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.

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.”Shantanu, the king of Hastinapura, was married to the beautiful river goddess Ganga, who gave birth to Devavrata (Bhishma), a wise and a strong prince. But eventually, Shantanu married Satyavati, promising her that her future son will be the king. Shantanu had two sons with Satyavati, but both were short-lived. Satyavati asked her elder son Vyasa to be the father of Ambika’s and Ambalika’s children, the widows of her dead son Vichitravirya. Ambika gave birth to a blind child, named Dritharashtra and her sister Ambalika gave birth to a pale skinned child Pandu.Dritharashtra, because of his blindness, became ineligible to take the throne, and his step brother Pandu became the king. Pandu’s first wife Kunti gave birth to Yudhishthira, Bhima, and Arjuna. Madri, Pandu’s second wife, gave birth to the twins Nakula and Sahadev. These five brothers are the Pandavas.

This is a story of Pandavas and Pandu.

The Story of Pandavas

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.” Karna was primarily an Archer. A very skilled one and a Rathi (equally proficient in archery on a moving chariot not just standing stationary on a ground). He was trained by Drona, Kripa and Parshuram. Apart from archery he was skilled in sword fighting, mace fighting as well. So his weapons would be Bow and Arrow (he had received celestial Vijaya Bow made by Vishwakarma from Parshuram), Sword and Mace. From Drona he had received all the usual divine astras used as arrows. But he did not get the Big Three (Brahmashira, Pashupatastra and Vaishnavastra). Drona only had Brahmastra which he refused to give him but gave to Arjun. So Karna went to Parshuram to obtain it but he lied he was a Brahmin so Parshuram cursed him when he found out that he will never be able to use it against his mortal enemy. Karna wanted it to defeat Arjun but the curse removed that possibility. He then traded his Divine Armor given by Surya for Amogh Shakti from Indra. It was a weapon that would kill whoever it was targeted at without fail but could be used only once. So other than the usual divine astras, Nagastra, Brahmastra, Agniastra, he had Amogh Shakti or commonly known as Vasava Shakti and Vijaya Bow. He had Surya's divine Armor till before the war.

This is a story of Karna and Drona.

Karna’s Weapons

Shina Utavani

Once upon a time, there lived a King and a Queen. The King and the Queen were very kind and generous to the people of their kingdom. The King and Queen had a huge palace and kingdom but they did not have any child. Even after having everything they were sad because they did not have any children. One day, the queen was very sad and was sitting beside a pond in her garden. The queen said, “Our life would have been better if we had a child.” At that moment a frog jumped out from the pond and said, “Your wish will be granted soon, my queen.” The queen was very happy to hear that.As time passed, everything happened as the frog had said. The king and queen were blessed with a beautiful daughter. They both were very happy and decided to celebrate it with a great feast. To celebrate their daughter’s birth, they invited friends, relatives, Kings, and Queens from faraway lands. Everyone from the kingdom was invited to celebrate their daughter’s name day.Grand celebrations began and the princess was named Aurora as she had filled the life of her parents with light like the dawn. The guests brought wonderful presents for the princess. Three fairies also came to celebrate the birth of the princess. The fairies were Flora, Fauna, and MerryWeather.All the fairies gifted the princess with something. Fauna said, “I give her the gift of a song.” Flora gifted her beauty. As MerryWeather was about to give her present, an evil fairy named Maleficent appeared in the room. She also wanted to give princess something. Instead of a present, she gave her a curse. She said, “The princess on her sixteenth birthday, shall prick her finger on a needle on a spinning wheel and die!” The evil fairy after giving the curse left the palace. Everyone in the palace was shocked by what had just happened.King and Queen became very sad after hearing the curse. For them their daughter was everything and they did not want to lose her. The MerryWeather, after looking at everything, decided to give the princess her gift. MerryWeather could not undo the curse but she made it a little easy. She said, “The princess would not die but sleep for a hundred years. She would wake up only by a true love’s kiss.”Years passed by and the princess grew to be a lovely, charming young girl. Aurora was beautiful and charming. The King and Queen were worried about their dear daughter and ordered to destroy every spinning wheel in the kingdom. However, one spinning was still left and they did not know about it. The princess on her sixteenth birthday was roaming around and saw a secret room at the top of the castle towers. In the room, she saw an old woman who was spinning cloth on a wheel. She was curious and wanted to help the old woman. So, she bent over a spinning wheel. The minute she touched the needle of the spinning wheel, she fell on the ground. Evil’s curse became true.Aurora felt asleep due to the evil fairy’s curse. Slowly every person in the kingdom also started falling asleep. Even the king and queen fell asleep. Evil’s curse affected everyone. Years passed and a thick forest grew around the palace and the kingdom was hidden.Hundred years later, a handsome prince passed by the forest and saw the kingdom. He was shocked to see a palace in the forest. He went on exploring the palace and saw the sleeping beauty. Princess Aurora was sleeping peacefully. The prince instantly fell in love with her. He leaned down and kissed the princess. The princess woke up because of the kiss and soon all the people of the kingdom woke up. They all were very happy. The prince and princess married each other and lived happily ever after. Moral:Love is the most powerful force in this world. Sometimes, life presents risks that no matter how hard you try to avoid them, you cannot and love can conquer them all.

