Deception & Trickery
Disguises, misleading promises, false evidence and ingenious escapes drive these stories. A trick may protect someone, exploit them or do both at different moments. Follow who knows the truth and who pays for the deception, then consider whether success makes the method fair.
Norse Folk Tales
Ages 9-12
Freya’s Necklace: The Brisingamen
Freyja longs for a jewel to wear to the great feast, but the shining necklace she wins from four laughing dwarfs costs her far more than she expects.
Arabian Nights
Ages 9-12
The Fisherman and the Genie
A poor fisherman tricks a furious genie back into his jar, and the four coloured fish he wins lead a curious Sultan to a palace of black marble.
Arabian Nights
Aladdin and the Wonderful Lamp
A false uncle sends Aladdin into a treasure cave for a lamp; genies raise a palace—until "New lamps for old!" carries it to Africa.
Celtic Folk Tales
Ages 9-12
The Field of Boliauns
Tom Fitzpatrick catches a leprechaun mending a shoe in a hedge and makes him show where his gold is buried, but the little man is cleverer than Tom.
Celtic Folk Tales
Ages 9-12
King O’Toole and His Goose
Old King O’Toole can no longer hunt, and his only joy is a goose too old to fly, until a stranger offers to make her new for a curious price.
African Folk Tales
Ages 9-12
Why Tigers Never Attack Men Unless They Are Provoked
A hunter and a tiger become friends and visit each other’s homes, until a hidden shot makes the tiger wonder whether his friend betrayed him.
African Folk Tales
Ages 9-12
Quarcoo Bah-Boni
A week-old baby who names himself Quarcoo Bah-boni is too wild for his mother, so he goes to serve five animals who soon regret taking him in.
African Folk Tales
Ages 9-12
How the Tortoise Got Its Shell
Tall, fast Klo the tortoise wins a fight for palm wine, drinks too much, and gets shut outside the god Mauri’s feast in a two-month rain.
African Folk Tales
Ages 9-12
How Mushrooms First Grew
A debt is passed from two brothers to a bushfowl, a tree, an elephant, a hunter and a stump, until the clever ants find a way to pay it off.
African Folk Tales
Anansi the Blind Fisherman
Old, blind Anansi goes fishing with two kind helpers but answers every bit of help with insults, until the helpers decide to let his pride guide him.
African Folk Tales
Ages 6-8
Adzanumee and Her Mother
A childless woman’s wish turns a perfect yam into a daughter, on one condition she must keep, but a single impatient remark undoes the miracle.
Grimm's Fairy Tales
The Seven Ravens
A father's angry wish turns seven sons into ravens; their sister walks to the world's end and opens a glass-mountain with her own finger.