It is hard to believe this and our other featured Frank Stockton story (The Lady or the Tiger) were written over 130 years ago. Both have a crisp, modern feel and enough ghoulish humor to satisfy most young readers. This story, which takes the form of a fairytale, involves a friendship between a griffin and hard-working priest. The worried villagers suggest that their visitor dines on the children at an orphanage in the next town, but the griffin thinks the priest is the only one in the area worth eating. Themes: vanity, bravery, dedication, friendship, fear, sacrifice. More…
Interpreter of Maladies
Interpreter of Maladies is the titular tale in Jhumpa Lahiri’s award-winning debut short story collection. The stories deal with different aspects of the cultural and relationship issues facing people of Indian heritage in the modern world. This story contrasts two empty marriages. The Indian protagonist (a doctor’s translator who moonlights as a tour guide) fantasizes that the wife in an Indian-American family he takes sightseeing has a romantic interest in him. Rather than love, she wants his help to find a “cure” for a foolish mistake she once made. Themes include marriage, communication, poor parenting, loss, guilt, loneliness, self-esteem. More…
Donkey Skin
The lessons taught by many folktales are just as important today as they were hundreds of years ago. Donkey Skin deals with sexual abuse in the form of incest between father and daughter. A powerful king wants to marry his daughter, as this is the only way he can keep a promise he made to his dying wife. Fortunately, the brave girl has other ideas. I find it interesting that the story makes it clear that the king’s actions are wrong, but seems to have no problem with a handsome prince who spies on women through key holes. More…
Philomel Cottage
This romantic story with a deadly twist is one of Agatha Christie’s lesser-known tales. Shortly after newly-weds Alix and Gerald move into secluded Philomel Cottage, Alix hears some disturbing news from the gardener. Gerald’s angry reaction when she asks him about it makes her realize how little she really knows about him. She sets out to fill in the gaps and discovers a trail of bigamy, swindling, murder, and escape form prison. Sensing danger, some quick thinking and a terrible-tasting new brand of coffee save her life. Themes include love and romance, manipulation, isolation, innocence, curiosity, fear, and the supernatural. More…
The Jogi’s Punishment
The moral of this Indian folktale appears to be that evil will always receive the punishment it deserves. We have a famed holy man who turns out to be not very holy after all, a selfish, gullible rajah who wants to keep the holy man’s talents and blessings all for himself, and an overly curious princess who disobeys her father’s order not to leave the palace grounds. We aren’t told much about the “gallant young prince of Dilaram” but he, too, must have done something wrong to be punished with the disobedient princess as a wife. More…