You have been asked to fill the next five or ten minutes. You need fresh ideas, parables, true stories, once-upon-a-time stories. You need this book! You want something that will hold the children's attention and stay in their minds. A story that will give the adults something to think about. You can see a story working when you look at the faces of the listeners. You can hear it in the quality of their silence. Good stories command attention. Moreover, they communicate values and ideas in a palatable, non-threatening way - putting flesh on the bare bones of concepts, teaching about life and lingering in the memory.