A Night in the Life of the Mayor
This humorous story by Manoj Das takes a satirical swipe at the abuse of power and narcissism of Indian officials. A mayor belittles his old professor for complaining about a stray cow that chewed up his granddaughter’s psychology notebooks. Karma strikes when that same cow runs off with the mayor’s half-eaten clothes and car keys as he is taking a dip in a secluded part of a river. He experiences an epiphany as he floats down the river, lying naked in a boat, after people arrive and start searching for him. Themes include ambition, power, pride, narcissism, self-discovery, redemption, regret.
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Most ‘frog’ folktales involve a frog prince or at the very least a male frog. However, in this story from Italy, a female frog makes friends with a young man and helps him keep his mother happy as he searches for a wife. Little does the young man know that his perfect woman is sitting on a rock beside him. Three possible morals: 1) Sometimes we don’t appreciate those around us enough; 2) Often the thing we are looking for is right under our noses; 3) Or how about the English idiom beauty is only (frog) skin deep.
With over 100 to choose from, it was hard to decide where to start with the short stories of Bengali writer 
In this popular Filipino story from 
A huge balloon appears unexpectedly one night, covering 20 city blocks of central Manhattan. Nobody knows why it is there, triggering varying initial responses. After a short time, people begin to accept the balloon simply because it exists. They no longer need to know why. Like the balloon, this story by 
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