1001 Classic Short Stories & Tales

GOD SEES THE TRUTH, BUT WAITS
by Leo Tolstoy
What happens when an innocent man loses nearly everything to an injustice he cannot prove?
In Leo Tolstoy's powerful short story "God Sees the Truth, But Waits," Ivan Dmitrich Aksionov is a prosperous young merchant with a family and a promising future. While traveling to a fair, he is suddenly accused of a terrible crime he did not commit. The evidence appears overwhelming, and despite his insistence that he is innocent, Aksionov is condemned and sent to Siberia.
Years pass. The carefree young man gradually becomes an old man, and his hopes of returning to his former life fade. But then fate brings him face to face with someone who may hold the truth about the crime that destroyed his life.
First published in 1872, Tolstoy's story is a moving parable about injustice, faith, vengeance, repentance, and forgiveness. At its heart is a difficult question: When someone has taken everything from you, is it possible to forgive?
The answer Tolstoy gives us makes this deceptively simple story one of his most memorable and affecting works.
Enjoy "God Sees the Truth, But Waits" by Leo Tolstoy, here on 1001 Classic Short Stories & Tales.
MORE GREAT STORIES
And if you enjoy the classics, be sure to check out our sister podcast 1001 Stories From the Gilded Age, where we bring to life great stories from some of the finest writers of the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
Discover more great storytelling from the 1001 Stories Podcast Network at Bestof1001Stories.com.

 This was the story that inspired a book by Stephen King which led to the movie The Shawshank Redemption.

THE GIFT OF THE MAGI by O. Henry
One of the most beloved Holiday/Christmas stories ever written, "The Gift of the Magi" by O. Henry is a tender and beautifully crafted story about love, sacrifice, and what it truly means to give.
Young husband and wife Jim and Della don't have much money, but they have something far more valuable: a deep love for one another. As Christmas approaches, each desperately wants to find the perfect gift for the other. What follows is O. Henry at his very best, combining warmth, gentle humor, humanity, and one of the most memorable endings in American short fiction.
More than a century after it was written, "The Gift of the Magi" remains a Christmas favorite because its message never grows old: the greatest gifts aren't necessarily the ones beneath the tree.
Enjoy this timeless holiday classic from 1001 Classic Short Stories & Tales.
Love great American short stories? Be sure to visit our sister podcast 1001 Stories From the Gilded Age, where we bring you wonderful stories from the remarkable writers and changing world of America's Gilded Age.
Find all of our shows at Bestof1001Stories.com.

THE GHOST OF GIDEON WISE
A Father Brown Mystery by G.K. Chesterton
Three powerful millionaires are dead, apparently murdered on the same night in three widely separated places. Suspicion quickly falls upon a group of radical revolutionaries who had every reason to despise them.
But then the case takes a decidedly supernatural turn.
On a lonely moonlit cliff overlooking the sea, a terrified witness sees something impossible: the ghost of Gideon Wise, standing near the very spot where Wise supposedly plunged to his death.
Soon another man sees the apparition.
Then Father Brown walks straight toward it.
In "The Ghost of Gideon Wise," G.K. Chesterton delivers a wonderfully tangled Father Brown mystery filled with political intrigue, false assumptions, suspicious alibis, murder, and one unforgettable ghostly encounter. And as usual, Father Brown understands something everyone else has overlooked: sometimes the most convincing explanation is convincing for exactly the wrong reason.
A clever, atmospheric tale from one of mystery fiction's great masters, today on 1001 Classic Short Stories & Tales.
HELP US KEEP GREAT STORIES ALIVE
If you enjoy the stories we bring you, please consider becoming one of the people who helps make them possible.
At Patreon.com/1001storiesnetwork, your support helps us continue finding, producing, narrating, and sharing great literature and unforgettable stories with listeners everywhere.
These stories have survived because generation after generation believed they were worth preserving and passing along. You can be part of that tradition.
A small monthly contribution helps keep excellent stories coming for everyone who believes, as we do, that great literature still has something important to offer: adventure, imagination, wisdom, laughter, mystery, and a welcome escape from the noise of everyday life.
Join us at Patreon.com/1001storiesnetwork and help us keep great stories alive and available for everyone to enjoy.
1001 Classic Short Stories & Tales

