Read aloud
The stories underneath it all
Where these traditions actually come from, retold to be read out loud at bedtime. Four or five minutes each. Every one says plainly whose story it is.
The Three Bags of Gold
How a man with money and no idea what to do with it invented giving in secret.
5 min read · ages 4–9
La Befana and the Travellers
A woman with a broom says no to an invitation, and spends the rest of her life going anyway.
4 min read · ages 5–10
The Hare in the Moon
Three animals meet a hungry traveller. Two of them bring food. The third has nothing.
4 min read · ages 5–10
The Monster Called Nian
A village works out what the monster is afraid of — and then makes a great deal of noise.
4 min read · ages 4–9
Amu Nowruz and Nane Sarma
She waits all year for him. Every year, she falls asleep about ten minutes before he arrives.
4 min read · ages 6–11
The Mouse Who Went to the Palace
A boy king loses a tooth, and a mouse takes him somewhere he has never been.
4 min read · ages 5–9