Then there's 'The Necklace' by Guy de Maupassant. A woman borrows a diamond necklace to attend a ball, but loses it. She and her husband spend years working hard to pay off the debt for a replacement. In the end, she discovers that the original necklace was a fake. This story cleverly shows the vanity and the consequences of false pride.
Sure. Here is one. A magician was walking down the street and turned into a grocery store. Another one is that a bear walked into a bar and said, 'Give me a whiskey... and a cola.' The bartender said, 'Why the big pause?' The bear replied, 'I'm not sure; I was born with them.'
Sure. One story is about a magician. He was on a cruise ship performing tricks. He had a parrot as his assistant. Every time the magician did a trick, the parrot would yell, 'It's in his sleeve!' The magician was furious but couldn't do anything. One day the ship sank. The magician found himself floating on a piece of wood with the parrot. The parrot looked at him and said, 'Okay, I give up. Where's the ship?'
One clever horror story is 'The Yellow Wallpaper'. It tells the tale of a woman's descent into madness as she becomes obsessed with the pattern on the wallpaper in her room. The way the author builds the sense of unease and the woman's psychological breakdown is very clever.
One clever ghost story is 'The Canterville Ghost' by Oscar Wilde. It tells the story of an American family who moves into a haunted English castle. The ghost tries to scare them but is constantly outwitted by the family, especially the young daughter. It's a humorous and clever take on the typical ghost story.
One popular 'clever woman' Hindi short story could be 'Panchatantra' stories which often feature clever female characters. For example, the story of the crow and the fox where the female crow outwits the fox with her intelligence.
😋I highly recommend the short story,"A Story of the Farm: The Godly Doctor and the Strong Woman Love Farming", to you! The female protagonist, Cheng Xinyue, traveled to ancient times and changed from a poor peasant girl to the most beautiful and intelligent little divine doctor in the village. Not only could she cure the sick and save people, but she could also help the poor. She was not afraid of facing her best relatives. She was very smart and witty! I hope you like this fairy's recommendation. Muah ~😗
Sure. There was a little boy who wanted more cookies. His mom said he could have one more if he could name two things that were clean. He quickly said 'soap and water'. His mom was so amused by his cleverness that she gave him a whole plate of cookies.
Another one is about a dolphin. In an aquarium, a dolphin noticed that the trainers would reward it when it did a new trick. So the dolphin started combining different tricks it already knew in new ways to keep getting rewards. This shows the dolphin's intelligence in understanding the reward system and being creative to get more treats.
Sure. There is a story about a crow. Once, the crow was very thirsty. It found a pitcher with a little water at the bottom. But its beak couldn't reach the water. So it dropped pebbles into the pitcher one by one. As the pebbles filled the pitcher, the water level rose and the crow was able to drink the water. It shows how clever the crow can be in solving problems.
There's a fanfic called 'Naruto's Intellectual Ascent'. In this story, Naruto not only grows in his ninja skills but also in his intelligence. It shows how he uses his wits to solve complex problems in the ninja world. The character development is really well - done and it's a very engaging read.