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.

Shina Utavani

There was once a boy who was mischievous and ill-mannered. He used to always misbehave with others and disrespect them. His behaviour was very bad, and it was annoying for the people around him. His behaviour was such that one day, the Chief Fairy of the land had to come to punish him. The fairy turned the boy into a monster. The boy could only escape from being a monster if he managed to seriously frighten someone. At first, the boy thought that this would be easy, but he realized that the children in his area were difficult to scare.Many days passed by, but the monster failed in scaring anyone. So, he decided to look for an easy target. There was a boy who was well known as an easy target for anything. The monster started studying the behaviour of the boy for some time. He followed him wherever he went. The boy used to go to give charity to people, helped people in need and played with the children in the hospital. The boy did all the good work.The monster finally prepared himself to scare the boy. However, when he went to scare the boy, the images of people whom he had helped came into his mind. The monster did not want to scare someone who had done so much good work for others. The monster decided to leave him alone. Because the boy did all the good work without any price, the monster did not do any damage to the boy because then he would be responsible for him not being able to help more people.The Chief Fairy appeared in that moment and was impressed by the kind gesture of the monster. So, she rewarded him by turning him back into a normal boy. And the boy with the bad behaviour finally became a kind and generous person. He even became best friends with the boy he had planned to scare. Moral:Always be kind to others. Do good for others and good things will come back to you.

This is a story of fairy and monster.Moral(s) of the story: kindness

Forever a Monster

Granted that all elephants have giant ears, but Elly had the giant ones.Her ears were larger than her mother’s, larger than her father’s, even larger than her grandfather’s ears!Such large ears? But Elly was such a small and delicate little elephant. She was always tired due to the weight of her ears. Tired and hungry due to carrying her heavy ears everywhere, she comes home with a frown.“Maaaaa!” She shouts. It was a particularly gruelling day at school, they had volleyball selections, and Elly was more than stressed. She wanted to vent about it to her mother. So she told her mother that she was stressed about the match.The next day at the volleyball event, Elly feels very insecure about her large ears in front of the audience. This disturbs her performance.She comes home crying again and shouts for her mother, “Maaaaa!”Her mother doesn’t know how to make her daughter feel better. She tries to comfort her daughter, but it is all in vain.So she comes up with a new trick. She sits Elly down in front of the television and switches to a sports channel where a volleyball game is playing.Watching the game, Elly has already calmed herself. Her mother points to the amazing volleyball players and says, “Elly, look! Mon, the monkey’s nose is too big. Croc Crocodile’s mouth is too wide. But do you see anyone talking about it?”That is how Elly slowly realises that physical flaws hold no bearing in front of her talent.It takes a long time for Elly to understand this fully, but she slowly overcomes her insecurities. <h3>Moral Of The Story: Accepting your body is the first step towards self-love.</h3>

This is a story of Elephant's ears.Moral(s) of the story: Self-love

The Elephants Ears

Ravina Sewani

A Fox, swimming across a river, was barely able to reach the bank, where he lay bruised and exhausted from his struggle with the swift current. Soon a swarm of blood-sucking flies settled on him; but he lay quietly, still too weak to run away from them.A Hedgehog happened by. “Let me drive the flies away,” he said kindly.“No, no!” exclaimed the Fox, “do not disturb them! They have taken all they can hold. If you drive them away, another greedy swarm will come and take the little blood I have left.” Moral:It is better to tolerate a lesser evil than to risk a greater one in removing it.

This is a story fo Aesop fables, fox, hedgehog and river.Moral(s) of the story: tolerance

The Fox And The Hedgehog

Yesha Desai

One day Akbar was strolling in his royal garden with several courtiers. It was springtime and the garden abounded numerous brightly coloured flowers.The Rajkavi (royal poet) pointed towards a beautiful flower and said, “Look Jahanpanah, what a beautiful flower it is! No man can ever create something as beautiful as this.”Birbal was also there. He said, “I beg to differ, Rajkavi! Sometimes man can make much more beautiful things than this.”Akbar chipped in and said, “No Birbal, Rajkavi is absolutely right. This flower is really very beautiful and I don’t think that there is anything in this world that can surpass its beauty.”After a few days, Birbal presented a very skilled craftsman from Agra in the Emperor’s court. The craftsman presented a beautifully bouquet of carved marble flowers to the Emperor. The Emperor was full of praise for the intricate carving done in the bouquet, and gave him one thousand gold coins.Just then a young boy came and presented a beautiful bouquet of real flowers to the Emperor. Akbar was very happy to see it too, and gave a silver coin to the boy.Birbal was waiting for this opportunity only! He said with a meaningful smile on his face, “So, the man made thing was more beautiful than the real thing.”Akbar understood what Birbal meant by that and smiled back at his witty minister. Moral:Creativity of man can be as beautiful and valuable as natural objects.

