Adapted from a Jataka tale (Buddhist). Once upon a time on the outskirts of a big city in Japan there stood an old temple. From a young age boys who wanted to study Buddhism would come to live in the temple and to learn from the master teacher, a Buddhist monk....

Genesis 1: 1-31; 2:1-4 (New Revised Standard Version) In the beginning when God created the heavens and the earth, the earth was a formless void and darkness covered the face of the deep, while a wind from God swept over the face of the waters. Then God said, "Let there be light," and there was...

From the book Kindness: A Treasury of Buddhist Wisdom for Children and Parents. Once upon a time, the Buddha was born as a magnificent ibex. The forest in which he lived was far from civilization and therefore tranquil, inhabited by many creatures both small and large. Along the banks of clear,...

A Lamp in Every Corner (Boston: Skinner House, 2004). On a day not so very long ago, in a place not so very far away, a grass seed lay waiting. All through the cold, dark days of winter the seed waited, covered by a blanket of earth....

A Jewish tale from Afghanistan. Once, on a summer night in the country Afghanistan, the ruler Shah Abbis changed out of his fancy robes and left his palace dressed as a peasant to enjoy the evening air and to wander through the streets unnoticed. He walked and walked until he reached the poorest...

From From Long Ago and Many Lands by Sophia Lyon Fahs, second edition (Boston: Skinner House, 1995). Read or tell the story. When Jesus came into town, someone who knew him was sure to pass the word around....