Bedtime Stories

Grandparents versus Aliens

CuentosparaDormir — Sun, 08 May 2022 18:20:59 +0000

Educational Value Respect for older people

Moral of the story A warming story to help learn to tolerate mistakes made by grandparents and remember that they too were young and brave, and they deserve our admiration.

Setting A land ruled by aliens

Characters A group of grandparents and some invading aliens

Story

The fate of humanity was to be decided in a big football match. It was the last chance that the aliens had given us before exterminating the human race. Only a few teams consisting of the best players from the world’s top clubs could save us now. Well, them and a team of grandfathers so old and confused that even they had no idea why they had ended up on the list. And as often happens with these things, the team of grandads were the ones pulled out of the hat in the draw.

Government complaints, worldwide demonstrations and threats were no use. The aliens wouldn’t budge: the draw was fair and the grandads would play the match. They did have one advantage, however… they could choose when and where to play.

Everyone hated these old interfering and scatterbrained codgers and no one wanted to train them or train with them! Only their grandchildren forgave their mistakes and still loved them and kept them company. The only training consisted of gathering round to hear them narrate their old stories and adventures over and over again. The boys and girls were fascinated by the stories even though they seemed impossible to be true, judging by how wrinkled and weak their grandads were.

When the aliens arrived to discuss where and when the game should be played, little Pablo – one of the grandchildren – came up with a great idea:

“We’ll play in the Maracaná. My grandad always tells me about that stadium. And the game will take place in 1960.”

“In 1960? But that was more than 50 years ago!”- replied the aliens

“Don’t tell me you’re going to invade earth and you don’t even have time machines?”

“Of course we do!” – they sounded offended – “Tomorrow we will travel back in time and the game will be played. And it will be shown on television for all to see.”

The teams assembled at Maracaná the next day. The strong and powerful aliens entered the time machine, followed by a small group of clumsy old men. But, as the years rolled back, the aliens became small and weak, turning into children once more. The grandparents, on the other hand, grew hair, lost their wrinkles and became young and strong again. They were now more than capable of carrying out the heroic feats they described to their grandchildren in their grandad stories.

And needless to say, the wise old grandads with their young and strong bodies played brilliantly and easily defeated the team of aliens, to the sound of applause and cheering from the audience. When they travelled back to the present day, they became old, clumsy and full of wrinkles once more but this time no one made fun of them or mocked their age. Instead, they were treated as real heroes. Many came every day to hear their stories because everyone, including those who had poked most fun at them, knew that even the wrinkliest little old man had accomplished magnificent feats in the past.

Translated by Saffron Whitney, Connie Ireland and Catrinel-Elena Galan, Manchester Metropolitan University

Author.. Pedro Pablo Sacristan

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¿Echas de menos los verdaderos valores? ¿Harás lo que sea por mostrárselos a tus niños? En el Club de Amigos de los Valores buscamos personas con principios sólidos y amor por la lectura. Si tú quieres ser parte de esta creciente minoría, únete ahora y podrás descargar todos nuestros cuentos ilustrados y audiocuentos para llevarlos contigo y educar a tu ritmo. Solo tienes que visitar https://cuentosparadormir.com/descargar-cuentos y ponerte del lado de los valores.

Goldie: a different kind of princess

CuentosparaDormir — Sun, 08 May 2022 17:58:17 +0000

Educational Value Self-esteem

Moral of the story The obsession with being thin and superficiality hides people’s true beauty

Setting A Fairy Tale Kingdom

Characters A Princess

Story

The fairy tale world awaited its new princess. A lot of effort was made in preparation for her arrival, but nobody had told them she was chubby. None of the preparations were of any use: the dresses, the dances, the typical fairy tale, not even the traditional love story with the prince. None of it! They thought that there must have been a mistake, but the Princess-Making Machine confirmed 100 times over that Goldie was, in fact, the Perfect Princess.

She drove the palace tailor crazy! He was used to creating luxurious dresses with tiny waists. He didn’t know how to make sports clothes, trousers or shirts.
She drove the noble ladies at court crazy when she turned down the handsome and much-admired Prince they had lined up for her to marry and instead chose a short and scrawny boy who made her laugh.

She drove the kingdom’s generals crazy when the country went to war: instead of waiting patiently in the palace, she decided to lead the battle herself.
Even the scribes went crazy! They had to find a book with enough pages to write her story.

But she filled every page of the thick book with her stories and adventures, funny incidents and wise words; with interesting people she would like to meet, and fantastic friends who would never have thought they could appear in a Princess fairy tale. There had never been room for them before in the thin books.