This is a story of aurora, maleficient and sleeping beauty,Moral(s) of the story: love

The Sleeping Beauty

Ravina Sewani

Once a goat was grazing on the grassy slope of a hill near a stream. It decided to taste the grass on the hills across. A narrow log served as a bridge across the stream. While crossing the bridge, it saw another goat coming from the other side. The bridge was so narrow that only one animal could cross the bridge at a time.The first goat said to the other, "Let me pass first." "You let me pass first", snapped the other goat. They started arguing and finally got into a terrible fight. They lost their balance and fell into the stream.The other goats grazing on the hills saw this and learnt a lesson. After few days, two other goats faced the same problem. One goat said to the other, "I'll sit down and you can step over my body." "Thank you. Next time, I'll sit down and let you cross first."Thus both of them were able to cross the bridge safely. Moral:Wisdom is better than weapons of war.

This is a story of goat and understanding.Moral(s) of the story: cooperation and understanding

Two Goats

Once upon a time, there was a huge banyan tree. An owl, a mongoose, a cat and a rat used to live in or around this tree. All four were scared of each other. The owl feared the cat, the mongoose feared the owl and the cat, and the rat was scared of all three—the owl, the cat and the mongoose. Still, the four animals continued to live in the same place. One day, a hunter laid a trap under this banyan tree hoping to catch at least one of the four animals. He set the trap and went to wait at a distance. Soon, the cat walked there, looking for the rat. She stepped on the snare and before she could realise, she was trapped in the net. Seeing this, the mouse became very happy. He went out of his hole and started dancing in joy around the trapped cat.The owl and the mongoose both saw the rat prancing about and wanted to catch him for their meal. Both of them started approaching him. The rat noticed them but it was too late. They were already quite close and there was no way that the rat could run back to his hole. There was only one way that the rat could think of — to enter the trap along with the cat and persuade her not to kill him by offering to nibble through the net. The rat had to take a quick decision. As the owl and the mongoose came closer, the rat thought that this was his last hope of survival and he quickly entered the trap alongside the cat.The cat was just about to pounce on the rat when the rat said, “Please spare my life. If you don’t kill me, I can help you to get free from this trap. I will nibble the net at many places and you can easily escape.” The cat agreed and let the rat stay with her inside the trap. Seeing the rat with the cat, the owl and the mongoose went away. When they were gone, the rat chewed through the net with his sharp teeth and both of them got out of the net. The cat ran away into the forest and the rat quickly got into his hole.The next day, the cat came to meet the rat. But the wise rat refused to come out of his hole saying that friendship between enemies is only a temporary thing. They will ultimately always remain enemies. Moral:Wisdom is knowing when to side with your enemy and when to keep the distance.

This is a classic story from panchtantra.This is a story from cat, owl and rat.Moral(s) of the story: wisdom

The cat, the rat, and the hunter

In a forest, there lived a bear. The bear was very greedy. He always wanted something bigger. He was never satisfied with what he had. One day, the bear was very hungry and he wanted to eat something. He decided to go out to search for food.The day was very beautiful and bright. The sun was shining and everything looked bright and pretty. The bear decided to eat fish to enjoy the bright sunny day. So, he went to a river to catch fish. The river was filled with fishes and the bear was very happy to see that. He decided to eat lots of fish.The bear prepared himself for the hunt. He looked at the fish and waited for the chance. The bear looking at the opportunity tried to catch a fish. As soon as he grabbed a fish, he was very happy. But when he saw the fish, he became sad. he said, “This fish is very small. I will wait for the bigger fish.” The bear threw the fish back in the water.He again started hunting for the fish. He waited for his chance. He swung his arm in the water and grabbed another fish. After looking at the second fish he again said, “Oh no! This is very small. I need a bigger one.” He again threw the fish back in the water.He continued doing the same again and again. Every time the fish he grabbed was too small for him and every time he would throw the fish back in the water. He wanted to eat a bigger fish. In the end, he was very tired and had nothing to eat because he had thrown every fish back in the river. Moral:Many small things make up for one big thing. Never let go of what you have in hand for what you don’t have yet.

