Best good night stories

Top 10 Bedtime Stories For Kids To Read

Reading Bedtime Stories For Kids is an important element in the child’s success. As Philip Pullman rightly put, “After nourishment, shelter, and companionship, stories are the thing we need most in the world.” Telling stories not only develops reading skills, quality writing, construction of sentences, but also helps in increasing their imagination and creativity, and communication skills.

This is the time when you and your child can spend some quality time out of your busy schedule. It also helps in creating a unique bond between the two of you. Bedtimeshortstories.com has put together some of the most amazing Bedtime Stories For Kids that your kids will surely like. Happy Reading!

This is a story about a girl who went to the forest and accidentally forgot her way back home. She suddenly saw a cottage and gently knocked on the door. But nobody was inside. As she entered, she saw three bowls of porridge, big, medium, and small. The cottage belonged to the bears. After such a tiring journey, she was very hungry and ate the smallest bowl of porridge.

Then, she saw three chairs, big, medium, and small. Goldilocks perfectly fit on the smaller one but the chair broke at once.  She then went upstairs and saw three beds, big, medium, and small. She chose the small one and fell asleep. In a couple of hours, the bears came back. They saw their porridge was all scattered and the baby bear’s bowl was empty. Then, they saw the broken chair of the baby bear. They got very angry. As they went upstairs, they saw a girl in deep slumber.

Suddenly, she woke up and saw three bears, the frightened girl got up from the bed and ran as fast as she could. She ran until she reached back home safe and sound. Read the full story here.

Goldilocks and three bears

This is the story of the ugly duckling who was ignored by everyone. Once, there lived a duck in a pond who had laid some eggs. Soon, the eggs cracked and three beautiful ducklings came into the world. The last egg was big. When it cracked, she saw an ugly, grey duckling. He was hated by everyone. His brothers and sisters used to hate him. He became so sad that he ran away from his home. On his way, he met an old woman. She cuddled him but as she saw him closely, she screamed and told him to go away. Once again, he became sad. He sobbed day and night all alone. He was sad but he never loses hope.

Then, one day, he saw a pond. He became very happy and swam to his satisfaction. Since the weather had changed and it was cold, the poor duckling was frozen in the pond. A kind farmer took him to his home and took good care of her. Soon, the duckling regained his strength and the farmer left him in the pond. There, he saw many beautiful swans. He bowed his head in shame. Suddenly, he saw his own reflection. He had grown into a beautiful swan. Those beautiful swans were his brothers and sisters. Now, he was the most beautiful swan and all the swans praised him for his immense beauty. Read the full story here.

bedtime stories for kids

This is a story about a town, Hamelin which used to have many rats. All the townspeople were worried and wanted to get rid of the problem. Even the cats couldn’t do anything. Soon, a meeting was called out and it was decided that whosoever catches the mice would get ten sacks of gold coins as a reward. One day, a stranger passed by and promised them to do so. He took out his pipe and started to play a wonderful tune. All the mice, at once came out of their holes and the stranger took them near the river. One by one, they fell into the river and drowned. When he returned for his reward, the townspeople disagree with what they promised. The poor stranger decided to teach them a lesson.

Immediately, he started to play his pipe. But this time, all the kids followed him. No kid was left in the town. When the townspeople came to know, they promised him to give twenty sacks of gold. The stranger let the children go. The town of Hamelin had learned never to be ungrateful and greedy. Read the full story here.

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This is the story of the Snow Queen who made a strange mirror. All the good things became ugly and terrible. One day, as she was taking it to heaven, it fell on the Earth. It was broken into many pieces. The pieces went into many people’s eyes and hearts. In a village, there lived two best friends, Kai and Gerda. Unfortunately, it went into Kai’s eyes and heart. He was now very rude to Gerda. This made Gerda so sad that she always remained upset.

One day, Gerda saw that Kai was going with a lady who had a white face and icy hair. With lots of hurdles on her way, she finally reached the Snow Queen’s castle. There, she saw Kai frozen. He was frozen and he turned blue. Gerda told all the happy moments they spent together but nothing changed.  Kai was still frozen. When she could do nothing, she began to cry. Suddenly, her tears fell on his chest and penetrated his heart. Kai hugged Gerda. When they hugged, a bright light appeared which made the ice melt. This made the Snow Queen cry and she faded away into the air.

After overcoming the challenges, the two friends returned home and lived happily ever after. This story signifies a good friendship that was overpowered by the devil’s magic and melted the eternal ice. Read the full story here.

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This is the story of a poor little girl who lived with her father. Her father used to send her to the streets to sell the matchsticks. It was Christmas Eve and it was terribly cold out there. The Match Girl was noticed by no one and so she couldn’t sell the matches that day. She was afraid that if she would go home, her father would beat her. She used to miss her mother and grandmother who were now in Heaven.

