Throughout the larger plot of Starry River of the Sky, Lin’s characters spin smaller tales that link together to reveal startling truths about their backgrounds, their inner fears, and their deepest flaws and talents. Even when they portray their own stories as events that happened to someone else, sharing their experiences in this indirect way helps them to learn who they are even as it allows those around them to understand them more fully. Through the tales that Rendi and Madam Chang tell, along with the two versions of the mountain-moving story, Lin uses the myriad splinters of stories to explore the many ways in which telling fictional tales can unveil larger truths.

Even the most fantastical stories can provide insight into the past. For example, in Chapter 8, Rendi realizes that Madam Chang’s stories are like a wagon because “when she told them, Rendi had felt transported” (47). Although Rendi doesn’t realize Madam Chang’s identity until much later in the book, her many stories of the moon illustrate the details of her past, and the clues she weaves into her tales eventually allow the young hero to act upon his realization that she is the Moon Lady.