Bedtime Stories for Children Read online

Bedtime Stories for Children

  Jeff Torkel

  Copyright 2013 Jeff Torkel

  Bedtime Stories for Children

  Adam and the Mermaid

  Sophie and the Spider

  Emma and the Night Thief

  Wally and the Sausage Nose

  Morris the Country Mouse

  David and the Wardrobe Monster

  Millie and the Genie

  Harry and the Old Witch

  All of these stories are modern adaptations of classic folk tales from around the world.

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  Adam and the Mermaid

  Adam was a poor peasant boy who lived by a river. He lived in a small house with his Aunt, who sent him out to fish for food every day. If Adam failed to catch a fish, his Aunt gave him nothing to eat.

  One day, he was fishing in the river with his crooked wooden rod. The day before Adam failed to catch a fish and his Aunt had sent him to bed hungry. Feeling tired, he stumbled and ... splash! His fishing rod slipped from his hand and disappeared into the deep, dark water.

  ‘Oh no, I’ll be in trouble with Aunt,’ said Adam. ‘How will I get my rod back?’

  ‘I’ll help,’ said a soft voice.

  Adam looked up and gasped. A mermaid with long, flowing hair had appeared in the river. She dived down deep into the water. When she returned she was holding a fishing rod made of solid gold.

  Adam looked at it longingly. It was much better than his old, crooked wooden rod, but he knew it wasn’t his.

  ‘Thank you for your help, but that rod isn’t mine,’ said Adam.

  The mermaid dived again, this time returning with a rod made of shining silver. Adam admired it very much.

  ‘That’s not mine either,’ he said with a sigh.

  So the mermaid dived once more, returning with the crooked wooden rod.

  ‘That’s it!’ cried Adam. ‘Thank you.’

  ‘Such honesty deserves a reward,’ said the mermaid with a smile. She gave Adam all three fishing rods – wood, silver and gold – then disappeared back under the water with a flick of her tail.

  Adam brought the three rods home to his Aunt. Her eyes lit up when she saw the silver and gold fishing rods and heard how he had come by them.

  ‘That’s an easy way to make a living,’ she said.

  Adam’s Aunt picked up the old, crooked wooden rod and hurried to the river.

  Splash! She threw the rod into the water.

  ‘How will I get it back?’ she said loudly.

  Adam frowed as he knew his Aunt was trying to trick the mermaid. Just as before, the mermaid with long, flowing hair appeared in the river.

  ‘I’ll help,’ she said in her soft voice.

  She dived down deep into the water. When she returned she was holding a fishing rod made of solid gold.

  ‘Thank goodness you found it,’ said Adam’s Aunt, reaching out eagerly.

  The mermaid shook her head.

  ‘There’s no goodness in lying,’ she said. ‘This isn’t your rod.’

  The mermaid vanished, leaving Adam’s Aunt empty handed.

  ‘I should have known better,’ she said sadly. ‘It just goes to show, it’s always best to be honest.’

  Sophie and The Spider

  Little Sophie was tucked up in bed. It was very late but she was still wide awake. The wind rattled her bedroom windows and the rain lashed against the walls of her house. She was too scared to go to sleep in case there were nightmares waiting for her.

  ‘You must go to sleep, little girl,’ said a tiny voice.

  Sophie looked up and saw a spider on her wall. She had always been afraid of spiders. She was about to scream until the spider smiled at her.

  ‘Spiders can’t smile,’ said Sophie. ‘And spiders can’t speak.’

  ‘This one can!’ said the spider. ‘And I can help you to sleep.’

  ‘How can you possibly help me to sleep?’ asked Sophie. ‘You’re just a spider.’

  The spider crawled closer.

  ‘I can spin a web to catch bad dreams so you can sleep in peace.’

  Sophie watched as the spider set to work. He went around and around. Then he went back and forth. Then he went in and out. Finally, there was a neatly spun web, glimmering and shimmering.

  ‘There you go,’ said the spider. ‘That will stop any nightmares.’

