازة و فلة والاغلب مسافر والا ماخذ فترة نقاهة..

لو حبيت تنشط تعلمك للغة ..انضم إلينا هنا واعطينا بالكثير ساعة من وقتك ..نتعلم باسلوب مسلي ومفيد

طبعا المادة مستمدة من مواقع عالانترنت ..اغلبنا يبحث ويصادف مواقع جدا ممتعة ولكن بدون مشاركة مع اصدقاء المستوى يجد فيها شيئا من الملل وقد يتركها...

لذلك نسخت لكم القصة كي نسمعها سويا ونتحاور في أي شيء ممكن يفيدنا ونقتبسه منها ولكم الحرية في لغة النقاش انجليزي /عربي المهم يكون الأمر ممتع...

وأطيب أمنياتي


The Tell-Tale Heart (By Edgar Allan Poe)



Today we present the short story "The Tell-Tale Heart" by Edgar Allan Poe. Here is Shep ONeal with the story.


True! Nervous -- very, very nervous I had been and am! But why will you say that I am mad? The disease had sharpened my senses -- not destroyed them.

Above all was the sense of hearing. I heard all things in the heaven and in the earth. I heard many things in the underworld. How, then, am I mad? Observe how healthily -- how calmly I can tell you the whole story.

It is impossible to say how first the idea entered my brain. I loved the old man. He had never wronged me. He had never given me insult. For his gold I had no desire. I think it was his eye! Yes, it was this! He had the eye of a bird, a vulture -- a pale blue eye, with a film over it. Whenever it fell on me, my blood ran cold; and so -- very slowly -- I made up my mind to take the life of the old man, and free myself of the eye forever.

Now this is the point. You think that I am mad. Madmen know nothing. But you should have seen me. You should have seen how wisely and carefully I went to work!

I was never kinder to the old man than during the whole week before I killed him. And every night, late at night, I turned the lock of his door and opened it – oh, so gently! And then, when I had made an opening big enough for my head, I put in a dark lantern, all closed that no light shone out, and then I stuck in my head. I moved it slowly, very slowly, so that I might not interfere with the old mans sleep. And then, when my head was well in the room, I undid the lantern just so much that a single thin ray of light fell upon the vulture eye.

And this I did for seven long nights -- but I found the eye always closed; and so it was impossible to do the work; for it was not the old man who was a problem for me, but his Evil Eye.

On the eighth night, I was more than usually careful in opening the door. I had my head in and was about to open the lantern, when my finger slid on a piece of metal and made a noise. The old man sat up in bed, crying out "Whos there?"

I kept still and said nothing. I did not move a muscle for a whole hour. During that time, I did not hear him lie down. He was still sitting up in the bed listening -- just as I have done, night after night.

Then I heard a noise, and I knew it was the sound of human terror. It was the low sound that arises from the bottom of the soul. I knew the sound well. Many a night, late at night, when all the world slept, it has welled up from deep within my own chest. I say I knew it well.

I knew what the old man felt, and felt sorry for him, although I laughed to myself. I knew that he had been lying awake ever since the first noise, when he had turned in the bed. His fears had been ever since growing upon him.

When I had waited a long time, without hearing him lie down, I decided to open a little -- a very, very little -- ***** in the lantern. So I opened it. You cannot imagine how carefully, carefully. Finally, a single ray of light shot from out and fell full upon the vulture eye.

It was open -- wide, wide open -- and I grew angry as I looked at it. I saw it clearly -- all a dull blue, with a horrible veil over it that chilled my bones; but I could see nothing else of the old mans face or person. For I had directed the light exactly upon the damned spot.

And have I not told you that what you mistake for madness is but a kind of over-sensitivity? Now, there came to my ears a low, dull, quick sound, such as a watch makes when inside a piece of cotton. I knew that sound well, too. It was the beating of the old mans heart. It increased my anger.

But even yet I kept still. I hardly breathed. I held the lantern motionless. I attempted to keep the ray of light upon the eye. But the beating of the heart increased. It grew quicker and quicker, and louder and louder every second. The old mans terror must have been extreme! The beating grew louder, I say, louder every moment!

And now at the dead hour of the night, in the horrible silence of that old house, so strange a noise as this excited me to uncontrollable terror. Yet, for some minutes longer I stood still. But the beating grew louder, louder! I thought the heart must burst.