What few realised was that all the other beautiful, slim princesses were bored of always living the same old silly love-at-first-sight stories, in which they never did anything interesting, mainly because these simple stories were the only ones that fitted into the elegant books. So, when they read the story of Goldie, the chubby princess, they were extremely jealous and thought: that’s a perfect princess!

Translated by Saffron Whitney, Connie Ireland and Catrinel-Elena Galan, Manchester Metropolitan University

Author.. Pedro Pablo Sacristan

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Adventures of an enemy of Halloween

CuentosparaDormir — Sun, 08 May 2022 13:13:17 +0000

Educational Value Good habits

Moral of the story A lovely story that uses Halloween as an opportunity to remind children of the importance of taking care of their teeth and eating healthy.

Setting Halloween

Characters The Tooth Fairy and monsters

Story

People think that Halloween scares children, but there is someone very famous who is even more scared: the Tooth Fairy. Children eat all the Halloween sweets but forget to brush their teeth, and by the time the Tooth Fairy comes to take them away, they're an absolute mess!

That's why the Tooth Fairy decided to travel to the land of the monsters to stop this madness of rotten teeth. But the monsters were not willing to give up the only day of the year when they were able to get close to their friends, the children. On any other day, if a real monster got close to a child, there would be total panic ...

However, the Tooth Fairy wasn't going to give up either and decided to do away with Halloween. One year she thought:

‘I'll turn the road signs to the cities upside down. Then the monsters will get lost.’

But it turned out that the monsters didn't look at them anyway because they couldn't read.
Another year the Tooth Fairy said:

“I know, I'll bring thousands of greedy sheep to eat the sweets that the monsters are saving up for Halloween.”

And the Tooth Fairy succeeded. The sheep didn't leave a single one, but they ate so many sweets that they turned into candy sheep. And the monsters shared them around the world so successfully that, that year, the teeth were the worst batch ever collected.

For the following year, the Tooth Fairy prepared a very risky plan.

“I will help the most wicked monsters escape from prison, the ones who treat children the worst. They will be so scary that no one will want another Halloween.”

Although scared to death, on Halloween night she secretly released the brutes and accompanied them into town. She expected them to cause massive chaos but, when they arrived and saw everyone in costumes, they thought it was all a surprise party for them. They were so happy and excited that they were very well behaved and for hours they smothered the Tooth Fairy with their furry hugs and slobbery kisses. They were so good that nobody felt they should be locked up again.

Desperate after so many failed attempts, the Tooth Fairy was ready to spend her entire fortune.

- “I will buy up all the sugar and throw it into the rivers and lakes of the world. Without sweets there will be no party.”

But the Tooth Fairy didn't know that the monsters had their own candy gardens and when these were watered with the fresh water, they produced the best harvest of sweets ever...

Seeing that nothing could spoil the party that the children and monsters loved so much, it occurred to her that maybe she just needed to change it a little. Thinking about the monsters' candy gardens, she had an idea... she sneaked over one night and planted a few more things: sugar-free sweets, fruit, toothpaste gumdrops... and even a toothbrush tree. The monsters were so stupid that they didn't even notice and, when they prepared the bags of goodies for the following year, they added the healthy treats planted by the Tooth Fairy too.

The plan proved to be a big hit because, seeing a toothbrush among the sweets, no child forgot to brush their teeth as they had no problem finding their toothbrushes. And so the monsters saved their party, the children ate their sweets, and that year the tooth fairy collected the best teeth ever.

Mums and dads liked the idea too and that is why, among all the treats and sweets given out at Halloween, you now see more toothbrushes, healthy fruit and sugar-free treats.

Translated by Samuel Johnson, Lee Holt and James McNally, Manchester Metropolitan University

Author.. Pedro Pablo Sacristan

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The story of Numbskull Tom, the treasure hunter

CuentosparaDormir — Sun, 08 May 2022 12:55:59 +0000

Educational Value Studying and reading

Moral of the story Developing a liking for studying and learning will provide a much more interesting life full of opportunities

Setting A pirate ship

Characters A pirate captain and his crew

Story

You probably don’t want to know how Numbskull Tom ended up being a pirate. He hated going to school, having to study and do homework. One day, when Gluebeard, the famous pirate captain, came to town in search of young sailors who wanted to be pirates, Tom made sure he was first in line. On Gluebeard’s ship, every minute of every day was spent looking for treasure and if anyone was found reading or studying, they were locked in a room full of hungry rats.

