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First published 1971
Publisher Herder and Herder
Format Hardcover
Type Anthology
Catalog ID M41159
Pages 144
Price $5.50

92 stories. {{Tr|Anthony Kerrigan}}. Mr. Kerrigan notes that many of the selections chosen by Borges were originally written in English, and these he has not translated but instead given the original English, where possible.

  • 'Edited and Translated with a Foreword by Anthony Kerrigan' on the title page.
  • Translation of: Cuentos Breves y Extraordinarios, published in 1967 by Editorial Santiago Rueda S. R. L., Buena Aires (note on copyright page).
  • Price $5.50 on front flap of dust jacket top corner.
  • Publisher number Herder M41159 on front flap of dust jacket top corner.
  • Cover art not credited, and no signature is visible. Date given on copyright page (1971) but no statement of subsequent printings on verified copy, no number line.
  • Many of the unknown authors could be Anonymous or traditional; there was simply no author listed.
  • Anthony Kerrigan clearly wrote the note on page 16.
  • Although Amazon gives an ISBN for this book there is none printed in it.
  • Wu Ch'ĂȘng-ĂȘn's name is printed "Wu Ch'eng-en".

{{BREAK}} Authors, sources, and dates as noted in the book: "The Death Sentence" is from The Indian Antiquary, I. "The Annihilation of the Ogres" is from Folk Tales of Bengal. "The Story of Cecilia" is from De Divinatione, I, 46. "Hard to Please" is from Kitabal ida el farid, III. "The Dream of Chuang Tzu" is from Chuang Tzu. "A Golem" is from Sanhedrin, 65, b. "The Return of the Master" is from Magic and Mystery in Tibet. "In Fear of Wrath" is from Nanadir. Andromeda is from Note-books. "The King's Promise" is from Heimskringla, 91 - 92. "The Captive's Oath" is from the Third Night of the Book of The Thousand and One Nights. "Nosce Te Ipsum" is from AntologĂ­a de espejos. "The Intuitive One" is from El deslinde. "The King's Awakening" is from Rambling Thoughts on World History. "Death of a Chief" is from Bocetos de un asistente. "The Announcement" is from Gleanings in Caledonian Byways. "The Explanation" is from Addenda to a History of Freethinking. "An Alexandrian Myth" is from La modification du PassĂ© ou la seule base de la Tradition. "The Work and the Poet" is from Indica. "Eugenics" is from Ben Ionsiana. "The Mendicant of Naples" is from Le Cornet Ă  dĂ©s. "A God Abandons Alexandria" is from The Parallel Lives of Plutarch. "The Female Disciple" is from Chuang Tzu. "The Ninth Slave" is from Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, Chapter LXV. "A Victor" is from Idea de un PrĂ­ncipe PolĂ­tico-cristiano, XCVI. "The Dangerous Wonder-Worker" is from Brigham Young. "The Castle" is from Jacques le Fataliste. "The Statue" is from the ninth paragraph of the treatise Of Isis and Osiris. "The Warning" is