Mad?
Guy de MaupassantA jealous man insists he is sane while recounting the obsession that made him turn against his lover and her horse.
6 min · Chilling
More details
- Settings
- The countryside
- Style
- Descriptive
- Pace
- Brisk
- Written for
- For adults
The story shelf
Follow your curiosity.
A name you know. A mood you’re in. Ten minutes to yourself. Start anywhere.
How quickly the story moves.
Madame Luneau’s Case
Guy de MaupassantA pregnant widow is sued in open court by the married man she promised to pay for helping secure an inheritance.
7 min · Humorous
More details
- Themes
- Wealth & money · Law & justice · Hypocrisy
- Tone
- Deadpan
- Style
- Plain · Conversational
- Pace
- Brisk
- Written for
- For adults
- Craft
- Told in dialogue
- Motifs
- Inheritance & wills
Mohammed-Fripouille
Guy de MaupassantAn old colonial officer recalls a seven-man punitive expedition whose celebrated success depended on ruthless deception and force.
12 min · Chilling
More details
- Settings
- The tropics & colonies · Wilderness
- Tone
- Darkly comic
- Style
- Conversational · Descriptive
- Pace
- Brisk
- Written for
- For adults
- Craft
- Frame story
- Motifs
- Journeys & quests
My Landlady
Guy de MaupassantA rebellious law student smuggles a shopgirl into his strict Breton landlady’s house and learns her rules have unexpected limits.
11 min · Humorous
More details
- Themes
- Temptation · Hypocrisy
- Tone
- Wry
- Style
- Conversational
- Pace
- Brisk
- Written for
- For adults
- Craft
- Frame story
My Uncle Sosthène
Guy de MaupassantA nephew’s Good Friday prank sends a kindly Jesuit to the sickbed of his fiercely anticlerical uncle.
12 min · Humorous
More details
- Themes
- Faith & doubt · Self-deception · Greed
- Settings
- Villages & small towns
- Tone
- Wry
- Style
- Conversational · Plain
- Pace
- Brisk
- Written for
- For adults
- Motifs
- Inheritance & wills
My Wife
Guy de MaupassantA drunken wrong turn at a country wedding leaves a determined bachelor facing a second ceremony he never planned.
11 min · Humorous
More details
- Themes
- Marriage · Fate & chance · Honor & reputation
- Settings
- Country houses & estates · The home
- Tone
- Wry
- Style
- Conversational
- Pace
- Brisk
- Occasion
- Weddings
- Written for
- For adults
- Craft
- Frame story
Old Boniface’s Crime
Guy de MaupassantA rural postman, primed by a grisly newspaper report, hears screams behind shuttered windows and races to stop a crime.
9 min · Humorous
More details
- Themes
- Appearance vs reality
- Settings
- The countryside
- Tone
- Ironic
- Style
- Plain · Descriptive
- Pace
- Brisk
- Written for
- For adults
Old Mongilet
Guy de MaupassantA Paris office clerk explains how one disastrous Sunday cured him of the country—and of marriage.
9 min · Humorous
More details
- Themes
- Friendship · Marriage
- Settings
- The countryside · Villages & small towns
- Tone
- Wry
- Style
- Conversational
- Pace
- Brisk
- Written for
- For adults
- Craft
- Frame story
- Motifs
- Journeys & quests
On Horseback
Guy de MaupassantA poor clerk spends a rare bonus on a grand family outing and a hired horse meant to restore his aristocratic dignity.
10 min · Humorous
More details
- Themes
- Class & poverty · Pride · Self-deception
- Settings
- The city · The countryside
- Tone
- Ironic
- Style
- Plain
- Pace
- Brisk
- Written for
- For adults
One Night’s Entertainment
Guy de MaupassantA boisterous sergeant seeking nightlife in a quiet Breton town follows one wrong turn into a social disaster.
10 min · Humorous
More details
- Tone
- Ironic
- Style
- Conversational
- Pace
- Brisk
- Written for
- For adults
Our Friends the English
Guy de MaupassantA French traveler among English hotel guests turns hymns, dancing, and Scripture into a private war.
12 min · Humorous
More details
- Themes
- Hypocrisy · Faith & doubt
- Settings
- The city
- Tone
- Wry
- Style
- Conversational
- Pace
- Brisk
- Written for
- For adults
- Craft
- Frame story · Epistolary & diary
Practical Jokes
Guy de MaupassantA veteran practical joker recalls the night suspicion made him his own victim and the chemical prank he played as a boy.
9 min · Humorous
More details
- Themes
- Self-deception · Revenge
- Settings
- Country houses & estates
- Tone
- Wry
- Style
- Conversational
- Pace
- Brisk
- Written for
- For adults
- Craft
- Frame story
Roger’s Method
Guy de MaupassantA nervous bridegroom’s wedding-night embarrassment sends him into Paris in search of a drastic remedy.