And so Tom began his life as a treasure-hunting pirate, but it wasn’t an easy one. They had to work hard cleaning and taking care of the ship, and the maps that they found never led to big treasures. And after they had shared out the treasure, they had barely enough to buy food and clothes, so they were a lot poorer than they were rich. However, Gluebeard always cheered them up with promises of great treasures and with songs that reminded them of how there was no need to study or read on the ship.

One day, however, someone on the ship stole what little food Tom had left, and two days later he got so hungry that he went to the room full of rats to find one and eat it. No one dared to go there and Tom did so at night and secretly. But when he entered, he couldn’t find a single rat, although he did find a secret room, one that was clean, tidy, and full of... books! Suddenly he heard voices approaching and he hid away to listen...

When he left the secret room, Tom was furious. Gluebeard and his bosun were lying. They were studying and reading about amazing ancient treasures, but they went looking for them in secret and kept everything for themselves. For the crew they only left ridiculous little treasures that they themselves hid from time to time. However, this wasn’t what annoyed Tom the most. What truly made him angry was hearing Gluebeard laugh at how stupid the crew were, how easy it was to trick them, and how foolish and poor they would always be after leaving their studies behind to run off with a pirate.

Stung by his discovery, from that day onwards Tom waited every night until everyone was asleep to visit the rat-room, where he spent his time studying all sorts of books. He soon found that learning about so many things gave him better ideas, and he found ways of doing almost everything better and quicker, though he still pretended to be just another dumb sailor.

After a few years, he realised that he was capable of finding out where the treasure was hidden, even before Gluebeard, and he decided to abandon the pirate ship. Just a week later, the unthinkable happened: for the first time ever, somebody beat Gluebeard to the treasure. By the time he arrived it was all gone and in its place he found only a hollow skull with a mocking smile, perched on a large pile of books.

This soon became Numbskull Tom’s personal crest and he used the money he earned from the treasure to buy his own boat and find his own crew. Unlike Gluebeard, however, he only hired people who studied. And instead of tricking them, he encouraged them to search for treasures with him, and he shared with them what was found. With so many clever people, they found new treasures much faster. Every time the evil Gluebeard turned up, instead of a new treasure all he found were mocking skulls. Neither his catchy songs nor his wildest promises could prevent all his sailors from abandoning him to carry on their studies and seek a place as a wise pirate on Numbskull Tom’s famous ship.

Translated by Samuel Johnson, Lee Holt and James McNally, Manchester Metropolitan University

Author.. Pedro Pablo Sacristan

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No More Jungle Law (story2): The Monkey

CuentosparaDormir — Sat, 07 May 2022 11:54:03 +0000

Educational Value How to avoid bullying

Moral of the story Witnesses to bullying can do a lot to prevent it without direct confrontation

Setting A Jungle

Characters Several lions, a tiger, a mouse and a monkey

Story

Monkey didn’t like him very much. He was just a selfish, loud and lonely mouse. Even so, he didn’t deserve to be treated as badly as he was. Monkey felt guilty for not doing anything to stop it. Instead, he just watched from afar. But what could he do? He was just a simple monkey and they were cruel, brutal lions.

He probably would never have done anything if he hadn’t overheard a conversation between two lions, beneath the tree where he was sleeping. It was there that the old king of the jungle, badly wounded from a fight that he had lost, was talking to a younger lion. He told him that it was all part of his strategy to demonstrate his power and strength to the others. That is why he attacked frightened, lonely, little animals who had nobody to defend them. He also said that he did it in front of other animals to scare them and make them his accomplices. After all, they would never dare to admit that they had been there if they had done nothing to stop the attacks.

Monkey reacted furiously in his tree because, while he may be many things, he could never be an accomplice to such wrongdoing. That day, he decided that he was going to do everything he could to put an end to the reign of terror. Of course, he was never going to be able to fight a lion, so he would have to use his intelligence.

The first thing he thought to do was to make sure that no little animals were alone in the jungle, so he decided to find a way to make friends with the mouse. It wasn’t easy, because the mouse was shy and didn’t talk much, but he found the perfect excuse to talk to him when he realised that he had hidden some bananas under some stones that he could no longer reach. The mouse was the perfect size for the job and so he helped Monkey. Monkey could not thank him enough. He realised that the mouse wasn’t so strange after all but just needed a little time to make friends. Once they had made friends, it turned out that the mouse had so many skills and Monkey had no problem in introducing him to his group of friends.

