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.
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.
Jataka Tales
Ages 6-8
How the Monkey Saved His Troop
When a king’s archers surround a mango tree full of monkeys, their Chief stretches across the river and lets the whole troop run to safety over his back.
Aesop's Fables
Ages 3-5
The Lion and the Mouse
A lion laughs when a tiny mouse promises to repay his mercy, until hunters trap him in a net and the mouse gnaws the ropes to set him free.
Grimm's Fairy Tales
Ages 9-12
Rapunzel
Given away through her father's bargain, Rapunzel grows up in a locked tower, plans an escape and later reunites with the prince through her familiar voice.
Grimm's Fairy Tales
Ages 6-8
The Bremen Town Musicians
An old donkey, dog, cat, and rooster set out to be town musicians; their midnight “concert” scares robbers from a cottage for good.
European Fairy Tales
The Glass Mountain
Where knights on fine horses have failed, a cheerful schoolboy with lynx claws on his hands and feet sets out to climb the slippery Glass Mountain.
Arabian Nights
The Enchanted Horse
A flying wooden horse carries a Persian prince to the Princess of Bengal, and when its vengeful owner steals her away, a clever trick wins her back.
Turkish Folk Tales
Ages 6-8
Nasreddin Hodja and the Smell of Soup
A poor man softens his dry bread in the steam from a cook's pot, and when the cook demands payment, Nasreddin Hodja finds a perfect way to pay him.
African Folk Tales
Ages 6-8
Why the Sun and Moon Live in the Sky
The sun builds a huge compound so his friend the water can visit, but the water and all his creatures keep pouring in until there is no room left on earth.
Japanese Folk Tales
Ages 9-12
The Grateful Crane
A young farmer frees a wounded crane, marries a gentle stranger whose secret weaving saves his family, and loses her when he peeks through the wall.
The Firebird, the Horse of Power, and Princess Vasilisa
A young archer ignores his wise horse and picks up a firebird's feather, and his greedy Tzar sends him on ever deadlier errands to the edge of the world.