Nishita Sanghvi

A long time ago, the king of the jungle who lived in a cave was frequently irritated by a mouse who would climb up on him always at the time when he was sleeping. The lion tried very hard to kill the mouse but the mouse was too quick for him to get hold of. The moment the lion would try to grab him, the mouse would slip off. The lion was fed up and realized he had to trick the mouse somehow and so he thought of something very clever.The lion went to a nearby village and convinced a cat to come with him. The mouse was obviously scared of the cat and now was very careful in coming out of its hole. The happy lion could now sleep peacefully as the cat acted like the lions guard and the mouse would not want to leave his hole with the cat being around. Every day the lion would share his meal with the cat. Both the master and the servant were thus, passing time happily with each other.One day, the mouse came out of his hole looking for something to eat. The cat pounced on it and the mouse was dead. The lion was extremely happy to know this. Now the lion completely lost interest in the cat and stopped giving him any food as the cat was of no use to him and as a result the cat died of starvation.Therefore, we realize that people usually value things that are of use to them.Moral of the story -Unfortunately people only value things that are of use to them.

This is a story from hitopadesha tales of cat, lion and mouse.Moral(s) of the story: smartness

The Cat Who Served The Lion

Ravina Sewani

A long long time ago, lived a hugeee giant. No giant who walked on earth as big as him. His name was Soppo. When he was thirsty, he would drink all the water from the river. When he felt hungry, he would eat the whole forest. His favourite thing to eat was CLOUDS. He loved to eat clouds so much so that he always used to overeat and that led to his upset stomach. Soppo was good at heart but still he had no friends.Humans were afraid of him because when he ate the clouds, the rains would not fall and drought struck villages and towns. Because he used to eat crops and forests, people had no food to eat and survive. And when he overate the clouds, he would cry a lot and his tears caused floods everywhere. So wherever Soppo would go, people would leave that place. This made Soppo upset.On seeing Soppo upset, stars came to him and asked him about his sadness. Soppo told them his stories to which the stars replied, “Earth is a beautiful friends with beautiful people. Someone will be ready to be your friend.” Soppo immediately asked, “But where will I find someone who wants to be friends with me?” The stars told him, “You just have to help humans with something and then will surely accept you as their friend. We stars, shine in the night to show the way to travellers and sailors. In return they tell us many stories and give us company in the night.”So for the next few days, Soppo thought of ways in which he could be helpful to humans of earth. He thought very hard but could not think of a single thing to help people with anything. So he decided to go talk to Moon, as moon was an elder. Moon explained to Soppo, “You will not be able to help someone unless you know them well.” For the next few weeks, Soppo closely observed people’s lifestyles, their problems, and their pain. He realised that people were afraid of him because he would cause droughts and floods everywhere he went. One day, he had a great idea to help people. He decided to help people by his eating and crying at the right place and the right time.From that on, Soppo would eat up the clouds which would cause floods or storms. He would cry in a place where there would be shortage of water. This is how Soppo turned from a scary giant to a helpful giant.Soon people realised his help and started talking to him, play with him, and also take care of him. Moral:Not everyone who appears evil is actually like that. Sometimes people cannot figure out what to do about themselves. We should give time and always appreciate their efforts when they try to change for the better.

This is a story of cloud, flood, forest and rain.

