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
The Wedding of Mrs Fox: First Story
An old fox fakes death to test his wife; only a nine-tailed suitor is accepted—until he leaps from under the bench with a cudgel.
Grimm's Fairy Tales
Ages 9-12
How Chanticleer and Partlet Went to Visit Mr Korbes
A rooster, a hen and their unusual travelling companions visit Mr Korbes and arrange a series of painful traps in his house.
Chinese Folk Tales
The Flying Ogre
A wandering monk hides a barefoot girl in red inside a giant hollow tree, until a heavenly rider on a lightning-fast horse reveals what she really is.
Chinese Folk Tales
Ages 9-12
The Fire-God
Dschu Yung taught people to use fire and became the Fire-God, who later rides along disguised as a girl in red and warns a polite rich man of a blaze.
Arabian Nights
The Barber’s Story of His Fifth Brother
Idle Alnaschar invests his inheritance in glass, kicks the basket in a daydream of marrying the vizir's daughter—then walks into a deadlier trap.
Indian Folk Tales
Ages 9-12
Why Brahmans Cannot Eat in the Dark
On his wedding night a young bridegroom is caught by a crocodile and begs to be let go until midnight, but his clever bride follows him with a hidden lamp.
The King Who Would See Paradise
A king who cannot believe in what he cannot see makes a holy man promise to show him Paradise, and the glimpse he gets costs him far more than he expects.
Indian Folk Tales
Ages 9-12
The Charmed Ring
A merchant's son spends all his money saving a dog, a cat and a snake, and when his magic ring is stolen, the cat and the dog set out to bring it back.
Aesop's Fables
Ages 6-8
The Lamb and the Wolf
A lamb escapes a wolf by entering a temple. The wolf warns of sacrifice inside, but the lamb refuses to step back into its pursuer's reach.
Indian Folk Tales
The Wonderful Mango Fruit
A pet parrot fetches youth-giving mangoes from beyond seven oceans; a rash king’s cruelty costs the bird, though age and sight are restored.
Indian Folk Tales
Ages 9-12
The Ruby Prince
A Brahmin's red stone becomes Ruby Prince; married to a princess, he is claimed by a snake-king until she wins him back by a dance.
Indian Folk Tales
The Snake-Woman and King Ali Mardan
King Ali Mardan falls under the spell of a weeping girl he finds in the forests of Kashmir, until a wise jogi tells him what she truly is.