Stories read aloud
Classic fables and fairy tales, read aloud in glowing paper-cut lightbox scenes. Free on any screen, no app needed.
Every story is a handful of glowing paper-cut lightbox scenes with narration and subtitles. Press “Tell the story” to listen, or step through the scenes with the arrows, the ← → keys or a swipe.
Aesop's FablesFairy TalesFolk TalesJust So Stories
A Lion catches a little Mouse but laughs and lets her go when she promises to repay him. Days later he is trapped in a hunter's net — and the Mouse gnaws him free.
Moral: A kindness is never wasted. Little friends may prove great friends.
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A boastful Hare laughs at the slow Tortoise, so the Tortoise challenges him to a race. The Hare runs far ahead and takes a nap — and wakes up too late.
Moral: The race is not always to the swift. Slow but steady wins the race.
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The Mice hold a council and a young Mouse has a clever plan: hang a bell about the Cat’s neck. Everyone cheers, until an old Mouse asks, “Who will bell the Cat?”
Moral: It is one thing to say that something should be done, but quite a different matter to do it.
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While the Three Bears take a walk until their porridge cools, a little girl called Goldilocks walks into their house and tries their porridge, chairs and beds. The Bears come home, find her asleep in the Little Wee Bear’s bed, and she jumps out of the window and runs home.
Moral: Wait to be asked in, and never take what is not yours.
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Left in the forest, Hansel and Gretel find their way home by moonlit white pebbles, but the next time birds eat their breadcrumbs and they come to a house of bread and cake. The old woman inside is a wicked witch, until clever Gretel tricks her and the children return home to their father.
Moral: Brave and clever together, Hansel and Gretel found their way home.
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An acorn falls on Henny-penny's head, and she is sure the sky is falling, so she sets off to tell the king with Cocky-locky, Ducky-daddles, Goosey-poosey and Turkey-lurkey. Sly Foxy-woxy offers to show them the way, but at the dark hole of his cave they turn tail and run home just in time.
Moral: Don't believe everything you hear. Find out what is true before you run and tell.
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In the beginning of the world, a lazy Camel answers the Horse, the Dog and the Ox with nothing but “Humph!”, so they must do his work as well. The Djinn of All Deserts comes rolling in a cloud of dust, and when the Camel says “Humph!” once too often, his back puffs up into a great big hump.
Moral: The hump we get comes from having too little to do: idleness makes extra work for everyone, so do your share.
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A rude Rhinoceros upsets the Parsee's stove and eats his cake. Five weeks later the Parsee fills the Rhinoceros's skin with tickly cake-crumbs, and he scratches it into folds for ever.
Moral: Them that takes cakes which the Parsee-man bakes makes dreadful mistakes.
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Jack swaps the family cow for a handful of magic beans, and overnight they grow into a beanstalk that reaches the sky. Up in the giant’s house he wins a bag of gold, a hen that lays golden eggs and a singing golden harp, then chops the beanstalk down just in time.
Moral: Be brave, and great things can grow from the smallest beans.
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Little Red Riding Hood leaves the path to pick flowers, and the Wolf reaches Grandmother’s cottage first and gobbles her up, then the girl too. A passing huntsman snips them both free, safe and sound, and the Wolf runs off for good.
Moral: Stay on the path, and mind what your mother tells you.
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A miller’s youngest son gets nothing but a cat, but the cat asks for a bag and a pair of boots and makes his poor master into the Marquis of Carabas. With clever tricks he wins him fine clothes, the King’s favor, and an ogre’s castle, and the Marquis marries the Princess.
Moral: Cleverness and hard work can be worth more than a great fortune.
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All summer the Grasshopper plays his fiddle while the busy Ants store up grain. When the snow comes he has nothing to eat, and the Ants tell him: now dance!
Moral: There's a time for work and a time for play.
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A bored Shepherd Boy twice tricks the villagers by shouting “Wolf! Wolf!” and laughs when they come running. One evening a real Wolf comes, and nobody believes him.
Moral: Liars are not believed even when they speak the truth.
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An old Donkey, Hound, Cat and Rooster, no longer wanted at home, set off together to be town musicians in Bremen. In a dark forest they find a robbers’ house, scare the robbers away with their music, and make it their happy home.
Moral: Old friends, working together, can do what none of them could do alone.
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In hot, dry weather a thirsty Crow finds a pitcher with a little water at the bottom, too deep for his beak. He drops in small pebbles one by one until the water rises high enough to drink.
Moral: In a pinch a good use of our wits may help us out. Necessity is the mother of invention.
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A Dog carrying a bone from the butcher crosses a footbridge and sees his reflection in the brook. Wanting the other dog's bigger bone too, he snaps at it and loses his own bone in the water.
Moral: It is very foolish to be greedy.
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Long ago, elephants had only short, bulgy noses, and one curious Elephant’s Child wanted to know what the Crocodile has for dinner. At the great grey-green, greasy Limpopo River the Crocodile caught him by the nose, and pulled and pulled until it stretched into the very first trunk.
Moral: Keep asking What and Where and When, and How and Why and Who: curiosity can lead to something wonderful.
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A poor shoemaker cuts out his last leather at night, and every morning the shoes are finished. At Christmas time he and his wife watch by candlelight, see two tiny elves at work, and thank them with little clothes.
Moral: One good turn deserves another. Be thankful to those who help you.