THE REPORTER WHO MADE HIMSELF KING – PART TWO
By Richard Harding Davis
1001 Classic Short Stories & Tales
When we left young reporter Albert Gordon, he had come to the remote Pacific island of Opeki looking for peace, quiet, and perhaps enough spare time to write a novel.
Instead, he became an American consul, diplomat, military adviser...and finally King Tellaman, the Peacemaker.
Now the real trouble begins.
A German warship arrives off Opeki and claims the island. Gordon responds with the confidence of a newspaperman who has spent his career wishing for the chance to become a great war correspondent.
There is only one problem:
If there isn't enough of a war to report, Gordon may just have to help create one.
A German flag comes down. The Stars and Stripes goes up. A cannon fires. A German warship answers.
And suddenly Gordon realizes that he has stumbled into the greatest newspaper story of his life.
With Stedman manning the cable, Gordon begins sending dramatic reports back to civilization. But somewhere along the cable line, the facts start becoming considerably more exciting than the events themselves.
A skirmish becomes a battle.
A few damaged huts become devastation.
Rumor becomes massacre.
And newspapers and governments thousands of miles away begin reacting to events that never actually happened.
Soon Gordon faces a newspaperman's worst nightmare:
The world believes his story...but the story isn't true.
And now warships are coming.
Lots of them.
Richard Harding Davis turns the second half of The Reporter Who Made Himself King into a hilarious and surprisingly sharp satire about journalism, sensational headlines, imperial ambition, diplomacy, and the dangerous distance between what actually happened and what the public is told happened.
Considering Davis wrote the story in the 1890s, some of it may sound remarkably familiar.
Join us for the conclusion of THE REPORTER WHO MADE HIMSELF KING, by Richard Harding Davis, right here on 1001 Classic Short Stories & Tales.
AND IF YOU ENJOY GREAT TRUE STORIES...
Be sure to visit another member of the 1001 family:
1001 TRUE CRIME FROM ANOTHER TIME
If you enjoy history, mystery, old newspaper accounts, courtroom drama, legendary detectives, forgotten crimes and fascinating cases from another era, 1001 True Crime From Another Time was made for you.
These aren't simply crime stories. They're journeys back into the time and place where the crimes occurred, when investigators had fewer tools, newspapers could make or destroy reputations, and one mysterious case could captivate an entire nation.
Look for 1001 True Crime From Another Time wherever you listen to podcasts, and discover some of history's most unforgettable crimes, mysteries and investigations.
1001 Classic Short Stories & Tales
Great stories never grow old.

THE REPORTER WHO MADE HIMSELF KING – PART ONE
By Richard Harding Davis
1001 Classic Short Stories & Tales
What happens when an ambitious young newspaper reporter goes looking for adventure and discovers an entire island just waiting for someone to take charge?
The Reporter Who Made Himself King, Richard Harding Davis's wonderfully entertaining 1894 adventure, introduces us to Albert Gordon, a 23-year-old reporter who has already packed more excitement into three years than most men experience in a lifetime.
He's covered train wrecks, fires, political conventions, revolutions, Indian outbreaks, floods and earthquakes. There's only one assignment he still desperately wants:
A war.
Unfortunately for Gordon, the world stubbornly refuses to provide one.
So when he's offered the chance to travel to the remote Pacific island of Opeki as secretary to the newly appointed American consul, Gordon figures it might be the perfect place to slow down, enjoy the tropics, and finally write that novel he's been planning.
He couldn't be more wrong.
Almost immediately, Gordon discovers that Opeki is unlike anything he expected. The island has its own king, rival tribes, an enterprising young American named Stedman, two British sailors known as the Bradleys, and what passes for a connection to civilization through an obscure cable company.
Then Gordon's superior, Captain Travis, decides island life isn't for him and promptly heads home, leaving Gordon behind as acting American consul.
And that's when things really begin to get interesting.
Before long, Gordon and Stedman are behaving like a miniature diplomatic corps. They put on uniforms, hand out medals, impress the local king, make grand plans to modernize Opeki, and contemplate everything from a standing army to teaching the islanders baseball.
But there is one serious problem.
High in the mountains live the Hillmen, led by King Messenwah, and they have a habit of raiding Opeki, stealing livestock and terrorizing its people.
When word comes that the Hillmen are marching toward the village again, Gordon finally gets the adventure he's been waiting for.
Armed with rifles, bravado and a newspaperman's almost limitless confidence, he heads out to meet them.
What follows is part comedy, part adventure, part political satire, and a wonderfully sly look at the enormous egos of reporters, diplomats and governments.
And just when Gordon believes he has the situation under control, he discovers that another nation has already taken an interest in Opeki.
A foreign warship appears.
A flag goes up.
Another flag comes down.
And Albert Gordon suddenly finds himself in exactly the situation he has dreamed about for years.
Only now he isn't merely reporting the news.
He's making it.
Join us for Part One of THE REPORTER WHO MADE HIMSELF KING by Richard Harding Davis, on 1001 Classic Short Stories & Tales.
And be sure to come back for Part Two, when Albert Gordon's little adventure on Opeki threatens to become an international incident.
About the Author
Richard Harding Davis was one of the most famous American journalists and adventure writers of his era. His experience as a reporter and war correspondent gave his fiction a lively, fast-moving style and an insider's understanding of the newspaper business, qualities that are on full display in this story.
THE REPORTER WHO MADE HIMSELF KING – PART ONE
Richard Harding Davis
1001 Classic Short Stories & Tales