Patience & Perseverance
Waiting, repeated attempts and long journeys test the characters in these stories. Compare persistence with preparation, support and the willingness to change a plan. Notice when another attempt helps and when it repeats a harmful mistake; an ending worth discussing may involve stopping, seeking help or choosing a different goal.
Japanese Folk Tales
All Ages
The Star Lovers
The Weaving Lady and the ox-herd love so much they neglect their work, so her father sets the Celestial River between them, letting them meet one night a year.
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.
Southeast Asian Folk Tales
Ages 6-8
The Mouse-Deer and the Crocodiles
Mouse-deer needs to cross a flooded river, so he tells the crocodiles that the king wants them counted, and they line up across the water for him.
Aesop's Fables
Ages 3-5
The Ant and the Grasshopper
On a winter day a hungry grasshopper asks ants for grain. Their question about her summer singing leads to a sharp answer about winter dancing.
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
Rumpelstiltskin
A miller’s boast traps his daughter in a room of straw; a strange little man spins gold—then claims her first child unless she learns his name.
Indian Folk Tales
Ages 9-12
Vikram and the Vampire: The King’s Ultimate Test
During one night in a cremation ground, a king repeatedly carries a talking corpse whose riddles delay a dangerous ceremony.
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.
European Fairy Tales
Ages 9-12
The Three Golden Hairs of Grandfather Knowitall
A king tries everything to stop a charcoal-burner’s son from marrying his daughter, even sending him to fetch three golden hairs from the Sun himself.
Russian Folk Tales
Sadko
A poor Novgorod dulcimer player is paid in jewels by the Tzar of the Sea, grows rich, and twelve years later must leap overboard to keep his promise.
Russian Folk Tales
Ages 9-12
Morozko
Abandoned in the freezing fields, a stepdaughter receives gifts from Morozko; her stepmother sends her own daughter after riches, with a fatal result.
Norse Folk Tales
Ages 9-12
Odin’s Quest for Wisdom
Father Odin longs to be the wisest being in the world, but the old giant who guards the well of wisdom asks for a terrible price in return for one drink.