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 Sun and the Moon were great friends. One day, they were talking about who was the strongest among them. The discussion resulted in a heated argument and they started fighting. Every day, they use to discuss the same but never came to any decision.The argument carried out for ages and finally, the Sun declared that the Moon could not shine if the Sun’s light did not fall on it. He said to the Moon, “You do not have your light so, I am stronger than you.” To which Moon proudly replied, “You give light, but you burn the earth with your heat. People do not prefer coming out of their houses due to extreme heat. But when I shine at night, people enjoy the moonlight.”Sun could not digest the words spoken by the Moon. He got angry and picked some mud and threw it at the Moon’s face. The Moon tried to get out of the way but could not and the mud got stuck on his face.It is believed that due to the mud thrown, the Moon has dark spots on its face.

This is a story of moon, sun and tube light.

The sun and the moon 

One day, the river thought to herself, “Do, I need to keep flowing all my life? Why can’t I stop and rest for a little while?” She was a bit upset and thought to discuss it with the mountain. She went to the mountain and shared her thoughts and asked for advice.After hearing her thoughts, the mountain just laughed and said, “Look at me! I am standing here in the same place for ages!” To which the river replied, “You are firm and fixed in one place. How can you get tired? Look at me, I have to move all the time. I don’t get to rest even for a single minute”.“That is how you see it, but I get tired of standing here”, said the Mountain. He further added, “Every day, I see the same trees and the same patch of sky. Sometimes, I wish only I could run like a river. I would visit new forests and villages. I would water their fields, give life, and be deeply loved by all.”The river was shocked to hear the mountain’s reply. She always thought that his life was perfect. The river said, “That is so strange! Your life is so peaceful and comfortable, yet you feel this way!” To which the mountain replied, “You do not get it, my sister! The river is worshipped by everyone.” He added, “You flow for the sake of others. You give away so much, you offer whatever remains to the sea.”The river realised her worth and said with great enthusiasm, “You are right, my brother! The true purpose of my life is to give life to others. Thank you for your kind wisdom. She gushed away with a loud gurgle feeling very happy and her newfound positive energy. Moral:Stay happy with whatever you have. Everyone has a different purpose in their lives.

This is a story of mountain and river.Moral(s) of the story: gratitude

The Mountain and the River

Yesha Desai

One day, Emperor Akbar saw a woman hugging and kissing a very dark, ugly and unattractive child. Though the child was obnoxious to look at, the woman was calling him the most attractive child in the world. This surprised the Emperor and he said to Birbal, “Birbal, I wonder how could a woman shower her love on such an unattractive child.” Birbal replied politely, “Huzoor, he must have been the woman’s own child. For every mother, her own child is the most beautiful child in the world.”Birbal could easily make out from the Emperor’s face that he was not convinced with his reply. Next day, when the royal court met, Birbal ordered a guard to find and bring the most beautiful child in the world to the court next morning.Next day, the guard brought one unattractive and ugly child with projecting teeth and unkempt hair and presented him before the court. “This is the most beautiful child in the world, Your Majesty,” said the guard.The Emperor asked, “How do you know that he is the most beautiful child in the world?” “Your Majesty, I went home and shared my problem with my wife. According to her, our child is the most beautiful child in the world and hence, I brought him to the court,” the guard replied meekly. Moral:Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