His second idea was to help the mouse overcome his fear, so he trained him. He began by showing him drawings of lions and tigers. The poor mouse trembled at just the sight of them! But, with time, he was able to stay calm in front of them. Then, they went to see a group of bigger animals, like giraffes and hippopotami. When the mouse was able to talk to them, and even jump onto their heads, Monkey made things more difficult. They carried on until the mouse was able to get right up close to a sleeping lion and stay perfectly still in front of him.

Lastly, he decided to bring together all the animals that disagreed with how the lions were treating both the mouse and the other animals. They were all relieved to be able to talk about the lion’s bullying with others who felt the same way. In the end, there were so many of them and they were all so angry that, one night, they came together to teach the king of the jungle a lesson. With the help of some bigger animals, they managed to lock him in a big cage while he was fast asleep.

The monkey thought that this would be the end of it all, but a stronger and nastier tiger became the new king of the jungle and he didn’t take long to go looking for the mouse. The mouse was walking along with his new group of friends when the tiger came and separated him from the group very aggressively. They wanted to defend the mouse, but they were not yet brave enough. They stood by, pleading quietly and looking upset.

Suddenly, a young lion, who had seen what had happened, thought that he could gain the animals’ friendship and respect by defending the mouse, so he asked the tiger politely to leave the mouse alone. As the tiger didn’t want to get involved in a dangerous fight, and the lion had not challenged him directly, he decided to leave, seeing what little support he had in attacking a mouse with so many friends.

The lion’s arrival gave Monkey a great idea. From that day on, Monkey did nothing else but tell everybody how lucky they were to have met a guardian lion, and he asked the lion to help them in all similar conflicts. The lion loved his role, since Monkey and his group of friends respected and admired him. They told everybody how friendly and brave he was, and his reputation attracted animals from all parts to come and live in the jungle, which was now safe and free from bullying attacks.

The tiger didn’t like that at all and, one day, he decided to attack the lion in front of the others. The tiger was much stronger, so the young lion had very few options. Monkey realised that the time had come to be brave and decided to defend his friend, the guardian lion.

All the animals must have been thinking the same thing because, as soon as Monkey made the first jump, all the animals pounced, forcing the tiger to flee, wounded and humiliated. Moments later, Monkey and his friends declared the guardian lion the new king of the jungle, where bullying and fear had been ended forever.

Years later, when anybody asked how something like this could happen, nobody really knew the answer. But they all knew that it had something to do with a simple monkey who used to just stand by and watch.

Translated by Lauren Campbell and Mark Barrett, Manchester Metropolitan University

Author.. Pedro Pablo Sacristan

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No More Jungle Law (story 2): The Mouse

CuentosparaDormir — Sat, 07 May 2022 11:37:55 +0000

Educational Value How to avoid bullying

Moral of the story Victims of bullying can change their situation by surrounding themselves with friends and adopting a brave attitude.

Setting A jungle

Characters Several lions, a tiger and a mouse

Story

Little Mouse didn’t know why, but they always picked on him. He hardly had any friends and, because he felt small and unimportant, he preferred to spend his time alone so as to not upset anybody or let them down. But it didn’t matter what he did. Every time a new king of the jungle arrived, he was the target of all the bullying. Shouting, running, biting and insulting them never had any effect because the more he did it, the more his bullies enjoyed themselves. Although he had once thought about asking the elephants for help, he was scared about what might happen.

One day, whilst an enormous lion was having fun at his expense, grabbing him by the tail and spinning him around like a fan, he slipped from his grip and flew through the air. Little Mouse bounced from tree to tree, falling down the mountain, until he landed on a branch, just a couple of metres above two more lions! Little Mouse froze, clinging to the branch with his tail and holding on using all his strength so as not to be seen because he recognised one of the lions. He was the old king of the jungle, who had traded his crown for lots of wounds and scars after losing a fight with the enormous lion.

What the poor mouse heard while hanging on the branch almost made him lose his grip.
“Look,” said the old king, “I became king by striking fear into all. Just as my father taught me, I looked for a little, frightened, lonely animal, someone without any friends, who wouldn’t dare to look for help, and I would punish them to show my power and cruelty. I was lucky, because in this jungle, there is a perfect little mouse for that. He cries a lot and gets very angry, so it’s a lot of fun to wind him up…”

Little Mouse cried silently, so much so that the lions thought that it had begun to rain and left. But then, Little Mouse was relieved that the cruel lion had received the same punishment as him, and now he knew that he wasn’t being picked on due to bad luck or coincidence. It was clear that he needed to make new friends and to learn to control his fear.

