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.
Celtic Folk Tales
Ages 9-12
Dream of Owen O’Mulready
Owen O’Mulready has never had a dream, so his master tells him to sleep on the hearth, and that night he sets off for America on the back of a crane.
African Folk Tales
Why We See Ants Carrying Bundles as Big as Themselves
Greedy Anansi kills the king’s rain-making dwarf and is cursed to carry the body in a box forever, until he tricks honest Mr Ant into holding it.
African Folk Tales
The Ungrateful Man
A poor hunter frees a leopard, a serpent, a rat and a man from a pit; the animals reward him, but the rescued man betrays him for the king’s gold.
African Folk Tales
Ages 9-12
How Beasts and Serpents First Came into the World
Polite Kweku Tsin follows lost palm-kernels into a silent town and wins a food-giving drum, but rude Anansi brings home a drum that calls wild beasts.
Grimm's Fairy Tales
Ages 6-8
The Travelling Musicians
An old donkey, dog, cat, and cock set out for Bremen as town musicians—and their midnight concert drives robbers from a forest house.
Grimm's Fairy Tales
The Robber Bridegroom
A miller's daughter follows ashes into the forest to her betrothed's house—where a caged bird warns her it is a murderers' den.
Grimm's Fairy Tales
Ages 9-12
The Raven
A mother's impatient wish turns her daughter into a raven; a traveller must stay awake three days—or climb the glass mountain of Stromberg.
Grimm's Fairy Tales
Ages 3-5
The Elves and the Shoemaker
A poor shoemaker finds shoes finished overnight by two naked elves—then thanks them with tiny clothes, and they dance away forever.
Grimm's Fairy Tales
The Blue Light
A cast-off soldier steals a witch's never-dying blue light, summons a manikin with his pipe, and forces a hard king to yield kingdom and daughter.
Grimm's Fairy Tales
Sweetheart Roland
A witch kills her own child by mistake; the stepdaughter flees with Roland, outwits pursuit by shape-shifting—and a wedding song restores his memory.
The Wedding of Mrs Fox: Second Story
After Mr Fox dies, his widow rejects a series of animal suitors until a young fox has the red stockings and pointed mouth she wants.
Grimm's Fairy Tales
Ages 9-12
Old Sultan
Toothless Sultan fakes a rescue with a wolf's help, then stays loyal—winning a duel when a three-legged cat looks like a swordsman.