And now a new fear seized me -- the sound would be heard by a neighbor! The old mans hour had come! With a loud shout, I threw open the lantern and burst into the room.

He cried once -- once only. Without delay, I forced him to the floor, and pulled the heavy bed over him. I then smiled, to find the action so far done.

But, for many minutes, the heart beat on with a quiet sound. This, however, did not concern me; it would not be heard through the wall. At length, it stopped. The old man was dead. I removed the bed and examined the body. I placed my hand over his heart and held it there many minutes. There was no movement. He was stone dead. His eye would trouble me no more.

If still you think me mad, you will think so no longer when I describe the wise steps I took for hiding the body. I worked quickly, but in silence. First of all, I took apart the body. I cut off the head and the arms and the legs.

I then took up three pieces of wood from the flooring, and placed his body parts under the room. I then replaced the wooden boards so well that no human eye -- not even his -- could have seen anything wrong.

There was nothing to wash out -- no mark of any kind -- no blood whatever. I had been too smart for that. A tub had caught all -- ha! ha!

When I had made an end of these labors, it was four oclock in the morning. As a clock sounded the hour, there came a noise at the street door. I went down to open it with a light heart -- for what had I now to fear? There entered three men, who said they were officers of the police. A cry had been heard by a neighbor during the night; suspicion of a crime had been aroused; information had been given at the police office, and the officers had been sent to search the building.

I smiled -- for what had I to fear? The cry, I said, was my own in a dream. The old man, I said, was not in the country. I took my visitors all over the house. I told them to search -- search well. I led them, at length, to his room. I brought chairs there, and told them to rest. I placed my own seat upon the very place under which lay the body of the victim.

The officers were satisfied. I was completely at ease. They sat, and while I answered happily, they talked of common things. But, after a while, I felt myself getting weak and wished them gone. My head hurt, and I had a ringing in my ears; but still they sat and talked.

The ringing became more severe. I talked more freely to do away with the feeling. But it continued until, at length, I found that the noise was not within my ears.

I talked more and with a heightened voice. Yet the sound increased -- and what could I do? It was a low, dull, quick sound like a watch makes when inside a piece of cotton. I had trouble breathing -- and yet the officers heard it not. I talked more quickly -- more loudly; but the noise increased. I stood up and argued about silly things, in a high voice and with violent hand movements. But the noise kept increasing.

Why would they not be gone? I walked across the floor with heavy steps, as if excited to anger by the observations of the men -- but the noise increased. What could I do? I swung my chair and moved it upon the floor, but the noise continually increased. It grew louder -- louder -- louder! And still the men talked pleasantly, and smiled.

Was it possible they heard not? No, no! They heard! They suspected! They knew! They were making a joke of my horror! This I thought, and this I think. But anything was better than this pain! I could bear those smiles no longer! I felt that I must scream or die! And now -- again! Louder! Louder! Louder!

"Villains!" I cried, "Pretend no more! I admit the deed! Tear up the floor boards! Here, here! It is the beating of his hideous heart!"

You have heard the story "The Tell-Tale Heart" by Edgar Allan Poe. Your storyteller was Shep ONeal. This story was adapted by Shelley Gollust. It was produced by Lawan Davis.

:106::106::106:

إلهامااات
2012- 6- 6, 03:45 PM
:Cry111:

كل ما ارفق ملف الصوت يقولي خطأ في الرفع

إذا ممكن أحد يعلمني الطريقة الصحيحة:g2:

على العموم هذا رابط الملف الصوتي لحد ما تعلموني الطريقة:119:

http://ia700407.us.archive.org/11/items/AmericanStories/The_Tell-Tale_Heart_-_By_Edgar_Allan_Poe.mp3

nightwhisper
2012- 6- 6, 03:50 PM
الله يعطيك العافية ،،،

ولى عودة لقراءة القصة

مشكورررة ،،،

:106::106::106:

nightwhisper
2012- 6- 6, 03:53 PM
:cry111:

كل ما ارفق ملف الصوت يقولي خطأ في الرفع

إذا ممكن أحد يعلمني الطريقة الصحيحة:g2:

حسب نوع الملف

عندك الريل بلاير أو مديا بلاير

prestigious
2012- 6- 6, 03:56 PM
it's kinda long but i read it it'skinda wonderful,brilliant and fantastic
I feel thrilled to see your subject

