Italian Folktale. A magical 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. A possible moral: beauty is only (frog) skin deep.
Short Story by Rabindranath Tagore. A dying man puts his wife and son under his parsimonious brother's care. The boy has a talent for art, which his mother fosters in secret. When the brother-in-law finds out and decides to put the boy in boarding school, she must take desperate action.
Short Story by Manuel E. Aguilla. A son brings his city-based bride home to the countryside to “meet the family”, only to have the poor woman tested by his father before she even arrives. The apprehensive but charming girl (in high heels no less!) passes with flying colors.
Short Story by Donald Barthelme. 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.
Short Story by A. E. Coppard. A depressed man who watched the antics of a mouse in front of his fireplace later finds it sitting before a trap with its forepaws torn off. Association of this with his mother’s grisly death sends him to the brink of madness.