As he wasn't good at either of those things, he watched what the other animals did. He learned that nobody made friends by being alone and feeling sorry for themselves, like Little Mouse did. He learned that the other animals made friends by being happy, looking after others and helping them with their problems. He managed to look happier by practising for hours in front of a mirror and he worked out how to help others after finding out that, although he wasn't very fast or strong, his size and finely tuned sense of hearing were very useful skills to lots of other animals.

So, with a little bit of effort and patience, he finally made his first friend: a friendly monkey who he had helped to retrieve some bananas. The monkey, who had many good friends, helped the mouse meet lots of other animals and helped him to feel much happier in the jungle.

Unfortunately for Little Mouse, it didn't take long for a new king to arrive who wanted to scare others at his expense. Little Mouse had trained with the monkey to control his fear and his cries, but he still felt like he was going to faint when the tiger's claws grazed his little ears. He managed to stop himself from shouting and crying, and he remained calm when the tiger insulted him and pushed him. The tiger got angry because he wasn't having fun and he wondered why he had been told that this mouse was the perfect animal to use to make the other animals fear him… he didn't even look scared! Little Mouse’s friends turned up and they grew increasingly angry as the tiger’s threats and taunting got worse.

Then, the unimaginable happened: noticing the lack of support the tiger had, a lion who had just arrived in the jungle thought that he could easily gain the support of the other animals, so he intervened and asked the tiger to leave Little Mouse alone. To everyone’s surprise, the tiger listened to him. He had already seen that the little, brave, happy mouse was of no use to him to scare everyone, among other things. And that was the last time that anyone bullied Little Mouse. He celebrated by throwing a big party with lots of his friends, including the lion who had saved him. Little Mouse was very grateful, and the lion ended up becoming a great friend to him.

From that moment onwards, every time Little Mouse saw another little animal being bullied, he made friends with them and told them his story to encourage them to be brave and happy and always surround themselves with good friends.

Translated by Lauren Campbell and Mark Barrett Manchester Metropolitan University

Author.. Pedro Pablo Sacristan

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No More Jungle Law (story 1): The Lion

CuentosparaDormir — Sat, 07 May 2022 11:26:46 +0000

Educational Value How to avoid bullying

Moral of the story Strength doesn't earn anyone's respect if it isn't used to defend others

Setting A jungle

Characters Three lions and a tiger

Story

A young lion was wandering through the jungle, thinking about how the time had come for him to become king, when he came across an injured lion. The lion had clearly once been strong and powerful.

"What happened to you?" the young lion asked as he tried to help him.

The injured lion told his story.

"When it was time for me to become king of the jungle, I decided to show everyone how strong and powerful I was so that they would fear and respect me. I frightened and threatened as many little animals as I could find. Word of my cruelty spread so much that even the biggest animals were scared of me and obeyed me as their king. Then the other lions wanted my kingdom. I went from occasionally fighting little animals to fighting big lions all the time. I won many battles, but yesterday a bigger and stronger lion defeated me. He left me for dead and took over my kingdom. So here I am, waiting for death to take me, with no one who cares enough about me to keep me company.

The young lion stayed with the injured lion and tended to his wounds before continuing on his way. When he finally left, it didn't take him long to come across a giant lion locked in a cage with big steel bars. The lion must have once been very strong, but he now looked very thin.

"What happened to you? Why are you locked in that cage?"

The caged lion told his story.

"When it was time for me to become king of the jungle, I used my power to defeat the previous king. Then I spent my time proving my power to everyone to gain their respect. I fought and humiliated whoever dared cross me and soon everyone did as I said. I thought they respected me, or that they even admired me, but they only obeyed me through fear. They hated me so much that, one night, they all agreed to betray me as I slept, and they trapped me in this cage. I'm going to die of hunger in here. There are no keys and no door to the cage, and nobody cares enough about me to bring food.

After leaving the trapped lion enough food next to the cage to last a few days, the young lion decided to continue on his way, asking himself what he could do to become king. He had seen that the power and cruelty of the other two lions had not worked out too well for them. He was searching for a smarter way to use his power when he came across an enormous tiger who was enjoying humiliating a little mouse. The tiger was clearly the new king, but the lion decided to defend the little mouse.

"Leave him alone. You don't need to treat him like that to prove that you're the king."

"Do you want to fight me, little lion?" the tiger mocked furiously, "Do you want to become the new king?"

