Disney's Mulan (1998) Kid's Bedtime Story

I hope everyone is hanging in there, keeping busy and safe at home! Here is another bedtime story, as requested, and it's one of my favorites.

Don't miss these other classic bedtime stories:
Frozen
Beauty & the Beast
Rapunzel
Moana
The Little Mermaid
Cinderella


A long time ago, a girl named Mulan lived in a village in China with her mother and father. She tried her best to be a good daughter and bring her family honor, but she was a girl who spoke her mind and stood up for herself, in a time when her culture valued silence.

When China's enemies, the Huns, invaded the country, the Emperor's secretary came to her village to call one man from each family to join the army to protect China. Mulan's father had already served China's army and had a limp in his leg that made it painful for him to walk. Mulan rushed forward to beg the secretary to excuse her father from more service.

The secretary was offended that Mulan spoke to him and Mulan's father was embarrassed by her outburst.

But that night, Mulan decided she couldn't let her father go to war. To save him, she would pretend to be his son and go join the Army in his place. She cut her hair short and stole her father's armor. She took her family's horse, Khan, and rode off to join the Army camp.

The spirits of the family's ancestors lived in the pagoda behind their house. When they saw what Mulan had done, they called a meeting to discuss what to do. They sent Mushu, the tiny dragon messenger, to wake the Great Stone Dragon to go and stop Mulan from causing her family dishonor with her deception.

But instead of waking the Dragon, Mushu accidentally broke the statue! He hid the broken dragon from the other Ancestors and went off to take care of Mulan on his own. Mushu decided that instead of stopping Mulan and bringing her home, he would help her become a hero. That way, Mushu would be a hero as well and the other Ancestors would stop making fun of him.

When Mushu caught up with Mulan she was startled by the tiny dragon and smashed him with her shoe. But he convinced her to let him help.

Mulan's time in the Army didn't go well at first. She didn't make any friends and in fact, many of the men disliked her because she was a little bit clumsy.

Captain Shang made the company work hard. Mulan, who told everyone she was a boy named Ping, was so bad at all the drills, Captain Shang told her to leave and go home. But Mulan didn't give up. She worked even harder and eventually, she and the rest of the company made the Captain proud. And in the process, Mulan made friends with her fellow soldiers Yao, Ling and Chien-Po.

As the company traveled through the mountains to meet up with the main Army, they were attacked by the Huns. They were going to be overrun!

Mulan had an idea. Instead of shooting the last rocket at the Huns, she took it and ran toward them. Then she turned and shot the rocket up toward the mountains.

"You missed," the Hun general, Shan Yu, said with a smirk. But Mulan's rocket caused an avalanche that wiped away all of the Hun army. It nearly wiped away her own company too, but Mulan and Khan leaped off the edge of a cliff in order to rescue Captain Shang, who would have been knocked off the side of the mountain.

Mulan was wounded in the battle and the doctor discovered that she was actually a girl. The punishment for lying to an officer was death, but Captain Shang spared her life, because she had saved his.

"A life for a life. My debt is repaid," he said. Then the company left her, on their way to the Imperial City, to be honored by the Emperor for defeating the Huns.

But as Mulan made a small fire on the snowy mountain and resolved to go back home, she saw that the Huns were not defeated. They were coming back out of the snow and heading to attack the Imperial City!

Mulan, Khan and Mushu raced to the Imperial City to warn everyone. But Mulan was dressed as a woman again and no one would listen to her. Not even Captain Shang and her soldier friends.

Then, the Huns attacked. They surprised the Imperial Guards and took the Emperor prisoner inside his own palace. Mulan had an idea. She asked Yao, Ling and Chien-Po to help her rescue the Emperor and they agreed. Even Captain Shang came to help. Mulan dressed her friends up as women and used the skills they had learned together in the Army to climb the palace walls.

In their disguises, they tricked the Hun guards into letting them in, then knocked them out and tied them up. Mulan and her friends found the Emperor and helped him escape by sliding down a rope off the balcony.

To keep the Shan Yu from going after the Emperor, Mulan cut the rope, trapping herself on the balcony. Mulan scrambled up to the roof and Shan Yu followed. Mulan cleverly used her fan to take the sword from Shan Yu, then she pinned his coat to the roof.

Then Mushu, strapped to a firework, used his dragonfire to light the fuse and shot the rocket toward Shan Yu. The explosion flung Mushu down onto Mulan and Shan Yu off into the rest of the fireworks, which exploded and lit up the night sky.