:rose:
ارفعي الصوت على الميديا فاير
احسن

إلهامااات
2012- 6- 6, 04:00 PM
الله يعطيك العافية ،،،

ولى عودة لقراءة القصة

مشكورررة ،،،

:106::106::106:

اهلا وسهلا بمرورك

عدلت الرد ووضعت رابط الملف الصوتي ويمكنك السماع والقراءة الآن

:rose:

إلهامااات
2012- 6- 6, 04:03 PM
حسب نوع الملف

عندك الريل بلاير أو مديا بلاير

اهلا وسهلا بك nightwhisper

الملف BS.player

اشكرك

إلهامااات
2012- 6- 6, 04:17 PM
it's kinda long but i read it it'skinda wonderful,brilliant and fantastic
I feel thrilled to see your subject

:rose:
ارفعي الصوت على الميديا فاير
احسن

Hi prestigious

I appreciate your participation

.Yes. it's kind of thrill story and its better to listen to the voice
....It will be very enjoyable
........

المشكلة مو عارفة الطريقة:060:

سعود بن جرير
2012- 6- 8, 09:26 PM
بسم الله


أهلا بكِ أخيّة


كنت مجتازاً وإذ بإلهاااامات صاحتْ تجمع رفاقها بحماسةٍ هادرة


وتالله أنه الإثراء ( ذكياً ووضيئاً ) حينها سأترك الفجر الكاذب لنجيب محفوظ


وأتصفح طيات القصص بدل أن أعيش فلسفة نجيب !!



سلمكِ الله على هذا الإشغال الذهني ..لنرتمي هناك






.. وقفة .. أعتذر عن عدم الجلاء في بعض الاحيان فأنا أكتب في العراء

هيوفه دلع
2012- 6- 10, 01:34 PM
it is such a long story but i think it is interested
Keep on

إلهامااات
2012- 6- 10, 05:08 PM
بسم الله


أهلا بكِ أخيّة


كنت مجتازاً وإذ بإلهاااامات صاحتْ تجمع رفاقها بحماسةٍ هادرة


وتالله أنه الإثراء ( ذكياً ووضيئاً ) حينها سأترك الفجر الكاذب لنجيب محفوظ


وأتصفح طيات القصص بدل أن أعيش فلسفة نجيب !!



سلمكِ الله على هذا الإشغال الذهني ..لنرتمي هناك






.. وقفة .. أعتذر عن عدم الجلاء في بعض الاحيان فأنا أكتب في العراء

ويحي

كيف بي إن سألني محفوظ ..لم سرقتي سعود؟؟

أحاول أن أعد له جوابا..

فجر اطلالتك الوضاء يشع سناه فنرتمي بين احضان ردودك

وا خيبة نجيب لم ولن يستمتع بها

وحسبه اطلاعك على فلسفته

سرني الجلاء وعدمه فكلاهما منك نور سيدي

إلهامااات
2012- 6- 10, 05:12 PM
it is such a long story but i think it is interested
Keep on

هيوفه دلع Thanks

I will إن شاء الله

إلهامااات
2012- 6- 10, 06:35 PM
comoon friends lets we talk about the story..

what about the tens

new vocabulary

the pronunciation

The crazy man on the story

سعود بن جرير
2012- 6- 11, 10:01 PM
ويحي

كيف بي إن سألني محفوظ ..لم سرقتي سعود؟؟

أحاول أن أعد له جوابا..

فجر اطلالتك الوضاء يشع سناه فنرتمي بين احضان ردودك

وا خيبة نجيب لم ولن يستمتع بها

وحسبه اطلاعك على فلسفته

سرني الجلاء وعدمه فكلاهما منك نور سيدي




بسم الله ..


تتقاطر خجلة وخجلات ثم أعثر وأكبو ثم أنهض وأصحح


ورُغم أني صَلَف إذا تشيطنت نفسي فهي تخفي البلادة


وتظهر النجابة وبين الاريكة وزاويتها منظر معتم أحاول جاهداً


إخفاؤه إلا أنه يشدني الوصف المحكم فيضج بي في كل مكان


حتى يستقر ويستدرجني رويداً رويداً ......







