Greed & Consequences
Stories in which the desire for wealth, status or more than a fair share changes what characters do. Follow the moment when a wish becomes harmful, and examine the consequences for bystanders as well as the person seeking the reward. A spectacular punishment can itself raise questions about fairness.
Celtic Folk Tales
Hudden and Dudden and Donald O’Neary
Donald O'Neary retaliates after two farmers kill his cow, but his escalating tricks also harm people outside their quarrel.
Celtic Folk Tales
Gold-Tree and Silver-Tree
A jealous queen asks a trout in a well who is the most beautiful, and when it names her daughter Gold-Tree, she sets out to destroy the girl.
African Folk Tales
Why White Ants Always Harm Man’s Property
Spider wins back a stolen antelope by tricking Wolf and Leopard, then steals the feast meant for the white ants who freed them, with bitter results.
African Folk Tales
Ages 9-12
Why Spiders Are Always Found in the Corners of Ceilings
Egya Anansi sends his family away so he can secretly eat the whole harvest, until a sticky rubber-man set in the fields catches the thief at last.
African Folk Tales
Ages 9-12
Tit for Tat
Anansi tracks his son to a secret hunting ground and steals it, so Kweku Tsin hangs a nodding, jingling little image in the path to win the meat back.
African Folk Tales
The Grinding-Stone That Ground Flour by Itself
Anansi tricks his cousin into revealing a magic stone that grinds flour beside a stream of honey, then greedily carries the stone off on his head.
African Folk Tales
Ohia and the Thieving Deer
Poor Ohia chases the deer stealing his palm wine to a council of animals, wins the gift of animal speech, and must never reveal it on pain of death.
African Folk Tales
Ages 6-8
Honourable Minū
A poor Akim-man in Accra hears “Minū” after every question and decides one Mr Minū owns all the town’s riches, until he meets a funeral procession.
African Folk Tales
Anansi and Nothing
Anansi borrows rich Nothing’s velvet cloth to win wives, loses them to Nothing’s kind bride, and turns to a deadly trap in jealous revenge.
Grimm's Fairy Tales
The Miser in the Bush
An underpaid servant receives magical gifts, then uses a compulsory-dancing fiddle to extort money and overturn a court sentence.
Grimm's Fairy Tales
The King of the Golden Mountain
A merchant sells whatever meets him first for a dwarf's gold—and twelve years later his son Heinel must outwit the bargain.
Grimm's Fairy Tales
Ages 6-8
The Golden Goose
Dummling shares his poor cake with a grey man, finds a golden goose that glues a whole procession—and makes a solemn princess laugh.