Ages 9-12
Stories suggested for ages 9–12, with longer journeys, competing motives and difficult choices. Some contain frightening scenes or violence described in the page’s guidance. These age suggestions support selection and discussion; they do not make every traditional story equally suitable for every reader.
Chinese Folk Tales
Ages 9-12
Why Dog and Cat Are Enemies
A dog and a cat team up to bring back their owners’ lucky golden ring, but only the cat gets the praise, and the dog has chased cats ever since.
Chinese Folk Tales
Ages 9-12
The Two Scholars
Two herb-gathering scholars marry peach-cave brides, return to find seventy years gone, and meet two very different fates at home.
Chinese Folk Tales
Ages 9-12
The Three Rhymsters
At a birthday feast two learned sons-in-law mock the farmer’s clumsy poem, until his clever wife steps out and shows how his lines beat theirs.
Chinese Folk Tales
Ages 9-12
The Spirits of the Yellow River
The Yellow River’s Golden Dragon-King appears as a tiny snake who loves plays, and anyone who mocks his size soon sees how big he can grow.
Chinese Folk Tales
Ages 9-12
The Spirit of the Wu-Lian Mountain
A storm monster snatches a scholar by the hair and carries him through the sky until a golden-armored guardian god forces it to drop him on a temple tower.
Chinese Folk Tales
Ages 9-12
The Queen of Heaven
A devout Fukien girl becomes the Queen of Heaven, guardian of sailors, who calms storms with her sword and pulls a lost ship out of the Black Whirlpool.
Chinese Folk Tales
Ages 9-12
The Lady of the Moon
Tschang O swallows her husband’s herb of immortality and floats up to the moon, where a Tang emperor later visits her halls of crystal.
Chinese Folk Tales
Ages 9-12
The Little Hunting Dog
Tiny horsemen hunt the fleas in a scholar’s room and ride away, leaving behind an ant-sized hunting dog that becomes his most treasured companion.
Chinese Folk Tales
Ages 9-12
The Kingdom of the Ogres
A merchant shipwrecked among ogres wins his life by cooking for them, marries an ogre-girl, and years later his son brings the whole family home.
Chinese Folk Tales
Ages 9-12
The King of the Ants
In a haunted house a scholar watches a tiny king hunt on his bed and fish in his ink saucer, until the little king’s boasting goes too far.
Chinese Folk Tales
Ages 9-12
The King of Huai Nan
Eight old men who can turn into boys teach a Han prince their magic arts, and when rebellion comes they carry him off to immortality.
Chinese Folk Tales
Ages 9-12
The Halos of the Saints
A peeping mandarin is blinded by the God of War’s red halo, and a fox tells a proud scholar that his head shows nothing but black fog.