This book tells the story of the Tree of Life, a traditional Amazonian folk tale. In it, the people of an Amazonian village learn the importance of taking care of nature and the dangers of being too greedy.

This book tells the story of the Tree of Life, a traditional Amazonian folk tale. In it, the people of an Amazonian village learn the importance of taking care of nature and the dangers of being too greedy.

This book tells the story of the Tree of Life, a traditional Amazonian folk tale. In it, the people of an Amazonian village learn the importance of taking care of nature and the dangers of being too greedy.

This book tells the story of why the spider has long legs, a traditional African folk tale. In it, Anansi the spider learns that you usually have to work to get the things that you want, and that it is never a good idea to be too greedy!

This comprehensive collection of folk hero tales builds on the success of the first edition by providing readers with expanded contextual information on story characters from the Americas to Zanzibar. Despite the tremendous differences between cultures and ethnicities across the world, all of them have folk heroes and heroines—real and imagined—that have been represented in tales, legends, songs, and verse. These stories persist through time and space, over generations, even through migrations to new countries and languages. This encyclopedia is a one-stop source for broad coverage of the world's folk hero tales. Geared toward high school and early college readers, the book opens with an overview of folk heroes and heroines that provides invaluable context and then presents a chronology. The book is divided into two main sections: the first provides entries on the major types and themes; the second addresses specific folk tale characters organized by continent with folk hero entries organized alphabetically. Each entry provides cross references as well as a list of further readings. Continent sections include a bibliography for additional research. The book concludes with an alphabetical list of heroes and an index of hero types.

This book tells the story of the Empty Pot, a traditional Chinese folk tale. In it, the hero of the story learns that it is better to be honest than to cheat, and that honesty will bring real rewards.

This book tells the story of the Unhappy Stonecutter, a traditional Japanese folk tale. In it, a simple stonecutter learns that you should count your blessings and be grateful for what you already have, instead of always wanting more!