Welcome to Story Quest, a weekly podcast where we bring your stories to life!
In this episode we bring Bunny’s story – When Bunny Met the Monster – to life.
When we begin the story Bunny hasn’t been sleeping well, and it’s nothing to do with her imagination…there’s something fishy going on! It turns out there is a monster who’s up to mischief in the middle of the night.
If you have a story idea, you could be like Bunny and have it turned into a Story Quest. All you have to do is send us your story idea here. We know you have the best imaginations and together we can create the most brilliant stories!
That’s just what Bunny did. You can watch the story she suggested come to life below, plus she tells us all about the inspiration behind the story at the end.
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Stories for kids and families from Fun Kids – the UK’s children’s radio station. Perfect for all ages – listen in the car, when chilling at home and before bedtimes.
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Read along to When Bunny met the Monster in the Cupboard
You can read along to the story while you listen. Just follow the text below. Don’t worry if you find a word tricky – you can pause the video whenever to give yourself more time.
Bunny was a normal kid – just like you. Well, I am presuming you’re normal but maybe you have some sort of superpower – like being able to understand animals or jump higher than a house. You can’t? Oh well, neither can I.
Bunny’s life was about to get interesting and it was all because of something she was about to discover in the cupboard under the stairs. But before we get to that bit I need to tell you what had been going on.
Bunny had NOT been sleeping very well. For a number of nights when the lights went off all sorts of strange noises would begin to roll, rattle and creak around the house. Sometimes it sounded as if a large cat, or perhaps a small dog was running up and down the landing but Bunny didn’t have a large cat or a small dog and no one else was up. So that was weird.
Other times it sounded as if someone was humming a jaunty little tune. Bunny didn’t know what the tune was and it was quite a nice tune but it was a bit strange – as if the radio or telly had been left on – but Bunny’s parents were very strict about turning everything off at bedtime so it couldn’t have been that.
And on one night it seemed as if something was bouncing off the walls like a tennis ball – THOCK! THOCK! THOCK! This time Bunny summoned up her courage and got out of bed, went onto the landing and switched on the light and saw….
Nothing. There was nothing there, and the thocking noise had stopped as quickly as it had started.
The really annoying thing was that NO ONE else seemed to hear all these noises.
“It must just be your imagination” said her mum. This was particularly irritating because Bunny DID have a really amazing imagination but she wasn’t imagining this.
It went on for days and days and Bunny was beginning to get very grumpy. Every time she switched on the light the bumps and bangs and crashes would stop and no one else ever seemed to hear or believe her.
One night, when she was woken by a weird PINGING sound she had a thought.
If the sounds stopped when she turned the light ON what would happen if she kept it switched OFF?
She slowly and carefully got out of bed and WITHOUT switching the light on she crept towards the landing. The house was dark and everyone else was asleep – but in the dim light from the moon behind the corridor she could see a strange shadowy figure jumping around in the gloom.
“Who are you?!” She exclaimed – the shadowy figure gave a squeak and ran downstairs – she heard the click of the cupboard door that was under the stairs and was about to follow but just then the lights were turned on and Mum appeared on the landing.
“What on earth are you doing out of bed! Get back at once!”
“But mum… there’s someone – or something in the house – I just saw it run downstairs!”
Mum looked disbelieving but said she would check but she was sure it was just – yes you guessed it – Bunny’s IMAGINATION.
But the next morning she went down to the cupboard and slowly opened the door.
There was another squeak and she came face to face with a very odd looking creature. It was fairly small (large cat/small dog size) and was definitely NOT a human. Or a cat or a dog whatever size.
“Who are you? Or should I say WHAT are you?!” she hissed at him.
The monster looked a bit sheepish and nervously wrung his paws.
“I’m… I’m a shadow monster. I live in shadows. The clue’s in the name to be honest.”
Monster?! Bunny gulped but to be honest the monster didn’t look terribly monstrous. He was more well… cuddly looking.
“You live in shadows?”
The monster gave her a look that was a bit like “Well DURRR!”
He patiently explained – “Kids get scared of the dark right? Well I’m afraid of the LIGHT! It hurts my eyes. So I can only come out to play at night you see.”
“So all the bonks and binks and pings and thocks and the sound of running feet in the middle of the night was the sound of you PLAYING? I didn’t know that monsters played. I thought they were more interested in scaring people – although the noises did scare me a bit.”
“I’m sorry”, said the monster. I didn’t mean to scare you… But what can I do? Monsters have to play somewhere!”
“But you’re keeping me awake! Can’t you go somewhere else?” pleaded Bunny. “No one believes me when I say I hear all those noises and it’s driving me mad!” she said.
“Yeah, grown ups never seem to spot us, I think their eyes and ears are just too old… But I’m stuck here – the doors are locked at night aren’t they and I can’t leave the cupboard during the day – it’s just too hurty and bright out there. Now if you don’t mind could you go away because you’re letting the light in and I’m getting a headache.”
Bunny left the monster in the cupboard and wondered what to do. She didn’t want the monster to be hurt but she DID need to get some sleep.
That evening she put her head under the pillow when the little monster began his games and she tried to think of something nice – a happy memory to take her mind off the bonks and the pings.
She remembered the holiday the family had taken to Cornwall last year. It was lovely to lay on the beautiful golden sandy beach, under the flowery parasol listening to the waves swishing and the seagulls cawing… Mum had let her buy some pink heart shaped sunglasses which made her feel like a pop star and she remembered picking them out and then having fish and chips for tea… An idea was beginning to swirl around her head but sleep came first and happy in her memories she drifted off into her dreams.
The next morning she woke with an idea. A BRILLIANT idea. When no one was looking she ran down to the cupboard and knocked. The monster opened it a crack.
“I’ve found a way for you to escape! A way for you to sneak out of the back door – it’s open now you can be out in a moment.”
The monster sadly shook his head – “it’s… it’s just too bright – it hurts my eyes!”
Bunny nodded – “yes but I’ve got the perfect solution” and what did she pull out from behind her back? Have you guessed? It was the pink heart shaped sunglasses!
“These will protect your eyes in the light – you can go wherever you like!”
The monster looked at them suspiciously and then curiously and then he began to smile. He placed them carefully on his nose and broke into a smile.
“They work! They really work!” he exclaimed and then threw his furry arms around Bunnys neck and gave her a delighted hug.
Bunny smiled happily.
“I mean it must be pretty boring for you being inside our house. Imagine if you could go outside and play in the woods – there are all sorts of animals there to play with. Foxes and badgers — mice and squirrels – you’d have lots of company.”
“Thank you so much – I shall go to the woods immediately – what fun!”
And with a chuckle patter of small feet (a bit like a big cat or a small dog) he had gone.
So if you go down to the woods be sure to look out for a cuddly looking shadow monster – you won’t be able to miss him – because he’s wearing some very VERY jazzy sunglasses. And that’s the story of Bunny and the Monster in the Cupboard!
Do you have a story you want to hear made into a Story Quest?
We’d love to hear from you, submit your idea here and maybe we’ll be hearing you on Story Quest soon.