It was so cold that she thought of burning a match to give her some warmth. Finally, she dared to lit a match and made herself warm. Soon, the match turned into a fireplace and she made herself warm. But it didn’t last for long. Without thinking, she lit the second match. This time, the wall turned into a veil and she could see a dining room with lots of delicious foods. But in a couple of seconds, it vanished. When she lit the third match, a beautiful Christmas Tree appeared. It had many beautiful candles. She wanted to hold the candles. But as she reached, the candles flew to the sky and turned into stars. Next, when she lit the match, she saw her grandmother whom she loved the most. One by one, she struck the whole bundle of matches as she didn’t want her grandmother to go away.

The next day, it was Christmas. The match girl was sitting at the corner with red cheeks and a smiling face. The people there thought she was trying to keep herself warm last night. But no one knew the magic moments she spent last night. Read the full story here.

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This is the story about a King named Midas who had a large Kingdom but he was unhappy. He wanted to have more and more gold as he was very greedy. One day, he asked a holy man to grant his wish that whatever he touched must turn into gold. The holy man agreed. The King was very happy. Whatever he touched was turned into gold. His throne, chairs, table, and even his food. Now, he could not eat or drink anything.

One day, his daughter came to him and when he put his arms around her, her daughter, too, turned into gold. King Midas was shocked. He wanted her daughter back. He cried out for help. Suddenly, the holy man appeared and gave him a bottle of water and told him to sprinkle the water on all the things that have turned into gold. When he sprinkled the water, immediately everything came in its original form. King Midas learned that “Gold can’t buy you happiness!” Read the full story here.

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This is a story of a poor boy named Jack who decided to sell his cow for some money. On his way, he met a traveler who wanted to buy his cows for some magic beans. Jack was curious and he agreed. When he went home empty-handed, his mother shouted at him. However, he sowed the magic beans. When he woke up, he saw the world’s biggest beanstalk. Jack was excited and wanted to see what was there on top of it. He began to climb it and reached a strange land with a large castle.

While entering, he saw a huge giant sleeping in the castle. Slowly, he started to explore the castle and found lots of treasure inside it. He decided to take some treasure along with him so that his mother and he would no longer be poor. Just when he was about to leave, the giant woke up and chased the poor Jack. Jack was too fast for him and quickly slipped down from the beanstalk. He then cut the beanstalk and the giant fell down and died. Jack and his mother lived happily ever after. Read the full story here.

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This is a story about a giant who never let the children in his garden. The giant was not in his garden for seven years. Every day, children would go and play in his garden. One day, he came back. Seeing so many children on his premises, he got angry and started building walls. On the wall, he put a note saying, “No Children!” This made the children upset. Soon, it was time for spring. All around, the flowers bloomed and there was greenery. But, in the garden of giant, there was no spring. It was still winter there. The giant waited and waited but there were no signs of springs.

Then, one day, while he was sleeping, he heard the sound of a bird. As he peeped through the window, he saw that the spring had finally arrived. Also, he saw a big hole that the children had made. Upon seeing him, all the children ran away. Only one was left inside the garden. He was trying to climb the tree. The giant helped him climb the tree. At that moment, the giant took out the hammer and banged the wall. Since that day, the children and the giant used to play together.

But, every day, the giant would ask about that little boy whom he helped that day. Unfortunately, nobody knew about him. Several years passed, and the giant grew old. One day, as he was sitting near the same tree, he saw spring on one part of his garden when it was winter. There was the same child whom he helped that day. The child came to take the giant with him to heaven. That day when the children came to play, they saw the giant lying in the flower bed with a big smile. Read the full story here.

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This is the story of three brothers who decided to throw out their youngest brother. The youngest brother took the cat along with him. They had nothing. The cat asked for his master’s boot and in return, caught a rabbit for his master. They took the rabbit and gifted it to King. Later, the King and his daughter went to the picnic. There, the cat told his master to jump into the stream. Then he asked the King for new clothes for his master. The cat then took them all to the Marquis castle. The cat went into the golden wheat fields which belonged to Scary Ogre.

Now, the cat told the farmer if he would say the fields belonged to Marquis of Carabas, he would help him get rid of Scary Ogre. The farmer did as the cat said. Later, in the castle of Scary Ogre, the cat was caught. To make the cat scared, Scary Ogre turned into a huge lion. The cat challenged him to turn into a little creature. He accepted the dare and turned into a mouse. Within seconds, the cat ate him and made his master the King of that Kingdom. Later, the Marquis and the princess get married. The cat becomes the Knight of Carabas. And they all lived happily ever after. Read the full story here.

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This is a story of a girl named Dorothy who lived with her Uncle, Aunt, and a pet dog named Toto in Kansas city. One day, a scary cyclone lifted their house up and blew it away. After some time, it fell with a thud! Unfortunately, her house fell on a bad witch of East. The people of munchkins rejoiced in happiness. Suddenly, a good witch appeared and asked her for a wish.  Dorothy wanted to go back. The good witch gave her red slippers to wear and told her to follow the yellow brick road and meet the Wizard of Oz.

