Ravina Sewani

It so happened that once, Emperor Akbar misplaced his ring somewhere. When Birbal arrived in the court, Akbar told him, “I have lost my ring. It was very dear to me as my father had given it to me as a gift. Please help me find it!”Birbal said, “You need not worry, Jahanpanah! I will find your ring right away.”He further added, “Your Majesty, the ring is here in this court itself. It is with one of our courtiers. The courtier who has a straw in his beard has your ring.” The courtier who had filched the Emperor’s ring was shocked and immediately moved his hand over his beard. Birbal was waiting for this reaction from one of the courtiers. He immediately pointed towards that particular courtier and ordered the royal guards to search him. The guards frisked the courtier and found the Emperor’s ring lying in the pocket of his achkan.Akbar was pleasantly surprised at another wonderful example of Birbal’s wit and asked him “Birbal, tell me how were you able to find the culprit?” Birbal then told the Emperor, “Your Majesty, I just shot an arrow in the dark. As they rightly say that a guilty person is always scared, the real culprit revealed himself by moving his hand over his beard.” Moral:A guilty mind is always scared. The courtier was so scared of getting caught that it was revealed in his actions and gave away his crime. Birbal used his presence of mind and wit and caught the guilty person at once.

This is a story of Akbar Birbal and ring.Moral(s) of the story: alertness, smartness and wisdom

Akbar’s ring

Once upon a time, a large falcon used to live on a high mountain. One day, the falcon was looking for his prey. He saw a rabbit scampering about on the ground below. The falcon suddenly swooped down, caught the rabbit in his sharp talons and, in an instant, flew back to his nest high up in the mountain rocks.A crow who used to live in a tree on the ground, saw the falcon perform this thrilling act and was highly impressed. He thought of imitating this act. So, the crow flew up high into the sky. From high above, he located a rabbit on the ground and swooped down with great force to catch the rabbit. But the crow’s aim was not sharp enough and he missed his target. Instead of catching the rabbit, the poor crow dashed against some jagged rocks. He broke his neck and cracked his skull and died immediately. Moral:Never imitate others foolishly. Everyone has their own uniqueness and we should embrace that.

This is a classic story from panchtantra.This is a story of crow, falcon and rabbit.Moral(s) of the story: foolishness and uniqueness

The falcon and the crow

One day Nasiruddin Hodjaa loaded a heavy bag of vegetables on his donkey and set out for the market to sell them. After walking a small distance, the donkey stopped and refused to budge an inch from his place. Nasiruddin Hodjaa was in a hurry; at first he coaxed the donkey to start but when he did not respond to his persuasive words, he started beating it.Soon, many people gathered around them. One man asked Hodjaa, “Why are you beating this poor animal?” Another man said, “You are a merciless man who is beating a speechless animal.” The third man said, “You must be arrested and flogged for beating this poor creature.”Hodjaa was enraged on hearing the people’s continuous comments and he said to the donkey, “If I knew that you had so many relatives around, I would have never beaten you. I can see that you have a large family here.”Hearing this, the people sheepishly went their way, leaving Hodjaa with his donkey. Moral:Poking nose in others’ matters leads to self insult. We should leave others to their matters without interfering. Interference often leads to our own insult.

This is a story of donkey and Mulla Nasruddin.

The donkey’s relatives

Yesha Desai

Once upon a time a king gave a holiday to all the royal workers in his kingdom. The king’s gardener also wanted to avail a day’s holiday but he had to water the plants at the royal garden. It was summer time, and he could not leave the plants without water. He knew that if the plants died, he would have to face the king’s wrath. So, he thought of assigning the task of watering the plants to someone else.Just then he saw some monkeys having fun and frolic in the king’s garden and got a strange idea. He approached the chief of the monkeys and said, “You must consider yourselves lucky to be living in the royal garden. You get to play on the lush green trees and eat the fresh fruits from the garden. You must do something to show your gratitude towards the king.” All the monkeys were listening carefully to the gardener. The gardener further added, “The king has given a day’s holiday to all the royal workers. But, I cannot go anywhere as I have to water the plants. If you agree to water the plants for one day, the king would be very happy with you and I would also be able to go out with my friends.”The chief of the monkeys readily agreed to do the job and said, “We shall be glad to do that for our generous king.” The gardener gave the watering pots to the monkeys and went away. When the monkeys began to water the young trees, a query popped in their mind. They asked their chief, “How shall we know when each tree has been given enough water?” The chief of the monkeys scratched his head for a while and said, “Pull up each young tree and look at the length of its roots. Give more water to the trees with long roots, and only a little to the ones that have short roots.”Then the stupid monkeys uprooted all the trees of the garden to see which trees had long roots and which had short roots. When the gardener came back the next day, he was taken aback to see the deplorable condition of the royal garden. He could do nothing but repent over his act of foolishness. Moral:Foolishness always has bad consequences.

This is a classic story from Jataka tales.This is a story of gardener and monkey.

