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58 stories · part of Magic

Journeys stories

Leaving home, the road, and the coming back changed

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Journeys stories

Journeys holds 58 stories about leaving home, what happens on the road and the coming back changed. They range from a three-minute walk to an eleven-minute quest, and a dozen of them leave the planet altogether.

The journey is the oldest plot there is: a hero leaves home, meets helpers and dangers on the road, and comes back with something they did not have before. A child listening to a journey story is practising the idea that leaving is survivable and home is still there at the end.

These stories tend to be longer, with a rhythm of encounters that makes them easy to pause between chapters. They are good for children starting school, moving house, or simply old enough to wonder what is over the hill.

Where to start in journeys

12 of the 58 stories in this theme, picked as good first choices: the shortest, the gentlest and the best loved.

7 min Ages 3–7 · Classic Tales The Gingerbread Man

A kind old woman bakes a delicious gingerbread man who springs to life and dashes off to explore the world. He meets a…
13 min Ages 4–8 · Classic Tales Little Red Riding Hood

Little Red Riding Hood sets off through the enchanting forest to deliver a basket of goodies to her sick grandmother…
4 min Ages 4–8 · Classic Tales Dapplegrim

Agnes and Elsa, two brave sisters, live in a village where a whispered legend tells of Dapplegrim, a mischievous forest…
4 min Ages 3–7 · Classic Tales The Bow and the Lyre

In a lush forest, an abandoned silver bow and golden lyre yearn for purpose. A wise old owl encourages them to join…
5 min Ages 3–7 · Magic The Fir Tree

A young fir tree dreams of sparkling like the stars in the night sky. As seasons pass, it learns patience and wisdom…
5 min Ages 4–8 · Classic Tales The Shepherd and the Lion

Sam, a kind shepherd, cares for his flock in a lush valley. Nearby, Leo, a fearsome lion, roams. When they meet…
5 min Ages 3–7 · Classic Tales The Shepherd and the Sea

Thomas, a kind shepherd, lives by the sea. One day, a mysterious blue creature emerges from the water and gifts him the…
5 min Ages 4–8 · Classic Tales The Two Frogs

Felix and Freddy, two happy frogs, live in a serene pond until a storm and drought force them to seek a new home. Their…
5 min Ages 5–8 · Magic The Velvet Paw and the Throne of Stars

In the peaceful land of Felina, a brave kitten named Paws possesses a legendary velvet paw with healing powers. When…
6 min Ages 5–8 · Hardship Hans in Luck

Hans, an orphaned brother, faces hardship under a wicked stepmother. He finds joy with Greta and embarks on a brave…
6 min Ages 4–8 · Classic Tales The Boy Who Cried Wolf

A mischievous boy guarding his flock enjoys tricking villagers with false cries of "Wolf!". They rush to help, only to…
6 min Ages 3–7 · Classic Tales The Clown and the Countryman

Coco the clown arrives in a village where serious countryman Gus believes laughter has no place. Coco is determined to…

Every journey story is built from the same three pieces

Once you can see the structure you can pick the right one in about ten seconds, and you can also stop in a sensible place if the evening has run out.

Setting out

Somebody leaves with almost nothing. How Jack Went To Seek His Fortune, seven minutes, is the plainest version: a boy, a road, and whoever he meets.

The road

This is where the story actually lives. In Hans in Luck, six minutes, every trade on the way home is worse than the last and he is delighted by all of them. In The Gingerbread Man, six minutes, the road is a chase.

Coming home

The return is the part children remember. The City Mouse and the Country Mouse, seven minutes, is a journey whose entire point is that home was fine all along.

When the road leaves the planet

A good number of the newer stories here swap the forest for orbit without changing the shape at all. The child still leaves, still meets something, still comes back.

The Rainbow Bridge of the Galactic City is five minutes and the easiest way in, for ages four to eight. The Crystal Caverns of the Asteroid Belt, seven minutes, suits six- to ten-year-olds who want the exploring to feel real. Sunbeam’s Journey to the Ice Planet’s Heart runs ten.

They all sit on the Space page too, if that is the whole of what your child is interested in this month.

Long roads for the nights you have time

Two of these are the best long reads on the site, and both deserve a weekend rather than a Tuesday.

East of the Sun and West of the Moon, eleven minutes and retold from Norwegian folklore, sends a girl past the wind itself. The Lad Who Went to the North Wind, ten minutes and also Norwegian, is funnier and more stubborn, and children enjoy how rude the boy is prepared to be.

Where a tale came from is half the pleasure with these, and folk tales around the world maps the traditions they belong to. If ten minutes is your usual length rather than your outer limit, ten-minute bedtime stories gathers them from every theme.

What this theme belongs to

Journeys is one of three pages under Magic, and it is the one where the enchantment is mostly in the landscape rather than in a spell. If you want the finding rather than the travelling, adventure stories leans harder on danger and pace.

Journeys made by animals

Not every traveller here is a child. A good third of the theme puts an animal on the road, and those tend to be the shortest, the funniest and the easiest to finish on a night when nobody has the patience for a quest.

Small travellers

The Bow and the Lyre is three minutes, the briefest journey on the site, and ends in an agreement rather than a victory. The Monkey and the Camel, six minutes, is about showing off in front of strangers. The Birds, the Beasts, and the Bat, seven minutes, is a journey between two camps by somebody who fits neither.

At the other end, The Old Hound is eleven minutes for six- to ten-year-olds, and is really about a body that no longer does what it used to. Older children take it seriously.