On her way, she met a scarecrow who wanted a brain, a tin woodcutter who wanted a heart, and a lion who wanted courage. She took three of them to the Wizard of Oz to ask for the way back home for Dorothy, brain for the scarecrow, a heart for the tin woodcutter, and courage for the lion. Finally, they reached Emerald City where they met a wizard. When Dorothy told him everything, the wizard told them that he would grant their wish if they would free them from the evil witch of West, too. All of them agreed.

The witch came to know about this and attacked them. Firstly, she sent a pack of scariest wolves but the woodcutter hacked them all till they ran away. Next, many crows came to peck on them but in a couple of seconds, the scarecrow scared them all. Next, the witch sent the flying monkeys who took them to the witch’s castle. Dorothy observed her carefully and threw a bucket full of water at the witch. Immediately, she started melting. After that, all of her slaves became free. Dorothy and her friends went back to Emerald City. The wizard appreciated them and granted them their wish. It was time to say goodbye. Dorothy picked up Toto and clicked her together thrice and told her slippers to take her home. Read the full story here.

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If you loved this collection of Bedtime Stories For Kids, don’t forget to share it with your friends. Thanks for reading!

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12 Bedtime Stories for Kids (For Sweet Dreams)

Bedtime stories for kids are as old as bedtime itself, but do you know how to make them more enjoyable? Do you know about the benefits of bedtime stories?

We’re helping our fellow parents out by highlighting the importance of bedtime stories and sharing 12 bedtime stories you can add to your collection.

Table of Contents

• Bedtime Stories for Kids
• The Importance of Bedtime Stories
• What Makes a Good Bedtime Story?
• Tips for Making Storytime More Interesting
• And So To Sleep

Bedtime Stories for Kids

Whether you want cute, funny, or fantastical, these bedtime stories for kids deliver.

Callista And The Puma

This tale is from Argentina and tells the story of a young girl, the friendship she develops with a wild puma, and how kindness is repaid.

Once there was a girl named Callista. Her father was a soldier, and after the country in which she was born, Spain, invaded South America, she moved to Argentina with her family.

The people who lived in Argentina were angry the Spanish had taken over their land, so they surrounded the camp in which the Spanish families were living, hoping to make them leave.

Callista was told not to leave the camp, but she was hungry. So, one day, she snuck out to find food.

As she explored the jungle, she came across a cave where a mother puma had just given birth. Callista helped the mother puma clean the cubs and found food for her to eat.

One day the native people found Callista, and she was scared. However, they did not harm her and instead took her back to their village, gave her food, and looked after her. Callista felt loved and at home and lived there a long while.

Then, the Spanish soldiers attacked the village, found Callista, and took her back to the camp. Her father was very angry with her and sent soldiers to tie her to a tree in the jungle as punishment. She was there for days.

The village people were scared she might die, but they were also scared of the Spanish soldiers. After three days, they went to try to rescue Callista but feared she would be dead. However, when they got to the trees, Callista was fine.

The puma Callista cared for had come back to look after her.

The villagers untied Callista and took her home with them, where she lived a long and happy life.

The Unexpected Rock

This story is told by the Miwok tribe, who live in what we now call Yosemite. It reveals how the rock formation Tutokanula, or El Capitan, grew out of the earth overnight.

One day two children were playing in a stream. When they got out, they were chilly, but the girl saw a soft, mossy area in the sun.

“Let’s go and sit there,” she said, “It will be warm in the sun.”

The children laid on the moss and soon fell asleep. As the day went on, the rock inched upwards to keep them close to the sun and warm. The children were so comfortable they stayed asleep.

At dinner time, the children’s family searched everywhere but could not find them.

Then coyote sniffed the ground, followed the children’s trail, and said, “They must be on top of this new rock.”

Antelope was the best jumper, and the family asked him to get the children, but he could only reach a short way up the rock.

Grizzly bear was the best climber, so they asked her to get the children, but she could only reach a little higher than antelope.

All of the animals tried — jackrabbit, raccoon, even mountain lion, but none could reach the children.

“Let me try,” said the inchworm, and all of the animals laughed.

“You are too small,” they said. “How could you possibly do what we couldn’t?”

But the children’s family asked him to try.

Slowly, slowly, the inchworm passed the points the other animals had reached. Finally, he got to the top and woke the children by crawling on their faces and led them down the mountain.

That day, the Miwok named the rock Tutokanula in honor of the inchworm, the tiny creature who achieved great things.

The Reward

The Reward is a cautionary tale from India and warns against the dangers of being greedy.

There once was an emperor named Akbar. He went hunting in the woods, but when it started to get dark, he became lost. A young boy, Mahesh, heard the emperor calling for help, went into the jungle, and led him back to the palace.

As a reward, the emperor took a ring from his finger and gave it to Mahesh.

“Bring this ring back to the palace in the morning, show it to the guards, and tell them to let you in,” said the emperor, “Then I can reward you for your kindness.”

The next day Mahesh came back to the palace, showed the ring to the guard, and asked to see the emperor. However, the guard was a greedy man and told Mahesh, “I will only let you in if you give me half of your reward.”

