Do you remember the stories that you read as a child? Moral stories can needn’t be serious, but they can be funny at the same time help your child learn something. We have compiled a list of 07 short moral stories that are inspirational, from India, and from around the world. <h3>1. The Boy Who Cried, Wolf</h3><img src="https://bee-assets-production.s3.amazonaws.com/image/the_boy_who_cried%2C_wolf.webp_image_1638188646554.webp" width="359">There was a young boy whose father, a farmer, had asked him to take their herd of sheep grazing every day.One day, the boy was extremely bored as he watched over the sheep and so he cried: “Wolf! Wolf!”On hearing his cries, the villagers rushed to help him chase the wolf away and save the sheep.When they saw the grinning boy and realised he had cried wolf for his amusement, they scolded him and told him to not cry wolf!The next day, the boy cried out that the wolf was there. The villagers came, scolded him again, and left.Later that same day, a wolf came and terrorized the sheep.The boy cried, “Wolf! Wolf! Please help me.”But, the villagers assumed that he was pulling a silly prank again and did not come to his rescue. The sheep ran away and the boy cried.Moral of the story: Don’t lie or engage in foolish pranks, for no one will believe a liar even when he is telling the truth! <h3>2. The Golden Touch Of Midas</h3><img src="https://bee-assets-production.s3.amazonaws.com/image/the_golden_touch_of_midas.jpg_image_1638188804006.jpg" width="365">A long time ago, there lived a king in Greece named Midas.He was extremely wealthy and had all the gold he could ever need. He also had a daughter whom he loved very much.One day, Midas saw a Satyr (an angel) who was stuck and was in trouble. Midas helped the Satyr and asked for his wish to be granted in return.The Satyr agreed and Midas wished for everything he touched to be turned to gold. His wish was granted.Extremely excited, Midas went home to his wife and daughter touching pebbles, rocks, and plants on the way, which turned into gold.As his daughter hugged him, she turned into a golden statue.Having learnt his lesson, Midas begged the Satyr to reverse the spell who granted that everything would go back to their original state.Moral of the story: Stay content and grateful for what you have. Greed will not get you anywhere. <h3>3. The Foolish Thief</h3><img src="https://bee-assets-production.s3.amazonaws.com/image/the_foolish_thief.jpg_image_1638188856227.jpg" width="362">Once, a wealthy merchant came to King Akbar’s court to seek help from Birbal. He suspected that one of his servants had robbed him.On hearing this, Birbal thought of a clever plan and summoned the merchant’s servants.He gave each servant a stick of the same length. He told them that the thief’s stick would grow two inches by the next day.The next day, Birbal summoned the servants again. He noticed that a servant’s stick was two inches shorter than the others.He knew who the thief was.The foolish thief had cut the stick shorter by two inches as he thought it would grow two inches. Thus, proving his guilt.Moral of the story: Truth and justice will always prevail. <h3>4. Two Frogs With The Same Problem</h3><img src="https://bee-assets-production.s3.amazonaws.com/image/two_frogs_with_the_same_problem.png_image_1638188962564.png" width="346">Once, a group of frogs was roaming around the forest in search of water. Suddenly, two frogs in the group accidentally fell into a deep pit.The other frogs worried about their friends in the pit.Seeing how deep the pit was, they told the two frogs that there was no way they could escape the deep pit and that there was no point in trying.They continued to constantly discourage them as the two frogs tried to jump out of the pit. But keep falling back.Soon, one of the two frogs started to believe the other frogs — that they’ll never be able to escape the pit and eventually died after giving up.The other frog keeps trying and eventually jumps so high that he escapes the pit. The other frogs were shocked at this and wondered how he did it.The difference was that the second frog was deaf and couldn’t hear the discouragement of the group. He simply thought they were cheering him on!Moral of the story: People’s opinion of you will affect you, only if you believe it to be so. It’s better to believe in yourself. <h3>5. The Milkmaid and Her Pail</h3><img src="https://bee-assets-production.s3.amazonaws.com/image/the_milkmaid_and_her_pail.jpg_image_1638189037353.jpg" width="348">There was once a milkmaid named Patty.She milked her cow and carried the two pails of milk she fetched on a stick and set out to sell the milk at the market.As she was walking to the market, she began to daydream about what she would do with the money she fo for the milk.She thought of buying a hen and selling its eggs and she planned on becoming wealthy.She dreamt of buying a cake, a basket of strawberries, a fancy dress, and even a new house with the money she would make selling the eggs and the milk!In her excitement, she forgot about the pails she was carrying and began to skip.Suddenly, she realised that the milk was spilling down and when she checked her pails, they were empty.Moral of the story: Don’t count your chickens before they hatch! It is important to focus on the process of achieving success and not just success alone. <h3>6. The Elephant Circus</h3><img src="https://bee-assets-production.s3.amazonaws.com/image/elepahnt_circus.jpg_image_1638189224771.jpg" width="361">Once upon a time in a circus, five elephants performed circus tricks. They were kept tied up with weak rope that they could’ve easily escaped, but did not.One day, a man visiting the circus asked the ringmaster: “Why haven’t these elephants broken the rope and run away?”The ringmaster replied: “From when they were young, the elephants were made to believe that they were not strong enough to break the ropes and escape.”It was because of this belief that they did not even try to break the ropes now.Moral of the story: Don’t give in to the limitations of society. Believe that you can achieve everything you want to!<h3> </h3>7. The Elephants And The Mice<img src="https://bee-assets-production.s3.amazonaws.com/image/1_xvfat_v8xumqnkx7-3jcka.png_image_1638189285226.png" width="350">In an earthquake-hit village abandoned by humans, a colony of mice lived. Near the village was a lake, which was used by a herd of elephants.The elephants would have to cross the village to go to the lake. Thus, one day, as they walked through, they trampled a lot of mice.The leader of the mice met with the elephants and requested them to take a different route to the lake. He promised them that their favour would be returned in the time of their need.The elephants laughed. How could such small mice help these large elephants in any way? But then, they agreed to take a different route.Not so long after, the mice heard that hunters had caught the herd of elephants and were tied in nets.Immediately, they rush to rescue the elephants. They gnawed through the nets and ropes with their sharp teeth.The leader of the elephants repeatedly thanked the mice for their help!Moral of the story: A friend in need is a friend indeed. Make sure you help your friends out whenever they need it. They should always be able to count on you. That’s all folks!We hope children like these short yet interesting stories with morals that we have read growing up!There are more and more stories with morals on <a href="https://www.beeparenting.com/s/moral-stories" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Bee Stories</a>.

