There have been hundreds of tales and stories about the moon transmitted from generation to generation in various languages and cultures. Some of them are scary myths while some of them are fairy tales that have been adopted from various cultures and social backdrops. But all the old as well as the modern folktales are shared for the purpose of the pure joy of storytelling.
It is not new to us that bedtime stories about old folktales and fairy tales help in the mental and emotional development of children. But do you know that the reading level of a child in third grade depicts the success of the child in future in terms of academics? If a child does not build a reading habit in third grade then it has been seen that he or she is four times less likely to graduate. But you have been great parents who have been reading to your children and teaching them the joy of reading from a very young age.
Now let us take a look into one such beautiful story of the sun and the moon and enjoy storytelling together.
Illustration of the Moon stories
The Sun and the Moon Story
Long long ago, there lived a mother, a son and a daughter. They were a happy family who lived in the mountains. Every day the mother used to go to work to fetch some food for her kids. One day, the mother went to help decorate for a birthday party. “Watch the house well and be a good kind and I will bring you some delicious pancakes as well as some rice cakes,” the mother said. Listening to the same, the son and the daughter were very happy and they promised to look after the house while she was gone.
Mother Talking to her Daughter and Son
The brother and sister took good care of the house while they were waiting for their mother to bring them the pancakes and the delicious rice cakes. Slowly, it started becoming dark in the mountains and the mother started worrying about her children. So she left the party and started walking towards her house. While she was journeying towards the house worried about her children, a dark shadow appeared. "Whose dark shadow is this?" screamed the mother. That's when she heard the sound of a tiger as it said "I won't eat you up if you give me the rice cake". Terrified by the tiger, the mother gave him rice cake and it went into the jungle. But his greed for the rice cake kept on increasing and the tiger kept on asking for more and more rice cakes. After all the rice cakes were finished, the evil tiger ended up eating the mother too.
That's when the tiger got an idea. It put on the clothes of the mother and went to her house. The children thought it was their mother and that she came back with the pancakes. So they rushed to the gate but they were surprised to see the tiger in their mother's outfit. The tiger was really big with sharp teeth and nails that were scary. The children ran into the rooms and hugged each other while they were trembling with fear. But the tiger was so strong that it broke down the door and went inside the house. The children immediately ran to their backyard and climbed up a tree.
The tiger kept searching for the children and finally came near the tree where it saw them sitting on a branch at the top of the tree. It then asked the children with its husky voice "Children! Tell me how did you go up the tree?" The boy, who was very clever, immediately replied, "We used this sesame oil and came up". So, the stupid tiger tried to put some sesame oil in its paws and tried to climb up the tree but unfortunately slipped every time. The children laughed at the tiger but the girl mistakenly answered "You should have used the axe".
The Children Sitting on a Tree
The evil tiger got an idea and started climbing the tree with the help of an axe. The tiger's paws got almost near the children. The children got fearful and started praying to God "Oh God! Send down a thick rope if you want to save us or send down a rope if you don't want to save us" said the boy. Suddenly a rope came down from the sky and the stupid tiger didn't know that it was a bare rope and tried to climb the tree quickly with that rope. So, the tiger fell and died but nobody knew what happened to the children.
The Tiger used the Axe to climb up the Tree
They both went high up in the sky and God blessed them with powers. So, the boy eventually became the sun and the sister became the moon.
Conclusion
There have been many benefits of reading your children a story at their bedtime and a few of them are as follows:-
It develops and enriches language development at a very young age as kids are exposed to various stories in different languages.
They get to know about the different societies and their culture along with their social backdrops. This is because every story or folklore is a reflection of society.
It also enriches and helps them grow their imagination and appreciate the beauties of nature. They also learn to love and respect the environment around them.
It is also important to teach them to be sympathetic to others and look into their own actions. Stories help them to introspect their own actions and be kind to animals and humans around them.
It mostly helps them to build up a strong vocabulary that later helps them to grow into a well-spoken and confident person.
FAQs on Bedtime Moon Story
1. What is the moral of the story?
The moral of the story is that God helps those who help themselves.
2. What happened to the boy and the girl?
The girl and the boy were both blessed with powers and the boy became the sun and the girl became the moon.