تراكم العبارات وسماعها بشكل دوري ودائم يصحح المفاهيم


ويثري اللسان بكمِ هائل من الكلماتِ والجمل للتمرّس والإمساك بناصية اللغة


فمجالنا وطريقنا قلّ أن يحيطه الجمود ففيه حيوية وأقبال على الحياة


فمن هنا يسيغ الإكثار والتركيز على المقاطع وتجربة الحوار والمداومة


على الاستماع والبحث والتقصي فمع مرور الزمن سننطلق للاجواء


الرحبة ونتذكر كُنا في يومِِ من الأيام في زمان مَضَى هنا .. نسيته الأمكان


والشخوص فلربما تذكره التاريخ إن بقية قناديل الوفاء مُسرجه


أرجو بعد التكرم أن يكون هذا الموضوع - بعد تلطف صاحبته -


مستجمع للمقاطع الصوتية والمرئية في جميع المجالات والفنون


فبودار الفكرة جميلة .........






وفقكِ الله ومتع عينكِ بما تحبين

إلهامااات
2012- 6- 12, 03:15 AM
بسم الله ..


تتقاطر خجلة وخجلات ثم أعثر وأكبو ثم أنهض وأصحح


ورُغم أني صَلَف إذا تشيطنت نفسي فهي تخفي البلادة


وتظهر النجابة وبين الاريكة وزاويتها منظر معتم أحاول جاهداً


إخفاؤه إلا أنه يشدني الوصف المحكم فيضج بي في كل مكان


حتى يستقر ويستدرجني رويداً رويداً ......







تراكم العبارات وسماعها بشكل دوري ودائم يصحح المفاهيم


ويثري اللسان بكمِ هائل من الكلماتِ والجمل للتمرّس والإمساك بناصية اللغة


فمجالنا وطريقنا قلّ أن يحيطه الجمود ففيه حيوية وأقبال على الحياة


فمن هنا يسيغ الإكثار والتركيز على المقاطع وتجربة الحوار والمداومة


على الاستماع والبحث والتقصي فمع مرور الزمن سننطلق للاجواء


الرحبة ونتذكر كُنا في يومِِ من الأيام في زمان مَضَى هنا .. نسيته الأمكان


والشخوص فلربما تذكره التاريخ إن بقية قناديل الوفاء مُسرجه


أرجو بعد التكرم أن يكون هذا الموضوع - بعد تلطف صاحبته -


مستجمع للمقاطع الصوتية والمرئية في جميع المجالات والفنون


فبودار الفكرة جميلة .........






وفقكِ الله ومتع عينكِ بما تحبين

توشحت شالها ..حملت سراجها ..وتوجهت نحو تلك العتمة

ووقفت بين الاريكة وزاويتها علّها تجد "الأديب"

بين الاوراق والكتب ..

وجه شاحب..جسم نحيل..نبض قوي وفكر عميق

كأنما ينتظر ابتسامة ..ويد تمتد

تنتشله للحظات من عالمه

تنظر مليا في عينيه

علّها تقرأه ..

تاهت قبل أن تتعوذ....

.........................

سأضع إن شاء الله بين ايديكم

كل ما هو مفيد ومثري للثقافة واللغة من مقاطع سمعية ومرئية

اشكرك

مكافحه
2012- 6- 12, 06:14 AM
الله يعطيك العافيه على الموضوع:53:دمتى اختى بصحه وووووعافيه

سعود بن جرير
2012- 6- 12, 05:05 PM
هاهي تنتحر كلماتي فعلاً لا قولاً

وكنت أظن أني لا أقع !! فوقعت

فذكرت أنا في ردّي إن بقية !!

فأسدلت خيوط الشك

فقد إشتركنا في الخطأ

أهي عفوية أم غفوة ؟؟

دعيها فقد إرتسمت .. وفقكِ الله



*

إلهامااات
2012- 6- 12, 05:37 PM
هاهي تنتحر كلماتي فعلاً لا قولاً

وكنت أظن أني لا أقع !! فوقعت

فذكرت أنا في ردّي إن بقية !!

فأسدلت خيوط الشك

فقد إشتركنا في الخطأ

أهي عفوية أم غفوة ؟؟

دعيها فقد إرتسمت .. وفقكِ الله



*

لا أعلم لما الحروف تتسابق لتنعش الكلمات

ايهم سيفوز بقبلة الحياة

لا تفقه كثيرا مما تحوي الكلمات

لكنها تنعم وتستأنس بقربها

وكأنما تنبض لنبضها

وتحيا بنفس الاحساس

باركك الله

إلهامااات
2012- 6- 12, 05:51 PM
The Ambitious Guest

http://ia600407.us.archive.org/11/items/AmericanStories/The_Ambitious_Guest_-_By_Nathaniel_Hawthorne.mp3

رابط الصوت


Our story today is called, "The Ambitious Guest. " It was written by Nathaniel Hawthorne. Here is Harry Monroe with our story.

