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

2,480 stories
Mercury and the WoodchopperPatienceMeddling helpers, like doctors dosing patients with mercury, cause more damage than the problem they fix.9+Level 5
Philosophers ThreeCouragePhilosophers' strategies for danger, courage, cunning or pretence, are all equally useless against a flood.9+Level 1
Physicians TwoClevernessDoctors prescribe conflicting treatments and quarrel, and patients recover only by ignoring them.9+Level 4
Rejected ServicesGreedRuthless financiers leave their rivals penniless, so even their own downfall brings no satisfaction.9+Level 2
Religions of ErrorSmug Christians condemn every other faith as violent, then send troops to protect their own.9+Level 4
Saint and SinnerSalvation Army converts who boast of conversion show that Grace improved them very little.9+Level 2
RevengeInsurance agents sell fear of disaster, yet their companies are betting it will never happen.9+Level 4
Six and OneFairnessGerrymanderers who rig district maps for a living cry cheating when they lose at poker.9+Level 5
The AethiopYou cannot scrub away who a person is.9+Level 1
The Alderman and the RaccoonHonestyCorrupt city aldermen, known for rings of graft, respond to criticism by stealing even more.9+Level 4
The All DogCourageLittle men answer mockery with pompous pride in being purely what they are, however small.9+Level 1
The Ancient OrderHumilityFraternal lodges love grand titles and shiny badges, which makes them pompous and rather ridiculous.9+Level 5

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The Angel's TearKindnessProfessed compassion is shallow; even the Angel of Compassion ends up laughing at another's misfortune.9+Level 5
The Appropriate MemorialHonestyIgnorant machine politicians honour dead colleagues with mangled speeches, and their slip reveals love of pay.9+Level 5
The Archer and the EagleClannish people take comfort in being ruined, provided one of their own did it.9+Level 3
The Ashes of Madame BlavatskyTheosophy is mocked as fraudulent gibberish, run by liars and swallowed by credulous followers.9+Level 5
The Ass and the GrasshoppersHonestyPoliticians cannot afford honesty, because corruption is how statesmen make a living.9+Level 3
The Ass and the Lion's SkinHonestyPart-time militia soldiers swagger like warriors, then trip over their own swords.9+Level 5
The Austere GovernorHonestyGovernors who condemn office-selling while handing jobs to allies and relatives are hypocrites.9+Level 3
The Australian GrasshopperHonestyLearned naturalists are mocked for solemn, absurd reasoning that cannot even recognise a kangaroo.9+Level 4
The Basking CycloneGreedCounting profits before they arrive is mocked, through a racist 1890s caricature of a Black man.9+Level 4
The Bellamy and the MembersFairnessUtopian socialists preach sharing, yet Edward Bellamy's own followers leave him to sell his book.9+Level 3
The Blotted Escutcheon and the Soiled ErmineHonestyLegislators with stained records excuse their corruption as natural and back each other's excuses.9+Level 5
The Boneless KingConstitutional monarchies keep hollow, lifeless kings on thrones, and a stuffed one would serve as well.9+Level 4