Mahesh agreed and went to see the emperor.

“I would like 50 lashes as my reward,” said Mahesh.

The emperor tried to talk him out of it, but Maresh insisted. After the 25th lash, Mahesh stopped the emperor and explained about the guard.

The emperor was very angry with the guard. He went out and gave the guard the remaining 25 lashes and fired him on the spot.

Then the emperor asked Maresh again what he would like as a reward.

“I promised the guard half of everything,” Maresh said, “So I do not want any further reward.”

So, instead, the emperor gave Mahesh’s family a new home and all they needed to enjoy a happy life.

The Mermaid’s Ring

A fairytale from Scotland, The Mermaid’s Ring shows that what you want and what’s right for you can be two very different things.

One day a young fisherman accidentally caught a mermaid in his net. Legends say if you catch a mermaid, she must grant a wish if you let her go.

“I wish the girl I like would love me forever,” he said.

“Why do you like her?” asked the mermaid.

“Because she is the prettiest girl in the land.”

The mermaid thought for a while and handed the boy a magical ring.

“Give this ring to the girl you want to spend the rest of your life with,” she said, “but you must wait one full year from today before it will work.”

The boy took the ring, and on his way home, he passed a homeless girl.

“Please, sir,” she said, “Can you spare something to eat? I will work for you in return.”

The boy didn’t have much, but he agreed to share his food with the girl if she helped him put away his nets. They shared his food, and the girl left while the boy crawled into bed and dreamed of his love.

Every day for a month, the girl would help him with the nets, and he would share his food. Then one day, she was not there. The boy was worried, went to look for her, and found her asleep in his fishing shed.

The boy was ashamed that he never thought about where the girl would sleep. He woke her up, let her sleep by his fire, and then added a room to his home for her.

“You can sleep here for the next 11 months,” he told her. “But then my wife will move in, and you will have to leave.”

The next day, the girl was not waiting to help with his nets, and he was angry.

“I gave her food and a room,” he said, “and this is how she repays me?”

He dropped the nets and burst angrily through his front door.

The boy couldn’t believe his eyes. His little home had never been so clean. His bed was washed and made, there was a pile of chopped wood by the fire, and a pot of stew waited for him on the fire.

Again, the boy felt ashamed. The girl had worked hard all day and made his home more lovely than he ever had.

They ate together, and the girl left for her room while the boy crawled into his clean bed and dreamed of his love.

As the months passed, the boy would ask the girl to stay and talk before they both went to sleep in their rooms. They shared stories of their families, and the boy spoke every night of his love.

And then one morning, the boy awoke to find the girl waiting by the door with her things under her arm.

“What are you doing?” asked the boy.

“It is time for you to marry your love,” she said, “So I must go.”

The boy hadn’t realized a full year had passed. He grabbed the ring and ran to the village to find his love. When he found her, the boy saw that she looked exactly the same, but he no longer felt the same way.

So he ran back to his home and chased after the girl.

“Did you find your love?” she asked.

“Yes and no,” said the boy, “I found an ordinary girl in the village, but now that I am with you, I know I have found my love. ”

And so the boy gave the girl his ring, and they spent the rest of their lives together.

A Tale Of Māui

Māui is a folk hero in Polynesian mythology. Rarely worshipped as an actual god, he is seen as a good-natured trickster whose deeds were intended to better the lives of the Polynesian people.

Māui was a curious being and wanted to know where fire came from. He thought that if he put out all of the fires in the village, he would be able to see how they were relit.

Māui’s mother was the rangatira, leader of the village.

“Someone will have to go and ask Mahuika, the goddess of fire, for more,” she said.

So Māui, who was also Mahuika’s grandson, went to ask for more fire. Her cave was inside the burning mountain, and when he arrived and asked for more fire, Mahuika gave him one of her burning fingernails.

But Māui put the fire out and asked for another. Again and again, he did this until Mahuika had no fingernails and only one toenail left. Mahuika was very angry and sent fire to chase him, but Māui called on the weather god who came and put the fire out.

Mahuika threw her last toenail at Māui but missed. The toenail landed in the Mahoe, Tōtara, Patete, Pukatea, and the Kaikōmako trees. The trees held the fire deep in their branches, for it was a gift from the gods.

Māui took dry branches from the trees, took them to the village, and showed the villagers how to rub the branches together and release the fire.

This is how people discovered how to make fire.

The Emperor’s New Clothes

Danish author Hans Christian Anderson wrote many well-known fairy tales, many of which have been retold and adapted into movies. One of his less well-known stories is The Emperor’s New Clothes.

There was once an emperor who didn’t care about ruling his land. Instead, all he cared about was living in his palace, having the finest food and drink, owning the most expensive things, and most of all, wearing the most beautiful clothes.

One day some crooks came to the land. They told the emperor they had the finest cloth in the world, but it was magical. Only the smartest, most brilliant, most influential people could see it, and anyone who was not brilliant, intelligent, or important could see nothing.

