Edgar Allan Poe
THE PIT AND THE PENDULUM and Other Stories
THE PIT AND THE PENDULUM and Other Stories
A man is lying in a prison in Toledo. He is afraid – no, he is more than afraid, he is full of terror, because he knows that the Inquisition has many surprises in its prisons. Very soon he will look down into the pit …
And he is not the only person in these stories to be full of terror. When Fortunato meets his old friend Montresor, he is a happy man, on his way to a carnival party. But Montresor wants to talk about some Amontillado, and Fortunato finds himself in the cold damp vaults below Montresor’s house. Terror soon follows …
The man who fears burial alive is never free from terror; a meeting of young lovers brings terror to many people; and the beautiful young wife of a painter sits smiling, smiling, smiling – but with terror in her heart.
Death and Terror, Terror and Death, walk hand in hand through these stories. Read them by daylight, in a bright sunny room, with friends around you!
OXFORDUNIVERSITY PRESSGreat Clarendon Street, Oxford OX2 6DPOxford University Press is a department of the University of OxfordIt furthers the University’s objective of excellence in research, scholarship,and education by publishing worldwide inOxford New YorkAuckland Cape Town Dar es Salaam Hong Kong KarachiKuala Lumpur Madrid Melbourne Mexico City NairobiNew Delhi Shanghai Taipei TorontoWith offices inArgentina Austria Brazil Chile Czech Republic France GreeceGuatemala Hungary Italy Japan Poland Portugal SingaporeSouth Korea Switzerland Thailand Turkey Ukraine VietnamOXFORD and OXFORD ENGLISH are registered trade marks ofOxford University Press in the UK and in certain other countriesThis simplified edition © Oxford University Press 2008Database right Oxford University Press (maker)First published in Oxford Bookworms 20052 4 6 8 10 9 7 5 3 1No unauthorized photocopyingAll rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced,stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means,without the prior permission in writing of Oxford University Press,or as expressly permitted by law, or under terms agreed with the appropriatereprographics rights organization. Enquiries concerning reproductionoutside the scope of the above should be sent to the ELT Rights Department,Oxford University Press, at the address aboveYou must not circulate this book in any other binding or coverand you must impose this same condition on any acquirerAny websites referred to in this publication are in the public domain andtheir addresses are provided by Oxford University Press for information onlyOxford University Press disclaims any responsibility for the contentISBN 978 0 19 479087 1A complete recording of this Bookworms edition of The Pit and the Pendulum is available on audio CD ISBN 978 0 19 479010 9Printed in Hong KongWord count (main text): 6000 wordsFor more information on the Oxford Bookworms Library,visit www.oup.com/elt/bookwormswww.oup.com/elt/bookworms 