The lion, who had already seen how fights like this end, answered:

"I don't want to fight you. I don't care that you're the king. I just want you to leave this poor animal alone."

The tiger, who didn't really want to get into a fight with a lion, breathed a sigh of relief, believing that the lion respected him as the king. He walked away, leaving the little mouse in peace.

The little mouse was very grateful and the lion liked the feeling of helping him out so much that he decided defending other animals would be a good way to use his strength. From then onwards, he didn't allow any animal to be abused or humiliated by someone stronger than them. Word of the protector lion spread quickly and the animals in the jungle, who wanted to feel safe, were grateful.

The tiger was proud to be king of a famous jungle full of animals, but he soon began to see the young lion's fame as a threat to his power. So, he decided to fight and humiliate the lion in front of the others to show how powerful he was.

"Hello, little lion," he said, showing his enormous claws, "I thought that today you could entertain me and everyone else. So, you're going to do everything I tell you to, and you can start by kissing my paws and cleaning my claws."

The lion was scared, just as anyone who was being threatened by someone stronger than them would be. But he was not a coward and he bravely answered:

"I don't want to fight you. You’re the king, and I don't want to take your place. But I am not going to let you abuse anyone else, not even me."

The lion immediately felt the pain from the tiger's first hit and a fierce fight broke out. However, the fight lasted just a few seconds because many of the animals watching, who loved and admired the brave lion, jumped on top of the tiger, who felt dozens of bites, hits, kicks and stings on his skin all at the same time. As the badly wounded and embarrassed tiger ran off, he could hear in the distance the cheers of the other animals declaring the lion as their king.

And that was how the young lion found the best way to use his power and strength. He discovered that without combining his power with justice, intelligence and bravery, he would never have become the famous king who was loved and respected by all.

Translated by Lauren Campbell and Mark Barrett, Manchester Metropolitan University

Author.. Pedro Pablo Sacristan

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The ghost-hunting Zombie

CuentosparaDormir — Thu, 01 Apr 2021 23:32:16 +0000

Educational Value Preventing racism and prejudice

Moral of the story A nice story to show that you can’t pass judgement on someone just because they were born into a certain group

Setting The world of monsters

Characters A zombie, a ghost and an ogre

Story

Once upon a time there was a zombie called Patizombi, who was fed up with being the villain in everyone’s stories. So, to prove that he could do good, he decided to go hunting evil ghosts.

But ghosts aren’t very visible and they’re sneaky too. It was only after many failed attempts that Patizombi spotted a confused ghost floating through the forest. He approached it carefully, set out his traps and jumped on him.

The battle was going very badly until Patizombi realized that he was in fact not fighting a ghost but a clingy bedsheet he’d been trapped by.

“Ha, ha, ha! You have fallen right into my trap, you evil zombie!” A ghost laughed, emerging from his hiding spot.

“Ahh, evil ghost,” Patizombi replied. “I’ll catch you one day.”

“No, no, no, no and no!” said the ghost, incredibly offended. “Excuse me, but I am a good ghost and my job is to hunt evil zombies.

“Oh no you don’t!” objected Patizombi, “because I am a good zombie, and I am the one who hunts evil ghosts.”

After arguing for a little while, they realised they were both telling the truth. They found it funny and became friends.

“I suppose not all ghosts are evil…”

“Nor all zombies…”

“We could join forces to hunt ogres”

And they headed as a team into the mountains, where the most fearsome ogres were hidden. Working quickly together, they found the track of an ogre that led them to a cave. As the ogre was out, they prepared a trap but while they were doing so a giant stone fell and blocked the entrance leaving them trapped.

“Ha, ha, ha! it was so easy to trap that evil zombie and his ghostie partner!”

“Lies!” they protested from inside, “We are not evil. The only evil one is you and we have come to catch you!”

Once again, the discussion carried on until everyone was persuaded that none of them was evil.

“We would never have thought that good ogres existed”

“Neither would I have thought that a zombie and a ghost were not evil”

It is obvious that, before you set out to hunt anyone, you need to make sure that they are evil...

That is how they discovered that, even if a creature has a reputation for being evil, it is not always true. And this is also true for all other creatures who have a reputation for being dirty, noisy or annoying: you can never tell which ones are actually like that without first getting to know them. That is how they found many more zombies, ghosts and good ogres who joined their group of catchers of evil creatures. Everyone trusted this valley police force, which never allowed anyone to be treated badly due to prejudice and to bad reputations they did not deserve.

