Short bedtime stories

Short stories for kids that take five minutes or less to read: Rumpelstiltskin, The Frog Prince, The Gingerbread Man and Aesop’s fables.

Every tale we have that can be read in five minutes or less is here, from Perrault, Grimm and Andersen to the collectors who came later, along with Aesop’s fables. The tales are listed from shortest to longest, and the fables come last.

They suit the evening when there are a few minutes left before lights out, or a child who wants to read one alone and get to the end before running out of steam. The shortest tales take about two minutes, and some of the fables just one.

Each shows its reading time up front. The length also differs by language, since the same tale runs longer in one than in another.

Length is the only thing that decides what goes in, so not every tale here ends happily, and a short tale is not always one for the youngest. Each card shows the age we recommend a tale for. The Little Match Girl, which ends sadly, and Rumpelstiltskin are both recommended from age six.