An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge

Announcer:Now, the  Special English program, AMERICAN STORIES.

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Ourstory today is called, "An Occurrence atOwlCreekBridge. " It was written by AmbroseBierce.

Theoccurrence, or event, in our story takes place during the Civil Warof the eighteen sixties between the American states of the north and the statesof the south. A group of soldiers is hanging a southern farm owner for tryingto stop northern military movements across theOwlCreekBridge.

Inthe last moments of his life, the southern prisoner dreams he has escaped. Andeverything that happens in the story is really the images in the prisoner'smind just before he dies.

Hereis Shep O’Neal with our story.

Narrator: A man stood on a railroad bridge inAlabamalooking down into the swift waters of theOwlCreekRiverbelow. The man's hands were tiedbehind his back. There was a rope around his neck. The rope was tied to part ofthe bridge above him. Three soldiers of the northern army stood near theprisoner, waiting for their captain's orders to hang him.

Everybodywas ready. The prisoner stood quietly. His eyes were not covered. He lookeddown and saw the water under the bridge. Now, he closed his eyes.

Hewanted his last thoughts to be of his wife and children. But, as he tried tothink of them, he heard sounds -- again and again. The sounds were soft. Butthey got louder and louder and started to hurt his ears. The pain was strong.He wanted to shout. But the sounds he heard were just those of the river runningswiftly under the bridge.

Theprisoner quickly opened his eyes and looked at the water. "If I could onlyfree my hands," he thought. "Then I could get the rope off my neckand jump into the river. I could swim under the water and escape the fire oftheir guns. I could reach the other side of the river and get home through theforest. My house is outside of their military area, and my wife and childrenare safe there. I would be, too…"

Whilethese thoughts raced through the prisoner's mind, the captain gave the soldiersthe order to hang him. A soldier quickly obeyed. He made the rope firm aroundthe prisoner's neck. Then he dropped him through a hole in the bridge.

Asthe prisoner fell, everything seemed black and empty. But then he felt a sharppain in his neck and could not breathe. There were terrible pains running fromhis neck down through his body, his arms and his legs. He could not think. Hecould only feel, a feeling of living in a world of pain.

Then,suddenly, he heard a noise…something falling into the water. There was a bigsound in his ears. Everything around him was cold and dark. Now he could think.He believed the rope had broken and that he was in the river.

Butthe rope was still around his neck, and his hands were tied. He thought:"How funny. How funny to die of hanging at the bottom of a river!"Then he felt his body moving up to the top of the water.

Theprisoner did not know what he was doing. But his hands reached the rope on hisneck and tore it off.

Nowhe felt the most violent pain he had ever known. He wanted to put the rope backon his neck. He tried but could not. His hands beat the water and pushed him upto the top. His head came out of the water. The light of the sun hurt his eyes.His mouth opened, and he swallowed air. It was too much for his lungs. He blewout the air with a scream.

Nowthe prisoner could think more clearly. All his senses had returned. They wereeven sharper than before. He heard sounds he never heard before -- that noman's ears ever heard -- the flying wings of small insects, the movement of afish. His eyes saw more than just the trees along the river. They saw everyleaf on the trees. And they saw the thin lines in the leaves.

Andhe saw the bridge, with the wall at one end. He saw the soldiers and thecaptain on the bridge. They shouted, and they pointed at him. They looked likegiant monsters. As he looked, he heard gunfire. Something hit the water nearhis head. Now there was a second shot. He saw one soldier shooting at him.

Heknew he had to get to the forest and escape. He heard an officer call to theother soldiers to shoot.

Theprisoner went down into the river, deep, as far as he could. The water made agreat noise in his ears, but he heard the shots.

Ashe came up to the top again, he saw the bullets hit the water. Some of themtouched his face and hands.

Oneeven fell into the top of his shirt. He felt the heat of the bullet on hisback.

Whenhis head came out of the water for air, he saw that he was farther away fromthe soldiers. And he began swimming strongly.

Ashe swam, the soldiers fired their rifles. Then they fired their cannon at him.But nothing hit him. Then, suddenly, he could not swim. He was caught in awhirlpool which kept turning him around and around. This was the end, hethought. Then, just as suddenly as it had caught him, the whirlpool lifted himand threw him out of the river. He was on land!

Hekissed the ground. He looked around him. There was a pink light in the air. Thewind seemed to make music as it blew through the trees. He wanted to staythere. But the cannon fired again, and he heard the bullets above his head. Hegot up and ran into the forest. At last, he found a road toward his house. Itwas a wide, straight road. Yet it looked like a road that never had anytravelers on it. No farms. No houses on its sides, only tall black trees.

Inthe tall black trees, the prisoner heard strange voices. Some of them spoke inwords that he could not understand.

Hisneck began to hurt. When he touched it, it felt very large. His eyes hurt somuch that he could not close them. His feet moved, but he could not feel theroad.

Ashe walked, he was in a kind of sleep. Now, half-awake, half asleep, he foundhimself at the door of his house. His lovely wife ran to him. Ah, at last.

Heput his arms about his beautiful wife. And just then, he felt a terrible painin the back of his neck. All around him there was a great white light and thesound of a cannon. And then…then…darkness and silence.

Theprisoner was dead. His neck was broken. His body hung at the end of a rope. Itkept swinging from side to side. Swinging gently under a hole inOwlCreekBridge.

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Announcer:You have just heard the American story "An Occurrence atOwlCreekBridge." It was written by AmbroseBierce. Your storyteller was Shep O’Neal.

Listenagain next week at this same time for another American story told in SpecialEnglish on the Voice of .  This is Faith Lapidus.