Droll Stories — Volume 2

"Droll Stories — Volume 2" by Honoré de Balzac is a set of funny stories from the 1800s that makes fun of life in France with lots of jokes, delivered through funny situations involving both important people from history and regular citizens. At the start, the author jokes about how hard it is to write a lot of books and responds to people who don't like his stories. The first story, "The Three Clerks of Saint Nicholas," is about three dishonest clerks staying at an inn who only think about themselves and play tricks on others. Their funny actions are used to show how silly people can be, and the author uses smart humor to explore the ideas of lying and being clever in a fun way.