Short stories with moral values will teach your children some important lessons which they will remember always.

07 Must Read Short Moral Stories For Children

Short stories with moral values will teach your children some important lessons which they will remember always.

Yesha Desai

In the town of Agra, there lived a rich, but miserly businessman. Many poor people gathered outside his house everyday in the hope of getting something in charity from him, but they always had to return home disappointed. He used to make promises to every man he met and then never fulfill them.One day, a famous poet named Raidas came to meet the rich businessman and said that he wanted to recite his poems in front of him. The rich man was very fond of poetry and thus, he welcomed Raidas with open arms.Raidas started to recite all his poems one by one. The rich man was very pleased to hear the intriguing poems of Raidas, especially the one in which Raidas had compared him to ‘Kubera’, the god of wealth. He promised Raidas some gifts and asked him to come and collect them the next day. Raidas was very happy.The next morning when Raidas came to collect his gifts from the rich man, the cunning man acted as if he had never seen Raidas before. When Raidas reminded him of his promise, he said that he had promised to reward him just to please him, not to give him anything in reality.Raidas was extremely upset, but as there was nothing that he could do, he quietly left the house. He went to meet Birbal and conveyed his grievance to him. Birbal thought of a plan and told Raidas to act according to it. He asked Raidas to go to one of his friends, ask him to plan a dinner and invite the rich man.Raidas went to Mayadas, a good friend of his and asked him to help him with the plan. Mayadas willingly agreed to help Raidas. The next day, Mayadas went to the rich man’s house and invited him over for dinner.He also told the rich man that all the guests would be served in vessels of gold, which the guests would get to take home after the meal. The rich man was ecstatic to hear Mayadas’s offer and consented to come.On the fixed date and time, the rich man arrived at Mayadas’s house and was surprised to see no other guests there but Raidas. Mayadas welcomed the rich man and all of them started a polite conversation. The conversation was not coming to an end. The rich man had come on an empty stomach and so was getting hungrier by the minute. What he did not know was that Raidas and Mayadas were quite full as they had eaten just before the rich man’s arrival.Finally, when the rich man could bear his hunger no longer, he asked Mayadas to serve dinner. Mayadas acted surprised when the rich man asked him about food. He said that he did not remember inviting anybody over for dinner. When the rich man tried to remind him, Mayadas said with a meaningful smile on his face, “My dear friend, I had extended the invitation just to make you happy. I didn't mean to feed you dinner in reality. So, please go back to your home.”Just then, Birbal walked into the room and reminded the rich man of the ill treatment that he meted out to Raidas. The rich man realised his mistake and begged for forgiveness. He took out the necklace that he was wearing and gifted it to Raidas. Raidas was all praise for Birbal and thanked him from the bottom of his heart. Moral:We must treat people with respect and hold onto our promises despite our status.

