Perhaps you do not know it, but the monkeys think that all the bananas belong to them. When Brazilian children eat bananas they say, “I am a monkey.” I once knew a little boy in Brazil who was very, very fond of bananas. He always said, “I am very much of a monkey.” If you are fond […]
Andersen story – The loving pair
This is bedtime story by Hans Christian Andersen. A whipping Top and a Ball lay close together in a drawer among other playthings. One day the Top said to the Ball, “Since we are living so much together, why should we not be lovers?” But the Ball, being made of morocco leather, thought herself a […]
Cyprian the hedgehog and the magic stone
It was late night and the sky was full of twinkling stars. Cyprian the hedgehog was about to go to sleep in his burrow lying at the foot of the forest hill. At one point, however, he saw something that made him freeze. A huge stone was sliding down the hill. He was sliding or […]
The Good Wife and the Bad Husband
This is classic bedtime story from India. Enjoy! In a remote village there lived a man and his wife, who was a stupid little woman and believed everything that was told her. Whenever people wanted anything from her they used to come and flatter her; but this had to be done in the absence of […]
The Ugly Princess
This is classic bedtime story from Spain. Enjoy! There was once a king who had an only daughter, and she was so very ugly and deformed that, when she rode through the streets of Alcantara, the children ran away, thinking she was a witch. Her father, however, thought her the most lovely creature in his […]
Who was King?
This is old bedtime story from South Africa. Enjoy! “Once upon a time,” began Outa Karel, and his audience of three looked up expectantly. “Once upon a time, Oom Leeuw roared and the forest shook with the dreadful sound. Then, from far away over the vlakte, floated another roar, and the little lion cubs jumped […]
The Enchanted Palace
Today we have Portuguese bedtime story from beautiful island Madeira! In the village of Altos Ares in the island of Terceira there lived once upon a time a fair maid who had been baptized Perola, which means Pearl. As she grew older she was indeed like a rare pearl among the other maidens of the […]
The Good Thunder
Japanese bedtime story Folks say that Rai-den, the Thunder, is an unloving spirit, fearful and revengeful, cruel to man. These are folks who are mortally afraid of the storm, and who hate lightning and tempest; they speak all the evil they can of Rai-den and of Rai-Taro, his son. But they are wrong. Rai-den Sama […]
The cat and the cradle
Dutch bedtime story In the early ages, when our far-off ancestors lived in the woods, ate acorns, slept in caves, and dressed in the skins of wild animals, they had no horses, cows or cats. Their only pets and helpers were dogs. The men and the dogs were more like each other than they are […]