Cow bedtime story


The Cow On The Roof

This is one of the very funny bedtime stories for kids. This story has been adapted from a Norwegian tale. Once upon a time, in a village lived a couple, Konrad, and Kristine. As the years had passed, Konrad had become more ill-tempered.

One day, when Konrad returned after a heavy day of work, the wife became even more annoyed. Because when Konrad entered, he brought in all the dirt as well. “Oh, Dear Konrad,” the wife cried. “Don’t you know how to clean the house?” Also, read The Man With The Coconuts.

funny bedtime stories for kids

But then she had a brilliant idea. She suggested that they interchange their jobs, as Konrad seemed unhappy with his job. Konrad agreed eagerly.  “Yes, yes. I will be away from the sun.” And so, they worked each other’s jobs. The Next morning Kristine took the sickle and went straight to work skipping breakfast.

After tending to their son, Konrad went into the kitchen. After studying the cupboards and the icebox, he realized they had no butter. So the churn was brought out and started churning cream. But soon he got tired. While Konrad was trying to get some ale, he heard some footsteps over his head. Also, read The Foolish Boy.

At once, he ran to catch the intruder. But he soon found that it was their pig, who was merrily making his way towards the churn. “Stop”, yelled Konrad. But it was too late. The churn had been toppled and the cream poured out. Although Konrad was upset, the pig grunted merrily.

Konrad had to catch the pig, so he chased it. All the while forgetting the ale and knob he had turned. By the time he had caught the little pig, the ale had spilled all over the floor. Too lazy and tired to clean the mess, Konrad went to churn some more cream. Midway through churning, Konrad remembered their cow.

“Oh my it is already noon,” he worried. “The poor cow has had nothing to eat since yesterday,” he ran out to feed the cow. They kept their cow locked up in the barn. The sun was already blazing outside, so Konrad came up with a shortcut. He picked up a plank, creating a passage. This passage connected the barn to the lowest end of the roof of their house. “Perfect”, smiled Konrad, “it’ll be easier for me this way”. You may also like to read, Six Blind Men.

Before Konrad could get to the cow, he heard his son cry. He raced inside, picking his son up he realized he’d have to feed the baby. So, he took the baby to the barn. Konrad knew he had to let the cow drink some water before he took her to the roof. So, as he reached down the well, to fetch some water his son fell out of his hands. Luckily, the son fell on the grass and not the well.

The child began wailing loudly. Quickly he picked his son up and took the water to the cow. After the cow had had water to drink, Konrad told her to go up the plank and eat. “Soon it will be late afternoon, and I still have to make supper.”

After making a fire and putting a pot of water to boil. Suddenly Konrad feared that the cow might fall off. “Just to be careful, I’ll go tie her up on the roof”, he thought.  In a hurry, Konrad tied a piece of rope around the cow and slipped the other end down the chimney.

Downstairs, Konrad tied the rope around his waist, securing the cow. Then he picked up his son and began to grind the corn. “Well, now that the cow is secure, she won’t run away and I have nothing to fear.” Unfortunately, things have never been that simple.

The cow did fall, and with a tug at the rope Konrad and the baby got themselves stuck in the chimney. Kristine had been hard at work all day. She waited for the supper bell. When the bell did not ring, she returned. As she walked by the barn she saw no pig or cow. At once she ran into the house, knowing something to be wrong.

She found the cow hanging out, the cream all poured out, the water had boiled away, her son and husband in the chimney, the ale had spilled too and the oats were not ground. “It must have been a hard day for you,” she told her husband. From that day, Konrad worked the field and Kristine took care of the house. Also, read Clever Gretel.

Don’t forget to check out the printable version of one of the best funny bedtime stories for kids on Pinterest from here.

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Bedtime story based on Hey Diddle Diddle

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Table of Contents: All Bedtime Stories

A Cow called Emma

Based on the Nursery Rhyme
Hey Diddle Diddle

Listen to the Bedtime Story A Cow called Emma, based around our arrangement of the Nursery Rhyme Hey Diddle Diddle. Here you can listen to excerpts of all stories (narrated by Peter Bradbury). You can read along with every story online on our website or you can download all story texts and soundtracks individually (MP3 + PDF). In addition, all 20 stories are available together as an illustrated eBook with audio included (our full package download).

