A clever spider tricks Elephant and some other animals into thinking the melon in which he is hiding can talk.

Anansi the Spider uses a strange moss-covered rock in the forest to trick all the other animals, until Little Bush Deer decides he needs to learn a lesson.

When Anansi the spider invites Turtle to a party just to play a trick on him, Turtle gets revenge at a party of his own.

Relates how Hershel outwits the goblins that haunt the old synagogue and prevent the village people from celebrating Hanukkah.

When Pecos Bill's daughter gets two pet hamsters, they soon multiply into the hundreds, so Bill decides to take them all to Chicago where lots of boys and girls want pet hamsters.

With the aid of a perfect peach, a silver fife, and his own resources, Petit Jean outwits a dishonest king and wins the hand of a princess.

Relates how the Jade Emperor chose twelve animals to represent the years in his calendar. Also discusses the Chinese calendar, zodiac, the qualities associated with each animal, and what animal rules the year in which the reader was born.

Retells, with a southwestern United States setting, the traditional tale about three billy goat brothers who trick a beast that lives under the bridge.

When an old lady swindles him out of his magic dreidels, Jacob tries to get them back in time for the family's Hanukkah celebration.