This is a story of bear, fish and river.Moral(s) of story: greediness

The Foolish Bear

Once there were two brothers who were great friends and always played together. However, one day they had a huge argument about one of their toys. In the end, they decided that from then on they would only be allowed to play with their own individual toys.They had so many toys and things that they agreed to spend the next day sorting out which toy belonged to whom. So the next day each brother got to work, making a pile of his own things. When they had finished doing the big toys it was time to sort the little stuff. However, they had already taken so long that it was time for bed, so they left the small toys for the next day. The same thing happened the next day, because they had started dividing up parts of the house.Day after day it was the same story. They were spending their whole time deciding what, among all kinds of things, belonged to either one of them.Anything would set them off: seeing an animal, a tree, or even a stone. In the end, they had accumulated two complete mountains of stuff which had to be kept out in front of the house.As the years passed, nothing changed: every morning they would meet up to argue about which things belonged to whom. They were getting older, and everyone now knew them as "the grumpy old men". No one had ever seen them smile.That was, until one morning they went out and found that their two mountains of stuff had been totally mixed up together. Someone had been there, mixing their things up! After all that time and effort they had spent to separate everything!Furious, the brothers tried to find who had done it. Soon they found a pair of children playing on the other side of the mountains of stuff. They were happily playing together, picking everything up, careless of whether they were mixing it all together. They looked really happy, enjoying themselves to the max.Seeing the children so happy, the two grumpy old brothers realised how foolish they had been for so many years. They had given up playing with anything, instead spending their whole lives arguing over what was theirs to play with. How sad they felt, for spending their lives in anger. At the same time, though, they were happy to have finally realised their foolishness.They spent that day, and the rest of their days, playing together with those two children, mixing everything up, and sharing it all. People even stopped calling them the grumpy old men. Now people called them the 'Big Kids'. Moral:Sharing is caring. It’s not worth to waste time fighting over things. We should learn to share and cherish others’ company.

This is a story of brothers.Moral(s) of the story: sharing

The Angry Brothers	

Once upon a time, a magical bird used to live in a forest. This bird laid golden eggs. One day, a fowler who was hunting for birds in the forest, came near the magical bird’s nest and saw the bird laying golden eggs. He could not believe his eyes. Immediately, he caught the bird in his net. On returning home, he thought about this matter a great deal. He realised that it would be dangerous for him to keep the bird with him. He would become immensely rich in no time with the help of the eggs that the bird would lay. And this sudden, unaccountable wealth might lead the king to believe that he was earning money by dishonest means and the king might imprison him. Thus, he thought that keeping the bird will land him into trouble and it would be better to present the bird to the king.So, the fowler told the king all about the magical bird and presented it to him. The king was extremely happy to have such an extraordinary bird in his possession. He ordered his servants to take proper care of the bird.”But the king’s attendants said, “It is impossible for a bird to lay golden eggs, Your Majesty. This must have been just a practical joke.” This gave rise to a suspicion in the king’s mind and he ordered for the bird to be released. Accordingly, the king’s attendants took the bird to the woods and released it.The bird flew away and thought to itself, “This kingdom seems to be full of fools. The fowler, who knew for a fact that I laid golden eggs, did not keep me for himself but gifted me to the king. The king ordered for me to be released. Even the king’s attendants did not believe in my magical abilities. But I was the biggest fool of them all to have landed in the fowler’s net in the first place.” Moral:Don’t be a fool and believe everything that’s told to you. Verify the facts and then take a decision for yourself.

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

The golden bird and the king

Yesha Desai

Once, Raja Krishnadeva Rayalu was invited by Adil Shah, the Sultan of Delhi to settle the ongoing conflict that was going on between the two regions.Hoping to prevent unnecessary bloodshed and re-establish peace, Rayalu headed for Delhi with his team of poets, dancers and scholars. At Delhi, Adil Shah gave a red carpet welcome to Rayalu. During the amicable rounds of discussions, Krishnadeva Rayalu’s poems recited some sequences from the epic Mahabharat.&nbsp;Adil Shah was immensely impressed to hear the verses from the epic and requested Rayalu to make his men rewrite the Mahabharata, portraying him and his friends as Pandavas and his rivals as Kauravas.King Krishnadeva Rai was shocked to hear such a strange demand from the Sultan.He was worried that if his men failed to meet the Sultan’s demand, he might declare a war on Vijaya Nagar. Seeing his king worried, Tenaliram promised him to handle the situation in the most prudent way possible. The king was certain that Tenaliram would cope with the intricate state of affairs wisely, and hence he granted him the permission to deal with the Delhi Sultan directly.Next morning, Tenaliram sought permission to meet the Sultan in private. He presented himself before the Sultan and requested him with folded hands, “His Highness! It was our pleasure to know about your interest in our ancient texts. The best of our writers and poets are busy composing the new Mahabharat, but there is one place where we have got stuck and wish to seek your guidance.” The Sultan said, “Speak up, poet! What do you desire from me?”Tenaliram said, “Jahanpanah! You are being portrayed as Dharmaraja, the eldest of Pandavas and your friends as Bheema, Arjuna, Nakula and Sahadeva. But, as you know all the five were married to Draupadi and were sharing her equally. Who, amongst the royal family, should be described as her?”The Sultan most certainly did not want his royal Begum to be equated with Draupadi and hence, ordered Tenaliram to stop re-writing the Mahabharata with immediate effect.Everyone including Rayalu appreciated the sharp intelligence and presence of mind that Tenaliram had displayed in solving a tough problem just like that. Moral:Quick wit can get you out of nasty situations.

This is a classic story from Tenali Raman.Moral(s) of the story: wisdom

general dyer 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 of Pandavas

Karna’s Weapons

The Sleeping Beauty

Two Goats

The cat, the rat, and the hunter

The Foolish Bear

The Angry Brothers

The golden bird and the king

Mahabharat and delhi sultan’s wish

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