On 'The American Book of Fables'

I’m certainly not the first person to remark upon this, but the chief moral fable of the United States—young George Washington admitting he chopped down a beloved cherry tree because he “can’t tell a lie”—is a far cry from the trickster tales passed down by peoples like the Yoruba in Africa, the Norse in Scandinavia, and the Apache in North America. The author Matthew Mehan acknowledges this in his new book for children and families, The American Book of Fables, writing, “In the time of America’s Founding, we praised less the creatures whose mouths were full of falsehoods and lies and more greatly honored the truth-tellers among us. But in other times and places, the liar is praised for his clever lies.” These tales’ morals don’t sit dormant in storybooks. They shape culture.