Children’s bedtime stories with animals: The Round Moon in the Pond
A dark cloud was drifting over from afar.
A fox was dozing by the pond, with the moonlight casting its glow on the water. The moon reflected in the pond was like a round mirror.
A duck walked over, the splashing sound of its footsteps waking the fox.
The fox looked at the waddling duck and said, “Good evening, Aunt Duck. Still not asleep?”
“Good evening, Mr. Fox. I’m catching some shrimp for my daughter; she’s hungry,” quacked the duck.
The fox stretched lazily and said to the duck, “Aunt Duck, could you do me a favor? I’ve placed a moon in the pond to wash; please watch over it for me and make sure it doesn’t get lost. I’ll be right back.” With that, the fox left.
The duck was catching shrimp. She occasionally glanced at the round moon in the pond, swaying beautifully in the water.
But not long after, when the duck looked again, the moon was gone, not even a shadow remained, making the surroundings pitch black and quite frightening.
At this moment, the fox reappeared from behind a tree and said, “Thank you, Aunt Duck. Is my round moon intact?”
When the fox saw that the moon was gone from the water, he started yelling, “Oh no, you clumsy creature, you’ve broken my moon. What will I do without it!”
The fox threw a fit, “You’ve lost my round moon; you must give me your daughter as compensation. Otherwise, I’ll eat you too, even though your meat is already tough.”
The duck, fearing for her daughter and herself, began to cry, “Come out, come out, the round moon in the pond. The fox is blaming me—I am in big trouble!”
The duck cried so miserably that Grandpa Wind heard and angrily roared, “Fox, you wicked creature, let me return your round moon!”
A storm blew, thunder roared, lightning flashed, and the dark clouds turned into raindrops, pouring down heavily.
The duck didn’t mind the rain.
The fox, however, was in trouble. He crouched under a tree, covering his head.
The wind stopped, the rain ceased.
A round, bright moon reflected in the pond, even bigger and brighter than before.
The duck joyfully quacked, “Grandpa Wind, come help, the pond has a round moon again.”
As for the fox, he sneezed continuously, his nose running, shivering all over, and slunk home in disgrace.
Thank you for reading! ” Sitestorys “
