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332 stories found
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The Rolling Rice Ball (Omusubi Kororin) Japanese Folk Tales Ages 9-12

The Rolling Rice Ball (Omusubi Kororin)

The Rolling Rice Ball (Omusubi Kororin): Long ago, in a small village nestled among bamboo groves and rice paddies, there lived an old man of remarkable

Issun-boshi: The One-Inch Boy Japanese Folk Tales Ages 9-12

Issun-boshi: The One-Inch Boy

Issun-boshi: The One-Inch Boy: In a distant province of Japan, there lived an elderly couple who had no children. For decades they prayed at temples and left

The Snow Woman (Yuki-Onna) Japanese Folk Tales Ages 9-12

The Snow Woman (Yuki-Onna)

The Snow Woman (Yuki-Onna): In the mountains of Japan, where winter descended with the weight of ancient spirits and snow fell so thickly that the world became

The Gratitude of the Crane Japanese Folk Tales Ages 9-12

The Gratitude of the Crane

The Gratitude of the Crane: In a small village nestled in the valleys of rural Japan, a poor farmer named Takeshi worked his small plot of land with the

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The Calabash Children African Folk Tales Ages 9-12

The Calabash Children

A traditional Chaga folk tale from Mount Kilimanjaro, Tanzania: a lonely widow grows children from calabash gourds, then loses them to one careless, cruel word.

Why Mosquitoes Buzz in People’s Ears African Folk Tales Ages 9-12

Why Mosquitoes Buzz in People’s Ears

Why Mosquitoes Buzz in People's Ears: In the ancient days of West Africa, when all the creatures lived in harmony and spoke to one another with respect, a

The Clever Tortoise and the Elephant African Folk Tales Ages 9-12

The Clever Tortoise and the Elephant

The clever tortoise tricks a boastful elephant and a proud hippopotamus into a tug-of-war against each other - a classic West African trickster tale of wit over strength.

The Girl and the River Spirit African Folk Tales Ages 9-12

The Girl and the River Spirit

The Girl and the River Spirit — a Yoruba folk tale of Nigeria in which the devoted girl Adeola crosses a dangerous river and is tested by the river goddess Osun through three trials of kindness, honesty and love.

How the Leopard Got His Spots African Folk Tales Ages 9-12

How the Leopard Got His Spots

The canonical story of how the leopard got his spots: Rudyard Kipling's pourquoi tale from Just So Stories (1902), retold with full scholarly attribution.

The Brave Little Tailor Grimm's Fairy Tales Ages 9-12

The Brave Little Tailor

The Brave Little Tailor: In a small cottage at the edge of a great city, there lived a tailor whose hands were as skilled as any craftsman in the kingdom, but

The Twelve Dancing Princesses: A Grimm Retelling Grimm's Fairy Tales Ages 9-12

The Twelve Dancing Princesses: A Grimm Retelling

The Twelve Dancing Princesses: A Grimm Retelling: In a grand castle overlooking fertile valleys and dense forests, there lived a king with twelve daughters.

Sleeping Beauty (Briar Rose) Grimm's Fairy Tales Ages 9-12

Sleeping Beauty (Briar Rose)

Sleeping Beauty (Briar Rose): On the morning that the princess was christened, the entire kingdom gathered in the grand cathedral of the castle to celebrate

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