WAR AND PEACE STORIES
(excerpts from posts)
(If you want to retell any of the stories listed below, be sure to obtain permission from the copyright holder if the material is not in the public domain)

1) You may want to use Margaret Read MacDonald's book, Peace Tales. Publisher: Linnet Books, Hamden Connecticut.

2) A favorite of this list is Malba Tahan's Learning to Write in the Sand, a modern, composed story which sounds like a folkloric wisdom tale. It is about forgiving and looking beyond the present moment, and making a choice not to fight.
Bones: Two merchants, Mussah and Nagib are traveling together with their caravans and they stop at a riverside. Nagib trips and falls into the torrent, and Mussah saves him. Nagib has his servants carve onto the stone face of a nearby mountain "Traveler, in this place did Mussah heroicly save the life of his friend Nagib." On the way back, they get into an argument somehow, and Mussah strikes Nagib. Nagib picks up a stick and writes in the sand "Traveler, in this place did Mussah break the heart of his friend Nagib." A servant asks: "Master, when your Mussah saved your life, you had the words carved into stone, but now that he has insulted you, you write it in the sand. The words will be gone, washed away be the tide, before the morning." Nagib says "Yes, my friend; and if you would be happy, you must learn what to carve into stone and what to write in the sand."

3) The tale that immediately came to mind is Pleasant DeSpain's Old Joe and the Carpenter. It is about an argument between two lifelong friends and the man who builds a bridge between them. Subtle, yet powerful. You can find the story in Elisa Pearmain's wonderful book, Doorways to the Soul: 52 Wisdom Tales from Around the World.

4) Not long ago I asked for some help with a story about peace and war called Sissa and the Troublesome Trifles. Here's the synopsis: I found it several years ago in a book by I.G. Edmonds called Trickster Tales.

The gist of the story is this: Sissa, an elderly adviser to King Balahait , is challenged by the king’s jealous advisers who say that he never does any important work for the king, only pays attention to small things, like the complaints of a poor woman or a lost child. At their instigation, the king orders Sissa to come up with a way of fighting a war that will not kill anyone. Sissa goes off into the mountains for a month and comes back with The Royal Game of Chess which he has invented. The king is intrigued and tries out the game with the King of the South who has been rumored to be starting a war. They play their game of chess over a period of days and come to a draw. The King of the South, impressed by King Balahait’s strategic skills, decides not to attack. King Balahait allows Sissa to name his own reward. Sissa asks for some rice, namely to have the amount of rice, starting with one grain, doubled on each succeeding square of the chessboard. The King scoffs at Sissa, but begins to see, as the rice grains keep doubling, the wisdom of the old man. He asks what the amount will be on the 64th square and Sissa says that he has no name for such a large number, but he can write it on the marble wall of the throne room. The King then sees Sissa’s wisdom in paying attention to
small things before they get out of hand. He offers Sissa another reward, but tells him this time to make it a big one, as he cannot afford a small one. Sissa asks only that the rice be given to the poor. The King makes him his Grand Vizier and puts him in charge of taking care of the small needs of his subjects.

(This web page updated 8/3/03)