When the emperor was shown the cloth, he could see nothing at all, and he was scared.

“If people find out I am not clever, or smart, or important, they will choose another emperor,” he thought. “Then, I will not be the most important person in the land, and the finest things will not surround me.”

So the emperor told the crooks that yes, it was the finest cloth he had ever seen and asked them to make an outfit for his grand parade.

On the day of the parade, everyone in the kingdom came to see the emperor. They had all heard about the magical cloth and wanted to see it for themselves.

The giant parade began, and the emperor walked down the great National Mall. Nobody could see the magical clothes, but everyone was too afraid to speak up.

A child then pointed at the emperor and asked, “Why isn’t he wearing any clothes?”

This made other people brave enough to speak up, and soon, almost the entire kingdom was talking about the silly emperor. He was so worried about beautiful clothes, expensive things, and what people thought, he walked down the street naked rather than telling the truth.

You Need A Lion’s Whisker

This fairy tale from Ethiopia tells the story of a woman who learns there are no shortcuts and that patience, perseverance, and hard work are essential.

Leeya married a man who already had a son. She tried to be friends with the boy, but nothing she did worked. So Leeya went to see the medicine man in the mountains.

“Please help me,” Leeya said. “I want the boy to be happy and to be friends with him. I’ve tried for an entire week, but nothing works.”

“I can help, but first, I need you to pluck a whisker from a living lion and bring it to me,” he said.

Leeya was afraid, but she wanted to be friends, so she went to where the lions lived.

Every day for a month, Leeya would put out a bowl of meat and watch from behind a rock when the lion came to feed.

The next month she did the same thing but knelt up, so her head was showing. The next month she stood taller so the lion could see her from the waist up, and the following month she stood beside the rock.

For the next six months, she inched closer to the lion. In the tenth month, she stood next to him while he ate. In the eleventh, she held the bowl, and in the twelfth month, she would place her hand on the lion’s face.

Finally, she was brave enough to pluck a whisker from the lion, and she took it to the medicine man. The medicine man accepted the whisker from her and threw it into the fire.

“Why did you do that?” asked Leeya. “I worked hard for a full year to get that whisker.”

“You worked hard,” said the medicine man. “You were patient, gave the lion what it needed, and gained its trust. Is it any harder to do the same for a young boy who misses his mother?”

Then Leeya understood. There were no shortcuts, but patience, love, understanding, and perseverance would get her where she wanted to be.

Swapping Places

This ancient tale is as relevant today as it was when it was first told. Everybody’s job may seem easy until you have to do it yourself.

Long ago, there was a family. The man went out every day to work on the farm, and the woman stayed in the house, working to look after the children and the home.

One day the farmer came home and complained the house was a mess, the baby was crying, there was no butter, no bread, and his dinner wasn’t ready.

“What do you do all day?” he asked his wife angrily. “I could do a better job in one day than you do all week.”

“Okay, then,” said his wife, “Tomorrow I will work on the farm, and you will look after the home.”

And that is what they did.

The woman went out early to work in the field, and the man began his day by feeding the chickens and putting milk in the churn to make butter.

But the baby started crying, so he went to pick him up. While the man was shushing the baby, their toddler ran into the kitchen, knocked over the churn, and milk spilled everywhere.

The man started to clean up the mess but realized he hadn’t given the children their breakfast. He began to make breakfast, but he’d forgotten to close the door when he fed the chickens, and now they were in the house, leaving feathers and poop everywhere.

And so it went on, all day. Every time he tried to do something, the farmer found other things went wrong.

When the woman returned from the fields, she found the house covered in feathers and chicken poop. The children were hungry and dirty and had run through the milk leaving a sticky, smelly trail. She found her husband sitting on the bed with a crying baby.

“I am sorry, dear wife,” he said, “I cannot believe all of the things you have to juggle while you work hard at home every day. I will never complain again.”

And he didn’t. Not only that, on the days he came home to no food, he would cook supper for the family, help with the children, and churn the butter for the next day.

Growing For A King

Growing For A King, a Chinese cautionary tale, is an excellent place to begin talking about the dangers of peer pressure.

An old king had no children, so he held a competition to find the next leader.

He decreed that every child who wanted to try would be given a seed. They had to go home and nurture the seed for one year. At the end of the year, the grower of the best plant would be the new leader.

Heng entered the contest and took a seed home. She put the seed in the best soil, watered it carefully, and gave it just the right amount of sun.

By the end of the first month, other children in the town had tiny sprouts, but Heng did not. By the end of the third month, all of the other children had little, bushy plants, but still, Heng had nothing.

The other children made fun of Heng, telling her she could never be the leader because she couldn’t even grow a tiny plant.

Heng swapped the soil and the pot. She tried everything she could think of, but at the end of the year, she still had nothing.

The last day of the contest arrived, and all of the children took their plants to the palace, except Heng. She sat at home and cried, but her parents said she should be proud of her hard work and took her along to the judging.