6 min · Humorous
More details
- Themes
- Marriage · Betrayal · Self-deception
- Tone
- Wry
- Style
- Conversational
- Pace
- Brisk
- Occasion
- Weddings
- Written for
- For adults
Room No. Eleven
Guy de MaupassantA respected provincial hostess maintains a secret hotel room for discreet affairs until one extra rendezvous collides with an innkeeper’s concealment.
11 min · Humorous
More details
- Themes
- Hypocrisy · Appearance vs reality · Marriage
- Settings
- The city
- Tone
- Darkly comic
- Style
- Conversational · Descriptive
- Pace
- Brisk
- Written for
- For adults
- Craft
- Frame story
Rosalie Prudent
Guy de MaupassantA servant tried for killing her newborn asks the court to hear how careful plans for motherhood collapsed in one night.
7 min · Tragic
More details
- Themes
- Class & poverty · Law & justice · Parenthood
- Tone
- Earnest
- Style
- Plain · Dialect-rich
- Pace
- Brisk
- Written for
- For adults
Saint Anthony
Guy de MaupassantA boastful Norman farmer turns the Prussian soldier billeted with him into a local joke, until humiliation becomes dangerous.
14 min · Unsettling
More details
- Themes
- War & peace · Courage & cowardice · Law & justice
- Settings
- The countryside · Villages & small towns
- Tone
- Darkly comic
- Style
- Descriptive
- Pace
- Brisk
- Written for
- For adults
Saved
Guy de MaupassantA young marquise determined to escape her jealous husband hires an expert accomplice to produce evidence no court can ignore.
9 min · Humorous
More details
- Themes
- Marriage · Women’s independence · Revenge
- Settings
- The home
- Tone
- Ironic
- Style
- Conversational · Plain
- Pace
- Brisk
- Written for
- For adults
- Craft
- Frame story · Told in dialogue
That Pig, Morin
Guy de MaupassantA shopkeeper’s unwanted kiss becomes a scandal, and the charming friend sent to repair it proves no model of restraint.
20 min · Humorous
More details
- Themes
- Hypocrisy · Honor & reputation · Appearance vs reality
- Tone
- Ironic
- Style
- Conversational
- Pace
- Brisk
- Written for
- For adults
- Craft
- Frame story
The Avenger
Guy de MaupassantA husband’s teasing questions about his wife’s first marriage turn posthumous jealousy into a dangerous demand for honesty.
8 min · Unsettling
More details
- Settings
- The home
- Tone
- Darkly comic
- Style
- Conversational
- Pace
- Brisk
- Written for
- For adults
- Craft
- Told in dialogue
The Baroness
Guy de MaupassantAn art dealer lends a cash-strapped baroness a Renaissance Christ and trusts her to invent a profitable story around it.
7 min · Humorous
More details
- Themes
- Hypocrisy · Wealth & money · Appearance vs reality
- Tone
- Ironic
- Style
- Conversational
- Pace
- Brisk
- Written for
- For adults
- Craft
- Frame story
The Burglar
Guy de MaupassantThree drunken artists in military costumes capture a burglar and turn his arrest into an improvised campaign.
7 min · Humorous
More details
- Themes
- Law & justice · Friendship
- Settings
- The city
- Tone
- Deadpan
- Style
- Conversational · Plain
- Pace
- Brisk
- Written for
- For adults
- Craft
- Frame story · Told in dialogue
The Cake
Guy de MaupassantIn a fashionable Paris salon, the privilege of cutting a brioche marks favor, rivalry, and the changing fortunes of its celebrated hostess.
7 min · Humorous
More details
- Themes
- Aging · Art & artists · Appearance vs reality
- Settings
- The home
- Tone
- Wry
- Pace
- Brisk
- Written for
- For adults
- Craft
- Allegorical
The Confession
Guy de MaupassantAn austere officer returns from maneuvers burdened by one lapse and insists on confessing it to his far more worldly wife.
10 min · Humorous
More details
- Themes
- Marriage · Hypocrisy · Appearance vs reality
- Settings
- The home
- Tone
- Ironic
- Style
- Plain · Conversational
- Pace
- Brisk
- Written for
- For adults
- Craft
- Told in dialogue
The Dowry
Guy de MaupassantOn her first trip to Paris, a newlywed becomes alarmed when her husband does not rejoin her after boarding an omnibus.
9 min · Suspenseful
More details
- Themes
- Wealth & money · Betrayal · Marriage
- Settings
- The city
- Tone
- Ironic
- Style
- Plain · Descriptive
- Pace
- Brisk
- Occasion
- Weddings
- Written for
- For adults