 The  cloud eating giant

Shina Utavani

There was once a boy named Peter who lived with his grandfather. He was six years old. Their house was situated near a forest. His grandfather had a cat named Ivan and a duck named Sonya. One morning, Peter went for a walk near his house. Little peter saw the forest and decided to go on a hunt in the forest.His grandfather never allowed peter to go into the forest. So, peter decided to go when his grandfather was asleep. He slipped out from his house at night. He was very happy to finally go for a hunt. Sonya and Ivan also joined him to protect him. Peter took his popgun and went for a journey to the forest. Peter heard about a wolf that lived in the forest who used to tease people. Peter decided to hunt the wolf so the people could live without fear.As soon as they reached the forest, a little bird named Sasha saw Sonya coming towards the lake. The bird asked Sonya, “Are you a bird? What kind of bird you are and can you even fly?”. Sonya became a little nervous and said, “What kind of bird you are? Can you even swim?” Listening to this Sasha replied, “Birds can never swim.” Sonya said, “Yes, they can” and she jumped into the lake to show the bird that she can swim. The little bird was amazed.Back at home, the grandfather was awake and saw that the peter’s room was empty. Ivan and Sonya were also not there at home. The grandfather knew Peter would have gone to the forest. The grandfather ran towards the forest and saw peter in the forest. The grandfather said peter to come back home with him. Peter denied. As they were arguing, suddenly they saw the wolf coming towards them. The grandfather, peter and Ivan hid behind the tree. But the duck was still in the water. Peter shouted at Sonya and asked him to hide. But the duck was very scared and jumped out of the water. The duck was out of the water but very near to the wolf. As soon as Peter saw the duck, he ran towards the wolf to catch him. Peter had a rope and he went towards the wolf with the rope in his hand. The little bird helped peter to tie the rope around the wolf’s head. They were able to catch the wolf. The duck did not know what was happening so he hid under the tree.Peter and his grandfather took the wolf towards the zoo. Little Bird and Ivan also left for the zoo with them. But Sonya was still in the forest. Peter and his grandfather were so happy that they forgot about the duck. When they were returning from the zoo, they realized that Sonya was not with them. The grandfather and peter felt very bad. They all were very sad and went back to him. As they reached home, they heard the voice, “Quack, Quack”. Peter was surprised hearing the voice and saw Sonya hiding behind the tree. They all were very happy that Sonya was alive and safe.Peter was brave and everyone considered him a hero as he saved everyone from the Wolf. They all lived happily ever after.

This is a story of cat, forest, swan and wolf.Moral(s) of the story: bravery

Peter and the wolf

In a beautiful forest once, there lived two trees. The trees’ names were Chintu and Pintu. They were brothers. On the trees, there lived a troop of monkeys, a family of bird, the Bunky bear, and the wise wolf. They all lived like a big family. Everyone enjoyed each other’s company.One morning, when everyone was busy talking, Pintu saw a woodcutter coming towards the forest. Chintu advised all of them to run away. But no one left the place. Pintu again requested them to go away but none of them agreed. They all said, “You give us food to eat, shelter to live and fresh air to breathe. We cannot leave you in danger.” Chintu and Pintu were overwhelmed and their eyes rolled the tears of happiness. They all made a quick plan to protect everyone from the woodcutter. Both the trees advised all the animals and birds to hide behind the leaves.There were many trees in the forest so the woodcutter could not decide which tree to cut. He saw Chintu and Pintu, the big trees. He decided to cut them. The wise wolf already told the plan to all of them. So, when the woodcutter came near to cut the tress, all of them started jumping around him. The monkeys started jumping on him and the birds started flying above him. When all were busy around the woodcutter, the wise wolf ran to the king Lion and told him everything. The Lion King roared and reached there quickly. Hearing Lion’s roar, the woodcutter was scared. So, he ran away from there. All were happy that they could save Chintu and Pintu. All birds and animals were grateful to the king as well as the Wolf for his cleverness.Later, the woodcutter realized the importance of trees. He thought trees are important for us as well as animals and birds. They give food, shelter, shade, and flowers to us. He realized his mistake and promised to never cut trees again in his life. He opened a nursery and planted many new plants in his village. Moral:Save trees, plant more trees and save our nature.

This is a story of forest, lion, monkey, tree, wolf and woodcutter.

The Trees and The Woodcutter

Once upon a time in a dense forest stood a pineapple tree and an oak tree, side by side. Though they were neighbours, they never shared a great bond. The pineapple tree always made fun of the oak tree and displayed a lot of attitude.The pineapple tree would keep saying that “I am so juicy and delicious”. With me around, nobody would want you. This went on for a long time. There would be many trespassers who would just give a stare at the oak tree but when they saw the pineapple tree, they would try to grab one or two pineapples from the tree for a taste. In case of the oak tree, there is no edible use, since oaks contain acid they cannot be consumed. The trunk of the tree is used to make wood. The oak tree was well aware of this fact and felt miserable, but could do nothing about it except feeling bad.Soon a family came to live near the forest- a husband-wife and their son. The son had faced a weird injury wherein he kept bleeding little little everyday. The doctor had suggested that the only cure was to find the bark of an oak tree and apply it for several days until the bleeding stopped completely. Hence this couple had come around looking for an oak tree and here they were happy to find one. Now it was the oak tree’s turn to make the pineapple tree feel low. However, the oak tree did not because he knew how it felt to be ignored. The pineapple tree finally realised how it felt to be dejected. Moral:Everyone has abilities and good qualities; no one should be made to feel worthless.

