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The Knight Who Stayed

Age: Middle, 7-9

A knight holding a lantern high on a bridge in the rain

This is not just a one-page story. This is a game, like After Midnight Tales, but for kids. Try to be a hero, read it aloud, make your choices, then create a book, print it, and show your friends.

Guidess, your story guide, waving with a storybook
★ Before the story begins

Try to be a hero

You play as Aldric.

Story teller — choose one

Voice is locked for the whole story.
Play again to change it.

Score card — what does the hero learn?
Goal: Help everyone cross the bridge.
Scores in this story: Bravery, Kindness, Trust
Morality note: Brave does not mean you are not afraid. Brave means you help anyway.
If the goal was not reached: If Aldric had run home, no one could cross, and Trust would be 0. He stayed, so trust grew.
Funny Loser final: Aldric slips in the mud and lands right on his own lantern. Ha, looooooser! The goat laughs, the lantern laughs, and Aldric laughs too. Try again, hero!
Talk about it: When were you afraid but helped anyway? Who helped you cross a hard bridge in your life?
Read the whole tale

Sir Aldric was not the strongest knight in the kingdom, and he was not the most famous. His job was small: he guarded the old wooden bridge over the river near the village.

One autumn night a storm came. The wind pushed the trees, the river rose, and the lanterns went out one by one. Aldric was afraid. His hands shook as he held his own lantern up high.

Then he heard a voice in the dark. An old farmer with a cart, a mother with a little boy, and a shepherd looking for his lost goat all needed to cross before the bridge closed.

Aldric did not run home. He walked back and forth across the bridge all night, one slow step at a time. He held the farmer's hand, he carried the boy on his shoulders, and he gave his warm cloak to the shepherd.

In the morning the storm was gone. The village did not say, 'He fought a dragon.' They said, 'He stayed.'

Because brave does not mean you are not afraid. Brave means you help anyway.

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