The TellTale Heart audiobook short story by Edgar Allan Poe Learn English through Story

[Music]

a short story from the works of edgar

allan poe

the raven edition

the telltale heart

[Music]

true

nervous very very dreadfully nervous i

had been and am

but why will you say that i am mad

the disease had sharpened my senses not

destroyed not dulled them

above all was the sense of hearing acute

i heard all things in the heaven and

earth i heard many things in hell

how then am i mad

how can and observe how healthily how

calmly i can tell you the whole story

it is impossible to say how first the

idea entered my brain

but once conceived it haunted me day and

night

object there was none passion there was

none i loved the old man he had never

wronged me he had never given me insult

for his gold i had no desire

i think

it was his eye

yes it was this

he had the eye of a vulture a pale blue

eye with a film over it

whenever it fell upon me my blood ran

cold and so by degrees

very gradually

i made up my mind to take the life of

the old man and thus rid myself of the

eye forever

now this is the point you fancy me mad

madman know nothing

but you should have seen me you should

have seen how wisely i proceeded with

what caution with what foresight with

what dissimulation i went to work

i was never kinder to the old man than

during the whole week before i killed

him

and every night about midnight i turned

the latch off his door and opened it

oh so gently

and then when i had made an opening

sufficient for my head i put in a dark

lantern

all closed

closed that no light shone out and then

i thrust in my head

oh you would have laughed to see how

cunningly i thrust it in

i moved it slowly

very very slowly so that i might not

disturb the old man’s sleep it took me

an hour to place my whole head within

the opening so far that i could see him

as he lay upon his bed

huh

would a madman have been so wise as this

and then when my head was well in the

room i under the lantern cautiously

oh so cautiously

cautiously for the hinges creaked

i undid it just so much that a single

thin ray fell upon the vulture eye

and this i did for seven long nights

every night just at midnight but i found

the eye always closed and so it was

impossible to do the work

for it was not the old man who vexed me

but his evil eye and every morning when

the day broke i went boldly into the

chamber and spoke courageously to him

calling him my name in a hearty tone and

inquiring how he has passed the night

so you see he would have been a very

profound old man indeed to suspect that

every night just at 12 i looked in upon

him while he slept

upon the eighth night i was more than

usually cautious in opening the door

a watch’s minute hand moves more quickly

than did mine

never before that night had i felt the

extent of my own powers of my sagacity

i could scarcely contain my feelings of

triumph

to think that there i was

opening the door little by little and he

not even to dream of my secret deeds or

thoughts

i fear he chuckled at the idea and

perhaps he heard me

for he moved on the bed suddenly as of

startled

now you may think that i drew back but

no

his room was as black as pitch with the

thick darkness for the shutters were

closed fastened through fear of robbers

and so i knew that he could not see the

opening of the door and i kept pushing

it on steadily

steadily

i had my head in and was about to open

the lantern when my thumb slipped upon

the tin fastening and the old man sprang

up in bed crying out who’s there

i kept quite still and said nothing for

a whole hour i did not move a muscle

and in the meantime i did not hear him

lie down

he was still sitting up in the bed

listening

just as i have done night after night

hearkening to the death watches in the

wall

presently i heard a slight groan and i

knew it was the groan of mortal terror

it was not a groan of pain or of grief

oh no

it was the low stifled sound that arises

from the bottom of the soul when

overcharged with ore

i knew the sound well

many a night just at midnight when all

the world slept it has welled up from my

own bosom deepening with its dreadful

echo the terrors that distracted me

i say i knew it well

i knew what the old man felt and pitied

him although i chuckled at heart

i knew that he had been lying awake ever

since the first slight noise when he had

turned in the bed

his fears had been ever since growing

upon him

he had been trying to fancy them

causeless

but could not he had been saying to

himself it is nothing but the wind and

the chimney it is only a mouse crossing

the floor

or it is merely a cricket which has made

a single chirp

yes he had been trying to comfort

himself with these suppositions

but he had found all in vain

all in vain

because death in approaching him had

stalked with his black shadow before him

and enveloped the victim and it was the

mournful influence of the unperceived

shadow that caused him to feel although

he neither saw nor heard

to feel the presence of my head within

the room

when i had waited a long time very

patiently without hearing him lie down i

resolved to open a little

a very very little crevice in the

lantern

so i opened it

you cannot imagine how stealthily

stealthily

until at length the simple dim ray like

the thread of the spider

shot from out the crevice and fell full

upon the vulture eye

it was open wide wide open and i grew

furious as i gazed upon it

i saw it with perfect distinctness

all a dull blue with a hideous veil over

it that chilled the very marrow in my

bones