Narrator: One December night, a long, long time ago, a family sat around the fireplace in their home. A golden light from the fire filled the room. The mother and father laughed at something their oldest daughter had just said.

The girl was seventeen, much older than her little brother and sister, who were only five and six years old. A very old woman, the familys grandmother, sat knitting in the warmest corner of the room. And a baby, the youngest child, smiled at the fires light from its tiny bed.

This family had found happiness in the worst place in all of New England. They had built their home high up in the White Mountains, where the wind blows violently all year long.

The family lived in an especially cold and dangerous spot. Stones from the top of the mountain above their house would often roll down the mountainside and wake them in the middle of the night.

No other family lived near them on the mountain. But this family was never lonely. They enjoyed each others company, and often had visitors.

Their house was built near an important road that connected the White Mountains to the Saint Lawrence River. People traveling through the mountains in wagons always stopped at the familys door for a drink of water and a friendly word.

Lonely travelers, crossing the mountains on foot, would step into the house to share a hot meal. Sometimes, the wind became so wild and cold that these strangers would spend the night with the family. The family offered every traveler who stopped at their home a kindness that money could not buy.

On that December evening, the wind came rushing down the mountain. It seemed to stop at their house to knock at the door before it roared down into the valley.

The family fell silent for a moment. But then they realized that someone really was knocking at their door. The oldest girl opened the door and found a young man standing in the dark.

The old grandmother put a chair near the fireplace for him. The oldest daughter gave him a warm, shy smile. And the baby held up its little arms to him.

"This fire is just what I needed," the young man said. "The wind has been blowing in my face for the last two hours."

The father took the young mans travel bag. "Are you going to Vermont?" the older man asked.

"Yes, to Burlington," the traveler replied. "I wanted to reach the valley tonight. But when I saw the light in your window, I decided to stop. I would like to sit and enjoy your fire and your company for a while."

As the young man took his place by the fire, something like heavy footsteps was heard outside. It sounded as if someone was running down the side of the mountain, taking enormous steps.

The father looked out one of the windows.

"That old mountain has thrown another stone at us again. He must have been afraid we would forget him. He sometimes shakes his head and makes us think he will come down on top of us," the father explained to the young man.

"But we are old neighbors," he smiled. "And we manage to get along together pretty well. Besides, I have made a safe hiding place outside to protect us in case a slide brings the mountain down on our heads."

As the father spoke, the mother prepared a hot meal for their guest. While he ate, he talked freely to the family, as if it were his own.

This young man did not trust people easily. Yet on this evening, something made him share his deepest secret with these simple mountain people.

The young mans secret was that he was ambitious. He did not know what he wanted to do with his life, yet. But he did know that he did not want to be forgotten after he had died. He believed that sometime during his life, he would become famous and be admired by thousands of people.

"So far," the young man said, "I have done nothing. If I disappeared tomorrow from the face of the earth, no one would know anything about me. No one would ask Who was he. Where did he go? But I cannot die until I have reached my destiny. Then let death come! I will have built my monument!"

The young mans powerful emotions touched the family. They smiled.

"You laugh at me," the young man said, taking the oldest daughters hand. "You think my ambition is silly."

She was very shy, and her face became pink with embarrassment. "It is better to sit here by the fire," she whispered, "and be happy, even if nobody thinks of us."

Her father stared into the fire.

"I think there is something natural in what the young man says. And his words have made me think about our own lives here.

"It would have been nice if we had had a little farm down in the valley. Some place where we could see our mountains without being afraid they would fall on our heads. I would have been respected by all our neighbors. And, when I had grown old, I would die happy in my bed. You would put a stone over my grave so everyone would know I lived an honest life."

"You see!" the young man cried out. "It is in our nature to want a monument. Some want only a stone on their grave. Others want to be a part of everyones memory. But we all want to be remembered after we die!"

The young man threw some more wood on the fire to chase away the darkness.

The firelight fell on the little group around the fireplace: the fathers strong arms and the mothers gentle smile. It touched the young mans proud face, and the daughters shy one.
It warmed the old grandmother, still knitting in the corner. She looked up from her knitting and, with her fingers still moving the needles, she said, "Old people have their secrets, just as young people do."

