Fairy tales about honesty

Pinocchio is the best-known story about lying, and in our telling the Fairy spells it out: some lies have short legs, and his are the kind with long noses. When he finally tells her the truth, his nose shrinks back to its own size.

The Frog Prince is about a promise. The princess promises a frog whatever he likes for her golden ball and runs off, and the king makes her keep her word, since a promise is a promise. Even five-year-olds have opinions about that.

The Boy Who Cried Wolf takes two minutes and shows a lie costing more later than it seemed to at first. After his third shout nobody climbs the hill. It suits children who are just working out the difference between a joke and a lie.

The Wolf and the Lamb shows the opposite of honesty: a wolf who invents reasons for what he has already decided to do. The lamb answers every charge truthfully, and it changes nothing. The ending is grim, so it suits older children.