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

The Ramayan is an ancient Sanskrit epic written by the famous sage Valmiki. It describes Lord Rama's effort to rescue Sita from the demon king Ravana. It also describes the challenges faced by Lord Rama, Laxaman, and Sita when they were exiled from the kingdom for 14 years. Following is a story from “The Ramayana”.Ravana is depicted as the king of Rakshasas. He is said to have ten heads. But he was not born with ten heads.Ravana was a big devotee of Lord Shiva. Ravana performed an intense penance (self-punishment or tapasya) to please Lord Shiva which lasted for several years. During the penance, Ravana chopped off his head 10 times as a sacrifice to please Lord Shiva. Each time he sliced his head off, a new head arose, thus enabling him to continue his penance.Finally, this dedication of Ravana pleased Lord Shiva and he granted him ten heads. Ravana became one of the most powerful beings on earth. The ten heads of Ravana symbolise the six Shastras and Four Vedas, making him a great scholar and the most intelligent person of his time.

This is a story of head and Ravan.Moral(s) of the story: penance

The Story Behind Ravana’s 10 Heads

Yesha Desai

When Alex was seven years old, he was caught in an accident. There, he had lost both his hands.Alex’s parents had lost all hope that their child would grow up and be something because he could not even write or do things on his own. However, Alex was very determined to be a scientist was not deterred by his inability to perform many tasks.After a lot of practice and hard work and discipline, Alex learned to write using his two arms even though he did not have any fingers or thumbs. Despite losing both his hands, he learned to do daily tasks by himself using his arms and never had to rely on someone else.With his determination to reach his goal, he overcame his limitations and went on to become a great scientist. Moral:We are only limited by our thoughts. Determination plays a huge role in achieving anything that we desire.

This is a story of fingers, hand, scientist and thumb.Moral(s) of the story: determination and hard work

Alex  and his hands

Once upon a time, there was a little boy who used to get angry easily. He had a bad temper and would say things that could hurt others. He would scold everyone around due to his anger and would use harsh words on them. To help him control his anger, his father decided to teach him a lesson. He gave the little boy a bag full of nails in it. He told that he must hammer a nail into the back of the fence, every time he lost his temper.The little boy started putting the nail with a hammer on the fence every time he lost his temper. On the first day, the boy had driven 37 nails into the fence. Every day, he used to do the same. Over the few weeks, he learned to control his anger, and slowly, the number of nails hammered on the fence decreased. He found out that it was easier to hold his temper than to drive those nails into the fence.Finally, the day came when the boy did not lose his temper at all. He told his father about it and the father then told the boy to pull out one nail for each day, he was able to control his temper. The days passed, the young boy finally removed every nail from the fence. He went to his father and informed him about the nails.His father then took him to the fence and said, “You have done well, my son, but look at the holes in the fence. The fence will never be the same. The things you say in anger will leave a scar just like this one. No, matter how many times you say sorry, the scar will still be there.” The boy realized his mistake and learned to control his temper. Moral:Harsh words cause damages that cannot be cured. So, always speak kind and sweet words.

This is a story of hammer and nail.Moral(s) of the story: anger

The Fence

Aayan always thought that his nose was too big, like the claws of a bird or the beak of a parrot. It was a source of disappointment for him.He wanted a little button nose like those of his friends as he thought that this one made him look a little comical.He tried so many ways to get a smaller nose. He prayed for it before he went to sleep, he tried to push his nose in but nothing worked at all.“Oh how I want to cut off my nose.” He said. “Why must I look like this? Why must my nose take up most of my face?”Everyday he would wake up and look into the mirror, worrying about his nose.This all continued until one day he got drenched in the rain and he fell sick. His nose was clogged and he had a very high fever. Aayan felt miserable. He had never been so sick and couldn’t properly breathe due to his clogged nose.That is how he learned to appreciate his nose and the way it works for him. Moral:Appreciating our bodies is the first step to self-love.

This is a story of parrot's nose and rain.Moral(s) of the story: self love

The parrot's nose

Ravina Sewani

Once upon a time, there lived a wizard who invented a very unusual spell. Anyone who was cast with this spell would have perfect, white, shiny teeth. The wizard had a lot of toads as his pets. He decided to test this spell on one of his toads. After the spell was cast, the toad was gifted with shiny white teeth. The toad loved his teeth so much that he would keep on smiling the whole day.The toad was able to speak and eat all kinds of food. He was very proud about his perfect teeth. “I prefer eating candy than filthy flies”, said the toad to the wizard. It came to wizard’s notice that the toad was not taking care of his teeth at all and was always eating different kinds of sweets. He said to the toad, “Brush your teeth regularly and don’t eat sweets otherwise you will get a toothache.”The toad did not pay heed to the wizard’s advice and kept on eating unhealthy food. One day, a tooth started decaying and the decay spread to all the other teeth. Soon, all the toad’s teeth fell out and he was back to eating flies his whole life. He lost his ability to talk and now regretted not listening to the wizard. Moral:Never take anything for granted. The toad thought that nothing could ever damage his teeth and so never cared for them. The more we take care of our health, the longer we live.

