Shina Utavani

There was once a peasant who lived with his family in the village. His family used to help him in his fields. After some time, his wife passed away due to prolonged sickness. After his wife’s death, he was very depressed. He also lost some of his other family members after that. He was left alone with no one to help him in his home or his fields.One day, he went to Bravo the bear. He said to him, “Bravo, let’s keep the house, the plants and our garden together and sow our corn.” Bravo asked him, “But how shall we divide it afterward?” the peasant replied, “Well, you take all the tops and I will take all the roots.” Bravo agreed, and they sowed some turnips together which grew beautifully.Bravo worked hard and gathered all the turnips and then they began to divide them. The peasant said, “The tops are yours, right bravo?” The bear replied, “Yes”. The peasant cut off the turnip tops and gave them to the bravo. He then counted his roots. The bear saw the roots of the peasants and thought that the tops are of no use. They are useless. Bravo then realized that the peasant had cheated him, he felt very bad and lay down in his den.In the next spring, the peasant again came to see the bear. He said, “Bravo, let us work together again, shall we?” Bravo replied, “Only if you keep the tops and let me have the roots!” The peasant agreed.This time they sowed some wheat. They both worked hard to grow the crop. When the crop grew up, it looked beautiful. Finally, they began to divide it. The peasant took all the tops with the grain and gave all the roots to the Bravo. So, this time also the bear did not get anything.Bravo felt very bad and said, “Goodbye, Peasant. I am not going to work with you anymore. You are very deceiving.” And with that, he went off into the forest. The peasant was left all alone and had no one to help him in the field. Moral:Never cheat anyone.

This is a story of bear, turnip and wheat.Moral(s) of the story: cheating

The peasant and the bear

Yesha Desai

A long time ago, king Krishna Deva Raya had a very wise minister in his court by the name of Tenali Raman. Once, the kingdom faced a major problem of rats. Rats had multiplied to a very large number and were creating a lot of destruction. They were nibbling through important papers, clothes, grains in food stores, etc. There were not many cats in the kingdom to catch all the rats. So, the king asked all the houses in the kingdom to keep one cat each. But cats feed on milk and not every house owned a cow to get the milk. So, the king also gave cows to every house. The people were happy and brought up the cows and the cats. They used to give a lot of milk to their cats.But Tenali Raman was a lazy fellow and he was also very fond of drinking milk. He wanted to keep the milk from the cow for himself. So, he thought of a clever trick. He boiled the milk and poured it in a pan. Then, he put this pan in front of the cat. As soon as the cat touched the boiling hot milk with its tongue, its tongue got burned and it ran away at once. Tenali repeated the same thing the next day and again the day after that. After a few days like that, the cat refused to touch the milk that was offered to it for fear of getting its mouth burned. In this way, Tenali got to drink all the milk himself.One day, the king ordered for all the cats to be brought before him for inspection. While everyone else’s cats were fat and healthy, Tenali’s cat looked thin and weak. The king was very angry with Tenali for not taking proper care of the cat. But Tenali pleaded, “Your Majesty, I cannot help it. My cat does not drink any milk at all.” The king said, “Nonsense, I will put you in prison for telling a lie.” Tenali requested the king to give him a chance to prove it and the king agreed.So, Tenali brought his cat and the pan of milk in front of the king. He offered milk to the cat. But on seeing the pan of milk, the cat ran away, frightened. The king was surprised at this but he let Tenali go. Tenali lived happily, enjoying lots of milk by himself. Moral:We can use our wit and good planning to overcome problems.

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

Tenali raman and the cat

Once in a forest, there was a huge pond. In the pond, there lived a flock of cranes. All the cranes used to catch fishes from the pond and spent their lives happily. There also lived a cunning fox in the forest. His name was Tricky. He also visited the pond to catch fishes. Whitey, one of the cranes helped Tricky to catch fishes. Gradually, Whitey and Tricky started talking and became best friends. They used to talk, chat, eat, and play together.One day, Tricky invited Whitey to his place for dinner. He wanted to give a treat to Whitey for helping him. It was a Sunday evening and Whitey dressed up and left for the Tricky’s house. Whitey took some grapes with him. Tricky welcomed his friend to his house. They both were talking and suddenly the aroma of soup filled the place. Whitey was very hungry and could not resist the aroma. Tricky called him inside for the dinner.Tricky played a prank with Whitey. So, he poured the soup into two plates. Whitey who was excited to taste the soup was shocked as the soup was on the plate. Tricky enjoyed the soup while whitey could not drink the soup as it was on a plate. Whitey was very upset and returned home with an empty stomach. He decided to teach Tricky a lesson.Whitey met Tricky the next day and said, “I am delighted by the way you treated me. Let’s meet for dinner at my place today in the evening.” In the evening, Tricky arrived at Whitey’s house. Both of them talked for some time. Whitey also had prepared the soup and the aroma filled the place. Tricky’s mouth watered.Whitey went in and came with soup in two deep long jars. He placed the jars on the table. Tricky was shocked when he saw the jars. Tricky tried to drink from the jar but as soon as he bent, the jar got stuck in his mouth. He tried to remove the jar but the jar was stuck tightly on his mouth. He ran here and there and finally the jar broke.Tricky said, “Sorry, Whitey. Please forgive me. From now, I will not play any pranks and will be a good friend.” Moral:One should not try to make fun of the other’s limitations.

