Two noble houses. Centuries of hatred. A prophecy that may mean nothing—or everything.

In medieval Hungary, the young Baron Metzengerstein encounters a horse—gigantic, fiery-colored, unlike any creature in his stables.

He rides it obsessively. Dawn and midnight. Sickness and health. Riveted to the saddle as if becoming one with the creature.

It performs impossible feats. The servants whisper of things they cannot explain.

Some souls dwell only once in flesh. After that—only the scarcely tangible resemblance.

Publication Details:

"Metzengerstein" first appeared anonymously in the Philadelphia Saturday Courier on January 14, 1832, making it Edgar Allan Poe's first published tale. It was later revised and included in Tales of the Grotesque and Arabesque in 1840.

Author Biography:

Edgar Allan Poe (1809-1849) was an American writer, poet, and literary critic who pioneered the modern short story and detective fiction. His works of Gothic horror and psychological complexity remain among the most influential in world literature.

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