This is a classic story from Akbar Birbal.

Flowers for Akbar

In a jungle, there once lived a jackal. He was very smart and clever. One day, he was passing by and saw a dead elephant in his way. The jackal was happy to see the elephant and could not wait to eat the flesh. He went closer to the elephant and tried to cut the skin of the elephant with his teeth. He tried very hard but could not cut the skin as it was very tough. The jackal tried many times but failed.After trying it many times, he was very tired and stopped trying to cut the flesh with his teeth. He sat near the dead animal and started thinking about how to cut his flesh. Suddenly, the jackal saw the lion coming towards him. Seeing the Lion, he said, “Majesty, I am guarding this dead elephant for you. Please eat it.” The lion replied, “I never eat animals which are killed by others.” The lion went away. The jackal was happy that he saved the elephant from the lion. He wanted to eat it all alone. He again started thinking about how to cut the flesh.The jackal was thinking and he heard the roaring of the tiger. He thought that the tiger would surely eat the elephant. So, the jackal said, “Please go away from here. I am guarding this for the king. The king lion has gone for a bath and he asked me to warn him when a tiger comes. The king wants to kill all the tigers of this jungle.” The tiger got very scared and quickly left the place.Then after some time, a leopard approached the jackal. The jackal was very hungry and knew that the leopard had sharp teeth. So, he cleverly said to the jackal, “Hey, Friend. I am seeing you after a long time. You look tired and hungry. Why do not you take a few bites from the dead elephant which I am guarding for the king lion? He has gone for a bath.” The leopard said, “Why would I eat the king’s meat. He would kill me if he saw me eating his food.” The jackal said, “I will warn you when he returns. Till then you can take a few bites.” The leopard agreed and proceeded near the elephant.The leopard started to bite the elephant but as the skin was hard it took time. As soon as the leopard took off the skin, the jackal shouted, “Beware, the lion is coming.” Hearing this, the leopard quickly left the place. The jackal laughed out loud and sat near the elephant and ate all the flesh alone. Moral:Wisdom makes victory.

This is a story of elephant, jackal, leopard, lion and tiger.Moral: smartness and wisdom

The Clever Jackal

Here’s another great story from the Hitopadesha. Once upon a time, there lived a deer and a crow in a dense forest. They were very good friends and often spent time with each other. One day a jackal spotted the deer and said to himself, “Nothing tastes better than&nbsp;deer flesh! I must somehow make friends with this deer and try to get close to him.”So, he approached the deer and said, “O deer! I am an orphan jackal and do not have any friends in this forest. You appear very kind-hearted to me. Would you agree to be my friend?” The deer was very pleased with the jackal’s mannerisms and took his new friend to his home.When the crow saw the deer with the jackal, he warned him, “Dear friend, you must be careful!” But the deer did not pay heed to the crow’s warning and continued being friends with the jackal. One day, the jackal said to the deer, “I know of a big field that is full of fresh corn. Do you wish to go there with me? “The deer happily accompanied the jackal to the corn field. From that day onwards, both of them started visiting that corn field every day. The owner of the field was very annoyed and decided to catch the thief who ate corn from his field. He set a trap in the field and the next day when the unsuspecting deer came to eat the corn, he got trapped in the net.The jackal saw the deer getting caught in the net and thought, “Once the owner of the field kills the deer, I shall finally get to eat the tasty deer meat for which I have waited so long.” The deer called the jackal for help, but the cunning jackal said, “I am sorry, I cannot do anything! The net seems to be very strong.” Saying so, he walked away from there and hid himself near the field, waiting for the owner to come and kill the deer.When the crow did not see his friend deer by the evening, he started searching for him and found him lying trapped helplessly in the field. When the deer saw the crow, tears filled up in his eyes and he said, “My friend, I disregarded your advice at first and now I suffer. Tomorrow, I shall be killed by the owner of this field.” The crow felt very sorry for the deer. He thought for a while and then a bright idea struck him. He told the deer, “Listen to me, my friend! When the owner comes tomorrow morning, lie down quietly; make your legs stiff and pretend to be dead. When he takes off the net, I will start cawing. That would be a signal for you to stand up and run away quickly.”The owner of the field came the next morning and saw the deer seemingly dead. As soon as he removed the net, the crow began to caw loudly. In a moment, the deer stood up and sped away. The owner got very angry and threw a stick at the deer. The deer escaped, but the stick hit the jackal on the head and killed it. Moral:We must not trust unfamiliar people very easily and instead put our loyalty and belief in the advice of the people we know.

