Wisdom & Cleverness
Resourceful escapes, sharp observations, advice and ingenious tricks shape these tales. Look beyond who wins: what information did a character use, whose help mattered and who was harmed? Comparing an effective trick with a well-judged decision makes room for different readings of cleverness and wisdom.
Grimm's Fairy Tales
Clever Hans
Clever Hans keeps following his mother's advice for the gift he got last time, which goes badly wrong with each new visit to Gretel.
Grimm's Fairy Tales
Ages 9-12
Clever Gretel
A merry cook tastes two roast fowls bite by bite while her master's guest is late, then talks her way out of trouble with a clever lie.
Grimm's Fairy Tales
Clever Elsie
Clever Elsie frets over a cellar pickaxe, naps in the corn under a net of bells, and runs away no longer sure she is herself.
Grimm's Fairy Tales
Ashputtel
Birds sort peas from ashes and a hazel-tree dresses Ashputtel for three royal feasts—until a golden slipper exposes her stepsisters' bloody cheat.
Chinese Folk Tales
Ages 9-12
Yang Oerlang
The shape-shifting son of a heavenly princess rescues his mother from under the mountains, then crushes nine of the ten burning suns between two peaks.
Chinese Folk Tales
The Wonderful Man
A puzzling memorial arch reading only “The Wonderful Man” hides the story of a poor widow who lived for twenty years as a laborer to make her son a scholar.
Chinese Folk Tales
The Vengeance of the Goddess
A priest restores a murdered king with help from a magical guide, then reveals an earlier crime for which the king must answer.
Chinese Folk Tales
Ages 9-12
The Two Scholars
Two herb-gathering scholars marry peach-cave brides, return to find seventy years gone, and meet two very different fates at home.
Chinese Folk Tales
The Tragedy of the Yin Family
A rich man schemes to win a lucky burial ground by marrying his son to a poor girl, but his cruelty brings thunder, ghosts and ruin on his house.
Chinese Folk Tales
Ages 6-8
The Three Ruling Gods
Three brothers meditate on a sea island until they become the gods of heaven, earth and the waters, and a race for the best seat leaves one of them glaring.
Chinese Folk Tales
Ages 9-12
The Three Rhymsters
At a birthday feast two learned sons-in-law mock the farmer’s clumsy poem, until his clever wife steps out and shows how his lines beat theirs.
Chinese Folk Tales
The Sorcerer of the White Lotus Lodge
A sorcerer who catches every trick his pupils play on him is finally arrested, but a giant on the mountain road changes the whole story.