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Автор Амброз Бирс
Can Such Things Be?
THE DEATH OF HALPIN FRAYSER
I
II
III
IV
THE SECRET OF MACARGER’S GULCH
ONE SUMMER NIGHT
THE MOONLIT ROAD
I - STATEMENT OF JOEL HETMAN, JR.
II - STATEMENT OF CASPAR GRATTAN
III - STATEMENT OF THE LATE JULIA HETMAN, THROUGH THE MEDIUM BAYROLLES
A DIAGNOSIS OF DEATH
MOXON’S MASTER
A TOUGH TUSSLE
ONE OF TWINS
THE HAUNTED VALLEY
I - HOW TREES ARE FELLED IN CHINA
II - WHO DRIVES SANE OXEN SHOULD HIMSELF BE SANE
A JUG OF SIRUP
STALEY FLEMING’S HALLUCINATION
A RESUMED IDENTITY
I - THE REVIEW AS A FORM OF WELCOME
II - WHEN YOU HAVE LOST YOUR LIFE CONSULT A PHYSICIAN
III - THE DANGER OF LOOKING INTO A POOL OF WATER
A BABY TRAMP
THE NIGHT-DOINGS AT “DEADMAN’S”
BEYOND THE WALL
A PSYCHOLOGICAL SHIPWRECK
THE MIDDLE TOE OF THE RIGHT FOOT
I
II
III
JOHN MORTONSON’S FUNERAL {1}
THE REALM OF THE UNREAL
I
II
III
IV
JOHN BARTINE’S WATCH
THE DAMNED THING
I - ONE DOES NOT ALWAYS EAT WHAT IS ON THE TABLE
II - WHAT MAY HAPPEN IN A FIELD OF WILD OATS
III - A MAN THOUGH NAKED MAY BE IN RAGS
IV - AN EXPLANATION FROM THE TOMB
HAÏTA THE SHEPHERD
AN INHABITANT OF CARCOSA
THE STRANGER
notes
1
Can Such Things Be?
by Ambrose Bierce
THE DEATH OF HALPIN FRAYSER
I
For by death is wrought greater change than hath been shown. Whereas in general the spirit that removed cometh back upon occasion, and is sometimes seen of those in flesh (appearing in the form of the body it bore) yet it hath happened that the veritable body without the spirit hath walked. And it is attested of those encountering who have lived to speak thereon that a lich so raised up hath no natural affection, nor remembrance thereof, but only hate. Also, it is known that some spirits which in life were benign become by death evil altogether.
One dark night in midsummer a man waking from a dreamless sleep in a forest lifted his head from the earth, and staring a few moments into the blackness, said: “Catherine Larue. ” He said nothing more; no reason was known to him why he should have said so much.
The man was Halpin Frayser. He lived in St. Helena, but where he lives now is uncertain, for he is dead.
One who practices sleeping in the woods with nothing under him but the dry leaves and the damp earth, and nothing over him but the branches from which the leaves have fallen and the sky from which the earth has fallen, cannot hope for great longevity, and Frayser had already attained the age of thirty-two. There are persons in this world, millions of persons, and far and away the best persons, who regard that as a very advanced age. They are the children. To those who view the voyage of life from the port of departure the bark that has accomplished any considerable distance appears already in close approach to the farther shore. However, it is not certain that Halpin Frayser came to his death by exposure.He had been all day in the hills west of the Napa Valley, looking for doves and such small game as was in season. Late in the afternoon it had come on to be cloudy, and he had lost his bearings; and although he had only to go always downhill - everywhere the way to safety when one is lost - the absence of trails had so impeded him that he was overtaken by night while still in the forest. Unable in the darkness to penetrate the thickets of manzanita and other undergrowth, utterly bewildered and overcome with fatigue, he had lain down near the root of a large madroño and fallen into a dreamless sleep. It was hours later, in the very middle of the night, that one of God’s mysterious messengers, gliding ahead of the incalculable host of his companions sweeping westward with the dawn line, pronounced the awakening word in the ear of the sleeper, who sat upright and spoke, he knew not why, a name, he knew not whose.