This is a classic story from Hitopadesha tales.This is a story of crow, deer, jackal and trust.Moral(s) of the story: trust

The Story of The Jackal, The Deer And The Crow

Once, two friends called Dharambuddhi and Paapbuddhi lived in a village. Dharambuddhi was an intelligent and wealthy man while Paapbuddhi was a cunning fellow who was not satisfied with his wealth. He wanted to make more money. He made a clever plan of earning much wealth, with Dharambuddhi’s help. First of all, Paapbuddhi convinced Dharambuddhi to go with him to the city in order to make money. He told Dharambuddhi that he was wasting his talent in that small village and that if he was in a larger city, he could attain name, fame and wealth. Dharambuddhi agreed with Paapbuddhi and soon, both of them set out on their journey to the city.In the city, Dharambuddhi earned a lot of wealth as well as fame. After having earned much money, Dharambuddhi and Paapbuddhi decided to go back to their village. As they were on the outskirts of their village, Paapbuddhi said to Dharambuddhi, “Friend, I don’t think it will be wise to take all of our wealth to the village with us. Our relatives might ask for their shares and there will be the danger of thieves too. So, for now, let us carry only a little money and bury the bulk of it under this tree here.”Dharambuddhi thought that this was a good idea. They dug a pit under a huge, hollow tree and both of them put their money in it separately. They covered the pit carefully and went to their homes.But the next night, Paapbuddhi sneaked quietly out of the village and went to the place where the money was hidden. He dug up the pit and took all the money—his own as well as the money belonging to Dharambuddhi.After a few days, Paapbuddhi went to Dharambuddhi and said, “I have finished my money, friend. Let us go and take out some more.” So, Dharambuddhi and Paapbuddhi went to the hiding place together and dug up the pit. But they found that there was no money inside. Paapbuddhi immediately accused Dharambuddhi of having stolen all the money. Dharambuddhi was infuriated. A heated quarrel began and finally, both of them went to the court to sort this matter out. The judge heard both sides of the story. Paapbuddhi said to the judge, “My Lord, if Dharambuddhi denies stealing the money in my absence, the only witness is the tree under which the wealth was hidden. In my opinion, the court should question the tree about this matter.” The judge agreed. A date was fixed when the court would visit the tree and question it. In the meantime, Paapbuddhi went to his father and said, “Father, you must help me. You know that I stole Dharambuddhi’s share of the money. Please help me or I will get caught and be imprisoned.”Paapbuddhi’s father was also a dishonest man like Paapbuddhi. He replied, “I don’t want to lose all that money. Tell me what I will have to do.” Paapbuddhi explained, “We hid our wealth under a huge, hollow tree on the outskirts of the village. The court is going to question the tree about the thief. All you have to do is hide inside the hollow of the tree and when anyone asks who the thief was, say ‘It was Dharambuddhi’.” Paapbuddhi’s father understood and agreed. On the fixed date, the judge, Paapbuddhi and Dharambuddhi went to the tree in question. The judge asked the tree, “You are the only witness to this crime. Tell us who the thief is.” They heard a voice from inside the tree saying, “It was Dharambuddhi.”The judge was astonished on hearing this. But Dharambuddhi’s mind was working in another way. He laid dried leaves all around the tree and set fire to them. The onlookers could not understand what Dharambuddhi was up to. Soon, the flames leapt up and smoke filled the whole area. In an instant everyone saw Paapbuddhi’s father rushing out from inside the hollow of the tree, half-burnt and yelling for help.The judge understood everything. It was clear to him that all of this had been a part of Paapbuddhi’s evil plan. He charged Paapbuddhi with the theft and punished him. Dharambuddhi was given all his wealth back. Everyone was happy that Dharambuddhi got justice and Paapbuddhi was punished for his greed and dishonesty. Moral:Always believe in the truth. Truth will serve justice no matter what.

