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When Darkness Falls

Post category:Short Stories

When Darkness Falls: Short story by Ruskin Bond One of Ruskin Bond’s strengths is his ability to portray characters that are so life-like readers can empathize with them. So it is with this tragic story of man so frightfully disfigured by war that he is afraid to leave his room by day, and confines himself to creeping phantom-like around an aging hotel by night. His loves in life are his books and music. The message of the story: before turning away from a grossly disfigured or disabled person, stop to consider the feelings of the human being within. Themes include appearance, fear, despair, the healing power of music.

A Tiger in the House

Post category:Grade 7-8 Stories

A Tiger in the House: Short story by Ruskin Bond In this story by Ruskin Bond, an old man finds what appears to be an orphan tiger cub in the jungle and takes it home as a family pet. After six months, the cub grows out of its ‘playful’ stage and starts to become less friendly. The old man donates the tiger to a zoo, and gets an unexpected surprise when he visits it six months later. The story raises serious questions about the man’s two decisions (to take the tiger cub home, and to give the grown animal to a zoo where there are no others of its kind).

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Approximate Reading Times

Quick Read: under 5 minutes
Short Story: 5 to 30 minutes
Novelette: 30 to 90 minutes
Novella: 1.5 to 2.5 hours

Other stories you may like:

The Star
Short Story by Arthur C. Clarke. Scientists travel to the edge of the galaxy to explore a nebula surrounding a collapsed star. Within the nebula is a burnt out planet that miraculously survived the explosion. Deep inside the planet, they discover something that will change mankind’s view of God.
The Oval Portrait
Quick Read by Edgar Allan Poe. An injured traveler takes shelter in an empty mountain chateau. His eyes fall on the portrait of a beautiful woman that seems a little too lifelike. He later learns that the poor woman’s story is one of rare beauty, love, obedience, obsession and death.
The Handsomest Drowned Man in the World
Short Story by Gabriel Marquez. The body of a huge man washed in from the sea transforms a drab, sleepy fishing village. The people feel such pride in being associated with the unknown man that their celebrations of his life turn the village into a famous landmark.
In the Shadow of War
Short Story by Ben Okri. Set during the Nigerian Civil War, a boy follows a mysterious woman who walks through his village every day wearing a black veil. Other children think she is a witch; three soldiers looking for her think she is a spy.
A Handful of Dates
Short Story by Tayeb Salih. A young boy and his grandfather were once very close. In a “coming of age” event, the boy realizes that his grandfather has become rich and powerful by taking advantage of the misfortune of others, especially a neighbor whose land he is determined to own.

The Portrait of a Lady
Quick Read by Khushwant Singh. A moving tribute to the author’s grandmother. He recalls their close friendship during his early schooling, the “turning point” when they moved to live with his parents in the city, and their growing estrangement as Western influences and higher education demands came between them.
In a Grove
Short Story by Ryūnosuke Akutagawa. A young Samurai lies dead in a bamboo grove. The story comprises seven accounts of the death (including three confessions and the voice of the victim speaking through a medium) and leaves readers to draw their own conclusions as to what really took place.
Was it a Dream?
Short Story by Guy de Maupassant. The question in the title could refer to two things: the blissful year the protagonist shared with his lover before her unexpected death, or the vision of a message her ghost wrote on her tombstone as he was visiting her grave.
Silent Snow, Secret Snow
Short Story by Conrad Aiken. A psychological horror fantasy in which a young boy’s growing fascination with snow and imagined snowfalls cause him to lose touch with reality. In the disturbing climax, the boy’s “snow voices” come alive and he completely withdraws into himself as they tell him a story.
The Moonlit Road
Short Story by Ambrose Bierce. A rich man who doesn’t trust his loving wife sets a trap that doesn’t go as planned. He accidentally kills her, and the unfortunate woman’s ghost sets off a chain of events that ruins the lives of her husband and their only son.