All Bedtime Stories (based on Nursery Rhymes)

Choose your storyBedtime Story: A Windmill In Old AmsterdamBedtime Story: Dingle Dangle Scarecrow (Story in full)Bedtime Story: Michael Finnegan> Bedtime Story: Ride A Toy Horse (Story in full)Bedtime Story: Incy Wincy SpiderBedtime Story: Skye Boat SongBedtime Story: The Bear Went Over The MountainBedtime Story: Bye Baby BuntingBedtime Story: Old King ColeBedtime Story: Baa Baa Black SheepBedtime Story: Pussycat PussycatBedtime Story: Lavender's BlueBedtime Story: Hey Diddle Diddle (Story in full)Bedtime Story: Mary Mary Quite ContraryBedtime Story: Oranges And LemonsBedtime Story: Pat A Cake Pat A Cake Bakers' ManBedtime Story: Twinkle Twinkle Little Star (Story in full)Bedtime Story: Little Bo PeepBedtime Story: Hush Little BabyBedtime Story: Sing A Rainbow

(Story 13 of 20)

Hey Diddle Diddle

A Cow called Emma

Once upon a time there was a little cow called Emma. She was born on a farm somewhere in the Midlands, quite some time ago. Due to very sad circumstances, circumstances that are far too sad to be told in a bedtime story, the little cow wasn’t raised by her own mother but by a little foals’ mum. So little Emma didn’t know she was a cow, she thought she was a foal just like her sister! And so she did all the things little horses do. She ran around the green meadows of the Midlands and played joyfully with the other foals all day long. She loved to jump over fences but for some strange reason; too strange to tell in a bedtime story, none of the horses could jump as high as she could. Emma was very proud and so she kept on jumping. First she jumped over small fences, then she jumped over high fences, but after a while she started jumping over the farmer’s car.

Then she jumped over the farmer’s tractor and one day she even jumped over the milkman’s lorry. How amazing was that? The horses were really impressed and the farmer was amazed by his very special cow. He went to the market place to tell the other farmers in the neighbourhood all about his special cow Emma; but of course they didn’t believe him, they just laughed at him when he told his story. You see, usually cows don’t like jumping over tractors and milk lorries. The poor old farmer left the market place and travelled home to his farm and the moon was shining brightly. When he got close to his farm he could clearly see Emma the cow jumping over his farmhouse. He shook his head sadly; no one would ever believe that, he thought.

As the days went by Emma the cow kept on jumping over everyone, over everything and everywhere until finally, the farmer decided to invite the whole village to a midsummer party so that they could see his remarkable cow. On that very next Sunday afternoon all the farmers of the village came to see the jumping cow and they brought along their wives and all their children too. No one actually believed there was a jumping cow, but they surely didn’t want to miss the party. It was a lovely day and everyone sitting on checked blankets spread about on the grass with a cup of tea in one hand and a piece of cake in the other. It was a lovely day. Then suddenly everyone saw the cow jumping over a fence. There was cheering, there was applause, the cow bowed and then suddenly, it jumped over the tractor. The audience was shocked. They gasped and what next? Then it jumped over the farmhouse. What a cheering and a screaming there was!

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The farmer was very proud and very pleased with his cow, now everyone knew that he hadn’t made up the story. It was a wonderful party; far too wonderful to be told in a bedtime story and people just couldn’t believe their eyes as even more strange things started to happen after the sun had gone down. There was a pussycat playing a fiddle and Mrs Johnson, the neighbour’s wife, pretended she had seen the table running away with all the plates and the spoons. Everyone laughed, as it was so funny and then someone shouted “look!” and pointed straight up to the moon. Everyone did look and could see Emma the cow jumping right over the moon. That was clearly a party to remember!

Song:
Hey diddle diddle
The cat and the fiddle
The cow jumped over the moon
The little dog laughed to see such fun
And the dish ran away with the spoon
The spoon, the spoon, the spoon, the spoon

© 2015, written by Mike Wilbury

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Cow's Head « OTSTRAXA.