The Emperor was grateful to Mulan for rescuing him and banishing the Huns from China. In front of the whole crowd of people, the Emperor bowed to Mulan, then all the rest of the people did too.

Mulan declined the Emperor's offer to stay and become his Advisor. She wanted to go home. So the Emperor gave her gifts.

"Take this," he said, removing his pendant necklace and placing it around Mulan's neck. "So all of China will know what you have done for me. And take this," he said, handing her Shan Yu's sword, " so the world will know what you have done for China."

When Mulan got home, she gave the gifts to her father, to honor him and her family. But her father pushed the gifts aside and hugged Mulan.

"The greatest gift of all," he said, "is having you for a daughter."

Just then they heard Captain Shang. He'd come to return Mulan's helmet, which actually belonged to her father, and Mulan invited him to stay.

Mulan had earned the respect of the Emperor and the whole country, but that didn't matter to her as much as keeping her family safe. And in the end, they all lived happily ever after.

Ariel The Little Mermaid Bedtime Story for Kids

Don't miss these other stories!
Beauty and the Beast
Frozen
Moana
Cinderella
Rapunzel
Mulan


Once upon a time, there lived a little mermaid named Ariel. Her father, King Triton, told all the merfolk they were never to go up to the surface, because he thought humans were dangerous. But Ariel was fascinated by humans. She loved exploring the old shipwrecks on the sea floor, even if she had to get past sharks to do it!

One day, while Sebastian the crab was trying to tell Ariel to keep her head in the water where it belonged, she saw a ship pass by overhead. She went up to the surface to get a closer look. She peeked over the side of the boat and saw a man playing with his dog. It was Prince Eric and his dog Max. As Ariel watched, Prince Eric's man Grimsby gave him a birthday gift: a statue carved to look like Prince Eric.

Just then, a big storm blew in. Lightning cracked and lit the ship on fire! Eric was thrown overboard and hit his head. He was sinking, but Ariel swam down and scooped him up. She brought him back to shore and sang to comfort him. He woke just enough to hear her voice, but didn't see her face. When Grimsby found him, Prince Eric vowed to search the kingdom and find the girl and marry her! He searched and searched, but didn't find her. Because she wasn't in the kingdom. She was under the sea.

Ariel swam about, humming, in a daze. King Triton noticed. He asked Sebastian who was the lucky merman Ariel had fallen in love with. Sebastian accidentally let it slip that Ariel had been going up to the surface.

Meanwhile, Flounder surprised Ariel by bringing the statue of Prince Eric that had sunk with the ship to her cave of human treasures. Ariel was delighted! But then, King Triton appeared. He only wanted to protect her, so he decided he'd have to crush her attachment to humans. He used his magic trident and smashed all of her human treasures to pieces.

Afterward, the eels Flotsam and Jetsam came and whispered to her. "Poor, lonely little mermaid. No one understands. Ursula can help you."

Ariel went with them to meet the sea witch, who said she could turn Ariel into a human for three days. She had to get Prince Eric to kiss her by the end of the third day. If she did, she'd remain a human. If she didn't, she would wither away and become part of Ursula's collection. To pay for the spell, Ursula took Ariel's voice. While Ariel sang, Ursula captured Ariel's voice in the magic shell she wore around her neck.

Ursula worked her magic and Ariel's fin turned into legs! Sebastian and Flounder helped her up to the shore. Ariel loved her new legs, but she had to learn how to use them! Scuttle the seagull came by and dressed her up in the tattered old sail from a wrecked ship.

Just then, Max came bounding down the shore and greeted Ariel. Prince Eric followed. When he saw Ariel, he exclaimed, "It's you!"

Ariel nodded, but when Prince Eric realized she couldn't speak, he said, "Oh, nevermind. You couldn't be the girl I'm looking for." But he brought her back to his castle anyway because he thought she'd been in a shipwreck and wanted to help her.

The castle servants gave her a bath and a new dress and she was invited to have dinner with the Prince. Sebastian almost got cooked up and served on the platter, but he escaped with Ariel's help.

The next day, Ariel and Eric took a carriage ride. Ariel was fascinated by everything and curious to know how it all worked. At the end of the day, Eric took Ariel out on a rowboat in a lagoon. With Sebastian's help, he guessed her name. He allllllmost kissed her, but Flotsam and Jetsam were watching and they tipped the boat over!

Ursula had been watching in her crystal ball. "Drat!" she said. "At this rate he'll kiss her by tomorrow and my plan will fail!" So Ursula turned herself into a beautiful young human named Vanessa and cast a spell on Prince Eric to make him think he was in love with her.

