In this chapter I delve further into two stories much-heard in early childhood education today: what I term the 'story of quality and high returns' and the 'story of markets'. I consider each story line in more detail. But I also. take a critical perspective. I explain why I don't find either story appealing, indeed why I don't like them at all. In the next chapter I consider how the stories relate to each other and to a third story, much larger in scope and ambition: the 'story of neoliberalism'. I shall recount this story in some detail in that chapter: but for now it can be summarised as being about a world built on relationships of competition, contract and calculation; inhabited by a breed of autonomous, flexible and utility maximising individuals; and actualised through markets, individual choice and technical practice. As this all-encompassing story of neoliberalism -- a truly meta-narrative -- has emerged and gained increasing dominance, it has provided a favourable context in which the story of quality and high returns and the story of markets have readily acquired listeners and adherents. (author abstract)