The canterville ghost
Storyboard Text
- The Canterville GhostBYOscar Wilde
- Chapter 1
- When the American, Mr Otis, bought Canterville Castle, everyone told him that this was very foolish, as the place was haunted.
- FOR SALE
- SOLD
- But Mr Otis answered, 'I came from a modern country, where we had everything that money could buy. And if there were such a thing as a ghost in Europe, we would have it at home in one of our museums.'
- A few weeks later, on a lovely July evening, Mr Otis and his family, went down to their new home. And when they entered, the sky suddenly became dark and a spooky.
- Welcome!I'm Mrs. Umney, the housekeeper
- 'Yes, madam,' said the old housekeeper in a low voice, 'blood had been spilt on that spot.'
- Mrs Umney, the housekeeper, led them into the library of the castle, where they sat down and began to look around. Suddenly, Mrs Otis saw a red stain on the floor just by the fireplace and said to Mrs Umney, ''I am afraid something has been spilt there.''
- 'It was the blood of Lady Eleanore de Canterville, who was murdered on that spot by her husband, Sir Simon de Canterville, in 1575. Sir Simon disappeared seven years later. His body had never been found, but his ghost still haunts the Castle. The blood stain is a tourist attraction now and it couldn't be removed.'
- ''How terrible,'' said Mrs Otis, and said that she didn´t want any blood-stains in her sitting-room. And it must be removed at once
- Washington said that all of that was nonesense. And said that the stain remover would clean it up in no time
- Washington took a bottle of stain remover out of his pocket and cleaned the spot. But as soon as the blood-stain had disappeared, a terrible flash of lightning lit up the room and a fearful peal of thunder made the whole building shake.
- Chapter 2
- The next morning, when the family came down to breakfast, they found the terrible stain of blood once again on the floor. Washington cleaned it a second time, but the second morning it appeared again.The third morning it was there, too, although the library had been locked up at night by Mr Otis himself.
- At eleven o'clock the family went to bed and some time after, Mr Otis was awakened by a strange noise in the corridor, outside his room. It sounded like the clank of metal, and it came nearer every moment.
- Mr Otis got up and looked at the time. It was exactly one o'clock. So Mr Otis put on hisslippers, went to the door and opened it.
- There, right in front of him, stood the ghost - his eyes were asred as burning coals; long grey hair fell over his shoulders and from his wrists and ankles hungheavy chains.
- Mr Ortis talk to the ghost and said ''the ghost must oil his chains because it was imposible to sleept with such a noise. And he had brought to the ghost a bottle of lubricator and he would be happy to supply him with more if the ghost required it"
- And with these words Mr Otis laid the bottle down,closed his door and went back to bed.
- Shocked, the Canterville ghost stood quite motionless for a moment, but then he growled angrily. Just at this moment, the twins appeared on the corridor and threw a large pillow at him! The ghost hastily escaped through the wall, and the house became quiet again.
- utigulWhen the ghost reached his small secret chamber, he took a deep breath. No ghosts in history hadever been treated in this manner!
- Chapter 3
- The ghost did not appear for the rest of the week. The only strange thing that happened was theblood-stain, which they found on the library-floor every morning. It was also quite strange that thecolour of the stain changed from time to time. Some mornings it was red, then brown or purple, oreven green.
- These changes amused the family very much, and bets on the colour were made everyevening. The only person who did not enter into the joke was Virginia. For some unexplained reason, she was rather annoyed at the sight of the blood-stain, and nearly cried the morning it was green.
- The second appearance of the ghost was on Sunday night. Shortly after the family had gone to bedthey heard a fearful crash in the hall. A suit of armour had fallen on the floor and in a chair sat theCanterville ghost and rubbed his knees, which seemed to hurt.
- When the twins started shooting peas at him with their pea-shooters, the ghost stood up with an angry growl and passed through them likea mist. He also blew out the candle, leaving them all in total darkness.
- On top of the stairs the ghostturned around and, in order to frighten the Otis boys, laughed his most horrible laugh. Just then, adoor opened and Mrs Otis came out of her bedroom and said to the ghost that she had brought to him a bottle of medicine' And the ghost looked at her furiously, and then he disappeared.
- When the ghost reached his room, he was completely exhausted. This American family was extremely annoying. But what annoyed him most was, that he had not been able to wear the suit of armour. Theweight of it had made him fall and hurt his knees.
- For some days after this the ghost only left his room to renew the blood-stain. However, on Friday,the 17th of August, he tried to frighten the Otis family again. At half-past ten the family went tobed. For some time the ghost heard the twins laugh, but at a quarter past eleven all was still.
- So, at midnight he left his secret chamber and glided through the corridors, when suddenly, behind one corner, a horrible ghost stood right in front of him. As the Canterville ghost had never seen another ghost before, he was terribly frightened. He quickly hurried back to his room.
- But then he thought that he should go and speak to the other ghost. After all, two ghosts were better than one, andhis new friend might help him to frighten the twins. However, when he came back to the spot, he found that this 'other ghost' was not real, but only a white sheet which the twins had hung there to play a trick on him. Very upset the Canterville ghost went back to his chamber.
- Chapter 4
- For five days, the ghost did not leave his room. He was very weak and tired and his nerves werecompletely shattered. He also gave up the point of the blood-stain on the library floor. If the Otisfamily did not want it, they clearly did not deserve it. Whenever the Canterville ghost roamed thehouse now, he was careful to have oiled his chains and not to make a sound
- However, the twins still played their tricks on him. They stretched strings across the corridor, over which he tripped inthe dark, and once he slipped on a butter-slide, which the twins had constructed for him on the staircase. This so annoyed the ghost, that he decided to teach the twins a lesson and give them the frightof their lives.
