Honore de Balzac 
Journey from Paris to Java 

Honor de Balzac, the renowned French novelist and playright, and one of the pioneers of literary realism, makes a short fantasy diversion to the mystical island of Java, where he, or rather the narrateur, encounters a deadly poison-breathing tree, civilised monkeys, love-sick sparrows and that epitome of Oriental desirability of his day ? the women of Java.