Animal journeys are also the easiest to act out. There is no scenery to imagine and no castle to describe, so a tired parent can get away with a voice and a pause and nothing else. If the evening has gone long, The Hare and the Tortoise at six minutes is the journey that needs the least from you and still lands properly.

Journeys by length and destination
StoryMinutesAgesWhere it goes
The Rainbow Bridge of the Galactic City54-8A city among the stars
Hans in Luck65-8Home, with nothing left
How Jack Went To Seek His Fortune75-8Wherever the road leads
The Crystal Caverns of the Asteroid Belt76-10Inside an asteroid
The Lad Who Went to the North Wind106-10To the wind, and back
East of the Sun and West of the Moon115-12Past the end of the map

Every journeys story, A to Z

  1. A Midsummer Night’s Dream11 min · Ages 4–8
  2. Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves19 min · Ages 6–10
  3. Dapplegrim4 min · Ages 4–8
  4. East of the Sun and West of the Moon11 min · Ages 5–12
  5. Hans in Luck6 min · Ages 5–8
  6. Hansel and Gretel21 min · Ages 6–10
  7. How Jack Went To Seek His Fortune8 min · Ages 5–8
  8. Little Red Riding Hood13 min · Ages 4–8
  9. Moonlit Secrets of the Celestial Forest9 min · Ages 4–8
  10. Mudjee Monedo10 min · Ages 6–10
  11. My Own Self9 min · Ages 4–8
  12. Prince Hyacinth and the Dear Little Princess14 min · Ages 4–8
  13. Prince Yamato Take9 min · Ages 5–8
  14. Princess Hase, a Story of Old Japan8 min · Ages 4–8
  15. Rapunzel21 min · Ages 5–12
  16. Son of the Island and the Turtle7 min · Ages 4–8
  17. Starlit Quest for the Cosmic Petal8 min · Ages 3–7
  18. Sunbeam's Journey to the Ice Planet's Heart10 min · Ages 5–8
  19. The Amber Amulet of the Dragon Star8 min · Ages 5–8
  20. The Baba Yaga9 min · Ages 5–8
  21. The Birds, the Beasts, and the Bat8 min · Ages 3–7
  22. The Bow and the Lyre4 min · Ages 3–7
  23. The Boy Who Cried Wolf6 min · Ages 4–8
  24. The City Mouse and the Country Mouse8 min · Ages 3–7
  25. The Clown and the Countryman6 min · Ages 3–7
  26. The Coral Queen and the Space Pirate’s Curse7 min · Ages 6–10
  27. The Crystal Caverns of the Asteroid Belt9 min · Ages 6–10
  28. The Elfin Knight8 min · Ages 5–8
  29. The Enchanted Pig8 min · Ages 4–8
  30. The Fir Tree5 min · Ages 3–7
  31. The Firefly Code and the Starlit Path10 min · Ages 5–8
  32. The Forgotten Tales of the Meteor Witch11 min · Ages 5–8
  33. The Gingerbread Knight’s Sweet Victory in Space8 min · Ages 4–8
  34. The Gingerbread Man7 min · Ages 3–7
  35. The Golden Thread of the Interstellar Loom12 min · Ages 6–10
  36. The Hare and the Tortoise6 min · Ages 3–7
  37. The Kingdom of the Ogres8 min · Ages 4–8
  38. The Lad Who Went to the North Wind10 min · Ages 6–10
  39. The Lion and the Fox8 min · Ages 5–8
  40. The Lion, the Fox, and the Beasts10 min · Ages 5–8
  41. The Lost Melody of the Nebula Brook10 min · Ages 6–10
  42. The Monkey and the Camel6 min · Ages 4–8
  43. The Old Hound10 min · Ages 6–10
  44. The Old Lion and the Fox9 min · Ages 4–8
  45. The Rainbow Bridge of the Galactic City7 min · Ages 4–8
  46. The Sapphire Crown of the Desert Moon8 min · Ages 5–8
  47. The Shepherd and the Lion5 min · Ages 4–8
  48. The Shepherd and the Sea5 min · Ages 3–7
  49. The Silent Flight of the Lunar Owl7 min · Ages 4–8
  50. The Snow Queen8 min · Ages 4–8
  51. The Star Wife7 min · Ages 6–10
  52. The Three Princesses in the Blue Mountain9 min · Ages 4–8
  53. The Troll Wedding7 min · Ages 4–8
  54. The Twelve Dancing Princesses14 min · Ages 4–8
  55. The Two Frogs5 min · Ages 4–8
  56. The Velvet Paw and the Throne of Stars5 min · Ages 5–8
  57. The Whispering Winds of the Galactic Well9 min · Ages 5–8
  58. The Yellow Dwarf8 min · Ages 5–8

Questions parents ask about journeys stories

What is a journey story?

A story in which a character leaves home, meets something on the road and returns changed. On BedtimeStory.kids there are 58 of them, from three minutes long to eleven.

Are there space adventure stories for young children?

Yes. The Rainbow Bridge of the Galactic City takes about five minutes and is written for ages four to eight, and there are 19 space stories in total on the site.

Which long bedtime story is worth the extra time?

East of the Sun and West of the Moon, a retold Norwegian folk tale of about eleven minutes for ages five to twelve. It is the most rewarding long read here.

Can I stop a journey story halfway and finish it tomorrow?

Journey stories break better than most, because the road is made of episodes. Stop after an encounter rather than in the middle of one.