transcript

Speaker 1:
[00:02] For many families, and especially those with younger children, bedtime stories are a nightly tradition. There's something so magical about a good story, one that allows us to relax at the end of the day, as we escape into another world. But where and when did this tradition actually begin? That's what we'll be exploring this evening, as we look at stories from around the world, from ancient Egyptian myths to Russian folk tales. So just relax, and let your mind drift, as we explore the Sleepy History of bedtime stories. The term Bedtime Story is a relatively recent one. It first appeared in print in the 19th century. The American writer, Louise Chandler Moulton, wrote many books for children, including Bedtime Stories and Stories Told at Twilight. Born in 1835 in Connecticut, Moulton grew up in a strict religious household. With games and dances banned, she had only her imagination, something which no doubt influenced her later writing. Bedtime Stories was published in 1873, and included 12 stories meant to be read aloud to children. It's similar to what you'd find in a children's book today, complete with a series of black and white illustrations. Most stories featured children or animals, with plots underpinned by moral teachings. The book also contains a rather charming poem dedicated to Moulton's daughter, Florence. She writes that she sees her daughter on every page of the book, with her flowing golden tresses and wistful wandering look. Moulton describes how her daughter would linger and listen to the bedtime stories, till the sunset glory had faded, and her hair was the only gold. She ponders whether other children will listen with such patience, asking, Will the many children care for the tales that I told to you? But ultimately, she concludes that it doesn't really matter. The tales belong to mother and daughter. In writing such a poem, Malton seems to encapsulate the magic of a bedtime story. You can feel the love between parent and child, how both cherished this time and the memories it created. And as it so happens, the author's questions were answered. Indeed, other children did listen and care. The book was successful and went on to inspire many other children's authors. By writing down the stories that she told her own daughter, Malton seems to have coined the term bedtime stories. Though, of course, the routine of telling stories at bedtime was far older than the 19th century, and it went far beyond Malton's home in the United States. From the very beginnings of civilization, people have told stories, tales shared around a campfire, perhaps to educate and entertain, and to pass on important lessons. It's how knowledge was shared from generation to generation, how customs were passed on in many different cultures. The practice of oral storytelling predates written history, going so far back that its origins can't be known. Some experts believe that storytelling at bedtime may have arisen from rituals aimed at warding off evil spirits. Throughout history, different groups have performed rituals at night, the ancient Egyptians being one such example. The Egyptians believed that the sun god, Ra, voyaged across the sky in his solar bark. At night, it was said that Ra traveled eastward, traversing the underworld while the earth was in darkness. So, at dusk, the Egyptians sang hymns and recited prayers. They would give thanks for the journey that resulted in daylight, and pray for the sun god's return the next morning. Similarly, in ancient India, it was common practice among Hindus to pray in the evening before going to bed. Many had a ritual of reciting from the Vedas, a collection of sacred texts meaning the knowledge in Vedic Sanskrit. These kind of practices may have led to a tradition of nighttime storytelling. The ancient Greeks are another example. At home, myths were likely retold around the hearth in the evening. In public, their gods would be worshipped at great festivals, and legends were told during the banquet. Classic works of ancient Greek literature such as the Iliad and the Odyssey began as oral performances, sometimes accompanied by music. While we can't know for sure, it's likely that informal performances were nighttime events. People may have listened to these captivating stories of gods and heroes while enjoying a feast or sitting by the fire. Evidence aside, the timing just makes sense. In the evening, there's a natural slowing down. The daylight hours are spent working and doing, while the nighttime lends itself to relaxation and leisure. This was as true for the ancient Egyptians, Greeks and Romans as it is for us today in the 21st century. Telling stories or listening to them being read feels like an evening activity. Think back to the lives of the early hunter-gatherers, the kind who made paintings on cave walls. The men would spend their days out hunting for food, while the women and children were at home. The evening was when families and communities came together to eat their meal in the light of the fire. It seems only natural that the time after dinner might be spent telling stories and sharing ancient wisdom. All storytelling might have taken many different forms, from more conventional plot lines, including a beginning, middle, and an end, to songs, chants, and poems. Myths and legends could be highly entertaining, while prayers and proverbs focused on moral guidance. And some tales had a bit of everything. While stories began as an oral tradition, humans have been writing things down for far longer than one might imagine. The earliest known evidence dates back more than 50,000 years in the form of a cave painting in Indonesia. The painting on the wall of the Karampuan Cave shows people interacting with a pig. It's thought to be an example of visual storytelling, like other artwork found in caves across the world. Later, societies began to develop writing systems, cuneiform, for instance, which took the form of symbols. Invented in Mesopotamia, modern-day Iraq, cuneiform was in use from the early Bronze Age around 6,000 years ago. Wedge-shaped indentations were formed in clay, and used to transcribe stories like the Epic of Gilgamesh. This is thought to be the world's oldest piece of fiction, composed approximately 