Robert Browning--a literary and romantic history : rats and fools from The pied piper of Hamelin -- The incredible imagination of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle : "The adventure of the speckled band" -- Mary Peace Finley spells danger in White grizzly -- Strange encounters with Sir Gawain and the Green Knight -- Twisting the tale with O. Henry : "The ransom of Red Chief" -- Headless in "Sleepy Hollow" with Washington Irving -- Beware! "The monkey's paw" by W.W. Jacobs -- Desperation grows "To light a fire" by Jack London -- A gruesome end with "The masque of the red death" by Edgar Allan Poe -- H.G. Wells in "The country of the blind".