This is a story of toad and tooth.Moral(s) of the story: regret

The toothy toad

Once there lived two cats who were best friends. They lived together and used to have a lot of fun.The two cats were roaming around one day. On a street, the cats found a loaf of bread. They took the loaf of bread and decided to break it into two. One of the cats said, “You take one of the pieces and I will take one.” the bread looked extremely delicious. The other cat agreed.They took the loaf and decided to break it equally. But both of them could not decide who will cut the loaf into two equal parts. They both were arguing over who will cut the bread. Meanwhile, a monkey saw the cats quarrelling over the bread. “Such foolish cats,” he thought. The monkey was also hungry so he made a plan.The monkey went to the cats and said, “Let me help you.” The monkey said, “let me decide who will break the loaf.” The cats said, “Then why do not you divide the loaf equally.” The monkey agreed. He divided the loaf into two parts.The two parts of the loaf were not equal. One of the pieces was larger than the other. Before the cats could say anything, the monkey said, “Let me take a bite of a larger piece and then it will be equal.” The cats agreed. This time the monkey purposefully took a bigger bite of the large piece. Thereby the piece became very small. And then the monkey told, “OH!! Now let me bite the other piece so that they will become equal.” The monkey took another bite of the bread. He continued doing so until he finished the bread loaf all by himself.The poor cats were left with no bread. The monkey said, “That was a very tasty bread. Sorry, it was difficult to divide the bread equally. I should go now,”. The monkey left the place. The cats then realized their mistake and thought it would have been better if they ate the bread without fighting. Moral:When we fight amongst ourselves, a third person gets the benefit.

This is a story of beard, cat, friend and monkey.Moral(s) of the story: idiot

Two cats and the monkey

One day, it was very hot and the sun was boiling in the sky. The Santa, due to heat said, “It is too hot, I am feeling very hot.” The Santa had a long fluffy beard and due to that, he was feeling very hot. Looking at Santa, the beard said, “Do not worry Santa, I will find a new face.” After saying this, the beard flew up in the air and went to find a new face. The beard went to the kitchen and said to the busy chef, “Hello, Chef. Can I be your beard?” The Chef said, “I do not think you will enjoy it. You may even get in a tangle with my food.” The beard said, “Okay, I will find someone else.”The beard went ahead to a baby that was sitting on a baby chair. The beard then asked the baby and the baby’s mum replied, “Babies do not have a beard. He is too small for having a beard.” The beard then left to ask someone else.Then the beard flew to a granny sitting in a garden. The beard asked the same question to the granny and she replied, “No, ways.” The beard then left looking for someone else. The beard went straight to a castle and said to the princess, “Hey, Princess, can I be your beard?” The princess replied, “You are a very beautiful beard but I am already beautiful so I do not need you.” The beard said, “Okay” and left the castle.The Santa’s beard then flew to a pirate and asked him. The pirate replied, “I already have one.” Santa’s beard said, “Yeah, right, Okay.” Then the beard left and went ahead. The beard went to every creature of the sea but no one needed him. The beard felt a little sea sick and was very sad.The sea turned into ice and snow started to fall after some time. Santa’s beard was angry and sad. Suddenly, a little red man came and saw a little white comfy thing. The man touched the thing and thought what that is? The beard shouted, “I am Santa’s beard. No one wants me, no one loves me. I am cold and lonely.” The red man said, “My lovely beard I am glad I found you.” The red man was Santa. Santa said, “I am freezing, Will you be my beard and save me from freezing?” the beard excitedly said, “Yes, I would love to.” Then they went to distribute gifts to everyone and made everyone’s Christmas happy.

This is a story of beard, Christmas and Santa Claus.

Santa's Beard

Harry is a very sweet toddler who loves sweet foods a lot. He is often caught grabbing chocolates from the fridge, stealing candies from the jars within his reach or convincing his elder brother and grandparents to allow him one more sweet.He really does have a sweet tooth. One day he gets a massive pain in his teeth and his tummy. His mother gets him medicines for his tummy before they go to the dentist.The dentist checks his teeth and explains to Harry why he should not eat too many sweets.The dentist says, “Harry. You need to keep your teeth healthy. Here take Ms. Toothbrush with you.”“Ms. Toothbrush?” Harry asks.“Yes, Ms. Toothbrush. You have to brush your teeth with it after every meal. This will help remove germs from your teeth and keep them healthy. Ms. Toothbrush will protect your teeth.”Ms. Toothbrush was a new toothbrush with zig-zagged edges. She was blue in colour which was Harry’s favourite colour. She promised to help Harry to keep his teeth clean.From that day on, Harry brushed his teeth with Ms. Toothbrush after every meal and kept his teeth healthy.

This is a story of tooth and toothbrush.Moral(s) of the story: health and hygiene

Ms. Toothbrush

A man was polishing his new car; his 4 yr old daughter picked up a stone and scratched on the side of the car.In anger, the furious man took his child’s hand &amp; hit it many times, not realizing he was using a wrench. At the hospital, the child lost all her fingers due to multiple fractures.When the child saw her father, with painful eyes she asked ‘Dad when will my fingers grow back?’ The man was very hurt and speechless.He went back to the car and kicked it many times. Devastated by his own actions, sitting in front of the car he looked at the scratches, his daughter had written ‘LOVE YOU DAD’.Moral: Anger and Love have no limit. Things are to be used and people are to be loved.

This is a story of car, daughter, father, fingers and hospital.Moral(s) of the story: anger and love

body part 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.

The Story Behind Ravana’s 10 Heads

Alex and his hands

The Fence

The parrot's nose

The toothy toad

Two cats and the monkey

Santa's Beard

Ms. Toothbrush

Who or What do We Love More?

More like this

Bee Suggestions

About Bee