The old woman said she had made her funeral clothes some years earlier. They were the finest clothes she had made since her wedding dress. She said her secret was a fear that she would not be buried in her best clothes.

The young man stared into the fire.

"Old and young," he said. "We dream of graves and monuments. I wonder how sailors feel when their ship is sinking, and they know they will be buried in the wide and nameless grave that is the ocean?"

A sound, rising like the roar of the ocean, shook the house. Young and old exchanged one wild look. Then the same words burst from all their lips.

"The slide! The slide!"

They rushed away from the house, into the darkness, to the secret spot the father had built to protect them from the mountain slide.

The whole side of the mountain came rushing toward the house like a waterfall of destruction. But just before it reached the little house, the wave of earth divided in two and went around the familys home. Everyone and everything in the path of the terrible slide was destroyed, except the little house.

The next morning, smoke was seen coming from the chimney of the house on the mountain.

Inside, the fire was still burning. The chairs were still drawn up in a half circle around the fireplace. It looked as if the family had just gone out for a walk.

Some people thought that a stranger had been with the family on that terrible night. But no one ever discovered who the stranger was. His name and way of life remain a mystery. His body was never found.

Announcer: You have just heard the story, "The Ambitious Guest. " It was written by Nathaniel Hawthorne, and adapted for Special English by Dona de Sanctis. Your narrator was Harry Monroe. This is Shirley Griffith.

:rose::rose::rose:
Nice Time

سعود بن جرير
2012- 6- 16, 10:22 PM
بسم الله


حرس الله مُهجتكِ ..

فقد قعدت في هذه الأقصوصة عن النهوض ..

وراقة لي كثيراً عن ما قبلها ..

وكما تعاهدنا هنا نرد من حين إلى آخر



بقي الأهم مباركُ نجاحك ( وأظنكِ كذلك )

وأحسن الله عزاءنا في أسد الأمة حامي الفضيلة

نايف بن عبدالعزيز

إن كان جبل رحل فخلفه جبال أمة

إلهامااات
2012- 6- 17, 02:48 AM
The Boarded Window (By Ambrose Bierce)
http://ia600407.us.archive.org/11/items/AmericanStories/The_Boarded_Window_-_By_Ambrose_Bierce.mp3


In 1830, only a few miles away from what is now the great city of Cincinnati, Ohio, lay a huge and almost endless forest.

The area had a few settlements established by people of the frontier. Many of them had already left the area for settlements further to the west. But among those remaining was a man who had been one of the first people to arrive there.

He lived alone in a house of logs surrounded on all sides by the great forest. He seemed a part of the darkness and silence of the forest, for no one had ever known him to smile or speak an unnecessary word. His simple needs were supplied by selling or trading the skins of wild animals in the town.

His little log house had a single door. Directly opposite was a window. The window was boarded up. No one could remember a time when it was not. And no one knew why it had been closed. I imagine there are few people living today who ever knew the secret of that window. But I am one, as you shall see.

The man's name was said to be Murlock. He appeared to be seventy years old, but he was really fifty. Something other than years had been the cause of his aging.

His hair and long, full beard were white. His gray, lifeless eyes were sunken. His face was wrinkled. He was tall and thin with drooping shoulders—like someone with many problems.

I never saw him. These details I learned from my grandfather. He told me the man's story when I was a boy. He had known him when living nearby in that early day.

One day Murlock was found in his cabin, dead. It was not a time and place for medical examiners and newspapers. I suppose it was agreed that he had died from natural causes or I should have been told, and should remember.

I know only that the body was buried near the cabin, next to the burial place of his wife. She had died so many years before him that local tradition noted very little of her existence.

That closes the final part of this true story, except for the incident that followed many years later. With a fearless spirit I went to the place and got close enough to the ruined cabin to throw a stone against it. I ran away to avoid the ghost which every well-informed boy in the area knew haunted the spot.

But there is an earlier part to this story supplied by my grandfather.

When Murlock built his cabin he was young, strong and full of hope. He began the hard work of creating a farm. He kept a gun--a rifle—for hunting to support himself.

He had married a young woman, in all ways worthy of his honest love and loyalty. She shared the dangers of life with a willing spirit and a light heart. There is no known record of her name or details about her. They loved each other and were happy.

