The Legend of Sleepy Hollow
15 min read ages 7 and up
Funny fairy tales
28 tales
The Gingerbread Man
4 min read ages 3 and up
The Three Billy Goats Gruff
3 min read ages 4 and up
The Golden Goose
10 min read ages 5 and up
Stone Soup
9 min read ages 4 and up
The Princess and the Pea
3 min read ages 4 and up
The Little Red Hen
7 min read ages 3 and up
Rip Van Winkle
15 min read ages 6 and up
Goldilocks and the Three Bears
7 min read ages 3 and up
Alice in Wonderland
16 min read ages 6 and up
The Emperor’s New Clothes
9 min read ages 5 and up
The Tale of Squirrel Nutkin
7 min read ages 3 and up
Kolobok
4 min read ages 3 and up
The Enormous Turnip
2 min read ages 2 and up
The Brave Little Tailor
12 min read ages 5 and up
Hans in Luck
7 min read ages 4 and up
The Magic Porridge Pot
2 min read ages 3 and up
The Hare and the Hedgehog
7 min read ages 5 and up
The Tale of Jemima Puddle-Duck
8 min read ages 4 and up
The Three Spinners
5 min read ages 5 and up
The Swineherd
9 min read ages 5 and up
The Tale of Tom Kitten
4 min read ages 3 and up
The Youth Who Went Forth to Learn What Fear Was
12 min read ages 7 and up
The Fox and the Grapes
1 min read ages 3 and up
The Fox and the Stork
1 min read ages 4 and up
The Frog and the Ox
1 min read ages 4 and up
The Gnat and the Bull
1 min read ages 4 and up
The Milkmaid and Her Pail
2 min read ages 3 and up
Stories to laugh at
Goldilocks and the Three Bears is funny mostly in its voices. Use a deep growl for the Great Big Bear and a squeak for the Little Wee Bear, and three-year-olds will soon join in with “Somebody has been sitting in my chair!”
The Emperor’s New Clothes lets children laugh at grown-ups, which they rarely get to do. Ministers praise cloth that is not there, chamberlains carry a train that does not exist, and only a child in the crowd says what everyone can see.
The Frog and the Ox is over in a minute. A frog puffs herself up to match an ox and asks her children twice if she is big enough yet, then pushes harder still. The ending is sudden, so some children laugh and some go quiet.
Rip Van Winkle is gentler comedy for older children. He falls asleep in the mountains, comes down with a beard a foot long and is called a spy for praising the King, because he has no idea there has been a war while he slept.