Kindness & Compassion
Stories that make care, mercy or refusal to help central to the plot. A meal, shelter, patient attention or a rescued animal can change the course of events. Consider the recipient’s needs as well as the helper’s intentions, and distinguish freely offered care from pressure to accept harm or forgive abuse.
Norse Folk Tales
Ages 9-12
Tyr and the Binding of Fenrir
The gods of Asgard fear the growing wolf Fenrir, and when he will only wear their magic ribbon if one god puts a hand in his mouth, brave Tyr steps forward.
Bengal Folk Tales
The Clever Wife
A merchant jokes that his wife should build a well and give him a son while he is away for a year, and she cleverly manages both, outwitting a king.
Indian Folk Tales
Ages 6-8
The Blind Men and the Elephant
A king gathers all the blind men of his city to feel an elephant, and each of them is certain that he alone knows what an elephant is really like.
Aesop's Fables
Ages 6-8
The Bundle of Sticks
A father tired of his sons' quarrels hands them a bundle of sticks none can break, then shows how easily the sticks snap one at a time.
Grimm's Fairy Tales
Ages 9-12
The Six Swans
A witch-queen turns six brothers into swans; their sister must sew starwort shirts in silence for six years—even when fire waits at the stake.
Celtic Folk Tales
Ages 9-12
The Salmon of Knowledge
Young Finn is told to cook the magic Salmon of Knowledge for his teacher and not taste a bite, but a burnt thumb changes everything for him.
Aesop's Fables
Ages 3-5
The North Wind and the Sun
The North Wind and the Sun argue over who is stronger and test it on a traveller's cloak. Fierce gusts fail where gentle warmth wins.
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.
The Story of Princess Hase
A gifted young princess survives her jealous stepmother’s poisoned wine and secret order to kill her, until her father finds her hidden in the mountains.
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.
Norse Folk Tales
The Mead of Poetry
Two jealous dwarfs brew a magic mead that turns anyone who drinks it into a poet, and Father Odin sets out in disguise to win it from the giants.
African Folk Tales
Ages 9-12
The Girl Who Could Not Be Eaten
Proud Untombinde bathes in the forbidden Ilulange pool, refuses to beg the bearded monster that lives there, and is swallowed with a whole country.