Creating block of node links in drupal v6.x

I am new to drupal and am trying to create a block which should display only "links" to the limited number of recent stories published on the website, . I want to display this block in the main content area of the front page.

I tried various block code snippets from the drupal website and I always end up seeing the whole content of the story in the block.

Any help regarding this will be appreciable.