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Cow's Head is a terrible Ukrainian fairy tale about a girl who was rewarded for her kindness by a strange monster.

COW'S HEAD

Oksana lived in a small house on the outskirts of the city with her father, stepmother and her stepsister. Oksana's stepmother did not love her, but only loved her own daughter, Elena.

Soon after her father got married for the second time, Oksana had to do all the housework while Elena had fun all day long. Oksana's father was a timid man, and could not argue with his wife. Oksana wore Elena's clothes, and her hands became chapped and rough from work, and Elena became more and more lazy and spoiled.

One year, when there was a particularly cold winter, their family ran out of money. Oksana's stepmother began to gnaw at her father and force him to drive her daughter out of the house, because they could not afford to support two daughters. Reluctantly, Oksana's father agreed with her stepmother. He took Oksana to an old hut that was deep in the forest and left her there.

Oksana was very scared. The forest, as they said, was inhabited by terrible kikimors and goblin. The hut had a stove, a table and an old, rusty pot. Oksana took out bread, a knife and a piece of cheese that her father had given her. She took out a blanket and spread it out next to the stove, then gathered brushwood and lit the stove.

Oksana understood that she would not be able to eat bread and cheese all winter, so she made a loop out of small tree twigs and caught a hare to eat it. she also dug under the snow and dug up some roots and berries fit for food.

Before dark, Oksana melted the snow and drank some water. She used the rest of the water as broth. She ate well and lay down at night near the stove, listening to the howling of the wind, and forcing herself not to be afraid of the forest.

It was midnight when there was a knock on the door of the hut.

Knock, knock, knock.

Oksana woke up and her heart was pounding. The knock was repeated.

Knock, knock, knock.

Oksana remembered the monsters living in the forest. She hid under the covers, praying that the intruder would leave.

Knock, knock, knock.

Oksana got up and grabbed a stick. She crept up to the door. The wind howled terribly through the chimney. Oksana opened the door. There was no one behind the door. Her heart was pounding as she peered into the swirling snow. Then she looked down and screamed in horror, dropped her stick and jumped back. There was a monster. Evil spirit.

He didn't have a body!

“Who are you?” Oksana stammered, clutching the door with trembling hands.

“I am the head of a cow,” replied the monster.

Indeed, Oksana immediately understood what it was. A brown head with curved horns and strange, sinister eyes.

“I am cold and hungry. Can I sleep near the fire?” asked the head of the cow. Her voice was cold and lifeless.

Oksana stuttered in horror.

“Of course,” she said.

“Pull me over the threshold,” demanded the head of the cow in a hollow voice. Oksana did as she was told.

"Lay me near the fire."

Fear struggled with compassion inside Oksana, but compassion won out. Oksana laid her head next to the stove.

“I'm hungry,” said the head of the cow. "Feed me".

Oksana was sorry to give away her meager meal. She only had some meat left for tomorrow, but she gave it to the cow's head.

“I will sleep,” said the head. There was no hint of sympathy for the poor girl in her voice, but Oksana did everything to make her head comfortable. She gave her her blanket, and she herself lay down to sleep in a dark, cold corner, laying only a cloak.

When she woke up in the morning, the cow's head was gone. In the place where she slept, there was a large chest filled with the most beautiful dresses that the girl had ever seen. Under the dresses were heaps of gold and precious stones.

Oksana, not believing, looked at all the wealth that she got. And then her father's voice rang out.

"My daughter, I have come."

Oksana jumped for joy. She threw herself into his arms. He was finally able to stand up to his stepmother and returned to take Oksana home.

“Father, look!” Oksana exclaimed and pulled him into the house. Oksana then explained everything to him.

Returning to the village, Oksana began to live happily ever after. She had many admirers, and she married well.

Hearing Oksana's story, and seeing the wealth that she got, Elena went to a hut in the forest and spent the night there. But when the cow's head appeared, Elena was too lazy to serve her. In the morning, all her dresses turned into rags, and her property into dust.

And Oksana lived to a ripe old age in happiness and prosperity.

Fairy tale The Magic Rocker, Chinese Folk Tale

In Yunnan Province, where the Yi people have lived for a long time, there is a large mountain called Guanyinpan. Under the mountain flows a fast stream with cool water. Every day, the village shepherds bring cows here, and they themselves sit on the shore while the cows graze the grass and drink the clear spring water.