This is a story of forest, pineapple tree and oak tree.

The proud pineapple tree

Once there lived a big, strong lion in the jungle. He was very strong and fierce. As he was strongest of all, he used to bully every other animal. All the animals were very scared of the lion and they could not live peacefully. They all decided to have a meeting so that they could find a way to stop the lion from bothering them.A hare said, “We have to do something to get rid of this lion. I think we need to find a champion among us who can teach him a lesson.” All the animals clapped and encouraged this idea. When it came to deciding who will initiate to fight the lion, no animal came forward. The tiger looked aside, the elephant was busy whistling and the Rhino continued to read his book.After some time, an Owl came forward and said, “Do not worry my friends, I will fight the lion.” After listening to Owl, some animals laughed and some thought he was crazy. But since no one else came forward to fight, they all accepted. The next morning, Owl was supposed to meet the lion at his den for a fight. The news spread everywhere and when the lion heard the news, he could not stop himself from laughing.The next day, everyone gathered around the lion’s den. The lion was wide awake waiting for the owl to come. All the animals came but the owl did not show up. Hours passed but there was no sign of the owl. The sun was starting to set and all animals started leaving when finally, the owl came.The lion screamed, “Why are you so late, owl?”. The Owl said, “I am sorry, Mr. Lion. But on my way, I saw a huge lion and I was scared of him. I had to wait for that lion to go to sleep so that I can easily come here. I am glad I had to fight you and not him!”. The lion could not believe that there was someone stronger than him. He said the owl to take him to that lion.The owl took the lion to the nearby well. The owl said, “Last time I saw Lion was when he went inside the well.” The Lion sneaked inside the well to see the lion. The lion saw his own reflection and thought there was another lion in the well. The lion roared as loud as he could. Due to the echo, he could hear a roar five times louder than his. Hearing the roar, the lion was very scared and thought that the lion inside the well was stronger than him. The lion was so afraid by the roar that he ran away and never came back again. The owl hence proved that “Being smart is what makes us stronger.” Moral:Being smart is more important than being strong.

This is a story of forest, lion and owl.Moral(s) of the story: smartness

The owl and the lion

The Forest God one day created an animal and named him Snowball. The animal was very beautiful. He was round and had beautiful white fur. All the other animals liked and adored him.The snowball looked very nice but by nature, he was very mean and nasty. He was very rude and mean to other animals. One day, he was roaming in the forest. While roaming, he met Piggy. After seeing Piggy, Snowball said, “Your nose is so funny! It looks like your nose is looking at the sky” and started laughing. Piggy felt very bad and he started crying.The snowball went further on his way. He met squirrel on his way. The squirrel was happy to see the snowball and said, “Snowball, come play with me.” Snowball replied, “I will never play with you, you are very small.” The squirrel became very sad. Further snowball met the deer and said, “You have sticks on your head, it looks very strange.” The deer too got upset.Snowball went ahead and he was humming a song. On his way, he saw a hen. The hen said, “Hey Snowball, Let’s be friends.” The snowball started laughing and said, “No ways, look at your ugly red hat.” The hen was very embarrassed and felt very bad. Snowball kept saying mean things to everyone in the forest. No one in the forest liked him anymore. Everyone started hating him.All other animals of the forest had a meeting and decided to ignore Snowball. One of the animals said, “He is so mean! Why he is so beautiful? It is not fair.” The other one said, “He is very rude, I am not going to be his friend.”The Forest God saw everything and called Snowball. He said, “Snowball, stop being mean to others, otherwise your fur will fall out.” The snowball did not listen to the Forest God and kept teasing everyone. Soon, his fur started falling out. He was left with no fur. He cried and went to the Forest God and said, “I will not tease anyone. Please give me my fur back.”The Forest God appeared after seeing him cry. The god said, “Go to the forest, make new friends. Only then your fur would grow. If you fail to make new friends, your body will grow.” Snowball immediately went to the forest. He first went to piggy but the piggy ignored him. So, the body of snowball grew.On his way he saw the squirrel, he tried talking to her but she too ignored him. Snowball’s body grew longer. Snowball saw the rabbit and the bear but they too ignored him. So, his body grew longer and longer. The snowball cried and said, “No one will become my friend.”Snowball’s fur did not grow at all. Snowball’s body grew so long that his legs disappeared. The other animals laughed at snowball now. They used to tell him, “You have no fur. You look so ugly.” Snowball felt very bad and was ashamed of himself. He hid inside the cave and was all alone.“I was so mean,” he cried. The snowball realized his mistake but it was too late. Slowly time passed and snowball forgot about his beauty. He slid across the cold ground. All the animals forgot about the snowball. He had a new name now. He is called snake since then. Moral:Never be rude to others. Do not make fun of others.

