Death and the Gardener

This story by Jean Cocteau is allegedly the shortest bona fide complete horror story ever written: A young gardener said to his prince, "Save me! I met Death in the garden this morning and he made a menacing gesture. Tonight I wish by some miracle I could be far away, in Ispahan". The prince lent him his swiftest horse. That afternoon, walking in the garden, the prince came face to face with Death. "Why," he asked, "did you make a threatening gesture at my gardener this morning?" "It wasn't a threatening gesture," answered Death. "It was a gesture of surprise. I saw him far from Ispahan this morning and I knew I must take him in Ispahan tonight."