This is a classic story from Akbar Birbal.Moral(s) of the story: respect.

Poet Raidas

One day, Akbar was riding near a mango orchard, when an arrow whizzed past him. The guards accompanying him rushed to find the culprit and caught the archer who had shot the arrow. He was just a young boy and was quivering with fear after being caught.When Akbar saw the boy, he asked him angrily, “Why did you try to kill me? Tell me which of my enemies has sent you here?”The young boy folded his hands and replied, “His Highness, I was not trying to kill you. I was just trying to knock down a mango with my arrow.”The Emperor was infuriated at the young boy’s careless way of shooting arrows and ordered his guards, “Put him to death in the same manner he tried to kill me.”The guards tied the youth to a mango tree and were getting ready to shoot him. Birbal could not stop himself from chipping in and addressed the soldiers, “Wait a second! If you want to shoot this boy in the same way he tried to shoot the Emperor, then you must aim at the mango; the arrow must miss the mango and then strike the boy.”Akbar realised his folly and understood that it was not fair to take away the youth’s life for something that he did not do deliberately. He ordered his guards to let the young man go scot free. The young man fell down on Birbal’s feet and thanked him from the bottom of his heart. Moral:Hasty judgement can have mighty consequences.

This is a classic story from Akbar Birbal.

Hasty judgement

The story is of the time when Raja Birbal did not have a personal horse or a carriage to bring him from his home to the Emperor’s court. One day, Akbar saw him coming on foot and promised to give him the fastest horse from his royal stable. Accordingly, he instructed the in-charge of the royal stable to give a horse to Birbal. But, just to have some harmless fun with Birbal and see his reaction, Akbar asked the stable man to select a weak and sick horse for Birbal. The stable man carried out the Emperor’s orders and delivered an old and sick horse at Birbal’s house. The horse was in such a bad shape that it died on the same night that it was delivered.Next day When Akbar saw Birbal coming on foot again, he asked in a surprised tone, “What happened to the horse that was arranged for you from the royal stable? It was our fastest horse! Were you afraid of riding it?”Birbal bowed and replied, “Jahapanah, it indeed was the fastest horse of all. He was in fact, so fast that he crossed the distance from earth to heaven in one night.”Akbar smiled at Birbal’s witty reply, and got a healthy horse arranged from the royal stable for Birbal. Moral:Our wit and humour can brighten our days and make them enjoyable.

This is a classic story from Akbar Birbal.This is a story of horse.Moral(s) of the story: wisdom

Fast Horse

Ravina Sewani

Akbar’s court was famous for the witty question answer sessions between the Emperor himself, and his clever minister Birbal.On one such occasion – Akbar asked his courtiers whether they could tell the difference between truth and untruth within three words. All the courtiers started racking their brains to search for the three most appropriate words in which they could tell the difference between the truth and the untruth. But, enough time passed and none of them could come up with an answer.Birbal was also present in the court, but kept mum. The Emperor asked him, “What about you, Birbal? Why are you so silent?”“Your Majesty!” Birbal politely replied, “I was giving a chance to others first. In my opinion, the right answer would be: Four fingers.”The Emperor asked Birbal, “How is that, Birbal? Explain it to all!”“Yes, Your Majesty, four fingers is the difference between truth and untruth. What your eyes see is truth, and what your ears hear, may be false.”“I agree with that, but why did you say that the difference between truth and untruth is four fingers?” Akbar said.Birbal bowed and said, “Four fingers is the distance between one’s eyes and one’s ears, Your Majesty!” Akbar was very astonished to hear Birbal’s well thought reply. Moral:Never believe on what you hear from several mouths. Often times, the things we hear turn out to be mere rumours. It is better to trust our eyes than anyone else’s words.&nbsp;&nbsp;