  ‘But what about the hole in the middle?’ asked Sophie.

  ‘That’s for the good dreams to get through,’ replied the spider.

  Sophie smiled. Then she yawned. And finally, she fell to sleep.

  All night long, Sophie dreamed sweet dreams. Just as the spider promised, not a single nightmare got through. Instead, the bad dreams stuck to the web. And when the sun rose and touched them with light, they fizzled away into nothing.

  When Sophie woke, the first thing she saw was the web sparkling in the sunshine. She never had another nightmare, and she was never scared of spiders anymore.

  Emma and the Night Thief

  It was nearly bedtime, but Emma didn’t want to go to bed. She wanted to stay up with her new friend, Petal.

  Petal wasn’t like Emma’s other friends from school. Petal was very small and lived at the bottom of her garden. She could also fly like a butterfly. Petal had been showing Emma all kinds of magical things: how to make a daisy chain, how to sing like a bird, how to find hidden treasure...

  ‘I wish today could last forever,’ sighed Emma, as the light began to fade. ‘I don’t want it ever to be night.’

  Petal chuckled. ‘I can stop the night,’ she said.

  She flew up to the sky and pulled out a dark, wispy thread. Petal pulled harder and the thread thickened, until she seemed to be holding a billowing black sheet. She gave a sharp tug and the whole thing came tumbling down to the ground, leaving a dazzling blue sky.

  ‘Now go inside and look at the clock,’ said Petal.

  Puzzled, Emma went inside. Her father was in the hall, staring at the clock. The clock was ticking like normal but the hands weren’t moving.

  ‘It must be broken,’ said Emma’s father, scratching his head. ‘We’ll just have to go to bed when it’s dark.’

  But it wasn’t getting dark.

  ‘It was Petal,’ Emma realised. ‘She’s stopped the night!’

  Emma smiled and ran back outside to play with Petal.

  A little while later, Emma found herself yawning. She didn’t want to admit it, but she was tired. And still it didn’t get dark. Now that she was tired, things didn’t seem much fun. After a while, Emma said goodbye to Petal and crept indoors. But when she tried to go to bed, the sun shone through the curtains and kept her awake.

  Emma tossed and turned and eventually she decided to go and find Petal. As usual, she was at the bottom of her garden.

  ‘Back already? What shall we do next?’ asked Petal.

  ‘I just want to go to sleep,’ said Emma. ‘Please, Petal, will you bring the night back? It’s too bright to sleep.’

  ‘You should have thought of that,’ snapped Petal. ‘I go to all that trouble to stop the night and now you want me to put it back!’

  Emma tried to argue, but she didn’t know how. She was so tired, she could barely think straight. Then once more, Emma yawned.

  As everyone knows, when you yawn you pass it on. And moments later, Petal yawned too.

  ‘Now I feel sleepy,’ said Petal. ‘Perhaps I should bring back the night after all.’

  Petal pulled out a dark handkerchief and gave it a shake.

  At last, darkness spread across the sky.

  ‘Time for bed,’ said Petal gently.

>   ‘Goodnight!’

  Wally and the Sausage Nose

  Wally was a woodcutter who lived with his wife in the middle of a great forest. On day, he came across a giant oak tree.

  ‘If I chop this down, the fire-wood will keep us warm the whole winter,’ said Wally.

  Suddenly, he heard a tiny voice.

  ‘Stop!’

  ‘Who’s there?’ called Wally, glancing around.

  ‘It’s me,’ said the voice. ‘I’m a squirrel and I live in this tree. Look up!’

  Wally looked up and nearly fainted with shock. There, sat on a wide branch, was a small, red squirrel.

  ‘A talking squirrel?’ said Wally. ‘I must be going mad!’

  ‘I’m a magic squirrel,’ said the tiny creature. ‘And if you spare my tree, I’ll grant you three wishes.’

  Wally scratched his head, then nodded.

  ‘The wishes are yours,’ said the squirrel. ‘Use them wisely.’

