The Heart of a Monkey
In this Swahili folktale, a monkey accepts the offer of a ride on a shark’s back to see the wonders under the sea. Once at sea, the monkey learns that the real reason for the trip is that the shark king needs a monkey’s heart to cure an illness. The monkey tricks the shark into returning. He then explains the trick by telling a story about a donkey, a hare, and a lion. One of the animals kills another. The third animal cooks it, but tells the killer there is no heart. Can you match the animals to the outcome?
This Irish folktale is about a boy who likes to play tricks on people and wants nothing more than to grow up to be a thief. His mother warns him that if he does become a thief he will be caught one day and hang from the Bridge of Dublin. The boy does some rather terrible things on the way to becoming the most famous thief in the country. Luckily, there is still justice in some folktales and the Shifty Lad is soon lying dead under the Bridge of Dublin… but not for the reason his mother expected. 
Puss in Boots is sometimes criticized for the mixed message it sends to children. Derived from a 14th Century Italian folktale, a clever cat helps its slow-witted master win the heart of a princess through trickery, lies, threats and theft. To condemn the story because of this seems a little unfair, since folklore is full of likeable tricksters whose crimes are far worse than the cat’s. These characters often play an important role, challenging traditional beliefs through satire. Here, the cat’s actions show up both the greed and gullibility of the king and the shallowness of his daughter. 
The Town Musicians of Bremen is a story about four animals that have worked hard all their lives. They are now too old to work and face either being badly treated or killed by their owners. One by one they leave their homes and set out together to become musicians in the town of Bremen. However, they never reach Bremen. During the journey, the animals come upon a house owned by a band of robbers. By working together, they are able to frighten the robbers away and live happily in the house for the rest of their days. 
This Chinese folktale tells of two friends who would do anything for each other. One day they decide to go for a walk in a forest. During the walk, the friends see a gold nugget on the path. Unable to decide who should have it, they leave it where it is so as not to cause trouble between them. They later tell a greedy farmer about the nugget. He goes to get it, and becomes angry when he finds something unpleasant in its place. The two friends go back to look, and are well rewarded for their trouble. 
No one can make fun of themselves like the Irish. This quite funny folktale is about two well-off but foolish farmers named Hudden and Dudden. They will do anything to get their hands on a small piece of land between their two farms. This land belongs to a poor but clever man named Donald O’Neary. The story begins simply enough with Hudden and Dudden deciding to poison Donald’s faithful cow. Things escalate from there with Donald becoming rich and three people dying. By the end of the story, justice appears to have been served. But has it really? 
As in real life, many folktales have protagonists who attain riches and/or happiness by questionable means. Bluebeard, Charles Perrault’s serial killing nobleman, obviously deserves his fate. However, it is also hard to see how his last wife, who first rejected him based on his looks, seemingly only married him for his riches, and then betrayed his generosity and trust by entering a forbidden room, deserves a “happily ever after” future. Themes include judging by appearances, greed, vanity, betrayal of trust and justice. One question remains: if the beard made women and girls run away, why didn’t Bluebeard shave it off? 
In this Thai folktale, a poor man has only plain rice to eat during a trip to visit a sick relative. Along the way, he smells some delicious curry being cooked for a rich man’s lunch. He stops nearby to eat his own lunch, and enjoys the plain rice more than ever because he imagines eating it with the curry. The rich man finds out about this and tries to make him pay for the smell of his curry. Thanks to a village chief who is cleverer than the rich man, things don’t go as he had planned.