The king walked up and down, judging the beautiful, luscious plants; some of them even had fruit. Then he arrived at Heng.

“Where is your plant?” asked the king.

Through her tears, Heng said, “I worked very hard. I gave the seed my best soil, watered it every day, put it in just the right amount of sun, and brought it in from the cold. But nothing I did could make the seed grow.”

“That’s right,” said the king. “I gave everyone seeds that had been boiled and dried. None of them could grow into plants”.

“You are the only honest child who was strong enough to admit your seed wouldn’t grow, the king continued. “That makes you our new leader.”

The Stonemason’s Wish

The moral of this story is to be careful what you wish for and that you should appreciate what you have.

There was once a stonemason who was unhappy with his life.

“I wish I were the king,” he said, and suddenly he was.

The stonemason soon discovered that the king always had people asking him questions and that he had to work when he wanted to rest.

“I wish I were the sun,” said the stonemason. “The sun is powerful and doesn’t get told what to do.”

And suddenly, he was the sun. But the stonemason soon discovered the clouds could block the sun’s power.

“I wish I were a rain cloud,” said the stonemason. “They are powerful enough to block out the sun.”

And suddenly, he was a raincloud. As he rained down on the earth, the stonemason tried to change the shapes of the rocks.

“I wish I were powerful enough to change the shape of rocks,” said the stonemason, and suddenly he was a mason again, holding a chisel, ready to carve the stone.

“I am glad to be a stonemason again,” he said. “I can change stone into beautiful things, and that is all I need.”

Mousey Merchant

An Indian tale, Mousey Merchant is a classic “underdog makes good” story that your child may enjoy.

In the city, there was a wealthy merchant. He would lend people money for their business, and in return, he took some profits.

Mousey was a poor boy who asked the merchant for a loan.

“How will you make money?” asked the merchant. “You have no business and nothing worth taking if you do not pay me back.”

“You’re called Mousey, so have this dead mouse,” said the merchant, and he and his friends laughed.

Mousey took the dead mouse, gave it to someone with a pet cat, and in return received two handfuls of chickpeas.

He ground the chickpeas, filled his only jar with water, and waited by the road, under a tree.

A group of woodcutters came by, and Mousey gave them the food and drink in return for two pieces of their wood. He sold the wood and bought four handfuls of peas and another jar.

The next day the woodcutters swapped four pieces of wood for his food and drink. Mousey kept two pieces and traded two for more supplies. This went on for months until the rains came and the woodcutters could not work, and wood was in short supply.

Mousey sold his spare wood for a lot of money and bought a store. Over the years, slowly, he built up a business and made sure to help others who nobody else was willing to support.

One day he was invited to the merchant’s house. He declined the invitation and instead paid the merchant back his “loan” by sending him a dead mouse and a second one as “interest.”

Pumpkin In A Jar

Pumpkin in a Jar teaches that there is always a solution to a problem, even when it seems impossible.

There was once a troll who lived under a bridge. From time to time, he would reach up to someone crossing the bridge, pull them down to his cave, make them look after him and his home, and use his magic to make them stay.

One day he grabbed a girl who was more clever than the rest.

“You have to challenge me to your impossible task, and if I complete the task, you have to let me go,” said the girl. “The rules of magic say so.”

Every troll has one, but only one, impossible task he can set. If someone completes the task, he has to let them go.

“Here is a jar,” the troll said. “You must grow a pumpkin in the jar and bring it back to me at the end of the fall. But, the pumpkin must be in the jar, and the jar and pumpkin must be whole and undamaged.”

At the end of the fall, the girl came back and handed the troll his jar. It was the same jar he gave her; it was undamaged, and inside was a whole, intact pumpkin.

The troll was very angry, but a deal was a deal, and he had to let her go.

The girl told everyone in the village:

“If the troll catches you, ask for his impossible task. Take his jar, place it over a pumpkin flower, and tie it to the vine. The pumpkin will grow inside the jar, and just before it is big enough to break the jar open, cut the pumpkin from the vine — it will stop growing. ”

And so, the troll was never again able to keep anyone captive to do his housework.

The Importance of Bedtime Stories

Telling a child a bedtime story is much more than sharing a tale. Bedtime stories are important because they help to:

Build Bonds

Any time you spend giving your child your full attention in a positive way will help to reinforce your relationship. Your child may not remember the stories when they are older, but they will remember the feeling of having you sit beside the bed with them.

Promote Literacy

When you share a bedtime storybook with your child, you are introducing the joy of reading. You also create a loving, caring feeling they will associate with books long after they have grown and flown the nest.

Develop Language Skills

As your children listen to stories, they absorb a more expansive vocabulary and learn how to use those words to express themselves.

Inspire Creativity

Hearing stories, especially those that involve people, places, and situations they would not normally encounter, can spark your child’s imagination. It can encourage them to envision things beyond their own experiences.

What Makes a Good Bedtime Story?

A good bedtime story has characters your child can relate to or understand. It will have a little excitement or tension, but not so much that it will keep your child awake.