but i could see nothing else of the old

man’s face or person

for i had directed the ray as if by

instinct precisely upon the damned spot

and have i not told you that what you

mistake for madness is but over

acuteness of the senses now i say there

came to my ears a low dull quick sound

such as a watch makes when enveloped in

cotton

i knew that sound well too

it was the beating of the old man’s

heart it increased my fury as the

beating of a drum stimulates the soldier

into courage

but even yet i refrained and kept still

i scarcely breathed

i held the lantern

motionless i tried how steadily i could

maintain the ray upon the eye

meantime the hellish tattoo of the heart

increased it grew quicker and quicker

and louder and louder every instant

the old man’s terror must have been

extreme

it grew louder i say louder every moment

do you mark me well

i have told you that i am nervous so i

am

and now at the dead hour of the night

amid the dreadful silence of that old

house so strange a noise as this excited

me to uncontrollable terror

yet for some minutes longer i refrained

and stood still

but the beating grew louder louder i

thought the heart must burst

and now a new anxiety sees me the sound

would be heard by a neighbor

the old man’s hour had come

with a loud yell i threw open the

lantern and leaped into the room he

shrieked once

once only

in an instant i dragged him to the floor

and pulled the heavy bed over him

i then smiled gayly to find the deed so

far done

but for many minutes the heart beat on

with a muffled sound

this however did not vex me it would not

be heard through the wall

at length it ceased

the old man was dead

i removed the bed and examined the

corpse yes

he was stoned stone dead i placed my

hand upon the heart and held it there

many minutes

there was no pulsation he was stoned

dead his eye

would trouble me no more

if still you think me mad you will think

so no longer when i describe the wise

precautions i took for the concealment

of the body

the night waned and i worked hastily but

in silence

first of all i dismembered the corpse i

cut off the head and the arms and the

legs

i then took up three planks from the

flooring of the chamber and deposited

all between the scantlings

i then replaced the boards so cleverly

so cunningly that no human eye not even

his could have detected anything wrong

there was nothing to wash out no stain

of any kind no blood spot whatever

i had been too wary for that

a tub had caught all ha ha

when i had made an end of these labors

it was four o’clock still dark as

midnight

as the bell sounded the hour there came

a knocking at the street door

i went down to open it with a light

heart for what had i now to fear

there entered three men who introduced

themselves with perfect swavity as

officers of the police

a shriek had been heard by a neighbor

during the night

suspicion of foul play had been aroused

information had been lodged at the

police office and they the officers have

been deputed to search the premises

i smiled for what had i to fear i obeyed

the gentleman welcome

the shriek i said was my own in a dream

the old man i mentioned was absent in

the country

i took my visitors all over the house i

made them search search well

i led them at length to his chamber i

showed them his treasures secure

undisturbed

in the enthusiasm of my confidence i

brought chairs into the room and desired

them here to rest from their fatigues

while i myself in the wild audacity of

my perfect triumph placed my own seat

upon the very spot beneath which reposed

the corpse of the victim

the officers were satisfied my manner

had convinced them

i was singularly at ease

they sat and while i answered cheerily

they chatted of familiar things

but

here long i felt myself getting pale and

wish them gone

my head ached and i fancied a ringing in

my ears

but still they sat and still chatted

the ringing became more distinct

it continued and became

more distinct i talked more freely to

get rid of the feeling but it continued

and gained definiteness until at length

i found that the noise was not within my

ears

no doubt i now grew very pale

but i talked more fluently and with a

heightened voice

yet the sound increased and what could i

do

it was a low dull quick sound

much such a sound as a watch makes when

enveloped in cotton

i gasped for breath and yet the officers

heard it not

i talked more quickly more vehemently

but the noise steadily increased

i arose and argued about trifles in a

high key and with violent gesticulations

but the noise steadily increased why

would they not be gone

i paced the floor to and fro with heavy

strides as if excited to fury by the

observations of the men

but the noise steadily increased oh god

what could i do

i phoned i raved i swore i swung the

chair upon which i had been sitting and

grated it upon the boards but the noise

arose overall and continually increased

it grew louder louder louder

and still the men chatted pleasantly and

smiled

was it possible they heard not

almighty god no

no they heard they suspected they knew

they were making a mockery of my horror

this i thought and this i think

but anything was better than this agony

anything was more tolerable than this

derision i could bear those hypocritical

smiles no longer

i felt that i must scream or die and now

again hark

louder louder louder

villains i shrieked dissembled no more i

admit the deed tear up the planks here

here it is the beating of his hideous

heart

end of the tell-tale heart by edgar

allan poe

thank you for listening