Folk Tales

The use of folk tales in Purple Moon was to impart lessons upon the characters (and players) using brief narratives that related to the characters' problems. As with folk tales in the real world, the wisdom is distilled in memorable plots that stick with the audience, instead of simple proverbs or aphorisms. In the Secret Paths games, the folk tales were earned after building a complete garland necklace of gems from the characters' secret path puzzles. The stories were non-interactive, narrated with a single voice, and illustrated with distinct art styles between them.

Lead developer Brenda Laurel was asked in an interview by Carly Kocurek where the fables and stories in the Secret Paths games came from. Laurel said that her best friend Lucinda De Lorimier is a professional storyteller and librarian who did "a huge amount" of research for the game development. She was given the issues of the characters and came back with stories to match those issues.

Purple Moon Place posted more folk tales on the character pages. These stories were text based with no audio narration, and not fully illustrated, only using occasional pictures between the wrap text.

Secret Path stories
A Tale of Unity

The Bears Who Couldn't Get Along

The Bird Who Couldn't Sing

The Fearful Rabbit

The Fire of Wisdom

Goose Lake

The Hedley Kow

The Moon and the Tides

Mother of the Waves

Sari's Story

The Sea Turtle's Treasure

Snow Child

Stronger Than Stone

Waipalo Forgets Himself

Purple Moon Place stories
A Worthy Wife

As Much As Salt

Bad Luck and Blessings

Crossing The Bridge

How Chipmunk Got His Stripes

The Hunting Horn

The Nightingale

The Rabbit in the Moon

The Ruby Box

The Stream and the Wind