Book excerpt: The stories are based primarily on real events, which took place in different regions. It exhilarates the knowledge of the customs, traditions, social, cultural and moral values of the different nationalities. Some of the stories cast light, on certain fundamental human weakness. Two hard working persons, Augus and Zain, struggled strenuously to change their fates, but failed. A brave man, Rahim did not care to risk his life to help his neighbors. A charming and beautiful girl, Billo married a man whom she loved, but he already had a wife and children. A curse, befallen on an Indian family taught to love and care for the birds and creatures. Hammar, an old neglected donkey of Shibam, pathetically tells the atrocities of the best creation of God on the animals. A pretty Thai girl Helen, who could not marry her best boy friend, describes her bitter experiences. A poor Javanese girl, Shanti, laments her unfortunate ventures of an arranged marriage to an old person to repay his financial favors to her parents. After the death of her old husband, she married a young person of her choice, and her married life turned into a heaven. Later, Shanti got real satisfaction by helping the poor and needy girls.