The stupid monkeys

Once, a shepherd used to live in a village. He was the owner of a large flock of sheep. Every morning, he used to take his flock out for grazing. Once, because of some work, he had to go to the city for two to three days. So, he called his son, Ramu and told him that he would have to take care of the sheep for the two-three days that he would be away. “Take good care of the sheep, Ramu,” his father warned him. “There are many wild animals like tigers and wolves in the forest nearby who might kill our sheep. Keep them safe, son. They are your responsibility.” Ramu assured his father that he would follow his advice. The next day, Ramu took the flock of sheep to the hillside for grazing. While the sheep were grazing, Ramu started feeling bored. Being a mischievous boy, he wanted to have some fun. He thought of an idea. He stood up and started shouting, “Help! Wolf! Wolf!” Ramu’s cry for help was heard by the villagers. Carrying big sticks with them, they rushed to the spot to help the boy. But, on reaching, they found that there was no wolf. Ramu laughed and said, “There is no wolf here. It was just a joke I played on you.” The villagers went back to their homes, irritated.Next day, the same thing happened. The villagers heard Ramu crying for help and went to help him but again, they found that the boy had tricked them again. This time, the villagers were very annoyed and went back to their homes, cursing the boy.On the third day, when Ramu took his sheep for grazing, a wolf actually came there. The wolf looked so ferocious that Ramu was terrified. The wolf was advancing towards the sheep. Ramu shouted, “Help! Help! Wolf!”The villagers heard Ramu’s cry and thought that it must be the boy’s silly trick once again. No one went to help him. Ramu could not keep the wolf off the sheep all by himself. The wolf killed many of Ramu’s sheep. Ramu went back to his home weeping. Moral:If you lie all the time, no one will believe you if for once you speak the truth.

This is a classic story from panchtnatra.This is a story of sheep and wolf.Moral(s) of the story: honesty

The boy who cried wolf

Once, the Queen wanted to give alms to all the blinds in the kingdom. Emperor Akbar wanted to be sure that none of the blinds were deprived of alms, so he directed his men to prepare a list of blind people in his kingdom.As per order of the Emperor, a comprehensive list of the blind people was made and presented before the king. Emperor Akbar handed over the list to Birbal and asked him to make adequate arrangements for distribution of alms.Birbal glanced at the list and said, “Your Majesty, I will do the needful. But, do you know that there are more blind people than the ones listed here? In fact, the number of blinds is far greater than the number of sighted people in our kingdom.”Akbar said, “That is a ridiculous thing to say, Birbal! If it is true, prove it to me.” Birbal accepted the Emperor’s challenge.The next day, Birbal took a frame of an old cot and carried it with him to the main crossing. He then sat on the road and started weaving its rope. He had a servant with a paper and a pen, standing next to him. Soon, a courtier came and exclaimed, “Birbal, what are you doing?”Birbal did not answer him. He just whispered something in the ear of his servant and kept at his work. A little later, some more people gathered on the street. They were extremely surprised to see Raja Birbal weaving a cot and thus, started asking all sorts of questions.“What is wrong with Raja Birbal?”“Why is he doing this?”“What could be the reason behind this?”Each time someone made a comment, the servant quickly jotted down something on the piece of paper. The news that Raja Birbal was weaving a cot on the road spread like wildfire in the city. By evening, Akbar, too, came to know about this. He went to Birbal to see for himself.He asked Birbal in a surprised tone, “I don’t understand what you are trying to do!”The servant again wrote down something on the paper. Birbal stood up and greeted the king. He said, “Jahanpanah, I was making the list of blinds!” He then gave the list to the Emperor to see.Emperor Akbar was astonished to see his name at the end of the list. He asked Birbal, “Birbal, why have you included my name in your list of blinds?”Birbal politely replied, “Your Majesty, you are also one of them! You were the last person to come and ask me what I was doing, even though you could clearly see that I was weaving the cot.”Akbar burst out laughing and said, “Yes Birbal, I do agree with you that the number of blinds in our kingdom is far more than the sighted people.

This is a classic story from Akbar Birbal. ﻿Moral:Asking silly questions when you can see what is happening is truly a disability.

List of blinds

Once, a great number of mice used to live in a grocer’s shop. They ate the fresh, tasty wheat, rice, bread, cheese and biscuits that were kept in the shop. They were having a great time and living easy, comfortable lives, growing fatter day by day.But the grocer was concerned about the losses that he was suffering because of the damage done to his stock by the mice. So, he thought of a solution and bought a big, fat cat to keep in his shop.From that day onwards, the cat began to catch the mice every day. The mice were terrified of even stepping out of their holes. They could not reach the food anymore. This was a great cause of worry for them. They decided to call a meeting of all the mice in the shop to discuss this problem.They got together and started thinking. One of them suggested that they must get rid of the fat cat but no one could think of a way of doing so. So they kept thinking of other ways. Finally, one mouse spoke up, “We should tie a bell around the cat’s neck. That way, whenever the cat is near or is coming in our direction, we would get to know by the ringing of the bell and we can quickly run back to our holes.”This idea was much appreciated by the other mice. They thought that this was the best plan. They began dancing and celebrating with joy. But their celebrations did not last very long for soon an old and experienced mouse said, “You fools! Stop celebrating and first tell me: who will bell the cat?”None of the mice had an answer to this question. They had not thought about this major problem in their seemingly perfect plan. This is why it is said that making a plan is one thing but executing it is an entirely different thing. Moral:Do not count your chickens before they are hatched. The mice were over excited and proud of themselves without thinking about the actual execution of their seemingly perfect plan.

