She: A History of Adventure cover

She: A History of Adventure

H. Rider Haggard (1856-1925)

Original en 112272 words First published 1887 United Kingdom

Horace Holly, an irritable Cambridge don, raises the orphan Leo Vincey on the letter of his dead ancestor: a two-thousand-year-old charge to avenge the murder of Kallikrates in a lost African kingdom. Following the sherd of pottery into the ruins of Kor, the two men and their servant Job encounter Ayesha, 'She-who-must-be-obeyed' - white-robed, veiled, and possessed of the secret of undying life. She has waited twenty centuries for Kallikrates to return, and Leo is his living image. Haggard's tale of despotic love and immortality sold enormously well and fascinates writers and critics still.

Text sourced from Project Gutenberg (public domain in the United States); the Project Gutenberg trademark and license text have been removed on import. Public-domain status determined by the author's death year + 50 years rule.

Table of Contents

  1. 001 She by H. Rider Haggard First Published 1886. IN EARTH AND SKIE AND… 2813 words
  2. 002 “Now,” she said, “if I am Beauty, who are you?” That was when I was only twenty. 2611 words
  3. 003 The whole thing baffled and puzzled me to such an extent that at last… 2518 words
  4. 004 And so the time went by till at last he reached his twenty-fifth… 2529 words
  5. 005 “What do I make of it? Why, that your poor dear father was off his… 2547 words
  6. 006 _Fac-simile of the Old English Black-Letter Translation of the above… 2522 words
  7. 007 That day three months we were on the ocean, bound for Zanzibar. 2580 words
  8. 008 But we were nearly full of water again, and not more than half a mile… 2582 words
  9. 009 “Looks rather like a wharf where good-sized vessels have been moored… 2562 words
  10. 010 Then, all of a sudden, the end came. 2739 words
  11. 011 Another thing that struck me about them was that they never seemed to smile. 2560 words
  12. 012 “Why,” I said, “but how can that be? 2672 words
  13. 013 We three and Ustane were sitting round a fire in the cave just before… 2583 words
  14. 014 I sprang to my feet with a yell of horror, and drawing my revolver… 2572 words
  15. 015 “Ah,” he went on, “it was a gallant fight that ye fought. 2503 words
  16. 016 “Then,” he answered, with a faint smile, “we rise, and kill the old… 2554 words
  17. 017 “Ah,” he said, when we were out of earshot, “the fever! 2592 words
  18. 018 “It is wonderful, my son the Baboon,” he cried; “wonderful! 2510 words
  19. 019 This chamber was twice the size of the sleeping caves, and I saw at… 2509 words
  20. 020 At length the curtain began to move. 2697 words
  21. 021 I shrank back, horrified. 2744 words
  22. 022 Drawn by some magnetic force which I could not resist, I let my eyes… 2541 words
  23. 023 It was _She_ herself! She was clothed, as I had seen her when she… 2525 words
  24. 024 “He will die at night,” he said. 2622 words
  25. 025 I was too much involved in the web of her fatal fascinations to say… 2515 words
  26. 026 We left the place and entered others. 2638 words
  27. 027 “Enough of this wanton folly,” she said with a touch of sternness. 2536 words
  28. 028 When I reached Leo’s side he was plainly expiring—his golden head was… 2553 words
  29. 029 Well pleased to have succeeded even to this extent, I passed out into… 2523 words
  30. 030 “Greeting to thee, my young stranger lord,” she said in her softest voice. 2586 words
  31. 031 Presently, however, this pleasing piece was interrupted. 2524 words
  32. 032 Then Ayesha spoke. “Forgive me, my guest,” she said softly… 2510 words
  33. 033 “Wonderest thou whose are the feet that have worn away the rock, my Holly?” she asked. 2563 words
  34. 034 No doubt she was a wicked person, and no doubt she had murdered… 2588 words
  35. 035 As we were returning Billali met us, and informed us that it was… 2558 words
  36. 036 So we went, I, for one, meditating deeply on the awful nature of the… 2577 words
  37. 037 Here Leo jumped up and hastily changed his seat. 2797 words
  38. 038 This cavern we pursued for twenty minutes or more, it being, so far… 2510 words
  39. 039 I felt myself slide a pace or two down the sloping surface of the… 2588 words
  40. 040 “Behold! once more I kiss thee, and by that kiss I give to thee… 2571 words
  41. 041 Then she paused, and stretched out her arms, and stood there quite… 2503 words
  42. 042 “Yes,” I thought to myself, “if she comes back as beautiful as we knew her. 2528 words
  43. 043 All this happened in a second, and curiously enough, notwithstanding… 2609 words
  44. 044 Accordingly, after swallowing some food, we started in the litters… 1308 words