This is a story of forest, snake and snowball.Moral(s) of the story: mean

The snowball and his forest friends

It happened in ancient times that a slave named Androcles escaped from his master and fled into the forest, and he wandered there for a long time until he was weary.Just then he heard a lion near him moaning and groaning and at times roaring terribly.&nbsp;And when&nbsp;he tried to get up, there he saw the lion coming towards him.Instead of attacking him it kept on moaning and groaning and looking at Androcles, who saw that the lion was holding out his right paw, which was covered with blood and very much swollen. Looking more closely at it, Androcles saw a great big thorn pressed into the paw, which was the cause of all the lion’s trouble.Plucking up courage, he seized hold of the thorn and drew it out of the lion’s paw, who roared with pain when the thorn came out, but soon after found such relief from it that he rubbed up against Androcles, and showed&nbsp;that he knew, that he was truly thankful for being relieved from such pain.One day, a number of soldiers came marching through the forest and found Androcles. They took him prisoner and brought him back to the town, and he was condemned to death because he had fled from his master.Now it used to be the custom to throw murderers and other criminals to the lions, and on the appointed day he was led forth into the arena.The Emperor of Rome was in the royal box that day and gave the signal for the lion to come out and attack Androcles. But when it came out of its cage and got near Androcles, what do you think it did? Instead of jumping upon him, it rubbed up against him, and stroked him with its paw.It was of course the lion which Androcles had met in the forest. The Emperor summoned Androcles to him. So Androcles told the Emperor all that had happened to him and how the lion was showing gratitude for his having relieved it of the thorn. Thereupon, the emperor pardoned Androcles and ordered his master to set him free, while the lion was taken back into the forest and let loose to enjoy freedom once more.Moral: An act of kindness is always remembered. This act is often expressed as gratitude through other kind act.

This is a story of forest, king and lion.Moral(s) of the story: gratitude

Androcles and the lion

Krishna and Sudama were studying in the Sandipini ashram. Once the guru ordered them to go in the jungle to fetch some wood.Before leaving for the jungle, Guru’s wife gave some grams to Sudama. She said, “Sudama, these grams are for you and Krishna. It will help you both when you will feel hungry”. Sudama took the grams and left for the Jungle with Krishna.Krishna and Sudama worked really hard to fetch the wood. In the middle of the work, Sudama felt hungry. So, he grabbed some grams and ate them hiding from Krishna.The task was difficult and they both were tired and hungry at the end. Krishna asked Sudama if we had something to eat. Sudama denied. He kept the remaining grams for himself and ate it when Krishna was not looking. But Krishna knew that Sudama was hiding something.Sudama ate the share of Krishna too as he thought Krishna would never find out that he had grams. This particular incident had its own consequences.Sudama ate the share of Krishna and this is the reason that he had to spend his later life in poverty. It was later when Sudama offered rice made by his wife to Krishna that he was blessed with a palace and riches.Sudama spent most of his life in poverty for telling a lie and eating the share of Krishna’s food. Sudama was a friend of Krishna but wrongdoing would never bear anyone.

This is a story of forest, Krishna and Sudama.Moral(s) of the story: poverty

forest stories

Stories help in improving a child's imagination. Here are a few interesting ones for you to narrate to your child.