UNCOLLECTED
STORIES
STEPHEN KING
1
CONTENTS
1. Jhonathan and the Witches
3
2. People, Places and Things
5
3. In a Half-World of Terror
13
4.
The
Glass
Floor
28
5. Slade
36
6. The Blue Air Compressor
49
7. The Cat From Hell
57
8.
The
Crate
70
9. Squad D
97
10. The King Family & the Wicked Witch 104
11. The Night of the Tiger
111
12.
Before
the
Play
123
13. Man With a Belly
136
14.
Skybar
146
15.
The
Leprechaun
157
16. Keyholes
161
17.
For
the
Birds
163
18. The
Reploids
164
19. An Evening at God’s
176
2
JHONATHAN AND THE WITCHES
From
King wrote this in 1956 at the age of 9 for his Aunt Gert who used to pay him a quarter per story.
Once upon a time there was a boy named Jhonathan. He was smart, handsome, and very brave. But Jhonathan was a cobbler’s son. One day his father said, "Jhonathan, you must go and seek your fortune. You are old enough."
Jhonathan, being a smart boy, knew he better ask the king for work.
So he set out. On the way, he met a rabbit who was a fairy in disguise.
The scared thing was being pursued by hunters and jumped into Jhonathan’s arms. When the hunters came up Jhonathan pointed excitedly and shouts, "That way, that way!"
After the hunters had gone, the rabbit turned into a fairy and said,
"You have helped me. I will give you three wishes. What are they?"
But Jhonathan could not think of anything, so the fairy agreed to give him when he needed them. So Jhonathan kept walking until he made the kingdom without incident. So he went to the king and asked for work.
But, as luck would have it, the king was in a very bad mood that day. So he vented his mood on Jhonathan.
"Yes there is something you can do. On yonder Mountain there are three witches. If you can kill them, I will give you 5,000 crowns. If you cannot do it I will have your head! You have 20 days." With this he dismissed Jhonathan.
"Now what am I to do?" thought Jhonathan. “Well I shall try.”
Then he remembered the three wishes granted him and set out for the mountain.
Now Jhonathan was at the mountain and was just going to wish for a knife to kill the witch, when he heard a voice in his ear, "The first witch cannot be pierced. The second witch cannot be pierced or smothered.
The third cannot be pierced, smothered and is invisible.”
With this knowledge Jhonathan looked about and saw no one. Then he remembered the fairy, and smiled. He then went in search of the first witch. At last he found her. She was in a cave near the foot of the mountain, and was a mean looking hag. He remembered the fairy words, and before the witch could do anything but give him an ugly look, he wished she should be smothered. And Lo! It was done. Now he went higher in search of the second witch. There was a second cave 3