Oh dear...

I hate you! I hate everyone!

     Once upon a time, there lived a princess named Anya and a prince named Milo. They were twins. Milo was always the favorite child. Anya was jealous and started to hate everybody around her. Her dream was to be the next queen of the kingdom, but her parents liked Milo better. She was never going to rule.

I am going to run away!

    One day, the King and Queen were talking to Milo in the throne room, just like they always did. Anya felt left out and threw a tantrum. They ignored her cries and sent her back to her room. With tears in her eyes, Anya decided to run away.

Why are you by yourself?

Nobody wants me.

     As she was walking down a road, Anya found an old lady lying on the ground and helped her up. The woman told Anya that she was a traveler named Jessie. 

    “Why are you by yourself?” asked Jessie.     

    “Nobody wants me. My parents hate me and I hate them,” Anya answered. 

Filial piety means to be good to your parents. This is really important in Confucianism.

    “You can’t say that! Let me teach you about filial piety or being good to your parents (Teon). You can start by doing what your parents tell you to do (“Confucianism”). They are a huge part of your life and took care of you for so long (Csikszentmihalyi). A ruler that can care for their family has a big heart and can bring peace to the kingdom (Foy). This is a really important idea in something called Confucianism,” Jessie explained.

    “Do you think I could be a really really good queen if I do filial piety?” asked Anya. Jessie nodded with a big smile.

I am so hungry!

    Anya felt a little better. She wanted to say sorry to her parents, but she still wanted to explore the kingdom. As Anya was walking, she found a noodle stand. She knew she did not have money, so she could only stare at the mouth-watering bowls of udon. 

I am Muslim. To show that we love Allah, we give what we have to other people.

    “Eat up.” a young boy placed a bowl of food in front of Anya. 

    “Why would you help me?” she asked. 

    “I am Muslim and my God is named Allah. My parents told me that Allah gives us everything and his favorite people are really kind (“Charity in Islam”). To show that we love Allah, we give what we have to other people, like food (Shirbini). That is why we should do something called sadaqa and share what we have (“Sadaqa”). My grandpa told me that this is really important in our religion of Islam,” said the boy.

Do you want to be friends?

Yes!

    They talked for a long time. Anya learned that the boy was named Caleb and listened to him happily chat about Islam. 

    “Do you want to be friends? A friend is someone who is kind to you and a person you feel happy with,” Caleb explained. 

    “...I know what a friend is,” Anya laughed, “but we can be friends.” She smiled. 

    “Even a smile can be sadaqa too (Buxton)!” Caleb said. 

Everything in this world has a spirit. This is called animism and it comes from the Aboriginal religion.

    After making her first friend, Anya wanted to visit the lake in Silver Maple Forest. She used to go to this place with her grandparents. There was a hooded old man sitting by the lake.

    “Hello, young lady. Why are you here?” he asked. 

    “I used to come here with my grandparents,” said Anya, kicking a rock. 

    The man told her, “Everything in this world has a spirit, even that rock you kicked (Paulson). This is called animism and it comes from the Aboriginal religion (Waldrep).”

If you make spirits mad, they can do bad things to your life. You have to be nice to everything.

     Anya looked very scared. The man said, “If you make the spirits mad, they can do bad things to your life (Waldrep). They come from the spirit world, so they are very strong (“Animism”). If you are good to nature, good things can happen to you (Buck).” 

    Anya picked the rock up and petted it. “I’m sorry, Mr. Rock. I didn't mean to do that,” she apologized.

I am sorry I ran away. I promise I won't do it again.

    “Anya, is that you?” asked a voice. Anya turned her head to see her parents standing in front of her.

    Remembering filial piety, Anya said, “I am sorry I ran away. I promise I won’t do it again.” The King and Queen gave Anya a big hug. 

    “We are so sorry for ignoring you. Your brother was really sick and we were worried about him,” the King said. Anya was happy that she was nice to her parents. They were not bad people, they were just caring for her brother.