And then the shepherds noticed: exactly at noon, a beautiful girl appears from nowhere, and instead of ninety-nine cows, there are one hundred cows in the herd. By evening, when it is time to drive the cows to the village, there are ninety-nine of them again. And the girl goes missing.

The shepherds soon became friends with the beauty and fell in love with her very much. She knew many interesting stories and was very good at telling them.

“Among these cows,” the girl once said, “there is one that is not simple, but magical: she walks on water as on earth—the waves part before her. It can be driven across the sea. Here she is! And every hair on her back is magical: it can withstand a thousand jin (Jin is a measure of weight). On such a hair, it is easy for a person to carry any burden, he will not get tired.

The shepherds heard this and wanted to know which of the cows was magical. But the girl only smiled and said:

— You can earn a wonderful thing only by honest work.

She said so and disappeared: the sun was already setting behind the mountain.

The shepherds marveled and decided that a heavenly fairy was coming to them. They counted the cows - ninety-nine The fairy cow must have taken with her to heaven!

The next day the shepherds wanted to eat wild apples. They climbed a tree, began to pluck the fruit and did not notice how the cows climbed into the cornfield. So they would have trampled the whole crop if the old watchman had not noticed them. He ran to the field, started shouting, waving his arms, but how can one cope with such a herd? The old man grabbed his old yoke, on which he carried brushwood, and began to beat the cows. And this yoke had served the old man for many years; from the sun and rain it cracked and became chipped.

The old man drove the cows away and, exhausted, sat down to rest. He did not notice that shreds of cow hair were stuck in the cracks of his old yoke.

The sun was setting in the west, it was time to go home. The old man picked up two bundles of brushwood, hung them on a yoke and was surprised: “What is this? Why is it so easy to carry?"

He added another bundle - and did not even feel its weight! He added one more - but the rocker did not become heavier. What are miracles? The old man hung the whole yoke with brushwood, leaving only a narrow gap for the shoulder between the bundles. Carried - but does not feel heaviness!

And he went down the road unusually fast, as if someone was urging him on. Satisfied, the old man returned home: he brought a lot of brushwood, and was not tired at all!

From that day on, he began to carry huge bundles of brushwood to the market in the city. He now had enough money for food and drink, and even left. And he lived much better than before.

Once an old man was walking into the city with brushwood and met a rich man on the road. He saw that the old man was carrying a huge load, and was surprised: is it really possible for an old man to carry so much? The rich man stopped the old man and began to question him.

“I have a wonderful yoke,” he answered, “no matter how much you load it, you don’t feel the weight!

The rich man did not believe it, he tried it himself. Yes, the old man told the truth: the yoke with brushwood was as if without a load! The rich man's eyes flared up, and he began to ask the old man:

- Sell me your yoke! I will give you five hundred lans of silver for it.

The old man did not agree for a long time: it was a pity for him to part with such a yoke. But the rich man stuck like a mosquito - sell and sell!

"Well, it's good," thought the old man, "I'll be full of these five hundred lan silver until the end of my life, and you work hard, gather brushwood!"

The old man received silver, and the rich man received a magic yoke, and they each went their own way. The rich man returned home, looks at his yoke - he is not overjoyed: now he will calculate all the laborers and will carry the brushwood himself.

He began to stroke the rocker and noticed cracks on it.

Then the rich man went to the village carpenter and ordered him to better plan and polish the yoke so that it would shine.

The carpenter took the planer, walked it over once or twice and removed all the hairs of the magic cow. The rocker became smooth, shiny, but ... its magical power was gone!

The rich man returned home and began to brag about his purchase to his wife. She thought: “Last year, when a rich harvest was gathered, even then he was not so happy! It can be seen that he really bought a valuable thing.

She wanted to experience the wonderful properties of the yoke herself; at first she hung a small bundle of brushwood on him so that his back would not be broken.

“Don't be afraid,” her husband shouted to her, “it's a magic rocker, hang a whole house and you won't feel it!”

He dragged two huge bundles of brushwood and hung them on a yoke.


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