Most of the best bedtime stories have a moral or character who overcomes some kind of adversity. Your child will learn they shouldn’t give up.

Tips for Making Storytime More Interesting

Bedtime stories can be more interesting if you elaborate on the basics. Give plenty of details about people and places, and use plenty of voices and facial expressions to convey emotion.

You can also use quiet voices and louder voices when telling different parts of the story.

And So To Sleep

Spending time with your child before they go to sleep, sharing stories, and giving them your undivided attention, is a fabulous way to end their day. It also builds warm, happy memories for the two of you.

In years to come, they may not remember the details of the stories, the voices you used, or the faces you made, but they will remember how sharing that time together made them feel.

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"Get the pork off the screen!" 5 facts about "Good night, kids!" that you probably did not know

On the Soviet and Russian TV show "Good night, kids!" grown up, it seems we all - the show (let's call it that) has been running for 58 years! We recall the most interesting facts about Phil, Stepashka, Khryusha and more.

1. Karkusha flew up later than everyone else

Premiere of "Good night, kids!" took place on September 1, 1964. But - amazing! - there was neither Khryusha nor Stepashka in the program. All content was reduced to showing pictures, which were accompanied by voice-over text. This release lasted about 7 minutes.

Then the presenters began to appear. The first was actor Vladimir Ukhin, he was replaced by TV presenter Valentina Leontieva, and there was also grandfather Tak-Tak (People's Artist Boris Runge), who told fairy tales. So-Tak had an assistant - the dog Kuzya, who hardly spoke, but loved to listen very much.

Among the puppet heroes (there were more than 30 of them in the entire history of the program) there were boys named Shustrik and Myamlik, Pinocchio, Tyopa the bunny, Vasil Vasilyich the cat. Favorite same four began to appear in the frame from 1968th. The first children recognized the dog Filya. In 1971, Khryusha appeared, three years later - Stepashka. And Karkusha flew up later than everyone else, in 1982. She was destined to become the first female doll in the program.

2. Khryusha and Stepashka are one person

Everyone loved dolls, but little was known about the actors - and there is something to remember about them too. For example, Natalya Derzhavina has been Piggy's puppeteer for over 30 years and said: “He sometimes gets completely out of control. As soon as something blurts out, I even have to apologize. For him - not for yourself. And sometimes it seems to me that we just have a common blood circulation.”

All this could not have happened if not for one case. Derzhavina was born in 1942 in Tashkent. There was a war, life was difficult, and at the age of eight months, the girl had inflammation of the cornea of ​​​​the eye. Only one medicine could help, which at that time was almost impossible to get. The doctors said that the days were counting, the parents did not know what to do. And at some point, a neighbor came to them and handed them the necessary drug - she literally went around the whole city to find it. It was the poetess Anna Akhmatova.

Another actress behind the scenes is Natalya Golubentseva. Today, she has been voicing Stepashka for more than 40 years, and the hare helped her more than once - especially when it happened to explain herself to traffic police officers. As they say, every traffic cop was once a child, and when it turned out that Stepashka was driving the stopped car, people in uniform had no more questions. Today, Natalya, by the way, also voices Piggy - a combo!

But Valentina Leontieva - "Aunt Valya" - said that because of the load at work, she had a difficult relationship with her son. She went to work when the boy was still sleeping, came home - he was already asleep. The child saw his mother on the screen almost more often than in life, and was very worried that other children also knew her and loved her.

3. Grease-soaked dolls

During the first years of the broadcast, the actors had to work in rather difficult conditions. The table under which they were hiding was small - they had to literally fold in half. Fortunately, now there are no such problems: the table is specially designed taking into account the needs of the actors, working under it is much more comfortable than before.

And sometimes the shooting took place outside the studio. The media love to quote Natalya Golubentseva’s story about how one winter Stepashka and company were broadcasting directly from a snowdrift, where they dug a hole for the puppeteers to sit in. In the summer, they worked in the same way from the lake: the artists sat waist-deep in water, and instead of the original dolls, “understudies” appeared from the program, which were specially soaked in fat so that they could get wet. The puppeteers also climbed trees and did other extreme sports while filming "on location".

4. "Get the pork off the screen!"

In 1991, the Good Night, Kids! could leave TV screens completely and irrevocably. The reason is banal - the state, without explanation, stopped allocating money for filming. TV viewers were indignant, signed petitions, wrote letters - and defended their favorite heroes.

In 2001, viewers opposed the fact that children, while waiting for the start of the program, see advertisements for alcoholic beverages. Then "Good night, kids!" moved from ORT (now Channel One) to Kultura. And also - you won't believe it - Piggy somehow found himself in the center of a religious scandal. At the beginning of perestroika, Muslims demanded to be fired from the program with the words "Remove pork from the frame!" RIA Novosti reports. According to legend, in response, they were told that, in fact, no one forbids looking at pigs.

