One long and interesting story is 'The Odyssey'. It's about Odysseus' long journey home after the Trojan War. He faces numerous challenges like the Cyclops, the Sirens, and the wrath of the gods. Another is 'Don Quixote', which follows the adventures of a deluded knight and his sidekick Sancho Panza. It's a long tale full of satire and exploration of human nature.
Well, there are such stories because they give us a sense of history and continuity. They show how different generations experienced the holiday and what values were associated with it back then.
It's hard to give a definite answer. Stories in 2019 could range from a few pages to several hundred pages depending on the genre and the author's style. Novels, for instance, tended to be longer compared to short stories.
There are many long stories. The following are some famous long stories:
1. Dream of the Red Chamber-The Qing Dynasty tells the love story of Jia Baoyu, Lin Daiyu and others.
2. Journey to the West. The Ming Dynasty tells the story of Sun Wukong, Zhu Bajie, and Monk Sand's journey to the Western Paradise to obtain Buddhist scriptures.
3. Water Margins-The story of 108 heroes in the Yuan Dynasty, including the resistance of Song Jiang, Lin Chong and others.
Romance of the Three Kingdoms-Yuan Dynasty tells the story of the war and political struggle between Shu Han, Wu and Wei during the Three Kingdoms period.
5. Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio-The Qing Dynasty narrated all kinds of supernatural stories, including immortals, ghosts, and so on.
6 The Scholars-The Qing Dynasty tells about the lives and experiences of the Confucian elites of the Qing Dynasty.
The continuation of Dream of the Red Chamber, Story of the Stone, tells the story of the next generation of Jia Baoyu, Lin Daiyu and others.
These stories are the classics in the history of Chinese literature. They are long and have profound thoughts and rich cultural meanings.
One popular scary long story for kids could be about a haunted house. In this story, a group of kids are dared to enter an old, dilapidated house on the outskirts of town. As they enter, they hear strange creaking sounds. The doors seem to close on their own. Shadows move in the corners. Eventually, they find an old diary that reveals the sad story of a family who once lived there and met with a tragic end. This makes the kids feel a sense of unease and they quickly leave the house, vowing never to go back again.
In a Hindi story, an elderly woman was being verbally assaulted by her neighbor for a long time. The neighbor was jealous of the woman's small garden which was always full of beautiful flowers. The old woman initially ignored the assaults but when it became unbearable, she called a community meeting. At the meeting, she told her story and the community shamed the neighbor into stopping the unkind behavior.
One great bedtime story could be 'The Enchanted Forest'. In this story, there is a young girl who gets lost in a forest filled with magical creatures. She meets a talking fox who becomes her guide. As they journey deeper, they discover a hidden glade where fairies live. The fairies show her the secrets of the forest, like the tree that glows at night and the stream that can heal any wound. Eventually, the girl finds her way home, but she always remembers the magical adventure.
One long hair dressing story could be about a girl who had very long hair and decided to braid it in a unique way for a special occasion. She created a fishtail braid that cascaded down her back and everyone complimented her on it.
Long stories can explore deep themes more thoroughly. In '1984', George Orwell takes time to build up the dystopian world and fully explore ideas like totalitarianism, surveillance, and the loss of individuality. They can also capture different aspects of a time period or culture in great detail, like 'One Hundred Years of Solitude' does for the fictional town of Macondo and Latin American culture.