Esaaaa

The Black Cat and Other Stories
EDGAR ALLAN POE
Level 3 Retold by David Wharry Series Editors: Andy Hopkins and Jocelyn Potter

Pearson Education Limited

Edinburgh Gate, Harlow, Essex CM20 2JE, England and Associated Companies throughout the world. ISBN-13: 978-0-582-41774-8 ISBN-10: 0-582-41774-0 This adaptation first published by Penguin Books 1991 Published by Addison Wesley LongmanLimited and Penguin Books Ltd. 1998 New edition first published 1999 11 Text copyright 0 DaivdWharry 1991 Illustrations copyright 0 David Cuzik 1991 All right reserved
The moral right of the adapter and of the illustrator has been asserted

Designed by D W Design Partnership Ltd Typeset by RefineCatch Limited, Bungay, Suffolk Set in 11/14pt Monotype Bembo Printed in China SWTC/11

All rightsreserved; no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the Publishers.

Published by Pearson Education Limited in association with Penguin Books Ltd, both companies being subsidiaries of Pearson Plc

For a complete listof titles available in the Penguin Readers series please write to your local Pearson Education office or contact: Penguin Readers Marketing Department, Pearson Education, Edinburgh Gate, Harlow, Essex, CM20 2.1E.

Contents
page

Introduction The Black Cat The Oval Portrait Berenice The Mask of the Red Death Activities

v 1 13 19 29 37

Introduction
How can I explain this fear? It wasnot really a fear of something evil . . . but then how else can I possibly describe it? Slowly, this strange fear grew into horror. Yes, horror. If I tell you why, you will not believe me. You will think I am mad.

`The Black Cat' is one of Edgar Allan Poe's most famous stories. Why is the man in the story afraid of his own black cat? Why does he kill it? And how does the cat punish him for hisevil ways? In The Oval Portrait' a man finds a portrait of a beautiful young woman in a lonely house. Who is this woman? Who painted her? And why is the man so frightened of her picture? What terrible secret does it hold? In 'Berenice', a madman wants to marry his sick cousin with the beautiful teeth. He cannot stop thinking about those teeth! What really happens to Berenice in the end? In TheMask of the Red Death', Prince Prospero tries to shut his door against the face of Death. How does the 'Red Death' get into his large and beautiful house? What will happen to him and all his friends when they meet the stranger with the death mask? Four horror stories from the strange and terrible mind of Edgar Allan Poe. Four stories that will stop you sleeping at night. Four stories that you willnever, never forget .. . No writer knew more about pain and horror than Edgar Allan Poe. He lived most of his life afraid of the things in his own mind. And he wrote some of the most frightening horror stories ever written. He was born Edgar Poe on 19 January 1809 in Boston, USA.

When he was two years old his mother died and his father died or left the family (nobody knows exactly what happenedto him). Poe went to live with a rich family called the Mans in Richmond, Virginia. Mrs Allan loved him like a real son, but her husband never understood Poe and was unkind to him. The family moved to England for five years from 1815 to 1820, and Poe went to one of the best schools in the country. In 1826 he went back to Virginia and went to university there. But when he was a student there hislife started to go badly wrong. John Allan refused to pay for his university education because the boy was spending too much money. This hurt Poe very deeply. The dislike between him and John Allan grew and in 1827 he left the Allans' home for ever. Poe became a successful soldier for a few years, and then went to Baltimore to earn money by writing for newspapers and magazines. He also worked on a...