The Man That Corrupted Hadleyburg (Unabridged)

"The Man That Corrupted Hadleyburg" is a piece of short fiction by Mark Twain. It first appeared in Harper's Monthly in December 1899, and was subsequently published by Harper & Brothers in the collection The Man That Corrupted Hadleyburg and Other Stories and Sketches (1900). Some see this story «as a replay of the Garden of Eden story», and associate the corrupter of the town with Satan. Hadleyburg enjoys the reputation of being an «incorruptible» town known for its responsible, honest people that are trained to avoid temptation. However, at some point the people of Hadleyburg manage to offend a passing stranger, and he vows to get his revenge by corrupting the town.