The next morning Ariel went downstairs, but saw Prince Eric together with Vanessa. He announced that he and Vanessa were going to be married on their wedding ship that very evening! This was terrible! Poor Ariel was going to lose her family and Prince Eric, too.

Scuttle was flying over Eric's wedding ship when he looked into a porthole. He saw Vanessa getting ready for her wedding. But when she looked into the mirror, the mirror showed her true reflection and Scuttle saw that she was actually Ursula! He flew back to tell Ariel.

Sebastian swam down to tell King Triton. Flounder helped Ariel swim out to the ship while Scuttle told all the sea animals and birds to stop the wedding. Dolphins jumped up and squirted Vanessa, birds dove at her and starfish leaped up and stuck all over her.

When Ariel climbed over the rail of the ship, Scuttle pulled Vanessa's shell necklace off and it crashed at Ariel's feet. Ariel's voice floated back into her.

"Eric, it's me!" she said.

When the shell smashed, it broke the spell Ursula had over Eric. He ran to Ariel. "Ariel, it was you the whole time!" He went to kiss her, but the sun dipped below the horizon and Ariel turned back into a mermaid.

"You're too late!" Ursula cried as she turned back into her octopus form. She grabbed Ariel and dove into the water.

Eric grabbed a harpoon and went to jump in after her, telling Grimsby, "I lost her once, Grim, I'm not going to lose her again."

King Triton showed up to stop Ursula, but Ariel had signed a contract and King Triton knew he had no other choice. He offered himself in Ariel's place, which of course, was what Ursula wanted all along. King Triton withered away and Ursula got his crown and his trident.

She used its magic to make herself huge and swirled a whirlpool in the ocean, with Ariel at its center. She zapped at Ariel with the trident. But Prince Eric had a plan. The whirlpool had brought up all the old shipwrecks from the bottom of the ocean. Eric climbed aboard one of these and steered its jagged bow straight through Ursula's heart.

Ursula disappeared and all her bad magic was undone. King Triton, and all the other poor unfortunate souls Ursula had tricked were freed.

Prince Eric returned to his place on land, but as King Triton watched Ariel stare longingly at him on the beach, he said to Sebastian. "She really does love him. There's just one problem: How much I'm going to miss her."

He used the magic of his trident to turn Ariel human again. She ran out of the water to Prince Eric and he spun her around and kissed her. Soon after, they set sail on their own wedding ship. Ariel's friends and family gathered in the water around them. King Triton raised himself up on a wave to kiss his daughter.

Ariel would miss her family and friends, but she visited them at the water's edge. She got to live on land where she felt she belonged. And they all lived happily ever after.

The End.

Moana Kid's Bedtime Story

I get it. I know how to read my Blogger Stats. I'll blog about Spanish adventures for my mom to read, but for everyone else, here's another Bedtime Story to entertain the wee ones.

Don't forget, here's the Frozen, Beauty & the Beast, Cinderella, Little Mermaid, Mulan and Rapunzel stories too.

In the beginning, there was nothing but darkness. Then Te'Fiti, the mother island, brought life into the world using the magic of her heart. But after time, many sought to steal Te'Fiti's heart for themselves. The demi-God Maui finally succeeded, but was quickly struck from the sky by Te'ka, the lava monster. The heart of Te'Fiti was lost and a curse spread slowly across the ocean from island to island.

Many years later, a girl named Moana grew up on the island of Motunui. One day when she was very young, the ocean gave her a gift: a glowing green stone. Little Moana lost the stone, but her Gramma Tala kept it safe for her as Moana grew.

Moana's father, Chief Tui, taught Moana what would be expected of her as the village's new Chief: to respect their ancient traditions and most of all, do not go beyond the reef out into the open ocean. But the ocean seemed to call to Moana and she always wondered what was beyond the horizon.

One day, the curse of Te'Fiti finally reached Motunui, poisoning the coconut trees and driving the fish away. Moana felt sure the answer to their problem was beyond the reef, but her father still wouldn't let anyone leave the safety of the bay. Then, Gramma Tala showed Moana the cave where her ancestors had put away their boats. Their people had been voyagers! They'd stopped sailing long ago, to protect their people from the monsters that roamed the ocean in search of the lost heart of Te'Fiti.

Gramma Tala returned the heart of Te'Fiti to Moana and reminded her that the ocean chose her to find Maui and restore the heart to its rightful place.

So, even though Gramma Tala was very sick, she encouraged Moana to take a boat from the cave and go in search of Maui.

Gramma Tala said, "Go. Find Maui. When you do, you grab him by the ear and say, 'I am Moana of Motunui, you will board my boat, sail across the sea and restore the heart of Te'Fiti.'"

