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.
Tales of the Sun (South India)
Ages 9-12
The Mother-in-Law Who Became a Donkey
A cruel wife sends her mother to copy her mother-in-law’s magic mango wish, but the goddess sees through the lie and turns her into a donkey.
Indian Folk Tales
Ages 9-12
The Mother and the Daughter Who Worshipped the Sun
Sent from home after giving half her mother’s cake to a hungry priest, a poor girl marries a prince and begs the Sun to help when her secret comes out.
Indian Folk Tales
The King of Crocodiles
Crocodiles ruin a farmer's wheat until he promises his daughter; underwater she finds a gold-clad king, and her parents later join them.
Indian Folk Tales
The Faithless Wife and the Ungrateful Blind Man
Abandoned in a forest, a blind man is rescued by a kind merchant and his wife, then repays them with a wicked lie that could cost them their lives.
Indian Folk Tales
The Faithful Prince
When his fairy bride flies away to her father’s enchanted Emerald Mountain, Prince Bahramgor sets off through Demonsland to find her, whatever it costs.
Ages 9-12
Echo and Narcissus
The nymph Echo can only repeat others’ words, and proud Narcissus, who scorns her, falls in love with his own reflection in a spring.
Panchatantra Stories
Ages 6-8
The Story of the Bug and the Flea
A little bug who has lived safely in a king's bed for years lets a flea move in, if he promises to bite gently, and the flea does not keep his word.