  Wally the Woodcutter ran all the way home, picturing all the things he could wish for.

  ‘A sack full of gold, fancy new clothes, a nice big house...’

  When Wally arrived home his wife was surprised to see him.

  ‘You’re early,’ she said. ‘Dinner won’t be ready for ages.’

  ‘Oh no, I’m so hungry,’ moaned Wally. ‘I wish I had a nice, fat sausage.’

  And at the exact moment he uttered the words, a big, fat sausage instantly appeared on the table.

  Wally’s wife stared at the sausage in amazement.

  ‘How did you do that?’ she asked.

  ‘A magic squirrel granted me three wishes,’ he said proudly.

  ‘You idiot!’ snapped his wife. ‘You could have wished for anything, and you wished for a sausage! I wish your stupid sausage was on the end of your nose.’

  And at the exact moment she uttered the words, the big, fat sausage instantly appeared on the end of Wally’s nose.

  ‘Oh no,’ she gasped. ‘I didn’t mean to do that.’

  Wally tried to pull the sausage off the end of his nose, but it wouldn’t budge. Wally’s wife laughed, but Wally wasn’t very happy.

  ‘We’ve only got one wish left,’ he said glumly.

  ‘We can be rich,’ said his wife. ‘But you’ll have to spend the rest of your life with a sausage on the end of your nose.’

  ‘That’s no good,’ said Wally. ‘I’ll never be able to show my face again.’

  His wife nodded.

  ‘Then I wish the sausage was back on the table,’ she said.

  And at the exact moment she uttered the words, the big, fat sausage moved from Wally’s nose onto the table.

  ‘So much for our three wishes,’ she sighed.

  ‘Never mind,’ said Wally. ‘At least we’ll have sausage for dinner!’

  Morris the Country Mouse

  Once there was a little mouse named Morris who lived in the country. Morris had a mouse friend called Milo who lived in the city. Morris the country mouse invited Milo the city mouse to visit him.

  When Milo from the city sat down to dinner he was surprised to find that the Morris had nothing to eat except barley and grain.

  ‘Really," said Milo, ‘You do not live well at all Morris. You should see how I live! I have all sorts of fine things to eat every day. You must come to visit me and see how nice it is to live in the city."

  Morris the country mouse was glad to do this, and after a while he went to the city to visit his friend Milo.

  When Morris arrived in the city Milo took him to the kitchen cupboard of the house where he lived. There, on the lowest shelf, stood a bag of brown sugar.

  ‘Look,’ said Milo. ‘I have as much sugar as I can eat here. Help yourself my country friend.’

  The two little mice nibbled and nibbled, and Morris thought he had never tasted anything so delicious in his life. He was just thinking how lucky Milo was, when suddenly the door opened with a bang, and in came the cook to get some flour.

  ‘Run!’ whispered Milo.

  And they ran as fast as they could to the little hole where they had come in. Poor Morris was shaking all over but Milo reassured him.

  ‘That is nothing; she will soon go away and then we can go back.’

  After the cook had gone away and shut the door they stole softly back, and this time Milo had something new to show. He took Morris into a corner on the top shelf, where there was a big jar of jam. After much tugging and pulling they got the lid off the jar and began to nibble away. This was even better than the brown sugar. The Morris liked the taste so much that he could hardly nibble fast enough.

  But all at once, in the midst of their eating, there came a scratching at the door and a sharp, loud MIAOUW!

  ‘Run!’ whispered Milo.

  And they ran as fast as they could to the little hole where they had come in. Poor Morris was shaking all over but Milo reassured him.

  ‘Don’t worry; the cat will soon go away and then we can go back.’

  After a while they crept out and Milo took Morris to a board with some cheese on it.

  ‘Now this is the nicest of all,’ said Milo, licking his little lips.

  But Morris the country mouse had noticed something.

  ‘Stop! stop!’ cried Morris. ‘That is a trap! The minute you touch the cheese with your teeth something comes down on your head hard, and you're dead!’