Moana had no idea how to sail and, thanks to her surprise stowaway, the chicken HeiHei, she had some setbacks, including a violent storm that tipped her boat over. But the ocean helped guide her to the island where Maui had been stranded for the last 1000 years.

But Maui didn't want to help Moana. All he wanted to do was get his magic fishhook back from Tamatoa and go back to being awesome. He tricked Moana and locked her in a cave, then stole her boat! But Moana was clever. She escaped the cave and with the ocean's help, got back on her boat with Maui.

Just then, they were attacked by the Kakamora, vicious little pirates in coconut armor. They were after the heart of Te'Fiti! HeiHei swallowed the heart and the Kakamora grabbed the chicken. Maui pulled some tricky maneuvers with the boat to help them escape without the heart, but Moana went back for it. She batted the coconuts out of the way, grabbed the chicken, swung back onto her boat, then Maui sailed them to safety.

Maui and Moana struck a deal: she'd help him get his fishhook, then they'd restore the heart so he could be a hero again.

Tamatoa's lair was in Lalotai, the realm of monsters. Maui jumped down the tunnel, not expecting Moana to follow, but she did. They found Tamatoa, a giant crab covered in golden treasure, with Maui's fishhook on his back. Moana distracted the crab while Maui grabbed his hook. But after 1000 years without it, he'd forgotten how to use it, and Tamatoa almost defeated him. But Moana thought quickly and created a diversion using a barnacle covered in bio-luminescent algae to help them escape.

Back up on land, Maui thanked Moana for her help, but he was sure they'd never be able to defeat Te'Ka if he couldn't use his hook. Moana encouraged him to keep trying and eventually he got the hang of it again and was able to transform himself into anything he wanted.

Along their journey to Te'Fiti, Maui showed Moana the ancient art of wayfinding. He taught her, "It's knowing where you're going, by knowing where you've been."

When they reached Te'Fiti, Te'Ka emerged to block their path. Maui warned Moana to turn back, but Moana thought she could sail past the lava monster. But she wasn't fast enough. Maui used his hook to protect her from the monster's blow, which cracked it. One more hit and it would be gone forever. Maui was upset Moana hadn't listened to him and left.

Moana begged the ocean to choose someone else for this task. She thought she couldn't do it. But then she was visited by the spirit of her Gramma Tala, and Moana realized she had the courage to try again. She fixed up her boat and sailed back to Te'Fiti to face Te'Ka by herself.

Using the sailing tricks she'd learned from Maui, Moana was able to trick Te'Ka and sail past the barrier islands. But a flying lava ball knocked her boat over. Just as Te'Ka was about to smash Moana with a fiery fist, Maui flew in as a giant hawk and saved her!

"Maui, you came back!" Moana exclaimed. "But, your hook," she said uncertainly.

Along their journey together, Moana had taught Maui that what makes him special isn't what he has, but rather what's in his heart. So Maui shrugged, "Hook or no hook, I'm still Maui. I got your back, Chosen One. Go save the world."

He told her to return the heart to the spiral. As Maui battled Te'Ka to distract the monster from Moana, his hook shattered. Moana climbed the mountain, but once at the top, she found Te'Fiti was gone! But she noticed a spiral on the chest of Te'Ka and realized Te'Ka was Te'Fiti!

Moana said to the ocean, "Let her come to me." The ocean parted to allow the fiery lava monster to cross the distance to Moana. Moana sang a song about all that she'd learned about herself since she set out on her journey and reminded Te'Ka of who she really was.

"This is not who you are. You know who you are. Who you truly are." Te'Ka stopped fighting and allowed Moana to place the glowing green stone in the center of the spiral on her chest. The hard lava stone cracked and fell away, revealing the lush, green Goddess of Life underneath: Te'Fiti.

Te'Fiti scooped Moana and Maui up in her hand. Maui very humbly apologized for stealing her heart and Te'Fiti gifted him with a new hook. She gave Moana a boat to sail home on, then took her place as the mother mountain again.

Moana invited Maui to come back to Motunui with her.

"My people are going to need a master wayfinder," she said. Maui smiled at her and said, "They already have one." He showed her the new tattoo that appeared on his chest: of Moana and her boat! Moana gave him a big hug goodbye and he transformed into a giant hawk and flew away.

Moana sailed home to find her island bountiful again; the curse had been broken. Her parents were so happy to have her back again, and Moana taught her people all that she'd learned about wayfinding. They started voyaging across the sea again, to explore and find new islands. Moana got to sail the sea as she'd always dreamed, and she and her family were happy.

