Featured Stories

The Three Wonderful Beggars

The Three Wonderful Beggars: Serbian folktale from Andrew LangIn this Serbian folktale, a young girl stops her rich but cruel father from setting his dogs on three old men who come begging to his door. The old men are not really beggars, but fairies. They foretell that a baby boy in a nearby village will one day own all the rich man’s money and land. The rich man learns this and tries several times to kill the boy. However, he boy survives and the fairies’ prophesy comes true. As a final punishment, the rich man must work forever in a job that is much worse than begging.

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The Train from Rhodesia

The Train from Rhodesia: Short story by Nadine GordimerIn this Nadine Gordimer story, poverty-stricken villagers hawking food and local crafts swarm an African passenger train during its short stop at an isolated station. A young passenger admires a beautifully carved lion offered by a frail old man, but rejects it as being too expensive. She becomes upset when her husband later presents it to her, proudly announcing that he paid less than half the asking price. Although clearly outraged by his pleasure in humiliating the old man, her anger may imply other problems in their relationship. Themes: racial inequality, wealth and poverty, greed, exploitation, shame, identity and independence.

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The Best Girlfriend You Never Had

The Best Girlfriend You Never Had: Short story by Pam HoustonIf you are looking for a story with a traditional plot structure, this work of contemporary fiction by Pam Houston is not for you. The story comprises fourteen anecdotes and observations about the life of a thirty-one-year-old woman who comes to San Francisco seeking order and romantic love. Instead, she finds chaos and frustration. Obsessed with finding the right man, she always seems to identify with the wrong ones. The one man in her life she has strong feelings for calls himself the best girlfriend you never had. Themes: order vs. chaos, friendship vs. romantic love, self-esteem, fear, enlightenment, change.

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Popular Mechanics (Mine / Little Things)

Popular Mechanics (Mine / Little Things): Short story by Raymond CarverAs anyone who has witnessed an acrimonious divorce knows, sometimes demands over property settlement and custody of children defy logic. This is often because discussions are driven by anger and a desire to hurt or “get back at” the other party as opposed to fairness and what is best for all. In this short story by Raymond Carver, the only major point of argument seems to be which parent will be the main carer for the couple’s baby. Unfortunately, the simple mechanics of a newly formed human body lead to a “Solomon-like” solution that will not please either of them.

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The Metaphor

The Metaphor: Short story by Budge WilsonIn this coming-of-age story by Budge Wilson, a seventh-grade girl flourishes under a flamboyant English teacher. Inspired by the teacher, she learns to endure problems at home by writing metaphors. Four years later, she has the same teacher in high school. The unruly tenth graders constantly humiliate the poor woman, who has difficulty coping. Rather than acknowledge their past or offer thanks for her help in seventh grade, the girl ignores her. When the teacher dies in a tragic after-school accident, the devastated teen copes with her guilt by writing a metaphor. Themes include identity, peer pressure, guilt, self-realization.

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Apollo

Apollo: Short story by Chimamanda Ngozi AdichieThe major themes of this story by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie are aging, parent-child relationships, class, sexuality, jealousy and betrayal. A young Nigerian man is reminded of a time when, thanks to a shared interest in martial arts, he had bonded with one of his family’s houseboys (Raphael). Despite their differences in age and social class, the two spent hours practicing moves and mock fighting whenever his parents were away. For the boy, the relationship changes when Raphael contracts Apollo (conjunctivitis) and is confined to his room. Later, jealousy leads to betrayal with dire consequences for poor Raphael’s future.

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The Dinner Party

The Dinner Party: Short story by Mona GardnerThe theme of Mona Gardner’s The Dinner Party is gender stereotyping. The story is a satire of attitudes towards women in upper class colonial England. It begins with a debate over dinner between an army officer and young girl. The officer argues that men are better than women at staying calm during a crisis. The host’s wife proves him wrong by demonstrating nerves of steel when the guests are threatened by a deadly visitor. Although one of the other guests foreshadows the looming danger, the full extent of the woman’s courage is not evident until the final paragraph.

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The Adventure of the Speckled Band

The Adventure of the Speckled Band: Short story by Arthur Conan DoyleThis story, considered by Arthur Conan Doyle to be his best Sherlock Holmes mystery, features one of his most creative (and unlikeliest) murder plots. Thirty-year-old Helen, Holmes’s client, is a victim of Victorian attitudes towards women. Fearing for their future, her dead mother had decided that she and twin sister Julia would not receive their inheritances until they married. Their violent stepfather, who manages the money, will become destitute should either of them wed. After announcing her engagement, Julia dies under mysterious circumstances. Helen fears that she will be next. Themes: decay, isolation, fear, murder, class, greed, hasty judgement, justice.

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