-
Главная
-
- Книги
-
- Авторы
-
- Эдгар Алан По
-
- Черный кот
-
- Стр. 1/5
The Black Cat
For
the
most
wild
,
yet
most
homely
narrative
which
I
am
about
to
pen
,
I
neither
expect
nor
solicit
belief
.
Mad
indeed
would
I
be
to
expect
it
,
in
a
case
where
my
very
senses
reject
their
own
evidence
.
Yet
,
mad
am
I
not
--
and
very
surely
do
I
not
dream
.
But
to-morrow
I
die
,
and
to-day
I
would
unburthen
my
soul
.
My
immediate
purpose
is
to
place
before
the
world
,
plainly
,
succinctly
,
and
without
comment
,
a
series
of
mere
household
events
.
In
their
consequences
,
these
events
have
terrified
--
have
tortured
--
have
destroyed
me
.
Yet
I
will
not
attempt
to
expound
them
.
To
me
,
they
have
presented
little
but
Horror
--
to
many
they
will
seem
less
terrible
than
baroques
.
Hereafter
,
perhaps
,
some
intellect
may
be
found
which
will
reduce
my
phantasm
to
the
common-place
--
some
intellect
more
calm
,
more
logical
,
and
far
less
excitable
than
my
own
,
which
will
perceive
,
in
the
circumstances
I
detail
with
awe
,
nothing
more
than
an
ordinary
succession
of
very
natural
causes
and
effects
.
From
my
infancy
I
was
noted
for
the
docility
and
humanity
of
my
disposition
.
My
tenderness
of
heart
was
even
so
conspicuous
as
to
make
me
the
jest
of
my
companions
.
I
was
especially
fond
of
animals
,
and
was
indulged
by
my
parents
with
a
great
variety
of
pets
.
With
these
I
spent
most
of
my
time
,
and
never
was
so
happy
as
when
feeding
and
caressing
them
.
This
peculiar
of
character
grew
with
my
growth
,
and
in
my
manhood
,
I
derived
from
it
one
of
my
principal
sources
of
pleasure
.
To
those
who
have
cherished
an
affection
for
a
faithful
and
sagacious
dog
,
I
need
hardly
be
at
the
trouble
of
explaining
the
nature
or
the
intensity
of
the
gratification
thus
derivable
.
There
is
something
in
the
unselfish
and
self-sacrificing
love
of
a
brute
,
which
goes
directly
to
the
heart
of
him
who
has
had
frequent
occasion
to
test
the
paltry
friendship
and
gossamer
fidelity
of
mere
Man
.
I
married
early
,
and
was
happy
to
find
in
my
wife
a
disposition
not
uncongenial
with
my
own
.
Observing
my
partiality
for
domestic
pets
,
she
lost
no
opportunity
of
procuring
those
of
the
most
agreeable
kind
.
We
had
birds
,
gold
fish
,
a
fine
dog
,
rabbits
,
a
small
monkey
,
and
a
cat
.
This
latter
was
a
remarkably
large
and
beautiful
animal
,
entirely
black
,
and
sagacious
to
an
astonishing
degree
.
In
speaking
of
his
intelligence
,
my
wife
,
who
at
heart
was
not
a
little
tinctured
with
superstition
,
made
frequent
allusion
to
the
ancient
popular
notion
,
which
regarded
all
black
cats
as
witches
in
disguise
.
Not
that
she
was
ever
serious
upon
this
point
--
and
I
mention
the
matter
at
all
for
no
better
reason
than
that
it
happens
,
just
now
,
to
be
remembered
.
Pluto
--
this
was
the
cat
's
name
--
was
my
favorite
pet
and
playmate
.
I
alone
fed
him
,
and
he
attended
me
wherever
I
went
about
the
house
.
It
was
even
with
difficulty
that
I
could
prevent
him
from
following
me
through
the
streets
.
Our
friendship
lasted
,
in
this
manner
,
for
several
years
,
during
which
my
general
temperament
and
character
--
through
the
instrumentality
of
the
Fiend
Intemperance
--
had
(
I
blush
to
confess
it
)
experienced
a
radical
alteration
for
the
worse
.
I
grew
,
day
by
day
,
more
moody
,
more
irritable
,
more
regardless
of
the
feelings
of
others
.
I
suffered
myself
to
use
intemperate
language
to
my
At
length
,
I
even
offered
her
personal
violence
.
My
pets
,
of
course
,
were
made
to
feel
the
change
in
my
disposition
.
I
not
only
neglected
,
but
ill-used
them
.
For
Pluto
,
however
,
I
still
retained
sufficient
regard
to
restrain
me
from
maltreating
him
,
as
I
made
no
scruple
of
maltreating
the
rabbits
,
the
monkey
,
or
even
the
dog
,
when
by
accident
,
or
through
affection
,
they
came
in
my
way
.
But
my
disease
grew
upon
me
--
for
what
disease
is
like
Alcohol
!
--
and
at
length
even
Pluto
,
who
was
now
becoming
old
,
and
consequently
somewhat
peevish
--
even
Pluto
began
to
experience
the
effects
of
my
ill
temper
.
One
night
,
returning
home
,
much
intoxicated
,
from
one
of
my
haunts
about
town
,
I
fancied
that
the
cat
avoided
my
presence
.
I
seized
him
;
when
,
in
his
fright
at
my
violence
,
he
inflicted
a
slight
wound
upon
my
hand
with
his
teeth
.
The
fury
of
a
demon
instantly
possessed
me
.
I
knew
myself
no
longer
.
My
original
soul
seemed
,
at
once
,
to
take
its
flight
from
my
body
;
and
a
more
than
fiendish
malevolence
,
gin-nurtured
,
thrilled
every
fibre
of
my
frame
.
I
took
from
my
waistcoat-pocket
a
pen-knife
,
opened
it
,
grasped
the
poor
beast
by
the
throat
,
and
deliberately
cut
one
of
its
eyes
from
the
socket
!
I
blush
,
I
burn
,
I
shudder
,
while
I
pen
the
damnable
atrocity
.
When
reason
returned
with
the
morning
--
when
I
had
slept
off
the
fumes
of
the
night
's
debauch
--
I
experienced
a
sentiment
half
of
horror
,
half
of
remorse
,
for
the
crime
of
which
I
had
been
guilty
;
but
it
was
,
at
best
,
a
feeble
and
equivocal
feeling
,
and
the
soul
remained
untouched
.
I
again
plunged
into
excess
,
and
soon
drowned
in
wine
all
memory
of
the
deed
.
