Everything you need to understand or teach The Iron Ring by Lloyd Alexander.
The Iron Ring has superbly developed characters who are fun to spend time with, wondrous events, fearful dangers, and a complex exploration of what one of the characters calls the "twilight" between right and wrong.
The premise on which the story is built seems simple but becomes ever more challenging as the tale advances. King Tamar of Sundari is visited by Jaya, ruler of Mahapura, a land in a valley in the Snow...