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

Birbal’s beautiful explanation

Pallavi Hota

Mahabharata is an ancient Indian epic about the brothers, Pandavas and kauravas. It describes the battle between them in the Kurukshetra war for the throne of Hastinapura. It is an epic tale that combines war, religion, philosophy and Hindu history. Following is a story from “The Mahabharata.” Once Durvasa Muni, the ancient Rishi, who was known for granting boons to people who pleased him, visited the house of&nbsp;Duryodhana, the enemy cousin of Maharaja Yudhisthira. Duryodhana was&nbsp;intelligent enough to satisfy the brahmana by all means, and the&nbsp;great rishi wanted to give some blessings to Duryodhana. Duryodhana knew his mystic powers, and he also knew that the mystic brahmana, if&nbsp;dissatisfied, could cause some havoc. When the rishi asked Duryodhana, Duryodhana wished that he should visit the house of Maharaja Yudhisthira, who was the eldest and chief among all his cousins. He requested the rishi to go to Yudhisthira after he had finished his meals with his Queen, Draupadi. Duryodhana knew that after Draupadi’s dinner, it would be impossible for Maharaja Yudhisthira to receive such a large number of brahmana guests, and thus the rishi would be annoyed and would create some trouble for his cousin Maharaja Yudhisthira. That was the plan of Duryodhana. Durvasa Muni agreed to this proposal, and he approached the King in exile, according to the plan of Duryodhana, after the King and Draupadi had finished their meals. On his arrival at the door of Maharaja Yudhisthira, he was at once well received, and the King requested him to finish his noontime religious rites in the river, for by that time the foodstuff would be prepared. Durvasa Muni, along with his large number of disciples, went to take a bath in the river. Maharaja Yudhisthira was in great anxiety about the guests. If Draupadi had not taken her meals, food could have been served to any number of guests, but the rishi, by the plan of Duryodhana, reached there after Draupadi had finished her meals.Draupadi was thinking of Lord Krishna in that difficult situation. Lord Krishna arrived at the scene and asked Draupadi to give whatever food she might have in her stock. Draupadi apologised to Lord Krishna and told Him that the mysterious dish which she had received from the sun-god could supply any amount of food if she herself had not eaten. But on that particular day, she had already taken her meals.The Lord, however, asked Draupadi to bring up the cooking pots to see if there was any&nbsp;particle of food left, and on Draupadi doing so, the Lord found a few particles of vegetables sticking to the pot. The Lord at once picked it up and ate it. After doing so, the Lord asked Draupadi to call for her guests, the company of Durvasa. Bhima was sent to call them from the river. Bhima said, “Why are you delaying, sirs? Come on, the food is ready for you.” But the brahmanas, because of Lord Krisha’s accepting a little particle of food, felt sumptuously fed, even while they were in the water. They thought that since Maharaja Yudhisthira must have prepared many valuable dishes for them and since they were not hungry and could not eat, the King would feel very sorry, so it was better not to go there. Thus they decided to go away.

This is a story of Krishna and Draupadi.

Durvasa Muni and cooking pot of Draupadi

All gods, one day went to Lord Vishnu seeking help to save them from the attack of the demons. Lord Vishnu said he did not have enough power to fight with the demons. He said he would need Lord Shiva’s help. So, he went to Kailash to seek help from Lord Shiva. When he reached Kailash, he found Lord Shiva in a deep trance. Lord Vishnu did not want to disturb him so he decidedto pray for Shiva until he came out of his trance.Vishnu would chant the name of Shiva thousand times every day by offering one lotus flower against each chant. He used to do that every day while waiting for Lord Shiva to come out of his meditation. One day, not knowing that Shiva had come out of his trance, Vishnu continued his chanting for the day. Shiva decided to play a trick on Vishnu.Lord Shiva secretly removed one lotus from the bunch that Vishnu had arranged. After Vishnu chanted for 999 times, he realized that one flower was missing from his collection. He immediately plucked his one eye and offered it at the feet of the Shiva. Impressed by Vishnu’s devotion, Shiva told him to ask for a boon. Vishnu asked him to give the power to defeat the demons to save all the gods. Lord Shiva gave him a round disc known as ‘Sudarshana Chakra’ which has the power to kill anything.

This is a story of Shiva, Sudarshan and Vishnu.

The story of Sudarshana Chakra

Once upon a time there was a huge haunted mansion. Nobody lived there but ghosts, spiders, beetles and lizards.There was a giant bathtub that they all used for bathing. They loved that bathtub dearly. Everyone was allotted different jobs to help maintain the bathtub.The ghosts kept the tub clean, the beetles ensured the plughole remained free, the lizards made sure that the taps were working properly and so on.However, one spooky spider noticed that the plughole of the bathtub was blocked by something huge and unmovable— a watermelon!The watermelon was so big that not even the biggest beetle, could move it.It was so big that not even the ghosts could magically shift it.They tried everything they could think of but nothing worked. In the end, they decided to just move away and find another house with a beautiful bathtub to haunt.Suddenly there came a tiny little non- spooky creature. She politely asked everyone if she could take the watermelon away to feed her children.The ghosts laughed. The spiders rolled their eyes, the lizards didn’t acknowledge her and the beetles tried their best to not take offense.The ant took this response as a yes and bit off a little watermelon. It barely decreased the size of the melon.The beatles said, “Wow, look the watermelon is gone. Good job weirdo.”The ant pouted and brought in her friends.Turns out that this weird foreign ant with doe eyes was very social and had lots of friends. They all came into the house and suddenly it was not so spooky.They bit off a little of the watermelon and suddenly it was all gone in their bellies.The ghosts looked at it in shock. The ants smiled, “Thank you for the dinner. You are not so scary after all.”