The End

Beauty and the Beast Bedtime Story for Kids

We've branched out from Frozen thank goodness, and added some variety into our bedtime stories. We watched the live action Beauty and the Beast and now she's even more obsessed with Princess Belle. I grew up on this story, it's my favorite classic Disney movie but honestly, recounting it twice a day word for word is getting a wee bit tiresome. I know you understand my pain.

Anyway, moms and dads, give your brain a rest and mindlessly read the condensed story to your demanding little ones instead of having to make it all up every night!

PSA: this is not the French version. This is the animated version, as shown in the banner above, which includes a villain character named GASTON.

(PS: Here's Frozen, Moana, Cinderella, Little Mermaid, Mulan and Rapunzel too.)

Beauty & the Beast
aka "Mommy Why Did the Beast Take Belle Prisoner?" and Other Fun Questions

Once upon a time in a castle there lived a spoiled, selfish prince. One cold rainy night a haggard old woman knocked on the door, seeking shelter from the bitter cold in exchange for a single rose. Repulsed by her appearance, the Prince turned her away. She warned him not to be deceived by appearances, for true beauty lies far within. When he scorned her again, the woman's ugliness melted away to reveal a beautiful enchantress. The Prince tried to apologize but it was too late, she had seen there was no love in his heart.

She transformed him into a hideous beast and placed a powerful spell on the castle and all who lived there. The Beast concealed himself in his castle with a magic mirror as his only window to the outside world. The rose she had given him would bloom for many years. If he could learn to love and earn another's love in return by the time the last petal fell, the curse would be broken. If not, he would be doomed to remain a Beast for all time.

Nearby, a girl named Belle lived in a small French town with her father, Maurice, who was an inventor. Belle loved reading because the stories in her books took her on adventures she couldn't get in her small town.

Making a Mini Bibiliophile

Reading is a huge part of our lives in the Go Household. Helping Babs discover the joys of books was important to us, and a fun endeavor for all, as it simply entailed a lot of reading.

Reading on the side of a mountain in Mexico

Tips to Help Kids Learn to Love Reading

When kids love reading books (or being read to), they develop vocabulary and language skills that will grow and help them in school and all throughout their lives!

"The more that you read, the more things you will know. The more you learn, the more places you'll go." — Dr. Seuss

1. Start Reading Together Early

"I feel the need of reading. It is a loss to a man not to have grown up among books." —Abraham Lincoln

"Children are made readers on the laps of their parents." — Emilie Buchwald

We read to Babs when she was only weeks old. She had no idea what was going on, but she heard our voices and was exposed to seeing books in Mommy and Daddy's hands almost from birth. Make it the norm early on.

2. Set the Example

Show them that Mom and Dad love reading too! Kids want to do everything you do!

A little light reading from mom & dad's library

3. Keep Books Within Kids' Reach

"Fill your house with stacks of books, in all the crannies and all the nooks." — Dr. Seuss

When they're wee ones, this works best with board books, as grabbing hands will inevitably tear paper pages.

When Babs got a little older, she loved pulling books down from her shelf and paging through them.

Reading on the pot from a young age.

4. Rotate Books

NEW and DIFFERENT books are always way more exciting than the books she's seen a million times already. Here's where the LIBRARY comes in. We go every two weeks and get a dozen new books. She pages through them on her own first before we even start reading. It keeps her interest and keeps me from losing my mind after reading Dinotrux a thousand and seventeen times.

Get different kinds of books too. Princess stories are fun, but there are so many different books available. Books that teach colors, counting and letter recognition -- in a fun way! Get science books and books that teach about different kinds of animals. They're never as popular in the house as the princesses, but every little bit of exposure helps her learn. They're little sponges, soaking up everything you show them.

So make sure you're showing them the good stuff.

Frozen Bedtime Story for Kids

Does your child ask you to tell them the story of Frozen every night? Mine does. I got tired of making up the story every night, so I wrote it out to cut down on the brain power I had to use after a long day of child-rearing. If you can get some use out of it, here it is.

[Update: Here are links to my Beauty and the Beast Story, Moana Story, Cinderella, Little Mermaid, Mulan and Rapunzel too!]

Once upon a time, there were two princesses named Anna and Elsa. They were sisters, and the best of friends. Elsa was born with magic ice powers, and the sisters loved building snowmen and playing on the ice Elsa made. One day, while playing, Elsa slipped and accidentally struck Anna in the head with her ice magic. She started to get very cold and weak, so their parents took her to the trolls, who had their own magic.