Ferngleam

Mina and the Colour Bazaar

FreeAges 5–9Urdu Lessons

Cover of Mina and the Colour Bazaar

Mina and the Colour Bazaar

A Picture Book That Teaches Urdu Colour Words

Ferngleam · First free edition, October 2026

This book is free. You are welcome to download, read, print and share it, unchanged and free of charge. Please don’t sell it.

The story text, the illustrations and the audio narration were made with AI tools, then edited and checked for this edition. The Urdu words and spellings are machine-assisted and pending native-speaker review.

Read by a computer voice: Piper text-to-speech, “Cori” voice (en_GB-cori-high) by Bryce Beattie, public domain.

Before You Read

This is a story about Mina, her Abbu’s bazaar stall, and eight Urdu colour words you can learn too.

As you read, say each new word out loud — and look for that colour in the picture!

Mina and Abbu arrive at their fruit-and-cloth bazaar stall under a bright striped awning in morning light.

Morning light spilled over the busy bazaar. Mina held Abbu’s hand as they reached their fruit-and-cloth stall under a bright striped awning.

Crates of fruit and bolts of cloth waited in neat rows, ready for the day.

Abbu smiles and invites Mina to help sort; she stands tall beside the crates, ready to learn.

“Will you help me sort today?” asked Abbu with a warm smile. “We will learn the Urdu names for colours as we work.”

Mina stood tall beside the crates. “I am ready!”

Abbu holds up a shiny red apple while Mina sets it in a basket, learning the colour laal.

Abbu held up a shiny apple. “This colour is لال — laal — red,” he said slowly so she could hear every sound.

Mina repeated, “Laal!” and set the apple gently in a basket.

Mina tucks ripe yellow bananas beside the red apples as Abbu teaches the colour peela.

Next came a bunch of ripe bananas. “This colour is پیلا — peela — yellow.”

Mina giggled and tucked them carefully beside the red apples.

Mina carefully stacks green mangoes in a wooden crate, whispering the colour hara.

Green mangoes gleamed in a wooden crate. “ہرا — hara — green,” said Abbu.

Mina stacked them carefully, whispering, “Hara, hara,” with each mango.

Abbu unrolls a bolt of bright blue cloth; Mina touches the soft fabric and says neela.

Abbu unrolled a bolt of bright cloth across the stall. “نیلا — neela — blue, like the morning sky.”

Mina touched the soft fabric and said, “Neela.”

Mina sniffs a white jasmine garland beside a flower stall as Abbu teaches safaid.

Long strings of white jasmine garlands hung at a flower stall nearby. “سفید — safaid — white,” Abbu told her.

Mina sniffed one and smiled. “Safaid — and so sweet!”

Mina counts black grapes in a little bowl and grins as Abbu teaches the colour kaala.

Black grapes shone in a little bowl. “کالا — kaala — black,” said Abbu.

Mina counted them one by one and grinned. “Kaala grapes!”

Mina rolls a round orange in her palm while Abbu laughs and teaches the colour narangi.

Then came round oranges, bright as little suns. “نارنجی — narangi — orange — just like the fruit!” Abbu laughed.

Mina rolled one gently into her palm and practised the new word.

Abbu holds a bunch of pink roses; Mina holds one rose to her cheek and whispers gulabi.

Last, Abbu held a small bunch of pink roses. “گلابی — gulabi — pink,” he said.

Mina held one soft rose to her cheek and whispered, “Gulabi.”

A customer points at the green mangoes; Mina proudly answers hara while Abbu looks proud.

A customer pointed at the mangoes. “The green ones, please.”

Mina answered proudly, “Hara — green!” Abbu’s eyes shone with pride.

Walking home beside Abbu with a blue cloth bundle, Mina names a red auto-rickshaw, orange-yellow marigolds by a doorway, and the blue sky.

Walking home beside Abbu and his small blue cloth bundle, Mina named every colour she saw: a red auto-rickshaw, orange-yellow marigolds by a doorway, the blue sky above.

The bazaar felt full of new words, and she could hardly wait to practise them again tomorrow.

Words You Learned

لال — laal — red. پیلا — peela — yellow. ہرا — hara — green. نیلا — neela — blue.

سفید — safaid — white. کالا — kaala — black. نارنجی — narangi — orange. گلابی — gulabi — pink.

Say each word out loud. Then look around your room — which colours can you name in Urdu?

Every colour has a name you can learn — and sharing the words makes the world feel brighter.

Conclusion

Mina still helps at the stall, and she still practises her colour words every morning.

Which Urdu colour will you say first today?

The End

Turn the page with the buttons, the ← → arrow keys, or by swiping.

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Listen

Jump to a part
  1. 0:00 Title
  2. 0:08 Before You Read
  3. 0:23 Story, part 1
  4. 0:38 Story, part 2
  5. 0:51 Story, part 3
  6. 1:04 Story, part 4
  7. 1:15 Story, part 5
  8. 1:27 Story, part 6
  9. 1:40 Story, part 7
  10. 1:54 Story, part 8
  11. 2:04 Story, part 9
  12. 2:18 Story, part 10
  13. 2:31 Story, part 11
  14. 2:43 Story, part 12
  15. 3:01 Words You Learned
  16. 3:23 Conclusion

The whole book, 3 min 35 s, read by a computer voice, not a human narrator.

About the story

Mina helps Abbu at their fruit-and-cloth stall in a sunny Pakistani bazaar — and learns eight Urdu colour words along the way: laal, peela, hara, neela, safaid, kaala, narangi and gulabi.

Every colour has a name you can learn — and sharing the words makes the world feel brighter.

Book details and how it was made
Age range
Ages 5–9
Formats
PDF picture book (29 pages), MP3 audio narration (3:35)
Language
English
Story and text
Story drafted with AI writing tools, then edited by hand. Urdu colour words machine-assisted, pending native-speaker review.
Illustrations
All illustrations made with an AI image tool.
Narration
The narration is read by a computer voice (Piper text-to-speech, “Cori” en_GB-cori-high by Bryce Beattie, public domain), not a human narrator.

We disclose AI use on every book.