This book contains legends and fairy tales, poems and songs, ancient legends and modern adventure stories that animals from various forests around the world tell and sing to their young, mostly before bed.

The collection also includes tales from the village of Okhotki: they will allow wild readers to become acquainted with the beliefs and myths, life and customs of little-studied rural animals. 'Beastly Tales' by Anna Starobinets is a spin-off of the popular 'Beastly Detective' series, intended for all its fans and their younger sisters and brothers. The elder Badger of the Far Forest Police tells little Badger about the Celestial Bears. The dog Polkan entertains the puppy Mukhtarchik with stories about the Great Dane and his sworn enemy Pussy-Don. A Persian cat remembers how the black magician Cat Noir lured her into the Forest of Shadows.

The owl brothers Ug and Chuck learn that the Near Forest site was once a field of honey carrots, grown by the flying hare Wing. Badger Melesandra convinces her daughter that her dad was the first badger on the moon. Brave gopher Trembling Tail listens to the story of the laughing witch Coya, the ancestor of coyotes; giraffe Rafik listens to the legend of the Mango Gods, who created the first desert animals; penguin chicks listen to the hunting stories of a shark penguin; and a half-puppy listens to a chilling arctic fox tale about the Frozen Demon.