Millhauser's collection of three novellas, Little Kingdoms, also explores in similarly magically realistic ways the different desires that can consume and enchant. In each story a different art is considered, but in extremely different ways. The art begins to dictate reality to some extent, which is similar to "The Knife Thrower," and the community surrounding the art must deal with the effects of being consumed by a particular idea. The motif of the dagger, as well as the emphasis on a community's response to particular stimuli is present in the second novella, "The Princess, the Dwarf and the Dungeon."