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Fables, myths and folktales, ready to teach and free to read.

2,480 stories
A Call to QuitChurch leaders chasing modern fashion and crowds would sooner hire a circus act than trust preaching.9+Level 5
A CausewayJournalists grovel before the rich, who accept the flattery and walk over them anyway.9+Level 4
A Fatal DisorderHonestyPolice and prosecutors want tidy, convenient statements, and the plain truth is unusable in court.9+Level 2
A Creaking TailIn 1890s America, politicians loved twisting Britain's tail for votes, and Britain simply yawned.9+Level 3
A Flourishing IndustryBoasts of booming industry ring hollow when the busiest trade pads the nation's endless loud quarrels.9+Level 2
A Forfeited RightHonestyWeather Bureau forecasters were so often wrong that one correct forecast got punished in court.9+Level 4
A Hasty SettlementGreedLawyers and judges reopen settled estates whenever anything is left for fees to eat.9+Level 4
A Matter of MethodWise men's lofty advice impresses less than a fool's blunt, painful way of teaching it.9+Level 4
A Harmless VisitorSecret lodges fear reporters yet welcome the Women's Press Association, a club Bierce thought toothless.9+Level 3
A Needful WarGovernments start wars to avenge a few deaths, then lose thousands defending national honour.9+Level 5
A Needless LabourClevernessSlanderers who attack their betters gain nothing when everyone already knows what they are.9+Level 5
A Prophet of EvilGreedBusiness trusts denounce labor unions for the very price-fixing tactics they practice themselves.9+Level 4

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A Protagonist of SilverGreedSilver-mine owners who pose as champions of the people in 1890s politics are guarding their pockets.9+Level 5
A Racial ParallelFairnessMobs persecuting Chinese immigrants treat bigotry in China as a licence for their own.9+Level 5
A Revivalist RevivedLoud revivalist preachers think piety is enough, but Bierce damns them for mangling the language.9+Level 4
A Seasonable JokePatienceAesop's cautionary tale about the foolish spendthrift gets spoofed: this time the fool guesses right.9+Level 1
A Ship and a ManHumilityCandidates who loudly decline presidential nominations often turn out never to have been considered.9+Level 5
A Smiling IdolMissionaries sent to attack other people's faiths with Sunday-school dimes get eaten for their trouble.9+Level 4
A TalismanClevernessJuries are stuffed with people who lack brains, because anyone who has one gets excused.9+Level 5
A StatesmanPoliticians are for sale like goods, and business interests do the buying.9+Level 3
A TranspositionHonestyDemagogues flatter quarrelling sides by telling both they are right, and voters reward them with office.9+Level 4
A Treaty of PeaceDiplomacy that turns massacre into a bookkeeping exchange of scalps makes murder routine and respectable.9+Level 5
A Valuable SuggestionClevernessBig nations bully small ones with warships, and international arbitration goes to whoever can pay.9+Level 5
A Weary EchoSelf-important women writers' conventions, hailing a new era, are mocked as tiresome noise.9+Level 4