Fantastic Fables

Not as well known as The Devil's Dictionary, these are also examples of Ambrose Bierce's marvelous dyspepsia and iconoclasm, and rapier-wit. If we look, we may yet see what he was describing around us still.

Editor's note: This work is in the public domain

• The Moral Principle and the Material Interest
• The Crimson Candle
• The Blotted Escutcheon and the Soiled Ermine
• The Ingenious Patriot
• Two Kings
• An Officer and a Thug
• The Conscientious Official
• How Leisure Came
• The Moral Sentiment
• The Politicians
• The Thoughtful Warden
• The Treasury and the Arms
• The Christian Serpent
• The Broom of the Temple
• The Critics
• The Foolish Woman
• Father and Son
• The Discontented Malefactor
• A Call to Quit
• The Man and the Lightning
• The Lassoed Bear
• The Ineffective Rooter
• A Protagonist of Silver
• The Holy Deacon
• A Hasty Settlement
• The Wooden Guns
• The Reform School Board
• The Poet's Doom
• The Noser and the Note
• The Cat and the King
• The Literary Astronomer
• The Lion and the Rattlesnake
• The Man with No Enemies
• The Alderman and the Raccoon
• The Flying-Machine
• The Angel's Tear
• The City of Political Distinction
• The Party Over There
• The Poetess of Reform
• The Unchanged Diplomatist
• An Invitation
• The Ashes of Madame Blavatsky
• The Opossum of the Future
• The Life-Savers
• The Australian Grasshopper
• The Pavior
• The Tried Assassin
• The Bumbo of Jiam
• The Two Poets
• The Thistles upon the Grave
• The Shadow of the Leader
• The Sagacious Rat
• The Member and the Soap
• Alarm and Pride
• A Causeway
• Two in Trouble