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.

Ravina Sewani

Once, a village merchant named Vardhmanaka was going to Mathura on his bullock cart. His two bullocks, Sanjeevaka and Nandaka, who had always served him faithfully, were pulling the cart. As they were walking along the bank of river the Yamuna, Sanjeevaka all of a sudden stepped into a marshy area and got stuck. He tried to get out of the marsh with all his strength. The merchant also tried to get Sanjeevaka out of the marsh, but nothing worked. Ultimately, Vardhmanaka was left with no choice but to leave Sanjeevaka there and go on with his journey. So, Sanjeevaka was left there, stuck in the marsh. He thought sadly, “I served my master faithfully throughout my life and this is how he has treated me. Now, there were only two options for Sanjeevaka—either to try with all his might to escape from the marsh or to give up and die there. He thought, “It is said that God helps those who help themselves. I will not give up. I will try my best to get out of this marsh.” So, Sanjeevaka used every bit of his strength and energy to struggle against the marsh that was pulling him down, and finally he managed to get out of it.Now, Sanjeevaka had nowhere to go. He did not want to return to his master’s house after his master had deserted him so heartlessly. So, he started walking along the banks of the river. He wandered about, eating fresh grass in the nearby forest and drinking water from the river. Soon, living in the natural environment, he regained his strength and became healthier than ever. He started bellowing like a lion. His bellows sounded like thunder and could be heard from miles away.One day, the king lion of the forest, Pingalaka, went to the river to drink water. There, he heard the thunder-like bellowing which scared him so much that he ran back to his cave at once. His ministers were two jackals, Damnaka and Kartaka. When Damnaka saw that the king seemed to be afraid of something, he went and asked the king about it. “What is the matter, my lord? Has something scared you?” he asked. “Tell me, and I will bring it in front of you at once.”Though the lion, being the king, did not want to admit his fears, he ultimately told Damnaka about the frightening thunder-like sound. Damnaka at once left to investigate the source of the sound. Soon, Damnaka brought Sanjeevaka to the court and said, “This is the animal who has been making those frightful sounds, My Lord. He says that Lord Shiva has sent him to roam around in our forest.”King Pingalaka was pleased to meet Sanjeevaka. Soon, they became friends and spent most of their time chatting with each other. Gradually, the lion started becoming more and more spiritual. He started neglecting his kingdom and even stopped hunting for his prey. This made Damnaka, Kartaka and his other subjects very worried.Then, Damnaka came up with a plan. He went up to the king and said, “My lord, Sanjeevaka has evil plans about your kingdom. He plans to kill you, take over your kingdom and become the king himself.”And the next day, he went to Sanjeevaka and said, “King lion is no true friend of yours. He has planned to kill you and distribute your flesh to the whole kingdom. You should kill him with your sharp horns before he kills you.”Sanjeevaka was very furious on hearing this. He went to the king’s court and started bellowing in a thundering tone. The lion, who had already been misinformed by Damaka as to Sanjeevaka’s intentions, was himself very furious. Like a flash, the lion pounced on Sanjeevaka with a loud roar.Both, Pingalaka and Sanjeevaka, were strong. They had a gruesome fight at the end of which, Pingalaka killed Sanjeevaka with his sharp claws and ate his flesh. Though he had killed Sanjeevaka, Pingalaka felt sad about it. Sanjeevaka had been is friend. But since Damnaka had convinced him that Sanjeevaka was a traitor, he had no choice but to kill him. Damnaka was later made the chief minister of the kingdom. Moral:One should never be friends with a natural enemy.

This is a classic story from panchtantra.This is a story of bull, jackal and lion.Moral(s) of the story: friendship

The bullock and the lion

Once, a huge bull used to live in a village that was situated by the side of a lake. One day, the bull, feeling thirsty, made his way towards the lake to drink water.A small mouse was sitting and relaxing by the side of the river. When the bull crossed that place, walking towards the lake, he accidentally stepped on the mouse’s tail. The mouse screamed in pain but the bull did not notice anything. The mouse looked at his tail and found that it had been completely crushed. He was infuriated and wanted to take revenge. “I will bite this bull to death,” he thought to himself in anger and climbed on to the bull’s back. He started biting the bull all over his back as hard as he could with his sharp teeth. But the bull’s skin was so thick that he did not feel any pain from the mouse’s bites. In fact, he was not even aware that there was a mouse on his back!After biting the bull for some time and not seeing any results, the mouse was tired and fed up. He jumped off the bull’s back and went and stood in front of him. “Why are you blocking my way?” the bull asked. “Clear out or you will get crushed.”The mouse said, “You have already crushed me. See what you have done to my tail.” He added, “Didn’t you feel any pain when I bit you all over your back?”This surprised the bull greatly. He laughed and said, “Neither did I realise I had stamped over your tail nor did I feel you biting me all over my body. But, if it really happened, I apologise.” The bull’s answer left the mouse speechless. He was convinced that it was useless to argue with that thick-skinned animal as it is of no use arguing with a stupid person and he sadly walked back home. Moral:There is no point in arguing with a stupid person as (s)he wouldn’t budge from his/her opinion.

This is a classic story from panchtantra.This is a story of bull and mouse.Moral(s) of the story: foolishness

bull 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 bullock and the lion

The mouse and the bull

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