Fairy tale bedtime stories
29 old and new fairy tales
Castles, kings, giants and magic pots, told fresh. Some are old stories retold: Peg Takes the Hen Back Up sends a girl up a beanstalk to take a lost hen home, with a cheese and pickle sandwich in her pocket, and That’ll Do Nicely, Thank You is the magic porridge pot with a boy who has lost the card with the stopping words.
Others are new fairy tales in the same bright key, like Mina and the Snagged Snow Cloud, where the year’s first snow cloud snags on the castle weathervane and the girl who darns everybody’s socks thinks she knows how to free it.
The giants are gentle ones, and quite often the smallest person in the castle has the best idea.
Mo and the Very Long StairsMo gets out of bed after lights-out to deliver Dad’s birthday card, and in her house that means going as small as a thimble, with three twisty flights of stairs between her and the kitchen.
That’ll Do Nicely, Thank YouA boy borrows his grandma’s magic porridge pot to make his mom a secret birthday breakfast, but he has lost the card that tells him how to stop it.
The Geese Bring the Colours HomeA hedgehog is throwing her very first supper party for thirty geese, but the geese are carrying all the meadow’s colours home, so how will they find her blue door in a meadow gone grey?
The Darner in the Airing CupboardRosie is seven and likes every sock to have its partner, so she sets a trap in the airing cupboard and catches a small woolly sock-thief who always leaves a button in place of what he takes.
Mina and the Snagged Snow CloudThe first snow of the year is stuck on the castle weathervane, and the smallest girl in the kitchen, the one who mends everybody’s socks, thinks she knows how to free it.
The Dragon Who Went Trick-or-TreatingPepper is a small dragon who can’t talk but has the best manners in the valley, and he wants just once to knock on a door and get a sweet, so on costume night he goes trick-or-treating as himself.
Hattie Calls the Geese HomeSpring only comes when the geese fly home, so with Grandad’s knee too stiff for the hill, Hattie and his snow-loving old dog have to climb Top Hill and light the welcome lantern on their own.
The Tide KeyWith her grandad away at a wedding, Tess has to wind the sea back into the harbour by herself at midnight, and the key turns exactly nine times, so a seal with a bucket on his nose is the last thing she needs.
The Stamp That Gave the Parcel LegsA green stamp gives a birthday cake two little legs, and Hattie has until four o’clock to walk it across the valley, though the parcel insists on bowing to every postbox it passes.
Ninety-Nine Steps for BertBert the tortoise is very slow, and the castle tower has ninety-nine steps, but he has a plan, a list and a strawberry cut into ninety-nine slices.
Tilly Cuts the First SnowOn the night before the first snow, a brand-new snowflake cutter who can’t cut a straight line keeps opening out boots, cats and teapots.
Nell Spins a Puddle CloudNell is learning to spin clouds on her Granny’s wheel, and her little brother Bo needs just one puddle for his brand-new red boots.
The Tortoise Who Stayed Up a Hundred YearsA fairy gets carried away with a christening gift and puts a whole castle to sleep, all except one slow, careful tortoise, who decides to keep everything ready for when they wake up.
Butter-Fingers Molly and the Eight BowsEverything Butter-Fingers Molly drops into the harbour comes back at low tide, cleaned and done up in eights, and she means to find out who is sending it.
Princess Lottie Inside the HarpPrincess Lottie is the smallest of seven, so small she stands on the castle dog to see out of the windows, and when a peg falls inside the giant’s golden harp, she may be the only one in the kingdom who fits.
The Oven That Only Bakes for SingingBen wants a tall birthday cake waiting for Mom, but the oven in their crooked house only bakes while somebody sings, and his dad only knows the first line of every song.
The Moon Who Stayed Up for the HarvestThe harvest is in, but the huge, kind harvest moon won’t go to bed, so nobody in the kingdom can sleep and the roosters have started saying “Moo.”
The Soup Pot on Wicket StreetOn the first cold night of the year, a girl who reads everything aloud like a royal herald wakes up her grandma’s magic soup pot, and it won’t stop making soup.
Pip Goes After His BrothersWhen his two big brothers go off to seek their fortunes and don’t come home for supper, the youngest brother packs a basket with one extra of everything and goes to fetch them.