One day Murlock returned from hunting in a deep part of the forest. He found his wife sick with fever and confusion. There was no doctor or neighbor within miles. She was in no condition to be left alone while he went to find help. So Murlock tried to take care of his wife and return her to good health. But at the end of the third day she fell into unconsciousness and died.

From what we know about a man like Murlock, we may try to imagine some of the details of the story told by my grandfather.

When he was sure she was dead, Murlock had sense enough to remember that the dead must be prepared for burial. He made a mistake now and again while performing this special duty. He did certain things wrong. And others which he did correctly were done over and over again.

He was surprised that he did not cry — surprised and a little ashamed. Surely it is unkind not to cry for the dead.

"Tomorrow," he said out loud, "I shall have to make the coffin and dig the grave; and then I shall miss her, when she is no longer in sight. But now -- she is dead, of course, but it is all right — it must be all right, somehow. Things cannot be as bad as they seem."

He stood over the body of his wife in the disappearing light. He fixed the hair and made finishing touches to the rest. He did all of this without thinking but with care. And still through his mind ran a feeling that all was right -- that he should have her again as before, and everything would be explained.

Murlock had no experience in deep sadness. His heart could not contain it all. His imagination could not understand it. He did not know he was so hard struck. That knowledge would come later and never leave.

Deep sadness is an artist of powers that affects people in different ways. To one it comes like the stroke of an arrow, shocking all the emotions to a sharper life. To another, it comes as the blow of a crushing strike. We may believe Murlock to have been affected that way.

Soon after he had finished his work he sank into a chair by the side of the table upon which the body lay. He noted how white his wife's face looked in the deepening darkness. He laid his arms upon the table's edge and dropped his face into them, tearless and very sleepy.

At that moment a long, screaming sound came in through the open window. It was like the cry of a lost child in the far deep of the darkening forest! But the man did not move. He heard that unearthly cry upon his failing sense, again and nearer than before. Maybe it was a wild animal or maybe it was a dream. For Murlock was asleep.

Some hours later, he awoke, lifted his head from his arms and listened closely. He knew not why. There in the black darkness by the side of the body, he remembered everything without a shock. He strained his eyes to see -- he knew not what.

His senses were all alert. His breath was suspended. His blood was still as if to assist the silence. Who — what had awakened him and where was it!

Suddenly the table shook under his arms. At the same time he heard, or imagined he heard, a light, soft step and then another. The sounds were as bare feet walking upon the floor!

He was afraid beyond the power to cry out or move. He waited—waited there in the darkness through what seemed like centuries of such fear. Fear as one may know, but yet live to tell. He tried but failed to speak the dead woman's name. He tried but failed to stretch his hand across the table to learn if she was there. His throat was powerless. His arms and hands were like lead.

Then something most frightful happened. It seemed as if a heavy body was thrown against the table with a force that pushed against his chest. At the same time he heard and felt the fall of something upon the floor. It was so violent a crash that the whole house shook. A fight followed and a confusion of sounds impossible to describe.

Murlock had risen to his feet. Extreme fear had caused him to lose control of his senses. He threw his hands upon the table. Nothing was there!

There is a point at which fear may turn to insanity; and insanity incites to action. With no definite plan and acting like a madman, Murlock ran quickly to the wall. He seized his loaded rifle and without aim fired it.

The flash from the rifle lit the room with a clear brightness. He saw a huge fierce panther dragging the dead woman toward the window. The wild animal's teeth were fixed on her throat! Then there was darkness blacker than before, and silence.

When he returned to consciousness the sun was high and the forest was filled with the sounds of singing birds. The body lay near the window, where the animal had left it when frightened away by the light and sound of the rifle.

The clothing was ruined. The long hair was in disorder. The arms and legs lay in a careless way. And a pool of blood flowed from the horribly torn throat. The ribbon he had used to tie the wrists was broken. The hands were tightly closed.

And between the teeth was a piece of the animal's ear.

"The Boarded Window" was written by Ambrose Bierce. It was adapted for Special English by Lawan Davis who was also the producer. The storyteller was Shep O'Neal.

سعود بن جرير
2012- 8- 26, 09:34 PM
سبحان الله

استدرجني ذات تَشّرين حتى أصبحت في أقصى حُزيران

فتاهت أوراقي بين الإثنين فلا تشرين قبل حُزيران ولا حُزيران سوى واحد !!!

طبعاً كان في حُزيران ..




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