This is a classic story from panchtantra.Moral(s) of the story: justice

Dharambuddhi and Paapbuddhi

Once upon a time, a king frog used to live in a well with his family and subjects. The king frog had some evil relatives who wanted to snatch the throne away from him. They kept causing problems in his reign. Once, they conspired with a minister in the king frog’s court and started a revolt against the king frog. The king frog managed to subdue the revolt but he was very angry. He wanted to take revenge on his evil relatives and unfaithful subjects. He thought of a plan. He came out of the well and made his way to a hole where he knew that a big, black snake used to live. He called out to the snake.The snake was surprised to hear a frog calling him and slithered out of the hole. The frog said to the snake, “Hello. I want to be your friend.” The snake was astonished. “How can a snake and a frog be friends?” he said. “We are natural enemies.”“Listen to me. I have a plan,” said the frog and told the snake all about his evil relatives. “I want to teach them a lesson,” he added. “So, I will take you to the well and you can eat all of them.” The snake was interested. “Is there water in your well?” he asked.The frog replied, “Not much. But a little above the water level, there is a hole in the wall of the well. You can live there comfortably and eat my relatives.”The serpent agreed. He followed the frog back to the well. On reaching there, the frog said, “Here are my evil relatives. You can eat all of them except my near and dear ones.” Thus, the serpent started living in the hole in the well’s wall. One by one, he started eating up the frogs that were pointed out by the king frog. In a few days’ time, the snake had eaten all the evil frogs and only the king frog and his family were left. The snake came up to the king frog and said, “I have eaten up all your evil relatives and rebels as you wanted. I have also eaten your unfaithful minister. Now, there is nothing left for me to eat except you and your family.” Saying this, the serpent eyed him hungrily. The king frog realized his mistake. He knew he was in great danger. He had made friends with his natural enemy for his selfish motives and to punish his enemies. Now he felt that his own death was near. But he managed to keep his cool and replied, “Do not worry. I will go to some other wells and ponds and persuade some frogs to come and live in this well. Then you can feed on them.”The serpent liked the idea. “Hurry up, then. I am hungry,” he said. So, with this pretext, the king frog along his wife and his near and dear ones came out of the well and ran for their lives, vowing never to return to that well again. Moral:Actions taken in haste often end up causing more trouble.

This is a classic story from panchtantra.This is a story of frog and snake.

The frog and the serpent

Once, a man sold his well to a farmer in return for some money. Next day, when the farmer went to draw the water from that well, the man forbade him to draw the water from it. He said, “I have sold you just the well, not the water, which is why you cannot draw the water from the well.”The farmer felt cheated and appealed for justice in the Emperor’s court. He narrated the entire incident to the Emperor and demanded the man to be taken to task for being dishonest with him.The Emperor called Birbal and handed over this case to him. Birbal summoned the other man also in the court.When the man presented himself before the court, Birbal asked him, “Why don’t you let him use the water of the well? You have sold the well to the farmer.” The cunning man replied, “Respected Sir, I have sold the just the well to the farmer, not the water. And thus, he has no right to draw the water from the well.”Birbal smiled and said, “Very well! But, since you have sold the well to this farmer, you have no right to keep your water in the farmer’s well. You must either pay rent to the farmer to keep your water in his well, or you take your water out of his well immediately. You must keep the thing that belongs to you with yourself. Am I right?”The cunning man realized that it was not possible for him to cheat the farmer anymore. He apologized to him for his trickery and withdrew his claim over the water of the well. Moral:Trickery and cunningness will always someday be discovered and outwitted.

boasting 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.

Forever a Monster

The Elephants Ears

The Fox And The Hedgehog

Flowers for Akbar

The Clever Jackal

The Story of The Jackal, The Deer And The Crow

Dharambuddhi and Paapbuddhi

The frog and the serpent

Birbal helps the farmer

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