Masterpieces of American Literature
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A Tale

Franklin's tale of a lost soul.

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A Tale

There was once an Officer, a worthy man, named Montresor, who was very ill.  His parish Priest, thinking he would die, advised him to make his Peace with God, so that he would be received into Paradise. 

“I don't feel much Uneasiness on that Score,” said Montresor; “for last Night I had a Vision which set me entirely at rest.”

“What Vision did you have?” asked the good Priest.

 “I was,” he said, “at the Gate of Paradise with a Crowd of People who wanted to enter.  And St. Peter asked each of them what Religion he belonged to.  One answered, ‘I am a Roman Catholic.’

‘Very well,’ said St. Peter; ‘come in, & take your Place over there among the Catholics.’ ‘Another said he belonged to the Anglican Church.  ‘Very well,’ said St. Peter; ‘come in, & take your Place over there among the Anglicans.’ Another said he was a Quaker.  ‘Very well,' said St. Peter; `come in, & take a Place among the Quakers.’

Finally he asked me what my Religion was. 

‘Alas!’ I replied, ‘unfortunately, poor Jacques Montresor belongs to none at all.’

‘That's a pity,' said the Saint.  ‘I don't know where to put you but come in anyway; just find a Place for yourself wherever you can.’ ”

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  • Home
    • What is STORY
    • The Elements of Fiction
    • What Is A Short Story
    • Literary Theory Guide
  • Lit. 214
    • Class Presentations
  • Colonial Period
    • Native American >
      • Red Jacket's Speech
      • Story Collections
      • Lyrics, Poems and Chants
    • Spanish Explorers
    • Early Colonial >
      • New England Primer
      • Anne Bradstreet
      • Mary Rowlandson
      • John Smith
      • John Winthrop
      • Colonial Song Lyrics
    • Colonial and Revolutionary >
      • Readings >
        • Ben Franklin >
          • Advice on the Choice of a Mistress
          • Excerpts from The Autobiography
          • A Tale
        • Phyllis Wheatly >
          • Poems
        • Thomas Paine >
          • Common Sense
        • Philip Freneau >
          • Freneau Poems
        • Thomas Jefferson >
          • Writings
        • Jupiter Hammon >
          • An Evening Thought
      • Lyrics
  • Romantic Period
    • Elements of American Romanticism
    • Authors >
      • Washington Irving >
        • Irving's Place >
          • Irving's Place2
        • Irving on the Tale
        • Rip Van Winkle
        • Rip 2
        • Rip 3
        • Poetry
      • James Fenimore Cooper >
        • LOTH Silent Movie
        • Chapter 32
        • Chapter 32 B
      • Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr. >
        • Selected Poems
      • Ralph Waldo Emerson >
        • Selected Writings
        • Transcendentalism
      • Edgar Allen Poe >
        • Poe's Approach to Fiction
        • Life of Poe
        • Selected Poems
        • "The Raven"
        • The Black Cat
        • The Tell-Tale Heart
      • William Cullen Bryant >
        • Bryants Poems
      • Henry Wadsworth Longfellow >
        • Selected Poetry
      • Margaret Fuller
      • Fanny Fern
      • Herman Melville >
        • Moby Dick
      • Nathaniel Hawthorne >
        • Scarlett Letter Excepts
        • Young Goodman Brown
      • C. Clement Moore
    • Lyrics >
      • Folk / Gospel
      • Parlor Music
      • Music Hall
      • Stephen Foster >
        • Music
      • George Root
  • Civil War Period
    • 1850 - 1861 >
      • Harriet Anne Jacobs
      • Francis Harper
      • Frederick Douglass
      • Songs of Protest, Freedom, Sadness
    • 1861 - 1866 >
      • Julie Ward Howe
      • Emily Dickinson
      • Walt Whitman >
        • Excerpts
      • Abraham Lincoln
      • Louisa May Alcott
      • Misc. Poets
      • Warriors & Memoirs
    • Civil War Songs