Joan of Arc for Kids | Bedtime History

Welcome to Bedtime History. Tonight our story takes place in the medieval times, also called the middle ages. This was the time of kings and castles and knights and battles over kingdoms. It was also a time where many people had very little to eat and had to work very hard. In the country of France, one of these poor families had a daughter named Joan. Joan worked every day to take care of the animals on the farm and sew and do other things to help the family survive. Young Joan was also very kind and always thinking about others. When others were sick, she would visit them and bring them food to help them feel better. She was unselfish. Being unselfish is when you think more about others than yourself. At this time, there was a war going on between Joan's country of France and another country, England, who controlled parts of France. From a young age, Joan began to feel that she was called to help the people of France be free again. She began to tell her family and other people in her village about her strong beliefs. Soon other villages heard what Joan was saying about freedom and they believed her. She decided to go to the king of France and tell him what she believed. At first, the king didn't want to listen to her, but she was persistent. Persistence is when you keep doing something even when it is hard. When the king finally listened to her message of hope, he decided to let her go to battle. They dressed Joan in armor and put her on an armored horse and sent her off with the other soldiers. During the battle, Joan carried a large flag. When the other soldiers saw Joan's flag, it gave them hope because they knew it was being carried by the brave young girl who believed France could be free again. Seeing Joan and her flag made them strong and they won more battles whenever Joan was there. Joan had courage. Courage is when you do something even though it may be scary or hard. During one dangerous battle, they had to ride boats past the enemy guns. The wind was weak that day, so they were going very slow. The soldiers started to wonder if they would survive and began to panic. Joan stayed positive and spoke to them, encouraging them, reassuring them that it would be alright. Soon the winds picked up and they sailed past the enemy guns without getting hit. Later during the battle, the captains had attacked, but the army was not doing well. Joan heard what was happening and knew they needed her help. She jumped onto her horse and galloped up to the front of the battle. There she saw many soldiers who were hurt. She had sympathy for them. Sympathy is when you feel bad for someone and want to help. Joan rode her horse into the battle and the soldiers began to cheer. They fought harder and eventually won the battle. Joan saw that many of the enemy soldiers had been hurt. Even though they were the enemy, she still cared about them. Eventually she became known as Joan of Arc. Joan gave the soldiers hope through many battles. Eventually there was peace between France and England. Later Joan was captured and put in jail for a time. But no matter what happened to her, she stood up for her beliefs. There may be times in life that others will laugh at you or say mean things because of what you believe in. But like Joan, you can ignore them and stand strong anyway. This is called having conviction. Like Joan, you can think about others instead of yourself. You can be brave and have courage when things are scary or hard. Next time you go to the doctor or take a test, think of how Joan went into battle and did hard things even when they weren't easy.