Translated by Toni Wainwright, Ellie Bradbury, Josie Maguire and Lewis Hughes, Manchester Metropolitan University

Author.. Pedro Pablo Sacristan

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The boy who was too rude to others

CuentosparaDormir — Thu, 01 Apr 2021 23:21:40 +0000

Educational Value Respect and politeness

Moral of the story Rudeness harms not just those on the receiving end but also those who are rude.

Setting A small old town

Characters A wizard and a young boy

Story

“Oh, Great Wizard! A great tragedy has occurred! Little Manu has stolen the magic potion with the ‘Word Thrower’ spell”.

“Manu? But that’s the bad-mannered child who insults everyone! How awful. We have to stop him before he drinks it!”

But it was already too late. Manu ran around the city insulting anyone he came across just to see the effect of his words and their letters. It was as if these were ghosts that, when hurled at people, passed straight through them and turned them into whatever Manu had said.

“Manu, stop doing that! You’re hurting everybody. Quick, please drink this other potion to undo the spell before it’s too late!”

“I don’t want to! This is too much fun! And I am the only one who has the power to do it. Ha, ha, ha, ha! Idiots! Stupid! Baldy! Oldie!” He launched into a tirade of insults.

I have an idea, master,” said one of the wizard helpers as they escaped from Manu’s words. “We could give the potion to everyone”.

“Are you crazy? That would be a terrible idea. If this is the result of just one child hurling insults, imagine what it would be like if everyone did it! I have to think of something.”

In the seven days it took for the wizard to come up with something, Manu took charge of the city. Everyone served and obeyed him out of fear. Luckily, the wizard was able to use his magic to reach Manu during the night and give him a few drops of the new potion while he was sleeping.

Manu woke up ready to have fun at the expense of others. But as soon as the butler entered, carrying his breakfast, hundreds of letters flew towards Manu, forming many words, among which he could only make out “bully”, “tormentor” and “rude”. On coming into contact with his skin, the letters dissolved, stinging him very badly.
The boy shouted, threatened and used terrible words, but soon realised that the butler had seen nothing.

Nor had anyone from whom further bursts of horrible letters were uttered in his direction. In one single day, the spells made of words had gone from being the most fun in the world to the worst.

“That’s the wizard’s doing, no doubt. Tomorrow, I’ll go and see him to get him to lift the spell from me.”

But as much as he cried and asked for forgiveness, it was too late for the antidote.

“You will have to learn to live with both spells: ‘word throwing’ and ‘thought receiving’. Used correctly, they could be useful…

Manu could barely go outside his house. He had behaved so badly towards everyone that, even if they were too afraid to tell him to his face, they thought horrible things of him, and when these thoughts touched him they burned like fire. He started to stay in alone all the time.

One day, a little girl saw his sad face and felt sorry for him. She thought she might like to be friends with him and when this thought touched Manu’s skin, instead of pain he felt something lovely. Manu had an idea.

“What if I were to use the ‘Word Thrower’ spell with good words? Would it work the other way round?” Manu wondered.

He tested it by telling the young girl how lovely and clever she was. And, sure enough, his words flew towards her, transforming her appearance incredibly. The girl didn’t say anything, but her appreciative thoughts made Manu feel the best he had ever felt.

Excited, Manu walked the streets using his gift to help and improve the people he met. In the process, he managed to change people’s bad opinions of him and he soon realised that he could have done this from the outset. If he had been kind and polite, everyone would have been a winner.

The effect of the potions eventually disappeared but Manu didn’t go back to his old ways. He had learnt that it was much better to feel everyone’s affection and friendship than to insult and be rude to others in an attempt to feel better than them.

Translated by Toni Wainwright, Ellie Bradbury, Josie Maguire and Lewis Hughes, Manchester Metropolitan University

Author.. Pedro Pablo Sacristan

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Santa has stolen from me!

CuentosparaDormir — Thu, 01 Apr 2021 23:10:26 +0000

Educational Value Learning to be unselfish

Moral of the story You get more, and more genuine, satisfaction from giving something to others than from receiving it.

Setting Somewhere in the North Pole

Characters A martian, Santa Claus and some children.

Story

Martianoto flew in on his spaceship. He was excited because he was finally allowed to visit Earth again. He had already been before, but last time he made a huge mistake: he had transformed into a guy called Albert Einstein and revealed many secrets about extraterrestrials. He was punished and did not return for years.

This time he was much more careful. He didn’t transform into anyone he knew and decided to land on the farthest side of the planet. It was a cold and white place that had just one house, and inside he could see an old and lonely man.

