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.
Grimm's Fairy Tales
Ages 9-12
The Golden Bird
A golden feather leads a gardener's youngest son on a fox-guided quest for a golden bird, a wind-swift horse, and a princess.
Grimm's Fairy Tales
Mother Holle
A hardworking girl follows her spindle into Mother Holle's realm, earns a shower of gold—and her lazy sister comes home coated in pitch.
Grimm's Fairy Tales
Ages 9-12
Briar Rose
A fairy's death curse is softened to a hundred years of sleep, and a prince reaches the briar-bound castle when that time ends.
Chinese Folk Tales
Ages 9-12
Women’s Words Part Flesh and Blood
A spiteful sister-in-law boils her brother-in-law’s seed, but one sprout grows huge, and a giant Roc flies him to an island heaped with gold and silver.
Chinese Folk Tales
The Widow Ho
A whirlwind and a widow's clothing prompt an official's suspicion; a disguised inquiry finds the witness on whom the murder verdict rests.
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
The Punishment of Greed
A schoolteacher breaks open a glowing coffin hoping for jewels, and the young man lying inside sits up and chases him all the way home.
Chinese Folk Tales
Ages 6-8
The Miserly Farmer
A farmer refuses a ragged monk a single pear, then gapes as the monk grows a magic pear tree in the market and hands its fruit to the whole crowd.
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
The Heartless Husband
A woman survives her husband's attempt to drown her; her adopted parents expose him and then press for a reconciliation.
Chinese Folk Tales
Ages 9-12
The Golden Canister
A slave-girl skilled with the sword slips into an enemy count’s bedroom by night and takes his golden canister, ending a war before it begins.