4,000 years ago. The story follows the adventures of a Mesopotamian king, a cruel despot named Gilgamesh. The king becomes softer through his friendship with Enkidu. When his friend passes away, Gilgamesh goes in search of immortality. Ultimately, the quest proves unsuccessful, but Gilgamesh learns to accept his fate. He realizes that it's enough that humankind continues after him, and he becomes a lot more grateful for all that he has. It's an enchanting tale, featuring heroes, gods and monsters, with cities of great temples and forbidden forests. The epic of Gilgamesh, like many other early stories, likely inspired narratives that followed. Another epic poem which began as an oral narrative was Homer's Iliad, which we mentioned earlier. One of the most celebrated works of ancient Greek literature, it immortalized the legend of the Trojan War. Stories of the war had been passed on orally through generations. Homer's epic poem is thought to have been composed sometime around the 8th or 7th century BCE, before being written down. But we don't know exactly when this happened. The oldest surviving manuscript is from the 10th century CE, hundreds of years later. The Iliad, as we know it, contains over 15,000 lines. We can only imagine how many adults and children have been loved to sleep with the stories of the Trojan Horse. And how many might have dreamt of the beautiful Helen of Troy, and the heroic deeds of Achilles. Another well-known classic that hails from ancient Greece is a collection of stories known as Aesop's Fables. They're credited to an enslaved man who lived around the 6th century BCE. Although, they weren't written down until a couple of hundred years later. These charming tales mostly involve animals, and are always underpinned by some moral teaching and deeper meaning. Many of us have heard at least one of the fables. The wolf in sheep's clothing, perhaps, or the tortoise and the hare. More than two thousand years after they were written down, Aesop's fables still make for lovely bedtime stories. They're the perfect length for reading to children. As civilizations evolved over time, and began to develop different methods of writing, it became more commonplace for stories to be recorded. From histories and biographies to myths and legends, the narratives of the times could be preserved for the future. After cuneiform, other symbol-based systems arose independently around the world. Egyptian hieroglyphics, for example, or Chinese characters. Much later, alphabetic systems developed, such as the Latin alphabet used to write Aesop's fables. Another bedtime classic was written in Arabic. 1001 Nights, or The Arabian Nights, was compiled between approximately the 8th and 14th centuries CE. Like the other works we've mentioned, it began as oral storytelling before the tales were written down. This collection of Middle Eastern folk tales draws from a diverse range of cultures. Some originate from Persian, Arabian, or Indian traditions, while others reflect influences from Greek or Jewish folklore. The overarching story is that of a king named Sharia who rules a vast empire. After being betrayed by his wife, he declares all women to be the same. He marries a new bride each night, having her executed the next morning. That's until he marries Scheherazade, a woman who has a plan to avoid execution. On her wedding night, she begins to tell the king a story. But to maintain suspense, she doesn't finish it, leading the curious king to postpone her execution. This continues for a thousand and one nights, with the king hanging off his wife's every word. Eventually, they fall in love, and the couple live happily ever after, alongside their three children. One thousand and one nights, or the Arabian nights, are bedtime stories in all but name. They're exactly the kinds of tales that might be read before going to sleep. Just like Scheherazade tells them to the king each night. Stories include Sinbad the Sailor, and Alibaba and the Forty Thieves. But the most famous, perhaps, is a story that was added to a later edition, Aladdin and the Wonderful Lamp. Already a well-known tale, Aladdin gained widespread popularity among children after being turned into a Disney film. It's worth noting that the original stories of The Arabian Nights seem to have been aimed at adults, not children. While the tales are full of magic and adventure, some feature more mature themes. There's romance and adult humor in many of the stories, and the kinds of moral lessons that only adults understand. Of course, parents these days have an array of options, including child-friendly versions of The Arabian Nights. There are also adaptions of many other classics, from ancient Greek myths to the works of Charles Dickens. Then, there are the stories that people have committed to memory. These might be tales we first heard as children, narratives with both cultural significance and personal meaning. Masha and the Bear is a classic Russian folktale that's often told to children as a bedtime story. It tells the tale of a girl named Masha, who is kidnapped by a bear who wants to keep her. Clever Masha concocts a plan. She persuades the bear to bake pies for her grandparents, and then hides in his backpack when he visits their house. Just as she'd planned, the bear is scared by the dogs. He runs away after dropping his backpack. This allows Masha to reunite with her grandparents, who are delighted to have their little girl back alongside fresh pies. The story proved so popular with children that it's been made into a successful TV show. Masha and the bear go on numerous adventures where the kind and caring animal keeps his young friend safe. Talking animals make an appearance in many European fairy tales. These stories also feature wizards, giants, trolls and dragons, brave knights saving damsels, and, of course, fairies. Tales like Beauty and the Beast, Rapunzel and Rumpelstiltskin transport us to the world of once upon a time. These magical stories make for enchanting bedtime reading. Today, many of us still know the stories by heart. Fairy tales began to be transcribed from around the 16th century onwards, with early collections appearing in France and Italy. Many of the best-known stories were popularized by the Brothers