“I will turn myself into this old man. He can’t possibly be famous. Besides, I like his red suit, his white beard, and the enormous sack that he carries by his side. It will help me keep my things safe.”

However, as soon as arrived in the city a large group of children rushed towards him.

“I want my car!”

“Give me my doll!”

“I want my computer game!”

Martianoto was surrounded and scared. He didn’t know what was happening, it only occurred to him to take out the things he had in the sack and give them to the children, who left happy. But the line of children was so long that he quickly ran out of things to give them, so he had to run away and hide.

He couldn’t leave until it got dark. He was terrified. He didn’t know how, but it was clear that he had once again made a bad choice of who to turn himself into. Not again!

“No wonder that old man lives alone and hides himself way. He must be a really famous scoundrel! He owes everybody something!”

So Martianoto went back to the old man’s house. He spied through the window and noticed an enormous pile of toys.

“Ah, so that’s where the evil old man keeps the things that he steals from the children!” he thought.

Martianoto waited until it was dark and the old man had gone to bed before sneaking inside and taking the toys. Phew! The old man had attached name tags, and even a list of names and addresses.

“Finally, I can do something nice on this Earth. I will take each of these toys to its owner.”

Even though there were lots of children, it didn’t matter because his spaceship was super fast. Martianoto managed to return all the presents before daylight. When he finished and was getting ready to sleep in his ship, he was happy he had done the right thing…

“What a surprise the old thief is going to get...”

But the real surprise was when Martianoto woke up and the pile of toys was back in the old man's house again.

“Ah, so the thief is clever, evil and very fast. I don’t know how he has taken back all these toys in one day, but it doesn’t matter: tonight I will try and take the toys to their owners again.”

He spent the night re-delivering the gifts. But the same thing happened the next day, and the next, and many days after that. Martianoto was astonished; how could that fat old man steal so quickly?

“I know” he thought. “He must have people in the city who help him. I will go there in disguise to find out what’s going on. I’ll look for those who look suspicious, they must be his evil accomplices.”

But back in the city, everyone was happy. All those nights, Martianoto had been playing Santa Claus giving out presents from his spaceship. Every morning, children were waking up to a new toy.

“So, nobody was stealing your toys?” he asked some children.

“Of course not! Santa Claus brings them to us.”

“Santa Claus? Who’s that?”

“You don’t know who Santa Claus is? What are you, an alien? Ha, ha, ha!” they replied.

They then explained to him that Santa Claus is an old man with a big white beard and a red suit who delivers presents for children to open on Christmas Day.

Martianoto was mortified. Not only had he mistaken Santa Claus for an evil criminal, he had even been stealing the toys! He raced home to apologise to the old man but found him very ill. Santa Claus had been using his magic to make the toys again and after doing this so many days in a row he had become so weak he could no longer move.

That very night was Christmas Eve and Santa Claus wasn’t going to be delivering presents! What could he do? Martianoto thought quickly: he made a video of the sick Santa Claus and used his spaceship antenna to send it out with a message to all the televisions in the world: ‘all the presents from the past few days have to be returned so that Santa Claus can get better and regain his magic’.

We always think something will happen that will fix everything, and that’s exactly what poor Martianoto had hoped. But this time nobody could do anything to fix it: nobody believed the message that Santa Claus couldn’t deliver the presents.

Martianoto spent the day looking after Santa Claus. Night was falling when there was a knock at the door. It was a little girl returning all her presents.

“I don’t care about the presents” she said with a tear in her eye, “I just want Santa to get better.”

“Me too” said another child who was leading a group.

“Me too… And me…”

Little by little, more and more children appeared, willing to return every last one of their presents. The line was never-ending. They came from far and wide and as they walked through the door their presents vanished and Santa Claus got a little better. When the last toys were returned, Santa Claus was able to get up and everyone cheered with joy. It was as if they’d never been happier.

But Martianoto still felt awful.

“I’m so, so sorry” he said “Nobody in the whole world has any presents and it’s all my fault…”

It went completely silent and everybody looked at the alien.

Finally, the little girl said “Nonsense! I’ve never been happier at Christmas. I helped Santa Claus to get better and I brought him presents. Now I know it’s much better to give presents than to receive them.”

Amid all the laughter and applause, everybody agreed that this lesson was the best present they could have asked for this year.

Translated by Amy Jackson and Lorna Sebag-Montefiore, Manchester Metropolitan University

Author.. Pedro Pablo Sacristan

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