Kristina Rodanas

Wali Dad is a humble man who wants nothing more than to live his simple life and make others happy. He comes across a golden bracelet with one pearl in the middle one day when he was at the market. He buys it and realizes this is much to nice for him to have. He decides he wants to give it to someone kind, who deserves such a wonderful gift. His friend tells him the princess is a kind woman, deserving of such a gift. Wali Dad brings it to her and the king tries to repay him buy giving him luxurious gifts of camles, mules and elephants. The king thinks Wali Dad purpose of the present and refusal of gifts is that he wants to marry the princess. Wali Dad knows he does not need all of this and bring his friend, a prince, marry the young princess. In the end Wali Dad is happy that such a simple gift was able to bring such joy the the prince and princess as they married and lived happily.… (more)

It's rare to come across a story where the meaning behind it jumps out at you, but I found it in The Story of Wali Dad. A man who lives only on necessities and helping others sends his most prized position to a princess that he heard has the kindest heart. Gifts are exchanged back and forth between Wali Dad, the princess and a prince, each gift more and more extravagant. With each wonderful gift, Wali Dad recognizes that he does not need them as they are not necessities and he passes them on. The swap of gifts eventually brings the Prince and Princess together where they find love, thanks to Wali Dad.
The meaning in this story (to me) is that helping others and recognizing our needs versus our wants can lead to the greatest gift that can not be bought; love.… (more)

Dragonfly's Tale is a retelling of a Zuni tale in which the Ashiwi offend the great spirits that have given them a bountiful harvest. When the great spirits visit the tribe only one boy and his little sister have respected the food they have been given and try to offer the spirits some. Since the rest of the tribe was so disrespectful the spirits create a great famine that drove the entire village away, all except the young boy and his sister. The spirits remembered their kindness and rewarded them with food. The rest of the tribe returned and had to learn how to be humble to receive their bounty. I thought this story was a very cute way to introduce the dragonfly with the lesson of humility. This could be used to have students create a story about something that occurs in nature. Also this could open a discussion about good human characteristics.… (more)