This is a story of watermelon, ants, spiders, beetles and lizards.Moral(s) of the story: judgement and hard work

The giant watermelon

One day, When the Mullah Do-Piyaza was going back after having an audience with the Emperor, a small copper coin fell down from his pocket. It was the only money he had at that time so he started immediately searching for it. A courtier named Murad, who was one of his bitterest enemies at court, said, “Your Majesty, look at the Mullah! Did you see what a miserly he is? You have given him so many expensive gifts and bestowed plenty of money on him; still he is after a copper coin.”The Mullah said quickly, “My dear friend is highly mistaken, Jahanpanah! It is not because of the value of the coin, that I am looking for it. I am looking for it because one side of that coin bears your resemblance, and I don’t want people to inadvertently step on it.”Akbar was so pleased to hear Mullah’s reply that he took off his diamond ring and presented it to the Mullah Do-Piyaza. Moral:Flattery can get you far.

This is a classic story from Akbar Birbal.

Mullah’s flattering answer

Bible is the collection of 66 books written by different authors describing the God's action and purpose with all creations. Bible contains life stories of Jesus. The bible gives the messages God has desired for us to understand. Following is a story from “The Bible”. On his way to heal the ruler’s dead daughter, Jesus saw a large crowd gathered around him. Among them was a woman who was bleeding for twelve years. She thought she would only be healed by the Lord. She was afraid that perhaps Jesus was angry as she wished to touch his garments to heal herself, but Jesus was pleased with her. He said to her “Not me, but your faith has made you well.” When Jesus reached the home of the ruler, He took the young girl by the hand, and she got up, alive and well. This way Jesus healed everybody with his love and care. Moral:Miracles through Jesus are possible, all you have to do is have faith.

This is a story from Bible of Jesus Christ.Moral(s): faith

Jesus Always Healed People

The Sun and the Moon were best friends once upon a time. As they were always together there was no concept of the night. No one in the world knew anything about the night. They did not know anything about sleeping. The children played the whole day without feeling sleepy. One day, the Moon and the Sun were passing by and saw the ocean. The ocean was the most beautiful thing they had ever seen. The ocean enjoyed the Sun’s warmth and Moon’s beautiful face. She loved the moon more than the Sun. Whenever Moon was around, she created waves and tides in excitement. This made Sun very jealous.One afternoon, as the Ocean slept, the Sun did something terrible. He slowly lifted the Moon and threw him against the wall of the sky! Instead of breaking like glass, the Moon created millions of sparks that could not go out. He called the sparks “stars.”The Stars knew what the Sun had done to the Moon. The stars were very angry at the Sun and decided to attack the Sun. The stars formed an army and went on to attack the Sun. Before they could attack the Sun, the Ocean stopped them and asked, “Where are you going little stars?” The stars replied, “We are going to destroy the Sun!”The Ocean did not want either the Sun or Moon to be hurt or destroyed in a fight. She loved them both. So, she made a quick plan. She told the stars she had an idea. She called the Moon and the Sun. She told them to share their time with her. The Sun would visit her in the day, and the Moon at night. Both were very happy with the idea. This made the Ocean happy too. The Stars followed the Moon every day, to protect him from the Sun.From that day onwards, people saw the Sun in the day and the Moon at night. Moral:Fighting is not the solution to every problem.

This is a story of moon, ocean and star.Moral(s) of the story: ego and respect

caring 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 sun and the moon

The Mountain and the River

Birbal’s beautiful explanation

Durvasa Muni and cooking pot of Draupadi

The story of Sudarshana Chakra

The giant watermelon

Mullah’s flattering answer

Jesus Always Healed People

Stars guarding the Moon

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