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Bedtime reading

Gentle, short stories for winding down, with happy endings and nothing frightening.

19 stories

For KidsFable & folk tale

The Lion and the Mouse

A mighty lion laughs when a tiny mouse promises to repay his kindness one day. Then the hunters' net falls.

3 min readAges 4–8Ancient Greece
For KidsFable & folk tale

The Tortoise and the Hare

The fastest animal in the meadow is so sure of winning that he stops for a nap. The slowest one simply keeps going.

3 min readAges 4–8Ancient Greece
For KidsFable & folk tale

Stone Soup

A hungry traveller arrives in a village where nobody will share. All he asks for is a pot of water and a fire, because he knows how to make soup from a stone.

3 min readAges 5–9
For KidsOriginal story

The Broken Kite

Tavi didn't mean to break his sister's kite. Hiding it seemed easy, but keeping a secret turned out to be much heavier than telling the truth.

3 min readAges 5–8
For KidsFable & folk tale

The Monkey and the Crocodile

A clever monkey shares sweet fruit with a crocodile every day. But one afternoon, halfway across the river, his friend tells him a terrible secret.

3 min readAges 5–9Ancient India
KindnessOriginal story

The Umbrella at Platform Four

One rainy morning, an old man left a spare umbrella at a station with a handwritten note. He had no idea what it would start.

3 min readAll ages
ReflectionFable & folk tale

A Cup of Tea

A proud professor visits a Zen master to learn about Zen, and talks the whole time. The master quietly pours him some tea, and keeps on pouring.

2 min readAges 8+Meiji-era Japan
ReflectionReflection

The Things We Notice Only When We Slow Down

A reflection on hurry, attention and the quiet details of an ordinary day, and on what we might be missing while we rush towards the next thing.

3 min readAges 13+
For KidsFable & folk tale

The Ant and the Grasshopper

All summer long, Grasshopper sings while Ant carries grain. Then the first cold wind blows across the field.

4 min readAges 4–8Ancient Greece
For KidsFable & folk tale

The Thirsty Crow

On the hottest day of the year, a tired crow finds a pitcher with a little water at the very bottom. Her beak can't reach it. So she thinks.

4 min readAges 4–8Ancient Greece and India
For KidsClassic retold

The Ugly Duckling

One egg in the mother duck's nest is bigger than the rest, and the chick that hatches from it looks nothing like his brothers and sisters. Nobody wants him. Not yet.

4 min readAges 5–91840s
ReflectionFable & folk tale

The Empty Pot

An old emperor gives every child in the land a single seed. Whoever grows the finest flower, he says, will rule after him. One boy's seed will not grow.

4 min readAll agesTraditional China
For KidsFable & folk tale

The Town Mouse and the Country Mouse

A plain little country mouse visits her grand cousin in the big town, where the food is fancy and the plates are silver. But there is something the town mouse forgot to mention.

3 min readAges 4–8Ancient Greece
For KidsClassic retold

The Elves and the Shoemaker

A poor shoemaker has leather left for just one more pair of shoes. He cuts it out, goes to bed, and in the morning, something wonderful is waiting on his workbench.

3 min readAges 4–819th-century Germany
For KidsFable & folk tale

The Little Red Hen

A little red hen finds some grains of wheat and asks her friends to help her plant them. "Not I," says the cat. "Not I," says the dog. "Not I," says the duck. But at the end, everyone wants a slice of bread.

3 min readAges 3–7Traditional
For KidsClassic retold

The Princess and the Pea

On a stormy night, a dripping-wet girl knocks at the palace gate and says she is a real princess. The queen has a clever, rather strange way to find out.

2 min readAges 4–819th-century Denmark
For KidsFable & folk tale

The Fox and the Grapes

A hungry fox spots a bunch of shining purple grapes, high up on a vine. He jumps and jumps. Then he says something very interesting.

3 min readAges 4–8Ancient Greece
EpicsFable & folk tale

The Squirrel and the Bridge

An army is building a bridge of rocks across the sea. The bears and monkeys carry huge boulders. And one tiny squirrel keeps rolling in the sand and running to the shore. Is that really helping?

3 min readAges 4–9Told alongside the Ramayana
EpicsClassic retold

Krishna and Sudama

Two boys share everything at school. Years later, one is a king in a golden city and the other is so poor his family often goes hungry. Sudama walks to the palace with a small bundle of flattened rice. Will his old friend even remember him?

4 min readAll agesThe Bhagavata Purana