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Two tricksters promise a vain Emperor clothes that foolish people cannot see, and weave nothing at empty looms. Everyone pretends to admire them, until a little child in the procession says, “But the Emperor has nothing at all on!”
Moral: Tell the truth, even when everyone else is pretending. Be brave enough to say what you see.
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A Crow sits in a tree with a bit of cheese, and a sly Fox below wants it for his breakfast. He praises her shining feathers and begs for one song, and when she opens her beak to caw, the cheese falls straight into his mouth.
Moral: The flatterer lives at the expense of those who will listen to him.
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On a hot summer's day a thirsty Fox finds a bunch of ripe grapes hanging from a vine on a high branch. He jumps again and again but cannot reach them, so he walks away with his nose in the air, saying they must be sour.
Moral: It is easy to despise what you cannot get.
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A little old woman bakes a boy of gingerbread, and he jumps out of the oven and runs away from everyone he meets. Nobody can catch him, until a sly fox offers to carry him across the river.
Moral: Being quick is not enough. Be careful whom you trust.
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Every morning a Man finds a golden egg in his Goose's nest, and he and his Wife grow rich. But they grow greedy too, cut the Goose open to get all the gold at once, and find nothing inside.
Moral: Those who have plenty want more, and so lose all they have. Much wants more and loses all.
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The little Red Hen finds a grain of wheat, but the Goose, the Cat and the Dog will not help her plant it, cut it, take it to the mill or bake the bread. When the bread is baked they all want to eat it, so she shares it with her chicks instead.
Moral: Those who will not help should not expect to share.
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A farmer's daughter walks home with a pail of milk on her head, dreaming of cream, butter, eggs, chickens and a new gown. She tosses her head with pride, the pail falls, and all her dreams vanish in a moment.
Moral: Do not count your chickens before they are hatched.
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The North Wind and the Sun argue about which of them is stronger, and agree that whoever can get a Traveler's cloak off wins. The Wind blows and blows, but the Traveler only wraps his cloak tighter; then the Sun shines warmly, and soon the Traveler takes the cloak off himself.
Moral: Gentleness and kind persuasion win where force and bluster fail.
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A prince searches the whole world for a real princess, and one stormy night a soaking-wet girl knocks at the city gate and says she is one. The old queen hides a single pea under twenty mattresses and twenty eider-down beds, and in the morning the princess has not slept a wink.
Moral: You cannot always tell who someone really is from how they look at the door.
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Three billy goats named Gruff must cross a bridge to reach the green hillside, but a great ugly Troll lives underneath and wants to gobble them up. The two smaller goats send him waiting for a bigger brother, and the big Billy Goat Gruff butts the Troll right off the bridge into the river.
Moral: Small ones can be clever, and big ones can be brave — together they get where they are going.
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Three little pigs build houses of straw, sticks and bricks, and a hungry Wolf blows the first two down. Only the strong brick house stands, and when the Wolf comes down the chimney, he lands in a pot of water and runs away for good.
Moral: Work hard and build well, and you will be safe and sound.
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A Town Mouse visits her cousin in the country and invites her to a grand city feast. But a mewing Cat, the servants and the House Dog send the Country Mouse hurrying home to her simple, peaceful life.
Moral: Better beans and bacon in peace than cakes and ale in fear.
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The last egg in the mother duck's nest hatches into a big gray duckling, and everyone in the farmyard teases him until he runs away. After a long, lonely winter he flies to a garden in spring, bends to the water, and sees that he has grown into a beautiful white swan.
Moral: Don't judge anyone by how they look. A good heart is never proud.
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A girl no bigger than a thumb is born in a tulip, then carried off by a toad, a cockchafer and a long, cold winter. She saves a frozen swallow, and in the end he flies her to the warm countries, where the king of the flowers names her Maia.
Moral: Kindness is never wasted.
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Being cut, layered and narrated right now. Check back soon!
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Glow Fables retells classic fables and fairy tales as glowing paper-cut lightboxes. Each scene is a little theatre of cut-paper layers — sky, hills, trees, characters — that shift gently as you move the mouse or tilt your phone.
The look follows paper-cut shadow-box lamps: layers of cut card lit from behind, so the far hills glow like warm light and the characters stand out as dark silhouettes. Narration, music and sound are made for each story.
A warm narrator reads every scene, with subtitles for children who are learning to read.
Scenes are re-composed for phones, tablets, laptops and classroom projectors.
Just open the browser. No account, no download.
Stories take 2 to 4 minutes and end with a one-line moral to talk about together.
Yes. Press “Tell the story” and each scene is narrated, with subtitles under the picture, then the story moves on to the next scene by itself. You can also step through the scenes with the arrows, the ← → keys or by swiping on a phone.
Yes. Every story is free to watch, with no account and no app to install.
Yes. Each scene is re-arranged for portrait or landscape screens, so it works on phones, tablets, laptops and classroom projectors.
Most stories suit children from 3 to 8, watching with a parent or teacher. Each story shows a suggested age and takes about 2 to 4 minutes.
Every scene is a little box of cut-paper layers — sky, hills, trees and characters — lit from behind. The light glows through the paper, so far layers look bright and the characters stand out as dark silhouettes, like a shadow-box lamp that tells a story.
We retell public-domain classics — Aesop's fables, English folk tales, the Brothers Grimm and Hans Christian Andersen — checked against well-known printed editions, in simple English for young listeners.
Glow Fables