from 1001 Nights, II, 141. "The Prowess of Villena" is from the AntologĂ­a de Poetas LĂ­ricos Castellanos. "The Shadow of the Moves, I" is from The Week-End Companion to Wales and Cornwall. "The Shadow of the Moves, II" is from Cabotaje en Mozambique. "The Culpable Eyes" is from H'adiquat el Afrah. "The Prophet, the Bird, and the Net" is from Siradj el Moluk. "The Celestial Deer" is from Chinese Ghouls and Goblins. "The Cook" is from Le Cornet a Des. "Polemicists" is from "Cincuenta anos en Gorchs" (Medio siglo en campos de Buenos Aires, Alovarria, 1911). "Perplexities of the Coward" is from Mostatref. "The Restitution of the Keys" is from the treatise Taanith, of the Mishnah, Ch. XXIX. "Trained Sepulchres" is from Tusculanae Disputationes, Bk. 1. "The Silence of the Sirens" is from The Great Wall of China, trans. by Willa and Edwin Muir, New York, 1948. "The Blow" is from Essays in Little. "The Pattern on the Carpet" is from The London Adventure. "The Story of the Two Kings and the Two Labyrinths" is from The Land of Midian Revisited. "The Greater Torment" is from Dreams. "Theology" is from Tout lou Mond, Oloron-Saint-Marie. "The Magnet" is from Chapter 13 of The Life of Oscar Wilde. "The Face of Death" is from Le Grand Écart. "The Miracle" is from A Writer's Notebook (London, 1949 - 1951). "Two Co-Eternals" is from Animadversiones. "Social Success" is from Trivia. "A Provocation Punished" is from Kitab en Nanadir. "Tale" is from Histoires BrisĂ©es. Prestigieux, Sans Doute is from Fantasmorgias. "The Ubiquitous One, I" is from Geschichte der indischen Literatur. "The Ubiquitous One, II" is from Cuarenta años en el lecho del Ganges. "The Sect of the White Lotus" is from Chinesische VolksmĂ€rchen. "Protection Through the Book" is from Chinese Ghouls and Goblins. "The Meeting" is from La Tarif de Marseille. "The Water on the Island" is from The Narrative of A. Gordon Pym. "On Exactitude in Science" is from Viajes de Varones Prudents, libro cuarto, cap. XIV (Lerida, 1658). "The Dedicated Student" is from Japanische Literatur. "The Vicissitudes of Consolation" is from A Grove of Leisure. "Distracted" is from Un barbare en Asie. "The Egyptian Temptation" is from Manners and Customs of the Modern Egyptians, Author's Preface. "Retrospective" is from Informe sobre la conduction de haciendas en pie en balsas entree Villa Constitution y Campana. "The Spectator" is from Don Juan Tenorio, Act III, Scene 2. "Conclusion for a Fantasy" is from Visitations. "Four Reflections" is from The Great Wall of China, trans. by Willa and Edwin Muir, New York, 1948. "Storywith Foxes" is from Ling kuai lu. "Just in Case" is from The Ecclesiastical History of the English Nation, II, 15 (trans. by John Stevens and Lionel Jane, London, 1944) "Odin" is from Antiguas literaturas germanicas. Aurea Mediocritas is from Les Historiettes, XXIX.

