Free Greek myths for kids
Peabody has 16 free myths for kids, 14 of them Greek, retold short at a reading level, from Pandora's Box at level 5 to Prometheus and the Fire at level 13. Each opens at once with no sign-up, and the ones with monsters carry a spooky mark. Free through the end of 2026.
| Myth | Level | Told by | What happens |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pandora's Box | Level 5 | Hesiod | The gods give Pandora a tall jar and tell her never to open it, which is the surest way to make anyone curious. |
| King Midas and the Golden Touch | Level 5 | Ovid | King Midas loves gold more than anything, so when a god offers him a wish, he asks for everything he touches to turn to gold. |
| Persephone and the Seasons | Level 6 | The Hymn to Demeter | When Persephone is carried away to the kingdom under the ground, her mother, the goddess of the harvest, searches the whole world, and nothing grows. |
| Thor and the Stolen Hammer | Level 6 | The Poetic Edda | Thor, the strongest of the Norse gods, wakes up to find his mighty hammer gone, and the giant who took it will only give it back for a bride. |
| Arachne the Weaver | Level 6 | Ovid | Arachne weaves cloth so fine that people say a goddess must have taught her, and she says no goddess could do better. |
| Icarus and Daedalus | Level 7 | Ovid | Trapped on an island by a king, the great inventor Daedalus builds wings of feathers and wax for himself and his son. |
| The Trojan Horse | Level 7 | Homer and Virgil | After ten years of trying to break through the walls of Troy, the Greeks build a giant wooden horse and sail away. |
| Bellerophon and Pegasus | Level 8 | The ancient Greeks | A young hero is sent to a faraway king carrying a sealed message that asks for his own death. |
| Perseus and Medusa | Level 8 | The ancient Greeks | A fisherman's foster son promises a wicked king the head of Medusa, whose stare turns people to stone. |
| Theseus and the Minotaur | Level 9 | The ancient Greeks | A young prince sails to Crete to end a terrible tribute, armed with a princess's thread and a maze full of echoes. |
| Odysseus and the Cyclops | Level 10 | Homer | Odysseus and his crew are locked in a giant's cave behind a boulder no army could move, and the giant's idea of dinner is them. |
| The Odyssey | Level 11 | Homer | After ten years of war at Troy, clever Odysseus sets sail for his island home, and it takes him ten more years to get there. |
| Jason and the Golden Fleece | Level 11 | The ancient Greeks | A young man arrives at his uncle's palace wearing only one sandal, and is sent across the edge of the known world to bring back a fleece of pure gold. |
| Gilgamesh | Level 12 | The scribes of Mesopotamia | Gilgamesh, the mighty king of Uruk, meets the one man as strong as he is, and the wild man Enkidu becomes his dearest friend. |
| Orpheus and Eurydice | Level 13 | The ancient Greeks | Orpheus, whose music can move rivers and wolves, walks into the underworld to win back his lost Eurydice, past a three-headed dog and a ferryman who forgets how to count. |
| Prometheus and the Fire | Level 13 | The ancient Greeks | The Titan Prometheus shaped the first people out of river clay and then watched them shiver in the dark, because Zeus had decided they should never have fire. |
Where these myths come from
Myths are the old stories people told to explain the world and its heroes. These are retold short, in plain words at a reading level, from the old sources, among them Homer, Ovid and Hesiod. Each story's page says who told it and about how long ago.
Not only Greek
- Thor and the Stolen Hammer (level 6) comes from the Poetic Edda, Iceland.
- Gilgamesh (level 12) comes from the scribes of Mesopotamia, Iraq.
Gentle and spooky
The myths at levels 5 to 7 are gentle. 9 of the 16 carry the spooky mark because of a monster or a dark place: Bellerophon and Pegasus, Perseus and Medusa, Theseus and the Minotaur, Odysseus and the Cyclops, The Odyssey, Jason and the Golden Fleece, Gilgamesh, Orpheus and Eurydice and Prometheus and the Fire. Read the first page yourself if you are not sure, and see the Halloween and spooky stories page for the others.
More free stories
- The whole library: free stories by reading level, no account needed.
- Classic stories retold short: fables, fairy tales, myths and legends.
- Free Aesop's fables for kids, with the lesson of each
- Free classic fairy tales for kids
- Free folk tales, tall tales and legends for kids
- Free Halloween and spooky stories for kids
- By level: Level 5 · Level 6 · Level 7 · Level 8 · Level 9 · Level 10 · Level 11 · Level 12 · Level 13
Questions parents ask
Which Greek myth should we read first?
Pandora's Box and King Midas and the Golden Touch are the easiest, at level 5, and both are gentle. Persephone and the Seasons, Thor and the Stolen Hammer and Arachne the Weaver come next.
Are the myths scary?
Some are. 9 of the 16 are marked spooky, and the marks are on each story's page. Stories marked scary or horror are not in the open library at all.
Do the myths cost anything?
No. Every story on this page is free to read through the end of 2026, with no account and no card.
Checked against how Peabody works on 19 October 2026. Written with help from AI, from Peabody's own code and library. Peabody is a learning app, not an assessment: if you're worried about your child's learning, talk to their teacher.