5. Headless and not blinking

There was a day when "Good night, kids!" filmed at the zoo. Piggy came too close to the cage with the bear and... lost his head. Fortunately, no one was hurt, the head was removed from the mouth and quickly sewn back on. But since then, he looks askance at the bears.

Khryusha generally got into strange situations more often than others. For example, there is a story that at 19In the 80s, the television directorate of children's programs was suddenly indignant: why did the rest of the dolls in the program blink, but Piggy did not? The discussion went so far that they decided to replace the dolls with people, but the experiment failed rather quickly: the audience demanded that everyone be returned back.

Cover photo: Nikolai Malyshev / TASS

Good night - Scary and mystical stories, the best horror stories

It was a warm June, my mother said to take a walk with her brother, because she would be at work until late. Vanya and I went to the park, ate ice cream, and went to the carousel. Everything was fine - the carousel makes a full 5 circles, at a low speed. Vanka was crazy, and I just leafed through the Internet feed. No wonder, for me it's like driving a car.
We walked up and went home. At home, cold dumplings were waiting for us, which my mother had blinded in the morning. Without hesitation, I ordered a pizza to take home from the online store. She told Vanya not to say anything, but he himself is glad that he will not chew dumplings, but will eat pizza.

It was already evening, I put the little one to bed and went to watch TV in the room myself. To my surprise, Vanka fell asleep quickly, without psychos, which was strange. After all, he is such a guy - he does not respect sleep.

Chewing marshmallows, I watched a new portion of gum. But everything would be fine if I did not hear the thin creak of the old linoleum. The door handle twitches, and my heart sank into my heels.

– Rit, open it, I'm coming to you! - I heard the familiar voice of my brother, and rushed to open the door.
– Why are you not sleeping? Why did you come to me? – furrowing my eyebrows, I yelled at Vanya.
- When I fell asleep, I woke up because of the creaking of the floors! - Choking in his own saliva, the boy said.
- Did you hear that too? Raising my eyebrows, I asked.
- Yes. I thought it was you who got up to go to the toilet, but when I opened the door to scare you, I didn't see anyone. Only the door to the kitchen was open.
– Wait, I was closing the door to the kitchen! Maybe it's the wind? Damn, no, all the windows are closed, because the air conditioner is working. Van, are you brave? Go see what's there. And I'll wait here for you.
- Yeah, no! What would a ghost eat me? Better go yourself!
- What ghost? I beg you. Are you scared? And the man is growing, oh, that's it, go to the bedroom, so that your ghost can eat you!
– I won't go there. Can I sleep on your couch?
– No, better lie down with me, it will be safer.

03:00. Vanya and I did not sleep. They listened to every sound, and yelled at every creak. The eyes closed on their own. And I don’t know about Vanya, but I fell asleep.

I woke up in the morning, Vanya was not around, and I panicked. Where can he be? He usually sleeps late! I tiptoed into his room. And what a relief it was when this hare sniffed softly in his bed. And then, immediately thoughts. He was afraid, he couldn't go to his own room to sleep! Yes, and from my room, to his five meters. In the dark, he would not go himself, he would wake me up. And if I turned on the light, I would immediately wake up. Something is wrong here! I went to wake my brother, and he answered all questions clearly and understandably. At night, my mother came, lulled him, read a fairy tale, but he stressed that it was all in the dark. Vanya did not notice how she entered the house. But the strangest thing is that after reading a fairy tale to him, my mother sat in a corner and began to follow him. As the boy said, to the question:

– Mom, why are you sitting there? Go to your bed.

Mom did not answer.

- All right, Van. Let's go wake up mom and ask about her strange behavior. - I said.
We went into mom's bedroom, and what a surprise it was when the bed was made, but mom was not there.
- What's going on? She wasn't here! I burst into tears.
- Rita, don't cry, maybe she left in the morning, for groceries. My brother began to console me.

Vanya and I heard the key open the door, and rushed to see who it was. To our surprise, it was my mother.

– Mom, where did you go? The boy hugged his mother and asked.
– Nowhere, I just got home from work! So, children, warm up the dumplings, if you haven’t eaten everything. I'm going to rest, I'm very tired! - Mom said, and went to bed without even undressing.

Vanya and I went to my room and started wondering who it could be?

– Van, you came up with this, honestly?
- No, Rit, I swear on my life, it's true.
– What the hell is going on here? - I could not stand it, and rushing into tears, I shouted.

It's night. Mom left for work, she works as a nurse, and the schedule is very strange. Vanya and I decided not to sleep, to wait for my mother. We watched TV and fell asleep.

In the morning I woke up and immediately ran to Vanya's room. So, as again, did not find him nearby. The boy was sitting near the window, all blue, with red eyes, and pointing to the window, he told me the following story:

- I woke up because someone was dragging me into my room again. Last night it was gentle, light on the arms, and it felt like I was fluttering in the air. And this night, something grabbed my hair and dragged me into my room. I screamed with all my might, I lost my voice! But you slept a sweet dream, and even smiled! It threw me into a corner and started looking at me.

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