- All day long the ghost had prepared this grand event and at a quarter past one at night he finallyglided out of his room and crept down the corridor. When he reached the twins' bedroom, he foundthe door slightly open. In order to frighten the boys enormously, he flung the door wide open, whena heavy jug of water fell right down on him, wetting him to the skin. The twins burst out in shrieksof laughter and the ghost fled.
- One night, it was on the 19th of September, he went downstairs to see if there were any traces left of the blood-stain. It wasabout a quarter past two in the morning, and he thought that everyone was fast asleep, when suddenly from a dark corner two figures came running at him who waved their arms wildly above theirheads and shouted 'BOO!' in his ear.
- Full of panic, which under the circumstances was only natural,the ghost hurried back to his room.After this he was not seen again at night. His feelings were so wounded that he just did not appear anymore.
- Chapter 5
- One day, Virginia was walking along the corridor, when she saw a person in one of the rooms and went in. To her surprise, it was the Canterville ghost himself and he looked really sad.
- Virgina said to the ghost that she was very sorry for him, and that her brothers were going back to Eton the next moorning. And if the ghost behave no one would annoyed him
- The ghost respond that it was absurd asking him to behave and he must rattle his chains and groan through keyholes, and walked about at night. It was his only reason for existing.
- her brothersVirginia said that it was no reason at all for existing and he knew he had been very Nasty. And said that Mr Umney told them that he had killed his wife
- Virginia couldn´t believe it. And she asked to the ghost if he was hungry. And said she had a sandwich in her case. Then she asked to the ghost if he would like some
- The ghost adimited it but he said his wife hadn´t been very nice, and she knew nothing about cokery. However, it was all over now, and the ghost didn´t think it was very nice of his brother's wife to starved him to death
- The girl stopped him stamping her foot, and said it was him who were rude. He had stolen the paints out of her box to renew that ridiculous blood-stain in the library.
- The ghost thanked the girl, but he didn´t accept the sandwich, and said he never ate anything now, but it was very kind of her. She was much nicer than the rest of her rude family
- Having said this, Virginia turned around to leave the room.
- mercuThe girl felt sorry for him and asked if he hadn't a place where he coud sleep
- The ghost responded he knew a place where he could sleept. It was the garden of death, the churchyard. But only if the girl wept for him and his sins and pray with him for his soul, the angel of death would have mercy on him
- The ghost asked her to stayed, and said he was so unhappy and he really didn´t know what to do. He wanted to went to slept and he couldn't. He hadn't slept for three hundred years, and he was so tired
- When Virginia promised to help the ghost and pray for him, he rose from his seat, took her hand andkissed it thankfully. Then he led her across the room. Virginia saw the wall slowly fading away like a mist, and a bitter cold wind was around them. 'Quick, quick,' cried the ghost, 'or it would be too late.'Then the wall closed behind them, and the chamber was empty.
- Chapter 6
- About ten minutes later, the bell rang for dinner, and, as Virginia did not come down, Mrs Otis sent up one of the servants. After a little time he returned and said that he could not find Miss Virginia anywhere. So, the whole family started looking for her.
- The hours passed, but they could find no trace of Virginia. So, after dinner, Mr Otis ordered themall to bed, saying that nothing more could be done that night, and that he would contact ScotlandYard in the morning. Just when everybody was about to leave the dining-room, the clock struckmidnight, and when the last stroke sounded, a secret door opened in the wall and in that door stoodVirginia with a little box in her hand. Everybody ran up to her
- Virginia said she had been with the ghost. He was dead and her father must came and see the ghost. He had been very nasty but he was really sorry for all that he had done, and he gave to Virginia a box of beautiful jewels before he died
- Mr ortis asked his daughter angrily where had she been
- Then she led the others down a narrow secret corridor to a little low room. There the family foundthe skeleton of Sir Simon, who had been starved to death by his wife's brothers. Virginia knelt downbeside the skeleton, and, folding her little hands together, began to pray silently.
- 'Then God has forgiven him,' said Virginia and stood up.
- Meanwhile, one of the twins was looking out of the window in the little room and suddenly said,'Look! The old almond-tree has blossoms.'
- Chapter 7
- Four days later, a funeral started from Canterville Castle. In a quiet corner of the churchyard, Sir Simon's skeleton was buried. When the ceremony was over, Virginia stepped forward and laid a largecross made of white and pink almond-blossoms on the coffin
- The next morning, Mr Otis talked to Sir Simon's descendant, Sir Canterville, about the jewels theghost had given to Virginia. Their value was so great that Mr Otis had scruples about allowing hisdaughter to keep them. But Sir Canterville shook his hand and said that his charming daughter saved his ancestor's soul, so she could keep the jewels.
- The jewels were admired by everyone when, in the spring of 1890, Virginia married the Duke ofCheshire. After their honeymoon, Virginia and her husband went down to Canterville Castle and onthe day after their arrival they walked over to the churchyard. Virginia had brought some lovelyroses, which she strewed upon the grave, and after they had stood by it for some time her husband took her hand.
- And Virginia said she couldn't told him but she owed Sir Simon a great deal. He made her see what life was, and what death signified, and why love was stronger than both
- Virginia's husband said that she had never told him what happened to her when she was locked up with the ghost
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