This is story of Akbar Birbal.Moral(s) of the story: honesty and lying

Truth and Untruth

Once Akbar asked Birbal, “Tell me Birbal! Will a man do anything for money?”&nbsp;Birbal said, “Yes, Jahanpanah! It is possible for a man to do anything in return for some money.” The Emperor ordered him to prove it.The next day, Birbal came to the court along with a poor brahmin. The brahmin had no money and his family had nothing to eat. Birbal told the Emperor that the brahmin was ready to do anything for the sake of money.It was the peak of the winter season and the water was freezing cold that time. The Emperor ordered the brahmin to stand inside the frozen pond all through the night if he wanted money. The poor brahmin agreed and kept standing the whole night inside the pond, shivering badly. Next morning, he came to the durbar to receive his reward.The Emperor asked, “Tell me something! How could you stand in the freezing cold water all through the night?” The innocent brahmin replied, “Huzoor, I could see a faintly glowing light coming from your palace, a kilometre away. Looking at that light gave me imaginary warmth and strength to keep standing in the water.”Akbar declined to pay the brahmin his reward saying that he had got warmth from the light and this was cheating. The poor brahmin went away disappointed and empty handed.Birbal tried to say something in the favour of the poor brahmin but the Emperor refused to listen to him. Soon after, Birbal stopped coming to the durbar and sent a message to the king stating that he would come to the court only after he had cooked his khichdi.When Birbal did not come to the court for five days, the Emperor himself went to Birbal’s house to see what he was doing. Birbal had lit the fire and kept the pot of khichdi one metre away from it. Akbar asked him “How will the khichdi get cooked with the fire one metre away? Are you in your senses, Birbal?” Birbal replied, “O’ Jahapanah! If it is possible for a person to receive warmth from a light that was a kilometre away, then it is also possible for me to cook this khichdi a metre away from the fire.” Akbar understood his mistake. He called back the poor brahmin and rewarded him with gold&nbsp;&nbsp;coins. Moral:We should use our intelligence to help others.

This is a classic story from Akbar Birbal.Moral(s) of the story: helpfulness and smartness

Birbal’s khichdi

One day, a rich merchant came to Birbal, the Wise. He said to Birbal, "I have seven servants in my house. One of them has stolen my bag of precious pearls. Please find out the thief."So Birbal went to the rich man's house. He called all the seven servants in a room. He gave a stick to each one of them. Then he said, “These are magic sticks. All these sticks are equal in length. Keep them with you and return them to me tomorrow. If there is a thief in the house, his stick will grow an inch longer by tomorrow."The servant who had stolen the bag of pearls was frightened. He thought, "If I cut a piece of one inch from my stick, I won't be caught." So he cut the stick and made it short by an inch.The next day Birbal collected the sticks from the servants. He found that one servant's stick was short by an inch. Birbal pointed his finger at him and said, "Here is the thief." The servant confessed his crime.He returned the bag of pearls and was sent to jail. Moral:The wise can figure out the simplest of ways to solve any problem.

This is a classic story from Vikas books.This is a story of Akbar Birbal.Moral(s) of the story: wisdom

Birbal, the wise

Once Emperor Akbar thought of playing a trick on Birbal. He gave one egg to each of his ministers before Birbal reached the court.When Birbal arrived in the court, the Emperor told everybody about a strange dream that he saw the previous night. He said, “A divine being appeared in my dream and said that I would be able to judge the honesty of my ministers by giving them a simple task. I must ask them to go to the royal garden pond and get an egg from there. Those who are honest, will find an egg there and those who are not, shall return empty handed.”Then the Emperor directed all of his courtiers to go to the royal garden pool and bring back an egg. One by one, all his ministers went to the pond and returned with the egg, which the Emperor had previously given them.Birbal also went to the pond and looked around for an egg. He even jumped into the pond but failed to find any egg. He soon realized that the Emperor was trying to play a trick on him. So, he thought for a while and then entered the court crowing like a rooster.The Emperor asked him to stop making that irritating noise and produce the egg.Birbal smiled and replied that only hens lay eggs, and as since he was a rooster, he could not produce an egg.Akbar burst out laughing and understood that it was not easy to outwit his clever minister. Moral:Despite the silliness of the situation, you can turn it in your favour and humour everyone.