Page Title Author(s) Type
7 Foreword (Extraordinary Tales) Anthony Kerrigan Essay
16 Note on the Original Texts (Extraordinary Tales) uncredited Essay
17 Preliminary Note (Extraordinary Tales) Jorge Luis Borges & Adolfo Bioy Casares Essay
21 The Death Sentence Wu Ch'ĂȘng-ĂȘn Short Story
22 The Secret Redeemer uncredited Short Story
23 The Annihilation of the Ogres Lal Behari Day Short Story
24 The Story of Cecilia Cicero Short Story
25 The Encounter uncredited Short Story
28 Hard to Please Ibn And Rabbith Short Story
29 Scattered Themes from the Note-Books of Nathaniel Hawthorne Nathaniel Hawthorne Essay
31 The Dream of Chuang Tzu Herbert Allen Giles Short Story
32 The Hidden Deer Liehtse Short Fiction
34 The Brahmins and the Lion uncredited Short Story
36 A Golem uncredited Short Story
37 The Return of the Master Alexandra David-Neel Short Story
39 In Fear of Wrath Ah'med el Qalyubi Short Story
40 Andromeda Samuel Butler Essay
41 The Dream O. Henry Short Story
45 The King's Promise uncredited Short Fiction
47 The Captive's Oath uncredited Short Fiction
48 Nosce Te Ipsum Fergus Nicholson Essay
49 The Intuitive One Alfonso Reyes Short Story
50 How I Found the Superman G. K. Chesterton Short Story
55 The King's Awakening H. Desvignes Doolittle Essay
56 Death of a Chief LeĂłn Rivera Essay
57 The Announcement George D. Brown Short Story
58 The Explanation Edwin Broster Short Story
59 An Alexandrian Myth Adrienne Bordenave Short Story
60 The Work and the Poet R. F. Burton Short Fiction
61 Eugenics Drummond Short Story
62 The Mendicant of Naples Max Jacob Short Story
63 A God Abandons Alexandria Plutarch Essay
64 The Female Disciple Herbert Allen Giles Short Fiction
65 The Ninth Slave Gibbon Essay
66 A Victor Saavedra Fajardo Essay
67 The Dangerous Wonder-Worker M. R. Werner Essay
68 The Castle Diderot Short Story
69 The Statue Plutarch Essay
70 The Warning R. F. Burton Short Fiction
71 The Prowess of Villena Menéndez y Pelayo Short Story
72 The Shadow of the Moves, I Edwin Morgan (I) Short Story
73 The Shadow of the Moves, II Celestino Palomeque Short Story
74 The Culpable Eyes Ah'med Ech Chiruani Short Story
75 The Prophet, the Bird, and the Net Ah'med et Tortuchi Short Fiction
76 The Celestial Deer G. Willoughby-Meade Short Story
77 The Cook Max Jacob Short Story
78 Polemicists Luis L. Antuñano Short Fiction
79 Perplexities of the Coward Ah'med el Ibelichi Short Story
80 The Restitution of the Keys uncredited Essay
81 Trained Sepulchres Marcus Tullius Cicero Short Story
82 The Silence of the Sirens Franz Kafka Short Story
84 The Blow Andrew Lang Short Story
85 The Pattern on the Carpet Arthur Machen Essay
86 The Story of the Two Kings and the Two Labyrinths R. F. Burton Short Story
88 The Confession Manuel Peyrou Short Story
89 Another Version of Faust Fra Diavolo Essay
91 The Treasure Marcel Tamayo Short Story
94 The Greater Torment The False Swedenborg Short Story
95 Theology H. Garro Short Story
96 The Magnet Hesketh Pearson Short Story
98 The Inextinguishable Race Silvina Ocampo Short Fiction
101 The Face of Death Jean Cocteau Short Fiction
102 Faith, Half-Faith, and No Faith at All Robert Louis Stevenson Short Story
105 The Miracle W. Somerset Maugham Short Story
106 Two Co-eternals Johannes Cambrencis Short Story
107 Social Success Logan Pearsall Smith Short Story
108 The Train Santiago Dabove Short Fiction
111 A Provocation Punished Ah'med el Qalyubi Short Story
112 Tale Paul Valéry Short Story
113 Prestigieux, Sans Doute Aguirre Acevedo Short Story
114 The Ubiquitous One, I Moriz Winternitz Short Story
115 The Ubiquitous One, II Simon Pereyra Short Story
116 The Oversight Martin Buber Short Story
117 The Sect of the White Lotus Richard Wilhelm (1873-1930) Short Story
119 Protection Through the Book G. Willoughby-Meade Short Story
121 The Meeting Louis Prolat Short Story
122 The Water on the Island Edgar Allan Poe Short Story
123 On Exactitude in Science SuĂĄrez Miranda Short Story
124 The Dedicated Student Adler-Revon Short Fiction
125 The Vicissitudes of Consolation T. M. Chang Short Story
127 The Truth About Sancho Panza Franz Kafka Short Story
128 Salvation Adolfo Bioy Casares Short Fiction
129 In Insomnia Virgilio Piñera Short Story
130 Distracted Henri Michaux Short Story
131 The Egyptian Temptation Edward William Lane Essay
133 Retrospective Clemente Sosa Short Story
134 The Accused Martin Buber Short Story
136 The Spectator José Zorrilla Short Story
137 Perils of an Excess of Duty Nozhat el Djallas Short Fiction
138 Conclusion for a Fantasy I. A. Ireland Short Fiction
139 Four Reflections Franz Kafka Essay
140 Story with Foxes Niu Chiao Short Story
142 Just in Case The Venerable Bede Essay
143 Odin Jorge Luis Borges & Delia Ingenieros Short Story
144 Aurea Mediocritas Tallemant des Réaux Short Story

Title Year Publisher Format Type Catalog ID Cover Artist Pages
Extraordinary Tales Cover 1973 Souvenir Press Hardcover Anthology 144
Extraordinary Tales 1990 Allison & Busby Trade Paperback Anthology Natalie Cohen 144