This is a story of bell, cat, greengrocer, mouse and panchtantra.Moral(s) of the story: foolishness and over confidence

Who will bell the cat?

One day a lion was resting outside his cave, when a wolf happened to come there. The wolf thought that it would be a nice idea to offer his services to the lion and get some food to eat in return. He approached the lion and threw himself at the lion’s feet. He begged the lion to let him be his servant and give him just a small share from his kill in return.The lion agreed and instructed the wolf, “Each day you must climb the top of the hill near my cave and as soon as you see any animal coming this side, you must say at the top of your voice, “Great lion, come forward in all thy might. Your prey is in sight!” On hearing your call, I will come and kill the animal. I will first eat it myself and then give a small portion of the meat to you as well.”From that day onwards, the wolf started looking out for possible prey for the lion while standing on the nearby hill top. Whenever the lion heard the wolf’s call, he used to go and kill the beast and then give a small share of its meat to the wolf also.Courtesy the lion, the wolf was having a good time feasting on fine meat. As days went past, the wolf grew bigger and stronger and started feeling proud of his great size and strength. He became so overconfident that he started thinking of killing an elephant on his own.So, one day the wolf went to the lion, and said, “Great lion, I think I have also become very strong and powerful being in your company. I wish to switch places with you for one day and make a kill on my own. I intend to kill an elephant, so would you please go to the top of the hill to look out for an elephant? Then when you see one coming this side, say, “Great wolf, come forward in all thy might. Your prey is in sight.”The lion was amused at the foolish wolf’s bold idea. As a good master, he tried to advise him, “O Wolf, the elephants can only be killed by lions. Your plan is very ambitious and you may get killed while trying to kill the elephant.” The lion tried his best to drill sense in the wolf but, he did not listen. Finally, the lion consented to do as the wolf said. He climbed up the hill and when he saw an elephant coming towards the den, he cried out loud, “Great wolf, come forward in all thy might. Your prey is in sight.”Out came the wolf, running as fast as he could and jumped upon the back of the elephant to dig his teeth in its neck. But, he missed his aim, and fell down at the elephant’s feet. The elephant raised his right foot and killed the wolf.Seeing all this, the lion said, “O Foolish wolf! You will no more come forth in your might. May your soul rest in peace.” Moral:There is a difference between courage and foolhardy. One must understand it.

This is a classic story from Jataka tales.This is a story of elephant, lion and wolf.Moral(s) of the story: courage and foolishness

The foolhardy wolf

Once upon a time there was a generous goose who had beautiful golden feathers. The goose lived in a big pond of clear water. Not very far away from this pond, there lived a poor woman. She had two daughters and despite working very hard all day long, she could not earn enough money for her family. The goose could see that the woman and her daughters were leading a very tough life. So, one day, the goose said to himself, “If I give one of my golden feathers to the poor woman every day, she can sell it and live comfortably with her daughters. Helping someone in need is a noble job, so I must lend a hand to solve their problems.” Next day, the goose went to meet the poor woman. Seeing the goose, the woman said, “Why have you come here? We have nothing to give you.”“But I have something to give you.” said the goose. “Look at my feathers, I am no ordinary goose. I will give you one of my golden feathers every day. If you sell them in the market, you will get a good amount of money and then you can start living an easy life with your daughters.”The woman’s happiness knew no bounds and she thought that the goose was some angel sent by the deities above. From that day onwards, the goose gave one of his feathers every day to the woman and her daughters. The woman sold the lovely feathers of the goose and got enough money in return to keep herself and her daughters in comfort.One day greed overpowered the woman and she said to her daughters, “We must not trust this goose blindly. What if he flies away one day and never comes back? Then we would become poor once again. Let us pluck all his feathers when he will come to visit us the next time.” The daughters refused to be a part of their mother’s diabolical plan.The woman was determined to execute her plan. The next time when the golden goose came, she nabbed him by the neck and pulled out all of his feathers. As soon as the feathers got detached from the goose’s body, they mysteriously turned white, just like ordinary feathers. The golden goose cried out in anguish, “You foolish woman! Look what you have done! If someone plucks the feathers of a golden goose without his wish, they turn white and no longer remain of any value.” The greedy woman was very ashamed of herself and repented what she had done. As time went on, the feathers of the goose grew again. He then flew away to a distant land and never came back. Moral:Something that does not belong to you is not yours to take.

This is a classic story from Jataka tales.This is a story of goose.Moral(s) of the story: greediness

classic story 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.