Preface 4
Preview of the work 7

USA

Ernest Hemingway / The Old Man and the Sea 18 / The Indian Village 96 / The Hill Like a White Elephant 106
O. Henry / A Christmas Present 116 / The Last Leaf 126 / Twenty Years Later 138
Edgar Allan Poe / The Black Cat 148 / The Fall of the House of Usher 162
Nathaniel Hawthorne / The Great Stone Face 186
Paul Villard / The Gift of Understanding 208 / Please Guide Me 218
Washington Irving, The Fat Gentleman 234

uk

Oscar Wilde/ The Happy Prince 250
Katherine Mansfield/ Garden Party 270
H.G. Wells / The Magic Shop 300

france

Antoine de Saint-Exupéry / The Little Prince 318
Guy de Maupassant / Necklace 366 / Two Friends 380 / Minuet 392
Alphonse Daudet / The Last Lesson 404 / The Star 414 / Fantasy Poems in Prose (The Death of the Prince, The Governor in the Forest) 426 / The Secret of Old Cornille 438 / The Man with the Golden Brain 450
Victor Hugo/ The Poor 458

germany

Franz Kafka / Metamorphosis 470 / Before the Law 514
Thomas Mann/The Road to the Grave 522
Hermann Hesse / Butterfly 538

Poland

Henryk Sienkiewicz / Lighthouse Keeper 550

russia

Leo Tolstoy / What Men Live By 568 / Childhood 594
Anton Chekhov / The Little Lady 604 / On Love 624 / The Excellent 640 / The Death of an Official 652
Nikolai Gogol / The Overcoat 660
Ivan Turgenev / Secret Meeting 702
Maxim Gorky / The Two Thieves 718

china

Lu Xun / The True Story of Ah Q 746 / Hometown 768

japan

Akutagawa Ryunosuke / Rashomon 786 / Ko 798

Spain

Juan Valera / Double Sacrifice 810

Selection criteria and merits of works included in "World Short Stories 45"

- The criteria for selecting works were considered literary significance, artistry, and popularity.
- The flow of the novel was visualized by adding illustrations of a ‘character relationship chart’ and a ‘scene from the novel.’
- To ensure a full appreciation of the work, we have included the full text as much as possible, along with one-on-one vocabulary explanations and brief annotations.

Only works that have both artistic value and popularity are included!

We have carefully selected works that middle and high school students should read to prepare for various tests, essays, interviews, and performance evaluations.
At the same time, we took into account each work's status in world literature, artistic value, and popularity.
It contains works that are essential reading for teenagers for exams and school grades, as well as works that are helpful for adults to develop their general knowledge.
Each work is grouped by author, and a page introducing the author's brief life and world of work is also included, allowing for a multi-faceted understanding of the work.

A variety of devices were used to help achieve a complete understanding of the work!

Difficult vocabulary has explanations right next to it to help you understand quickly.
The work is explained in detail through footnotes added throughout the text.
In addition, to ensure that you can fully appreciate the work, we have included the full text as much as possible, even for medium-length stories.
Through the 'Work Guide', the outline of the work is presented at a glance, and through 'Let's Think About It', the main points of the work are summarized in a question-and-answer format.
Additionally, keywords related to the work were introduced at the end of each piece to broaden the horizon of thought.

The illustrations are suitable for the stages of the novel's composition, and the viewing experience is also enhanced!

In 'Composition and Plot', the plot is summarized and presented according to the composition stage of the novel.
In addition, the flow of the work was visualized by including colorful illustrations according to the composition stage.
Some shorter works selected key scenes from the text and presented them as a single illustration.
It is designed to help readers better understand world classic masterpieces featuring diverse countries and ethnicities by first referring to the illustrations or by viewing the text and illustrations together.