  Morris the little Country Mouse looked at the trap, and he looked at the cheese, and he looked at the Milo City Mouse.

  ‘If you'll excuse me,’ he said, ‘I think I will go home. I'd rather have barley and grain to eat and eat it in peace and comfort, than have brown sugar jam and cheese and be frightened to death all the time!’

  So the Morris the Country Mouse went back to his home, and there he stayed all the rest of his life.

  David and the Wardrobe Monster

  There was once a boy named David who was afraid of the dark. He thought that when it was dark his bedroom filled up with monsters. But there came a time when he was too old to be carry on sleeping with the light on.

  That first night sleeping in the dark was a scary one. David was so afraid that he went over to his wardrobe to get a torch. But when he opened the wardrobe door he came face to face with a monster!

  The monster was purple, with green spots. It had a large nose and two horns on its head. David was about to let out a scream when something strange happened...the monster started to cry. Tears fell from the monster’s eyes and rolled down his spotted purple chest.

  ‘Why are you crying?’ asked David.

  ‘Because I’m scared,’ said the monster. ‘I live in this warddrobe, but I’m far too scared to come out.’

  David could see that the monster was indeed very scared. He stopped being afraid of the monster and started to feel sorry for him.

  ‘Why are you scared?’ asked David.

  ‘I was scared when I saw your face,’ replied the monster. ‘Because to me your face is the most horrible thing I’d ever seen.’

  ‘That’s funny,’ said david. ‘Because i thought exactly the same thing about you!’

  David started to laugh. Then the monster started to laugh. And they both laughed together.

  The two of them talked so much that they became quite friendly, and they realised that both of them had been afraid of the same thing: the unknown. To lose their fear all they had to do was get to know each other.

  Together they travelled the world, seeing lions, tigers, crocodiles, dragons... It was the first time either of them had seen such creatures, but they made the effort to get to know them, and ended up dispelling their fear, and becoming friends.

  And, although his parents weren't too happy, because they thought he was too old to still believe in monsters, the truth of it was that all kinds of creatures visited the boy's bedroom each night. And, instead of fearing them he had learned to get to know them and befriend them.

  Millie and the Genie

  There was once
a young girl named Millie who lived near a beach. Millie was a clever girl because she always liked to read. Her favourite place to read was at the beach. And the beach near her home was very beautiful. The sand was always golden and the sea was always clear blue.

  One day, Millie was walking along the beach reading a book. As the water lapped over her feet, she felt something cold and hard. She looked down to see an old glass bottle bobbing on the water, its sides misty with age. The bottle had a cork on top.

  Millie picked up the bottle.

  ‘I wonder what’s inside?’ she said.

  She tried to look inside but it was too cloudy to see through the glass.

  She shook it, but there was no sound.

  She pulled out the cork and sniffed, but there was no smell.

  She tipped it up, but nothing came out.

  ‘Empty,’ Millie decided, dropping it on the sand.

  Suddenly, smoke began to pour out, Millie stepped back in alarm. The smoke grew bigger and bigger, bubbling and boiling...

  A fierce face formed out of the smoke.

  ‘It’s a genie,’ said Millie in astonishment. ‘I wonder if he’ll grant me three wishes?’

  ‘Ah, it’s good to be free from that bottle,’ boomed the genie. ‘Now for something to eat...I think I’ll start with you!’

  ‘No, wait,’ pleaded Millie. ‘I thought genie’s are supposed to grant wishes? That’s what happened to Aladdin in my book.’

  ‘Not me,’ said the genie. ‘I’m hungry, and you look tasty!’

  ‘Please don’t eat me,’ said Millie, as the genie’s huge hands stretched towards her. ‘After all, I let you out of the bottle, don’t I deserve your thanks?’

  ‘I don’t care,’ said the evil genie. ‘I’m too hungry after being cooped up in that bottle for so long.’

  Millie thought fast.

  ‘Surely a great genie like you wasn’t trapped in that tiny little bottle,’ she said.