The Disappearing Elephant

“If you let me help you, things might change,” whispered the dwarf.
“What kind of help is this?” I asked immediately with curiosity.
“Dancing. That girl loves dancing. So if you dance well in front of that girl, she will be yours… There is a way. If you really want that girl. Do you want it?”
“Yes, I want it,” I said.
“It’s not difficult. I will get inside you. I will dance by borrowing your body.”

“But can this really be done?”
“It can be done. If I do this, that girl will definitely be yours. I guarantee it. Not just that girl. Any girl you want can be yours. But I have one condition. It’s not that difficult, but it’s still a condition…”
“What kind of condition is this?”

“First, I will get inside your body, then I will go to the dance hall and ask that girl to dance. Then I will get that girl for you. You will not say a word during this time… You will not make a sound. That’s my condition.”

The Vanishing Elephant, a collection of 17 stories written by Haruki Murakami between 1980 and 1991, was first published in English as a book. Before being published as a book, some of the stories were published in magazines such as The New Yorker and Playboy. The Vanishing Elephant is a book that Murakami fans have been waiting for a long time, providing very important clues about the sources of Haruki Murakami's literature, including stories that are the starting point of the author's cult works such as 1Q84 and The Wind-Up Bird's Diary, as well as "Burning Down the Barn", which was adapted into a movie under the title Doubt.