Hindi · English · C1–C2
Advanced Hindi stories, with the English alongside (C1–C2)
Poe, Bierce, Hawthorne, Melville and Twain in Hindi: dense, stylish prose, with the English original there for the sentences worth a second look.
13 free advanced stories in Hindi
Each one opens in your browser with no account, the Hindi and the English side by side, paragraph by paragraph, shortest first. Every story is also a free Hindi–English ebook for Kindle, Kobo or any e-reader: downloading needs a free account, no payment (which file to pick).
Open the advanced Hindi–English stories in the library, where you can search them and switch to another level or pair.
- C1

अंडाकार चित्र
The Oval Portrait
Edgar Allan Poe · Hindi · 10 min
- C1

द टेल-टेल हार्ट
The Tell-Tale Heart
Edgar Allan Poe · Hindi · 15 min
- C1

द मास्क ऑफ़ द रेड डेथ
The Masque of the Red Death
Edgar Allan Poe · Hindi · 15 min
- C1

अमोंतिलादो का पीपा
The Cask of Amontillado
Edgar Allan Poe · Hindi · 15 min
- C2

कैलावेरास काउंटी का प्रसिद्ध छलांग लगाने वाला मेंढक
The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County
Mark Twain · Hindi · 15 min
- C1

टोबरमोरी
Tobermory
Saki · Hindi · 20 min
- C1

वन में सोई हुई सुंदरी
The Sleeping Beauty in the Wood
Charles Perrault · Hindi · 25 min
- C1

डॉक्टर हाइडेगर का प्रयोग
Dr. Heidegger’s Experiment
Nathaniel Hawthorne · Hindi · 25 min
- C1

आउल क्रीक ब्रिज पर एक घटना
An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge
Ambrose Bierce · Hindi · 25 min
- C1

काली बिल्ली
The Black Cat
Edgar Allan Poe · Hindi · 25 min
- C1

द यलो वॉलपेपर
The Yellow Wallpaper
Charlotte Perkins Gilman · Hindi · 40 min
- C1

द लेजेंड ऑफ़ स्लीपी होलो
The Legend of Sleepy Hollow
Washington Irving · Hindi · 1 h 15 min
- C2

बार्टलबी, द स्क्रिवनर
Bartleby the Scrivener
Herman Melville · Hindi · 1 h 30 min
What advanced Hindi stories are like
Advanced stories are dense on purpose: Poe’s narrators circle their own guilt, Bierce bends time, Melville’s Bartleby prefers not to. The Hindi carries that style with long sentences, rare words and a literary register.
At this level you rarely need the English for the plot. It is there for the phrases that are hard to pin down, and for comparing how the same effect is achieved in two languages.
How to read Hindi at C1–C2
Read the Hindi as literature
Read at your normal pace and let unfamiliar words go when the meaning is clear. Stop only where the style or a turn of phrase interests you.
Use the English for nuance
When a word could mean two things, the English shows which one the story needs. That is where advanced readers still learn the most.
Read aloud
Literary Hindi has rhythm. Reading a paragraph aloud, then checking its English, trains your ear as well as your eye.
More on the method in how to read a parallel text.