Soliciting short story recommendations

[playbelle]

I have done my fair share of googling, but the requirements I have don't seem to translate well into search terms, so I turn to the fine cultured folks here for help. I imagine many of you here might be able to recommend the kinds of stories I'm looking for...

Namely, I'm looking for a short story or stories in English that

• deal with friendship, or involve a situation between humans from which some universal moral can be extracted (the moral of the story doesn't have to be too easily pinpointed; requiring some thinking is good!)
• use relatively simple language (or where occasional complicated words or phrasing don't get in the way of understanding the whole text)
• not too long, one or two pages at the most
• are in the public domain/available on the internet
• era of writing and/or setting are not important; doesn't have to be originally written in English

This is for ESL (English as Second Language) teaching purposes, hence the need for simpler language, but we would read through the text together in class so the students don't have to struggle through it alone. I'd guesstimate their level to be somewhere around pre-Intermediate/post- absolute Beginner... to coin a rough classification. Some of them understand texts much more difficult than what they would be able to produce themselves though.

Many thanks in advance to anyone that is willingly to give this some thought!

[Edit] I hope this isn't terribly off-topic here... The reason I thought to ask FL is because I feel that what I'm looking for kind of jives with the morals and general world view of a lot of people here.

 

[Slim Portly]

O. Henry. The stories are often quite short, they are now in the public domain, they are fun to read, and they usually have surprise endings that illustrate a moral. All perfect for ESL classes. Start with "The Gift of the Magi" and "The Ransom of Red Chief."

Link to Wikipedia for more info.

 

[Paisley]

It's the one to two pages I am having trouble with; most short stories are much longer. What about using the Bible as literature? Some of the parables are short, and most of your students will probably be familiar with them. Something from the story of Queen Esther might be useful. King David had an interesting life as well.

 

[Story]

An Occurence at Owl Creek Bridge - Ambrose Bierce

http://www.americanliterature.com/SS/SS03.HTML

A version with notes for the instructor.
http://extend.unb.ca/wss/1145demo/owl2.htm

Bierce led an interesting life and was an acerbic writer. Many of his observations on politicians and military bureaucrats still hold true to this day.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ambrose_Bierce

 

[Twitch]

I was thinking the saga of Daman and Pythias might qualify...

 

[Atticus Finch]

I agree with Story....Occurrence At The Owl Creek Bridge is an excellent example of a short story with a walloping message.

Here's another:

http://www.classicshorts.com/stories/sniper.html

AF

 

[Story]

Stephen Crane (RED BADGE OF COURAGE) also wrote a wide selection of short stories. Take your pick.
http://www.geocities.com/stephen_crane_us/

 

[Caroline]

Maybe "Hills Like White Elephants" by Hemingway? It has to be somewhere on the web. That was the first one to pop into my head.