Grimm, whose first collection was published in Germany in 1812. While many believed that fairy tales were medieval in origin, Wilhelm Grimm thought they were far older. He believed them to be as old as Indo-European languages, which were once spoken across Europe and Asia. And he may well have been right, according to modern research, which shows links between fairy tales and far older stories. Take Beauty and the Beast or La Belle et la Bête, first published in French in 1740. Recent analysis has shown that it's rooted in folklore from about 4,000 years ago. The Smith and the Devil is even older. At 6,000 years old, it goes back to the Bronze Age. The title is little known, but the plot may sound familiar. It involves a blacksmith who sells his soul to the devil in order to gain a supernatural power. It's a trope that has been repeated in countless stories. In plays, poems, novels, and TV series, fairy tales often involve themes of good triumphing over evil, which is perhaps what makes them such timeless classics. They're pleasant reading, particularly for children, full of magic, mystery, and happy endings. Elsewhere in the world, traditional bedtime stories are more focused on beginnings than they are on endings. Many tribes and cultures have their own unique narratives about how the world was created. In Africa, children have been soothed to sleep with a folk tale about the sun and moon, originally told by the Ethic people in Nigeria. At the beginning, it's said that the sun and moon lived on the earth with their friend Water. But, when Water arrived with all the fish and sea creatures, the house wasn't nearly large enough. It began to flood. Far away, in Oceania, a popular tale is an old Maori legend of how Maui slowed down the sun. Maui is a famous hero and demigod. He's an important figure in Polynesian culture. As legend has it, Maui took action when he realized that the days weren't long enough. There wasn't enough daylight for his people to get their work done and then to enjoy their leisure time afterwards. When the sun appeared above the mountain peak, as it did each morning, he used the ropes like a cowboy lassoing cattle. The two fought, and Maui was victorious, so the sun agreed to move at a slower pace across the sky. And so, the people had more daylight for work and leisure to achieve that elusive work-life balance. Part of the magic of stories like these is that they help children make sense of the world they live in. They're often imbued with cultural beliefs, as well as customs and traditions. A nighttime favorite in China explains the origins of the Chinese Zodiac. It's said that the Jade Emperor, who ruled both Earth and Heaven, wanted to give the humans a calendar so that they'd be able to measure time. He decided to name each year after a different animal. A race was held, and the animal's positions on the finishing line determined the order of the zodiac. It's an imaginative tale, highlighting the character traits of different animals. The cunning rat takes first place by leaping off the back of the ox to cross the finishing line. The pig comes last, having stopped for several snacks, and taken a nap before heading towards the finish. Tales such as these provide young listeners with a sense of identity, and help people feel more connected to their culture. Some stories are also designed to educate. They combine entertainment with moral guidance, messages about life, values, and the consequences of one's actions, all wrapped up in an engaging story. Consider the ancient Greek myth of King Midas, who asks for everything he touches to be turned to gold. This wish results in his thirst and starvation, and him turning his own daughter into a statue of solid gold. It's a story that highlights the dangers of greed, and teaches us to appreciate what we already have. We might say the same about a number of folk tales, like The Emperor's New Clothes, published in 1837. The tale was written by Hans Christian Andersen, a 19th century Danish writer still famed for his fairy tales. The story tells the tale of a vain emperor who spends all the state's money on lavish outfits for himself. He's tricked by two conmen who claim to make the finest garments, with the caveat that they're invisible to anyone who's stupid. Of course, in reality, there are no clothes, but no one points this out for fear of looking stupid. It takes the courage of a young boy to state the obvious to the townsfolk, as the proud emperor parades naked through the streets. The moral of the story, as well as guarding against vanity, is that we should always trust ourselves. It encourages us to be honest and to speak up for what's right, even when we're afraid of looking foolish. It's a message that remains as meaningful as ever. The kind of bedtime story that one might ponder the next morning, after a restful night's sleep. Stories often allow us some insight into the views of the author and the values of the time. One example is A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens. This 19th-century novella makes for a good bedtime story, especially around Christmas. Many of us have heard the tale of Ebeneezer Scrooge and his festive reckoning. He's a man who values wealth above people until the ghosts of Christmas show him the error of his ways. The story shares a timeless truth that happiness comes from kindness, from friendships more than things. It also provides a social commentary, which was particularly relevant in Victorian England. There was a lot of inequality, with the poor being sent to workhouses when they had no other option. The tale seems to emphasize our moral responsibility to be kind and generous, and to look after one another. At the end, Scrooge is transformed. He delights in spending his money on other people. Ultimately, when it comes to bedtime stories, there really is something for everyone. And now, in the age of podcasts and streaming, bedtime stories are available to anyone at any time with just one click of a button. Regardless of your age, whether you're reading or listening, and whether you're looking for entertainment, escape, or deeper meaning, there are stories to suit all tastes. Now that we're at the end of our own bedtime story, it's time to close the pages and say goodnight.