The Rooster and the hen

Anonymous Anonymous

શહેનશાહ અકબરે એક દિવસ બઘા દરબારીઓ માટે ભોજન રાખ્યુ, બીરબલ પર તેમને વિશેષ પ્રેમ હતો આથી તેઓ તેને આગ્રહ કરી-કરીને જમાડી રહ્યા હતા. બીરબલ ખાઈ ખાઈને હેરાન થઈ ગયો આથી તેને શહેનશાહ જોડે માફી માગી અને કહ્યું કે. "મારા પેટમાં જગ્યા ન હોવાથી હવે હું નહિ ખાઈ શકુ, તમારી આજ્ઞા માની નહી શકુ." એટલામાં જ એક સેવક કેરી કાપીને લાવ્યો, બીરબલનું મન કેરી જોઈને લલચાયું. બીરબલે પોતાનો હાથ લંબાવીને, કેરીની થોડી ચીરીઓ પેટમાં ઉતારી લીધી. તેને આ રીતે કેરી ખાતો જોઈને અકબરને ગુસ્સો આવ્યો કે હું પ્રેમથી જમાડતો હતો ત્યારે આના પેટમાં જગ્યા નહોતી અને હવે કેવી રીતે ખવાઈ રહી છે. તેમણે તરતજ ગુસ્સામાં બૂમ પાડીને બીરબલને બોલાવ્યો. બીરબલ સમજી ગયો એમના ક્રોઘનું કારણ. તે અકબરની સામે જઈને ઉભો રહ્યો અને હાથ જોડીને બોલ્યો "જ્યારે રસ્તા પર ખૂબ ભીડ હોય છે, અને ચાલવા માટે એક પગ મૂકવા જેટલી પણ જગ્યા નથી હોતી ત્યારે જો તમારી સવારી નીકળે તો તેવી પરિસ્થિતિમાં પણ બઘાએ પોતાની મેળે જગ્યા બનાવીને તમને રસ્તો આપવો પડે છે. તેવી જ રીતે કેરી પણ બધા ફળો પર રાજ કરે છે તે પણ તમારી જેમ જ ફળોનો રાજા છે તેથી તેને જોઈને પેટમાં જગ્યા બની જ જાય છે". તેનો જવાબ સાંભળી અકબર ખુશ થઈ ગયા, તેમણે મીઠી કેરીની એક ટોપલી મંગાવી અને એક કિંમતી ભેટની સાથે તે ટોપલી બીરબલને આપી. બીરબલ આ મીઠી ભેટ મેળવીને ઘણો ખુશ થઈ ગયો.

બીરબલનું મન કેરી જોઈને લલચાયું...

ફળોનો રાજા

Shina Utavani

The Mughal Emperor Akbar loved going out on hunting expeditions. One day, he went to such expedition with some of his courtiers. They lost their way and came to a junction of three roads.On seeing the road, Akbar was happy that now he could reach his destination, Agra through one of these roads. But the problem was none of them knew which of the road led to Agra. They all were wondering which road they should take.Just then, they saw a young man passing nearby. Akbar after seeing the man immediately called him and said, “Hey young man, could you tell us which road goes to Agra?”.Hearing the question, the young man smiled and said, “Sir, none of these roads go to Agra.”Akbar said, “What do you mean?”. The young man smiled and said, “Sir, People travel and not roads. Do they?”.The emperor was surprised on hearing the clever reply. He laughed and said, “You are right. What is your name?”“My name is Mahesh Das. But who are you and what is your name?” said the young man.Akbar replied, “I am Akbar, the Mughal Emperor. You are really clever. We need fearless and smart people like you in my court.” Akbar was impressed by the young man so he took off his ring and gave it to the young man. He said, “If you want to be a part of my court then come to meet me with this ring, I will recognize you.” Akbar then said, “Now tell us which road will lead us to Agra.” Mahesh Das point towards the road and the king headed on that road with his courtiers. This is how Akbar met the future Birbal.

akbar birbal stories

Kids moral stories help in improving their imagination & relate to real-world life. Here are age-specific bedtime stories for children by renowned storytellers.

Poet Raidas

Hasty judgement

Fast Horse

Truth and Untruth

Birbal’s khichdi

Birbal, the wise

The Rooster and the hen

ફળોનો રાજા

How Akbar Met Birbal

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