World Stories
Story Collections:
Your World
Please send us stories, pictures, poems and responses. We’ll display your work in our World Stories Gallery.
Selected Stories
The Song of the Armadillo
Language: English/Spanish Origin: Spain
Once there was an armadillo who lived in the Bolivian rainforest. He loved music more than anything else in the world and all he wanted to do was to be able to sing like many of the other animals could.
The Well
Language: English/Somali Origin: Somalia
A long time ago, there were four families who lived in a small village in Somalia. The first family would argue all of the time, the second family were very greedy…
The Island of the Sun
Language: Cantonese/English/Mandarin Origin: China
There was once a farmer who had two sons. The older son was selfish and greedy, while the younger son was kind and generous…
The Ant and the Elephant
Language: English/Filipino/Pashto Origin: Afghanistan
The ant and the elephant were very good friends indeed and would play together whenever they had the chance…
Turtle and Monkey
Language: English/Filipino Origin: Philippines
Monkey stood at the edge of the river and watched Turtle swimming against the torrent with a tree that he had caught in the flood: a young tree…
The Princess and the Golden Ball
Language: Arabic/English Origin: Iraq
Once there was a beautiful princess who lived with her father in a huge palace. Although the princess was very beautiful she was also very selfish and conceited…
Adem’s Baba Embarrassed Him
Language: English/Turkish Origin: Turkey
Adem has an English mother and a Turkish father. Growing up in England, Adem wants to adhere to the English culture without losing any of his Turkish roots, however this isn’t always as easy as it seems.
How The Tortoise Got His Crooked Shell
Language: English/Yoruba Origin: Nigeria
A long time ago, a terrible famine hit an ancient animal kingdom. It had not rained for two whole years and all of the crops were dying…
Bald Boy and the Magic Seal
Language: English/Turkish Origin: Turkey
In this tale Bald Boy discovers the true value of friendship.
The Beauty of Difference
Language: English/Persian Origin: Iran
Shirin was still a relatively young girl when her parents sent her away from her home in Tehran to live in a big city in England called London.
The Fern Flower
Language: English/Polish Origin: Poland
St John’s night is the shortest night of the year. It is on this night that the legendary Fern Flower blooms somewhere in the forest…
The Tortoise and the Hare
Language: English Origin: United Kingdom
Once upon a time, in a field not too far from you, there was an energetic and happy hare and a sleepy tortoise…
Enjoy this story in: English
The Love of the Forest
Language: English/Portuguese Origin: Brazil
The sun rises above the Amazon rainforest and the huge, evergreen trees allow rays of light to pass between their leaves and paint the forest floor in dappled shadows…
Enjoy this story in: English Portuguese
The First Sunrise
Language: English Origin: Australia
A traditional tale from the Dreamtime about how the world became warm and light and why dawn is greeted with birdsong
Enjoy this story in: English
The Story of Niu Lang and Zhi Nu
Language: Cantonese/English/Mandarin Origin: China
Niu Lang wasn’t always a simple cow herder. And Zhi Nu wasn’t always a cloud-weaver. Once upon a time they were both stars up in the night sky…
The Legend of the Mafumeira
Language: English/Portuguese Origin: Brazil
Deep within the forest there lives the tallest of all trees. They stretch their thick branches full of leaves up into the blue skies and give us oxygen to breathe. Their trunks are very wide and many of these beautiful giants have been in the forest for hundreds of years…
Enjoy this story in: English Portuguese
The Gift of the Forest
Language: English/Tamil Origin: India
Venu had always loved the forest, ever since he could remember. It enchanted him, made him feel alive, safe and loved…
The Fool and the Donkey
Language: English/Persian Origin: Iran
One morning, the fool woke up and he thought, ‘There is one thing I need, I need a donkey…’
The Boy Who Cried Wolf
Language: English/Urdu Origin: Pakistan
Once upon a time, there was a shepherd boy named Asif who lived in a village in one of the many beautiful valleys in Northern Pakistan…
