Honesty & Truth
Truth, lies, evidence and belief are at stake in these stories. Some characters expose fraud; others struggle to be believed, or use deception themselves. Compare what the reader knows with what each character can prove. The outcomes provide material for discussing trust without promising that honesty always brings immediate success.
Grimm's Fairy Tales
Ages 9-12
Little Red Riding Hood
A wolf swallows Red-Cap and her grandmother before a hunter rescues them; later, grandmother and child work together to outwit a second wolf.
Aesop's Fables
Ages 6-8
The Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing
A wolf hides in a sheepskin to slip into the flock, but the disguise works too well when the shepherd reaches into the fold for meat.
Southeast Asian Folk Tales
Ages 6-8
Sang Nila Utama and the Lion of Singapura
A prince from Bintan sails toward the white sands of Temasek, throws his crown into a storm to save his ship, and meets a strange beast said to be a lion.
Indian Folk Tales
Ages 9-12
Savitri and the Lord of Death
When a wise man warns that her chosen husband will die within a year, Princess Savitri marries him anyway, and when Death comes for him, she follows.
Korean Folk Tales
The Story of Chunhyang
A governor’s son climbs a mountain to admire the spring view and glimpses a girl flying up on a swing among the peach blossoms in a garden below.
Norse Folk Tales
Ages 9-12
The Apples of Idun
When a giant in eagle form traps Loki, the price of his freedom is Idun and her golden apples, and without them the gods of Asgard start to grow old.
Norse Folk Tales
Ages 9-12
The Theft of Thor’s Hammer (Thrymskvida)
When the giant Thrym steals Thor’s hammer and demands Freyja as his bride, the gods come up with a plan that leaves Thor dressed in a wedding veil.
Arabian Nights
Ages 9-12
The Barber’s Tale of His Sixth Brother
Schacabac plays along with a Barmecide's invisible feast, earns a real one and twenty years' favour—then loses all when his patron dies.
Arabian Nights
Scheherazade and the Sultan
To end the Sultan's deadly weddings, the vizier's daughter Scheherazade volunteers as his bride, with a plan that depends on one story.
Arabian Nights
Ages 9-12
The Seven Voyages of Sinbad: The Fifth Voyage
Sinbad’s crew breaks a roc egg and pays with a wreck; washed ashore, he frees himself from the Old Man of the Sea, then harvests nuts via angry monkeys.
Jataka Tales
The Wise Hare
Four animal friends keep a fast day; when Sakka tests them, the hare offers himself to the fire and his image is painted on the moon.
Jataka Tales
Ages 6-8
The Golden Goose: A Jataka Tale
A golden goose gives a poor family one feather at a time, until the greedy mother plucks him bare and finds that stolen feathers turn plain white.