This is a story of crane, forest, fox and pond.Moral(s) of the story: carelessness and ignorance

The Fox and the Crane

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”.Arjuna was one of the five Pandava brothers and was married to Subhadra. They both had a son named Abhimanyu. When Subhadra was pregnant with Abhimanyu, Arjuna decided to tell his wife about the Chakravyuh war technique. Chakravyuh is a maze formed by armed soldiers to trap the enemy. He narrated to Subhadra how to break the Chakravyuh. Abhimanyu who was inside the Subhadra’s womb memorized the entire process while it was narrated by Arjuna.While Arjuna was telling about the strategy of the Chakravyuh, Subhadra fell asleep. As a result, Abhimanyu only learned about entering the mazebut could not learn the way out from the Chakravyuh. After years when Abhimanyu reached his youth, he had to fight in the Kurukshetra War of Mahabharata. In the war, he had to confront the enemy’s Chakravyuh Formation. He entered the formation as he knew the strategy but was not able to get out of it. Abhimanyu didn’t lose hope and fought vigorously with the enemies. He fought with the enemies by a chariot wheel. He didn’t give up and fought bravely till his last breath. Moral:Never Give Up on something and try your best until you succeed. Always stay determined and focused even when the situation is not in your favour.

This is a story of Abhimanyu, Arjun and Subhadra.Moral(s) of the story: bravery and determination.

The Brave Abhimanyu

One day, a doctor went to a police station complaining about robbers in his village. The police inspector listened to his worries. No actual robbery had happened to the doctor but he was worried that he would be robbed as he regularly travelled alone late at night to treat patients in the district. The policeman told him that he will investigate. The policeman told the doctor not to worry and continue his life. The doctor was not satisfied with the policeman’s response but agreed with him nonetheless. Finally, one day, the doctor got robbed. The doctor was a rather influential person in the village so a lot of people gathered. The policeman was there too. The policeman told the people around him, “The doctor should have been more careful and protected his assets better. He should not have travelled alone so late at night.” One of the relatives of the doctor said, “Sir, your advice is of no use now!” The policeman realised that he was a little too late and should have acted responsibly in the first place. Moral:A stitch in time saves nine. It is better to address the problem immediately than to wait until it gets worse.

This is a story of a policeman and a doctor.Moral(s) of the story: responsibility

A little too late

A group of flowers used to live together in a garden. The flowers included Sunflower, Cactus, Daisy, and Cosmos. All the flowers were very small and they were growing gradually.After some time, the flowers bloomed beautifully one day and everyone had a flower on them except cactus. The cactus did not have any flower on it. All the flowers started teasing him. They all started making fun of cactus. The sunflower said, “Hey Look, Cactus looks so ugly. She does not have a flower on her.” Everyone started laughing. “You do not come close to me. You make me look ugly,” said the cosmos. Tulip said, “I am grateful that I am not a cactus.” The daisy said, “You look so ugly, cactus.”The cactus felt very bad and sad. All the plants were very rude to her. All these comments made cactus very sad. She wanted to look like them. She started applying different things to look like them.After a few months, the summer season started approaching and the garden began to dry up. The hot weather had dried up the garden. There was no water and all the flowers except cactus were suffering due to the hot summer. Cactus saw all the flowers suffering due to the hot weather, she asked them, “Are you guys okay?” They all said they were dying out of thirst and that they will die because of the hot weather.Sunflower said, “Cactus, the hot weather is affecting all of us but not you. How come you are not affected by the water? Do you not feel thirsty?” The cactus said, “I have long roots that spread out just under the groundwater. And without leaves, my body releases very less water in the atmosphere so I can store a lot of water.”Seeing the flowers dying because of thirst, the cactus decided to help them. She said, “I can help you all, I have some water.” Sunflower felt very bad and said, “I am sorry Cactus. We treated you so bad and still, you are willing to help us.” The cactus replied, “It is okay. I am doing what I know is right.” Everyone apologized to cactus and felt guilty. Cactus helped everyone and saved their lives. Everyone thanked cactus for saving their lives.They all stopped teasing her after that day. A fairy was watching all this from above and was impressed by the good deed of cactus. She decided to reward Cactus for its kindness. She came and moved her magic wand and the cactus got a beautiful flower. The cactus was very happy to finally have a flower just like the other plants. After that, all the flowers lived happily together in the garden. Moral:Do not make fun of others. Everyone has their strengths and weaknesses.

This is a story of cactus, cosmos, daisy, plant, summer, sunflower, tulip and water.Moral(s) of the story: kindness

Kind Cactus

Ravina Sewani

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

Pallavi Hota

The Ramayan is an ancient Sanskrit epic written by the famous sage Valmiki. It describes Lord Rama's effort to rescue Sita from the demon king Ravana. It also describes the challenges faced by Lord Rama, Laxaman, and Sita when they were exiled from the kingdom for 14 years. Following is a story from “The Ramayana”.When Vibhishan, the younger brother of Ravana, pleaded with his brother Ravana to return Sita to Rama, Ravana ridiculed him and asked him to go away.&nbsp;After all his efforts failed, he came to take shelter of Lord Ram and seeked his protection. The Lord asked Sugreev what his opinion was. Sugreev said he is spying for Ravana, so we must tie him up. But when Vibhishan came into Lord Ram’s room, the Lord gave him a big hug.Sugreev was upset and said that he asked for his advice but did not follow it. Lord Ram said, “I did follow it, you said to tie him up. So instead of tying him with ropes, I tied him in my arms, because the one who is tied up in my embrace will never leave me.”

This is a story of Ram and Vibhushan.

Rama tied up Vibhishana in his embrace

Krishna’s childhood was filled with adventurous stories. Though filled with joy, each episode of his childhood shows one spiritual dimension or the other.Gokula was a land with pure cowherds (a person who tends to cows), the men were named 'Gopalas' and the girls were called 'Gopis'. Krishna was about three months old when his mother brought him to the place where people gathered for a festival with their relatives.Yashoda and other people had to prepare the afternoon meal and she left the sleeping child in the shade of a bullock cart. The food was consumed, people were busy with the music. Krishna woke up to the sounds of music while sleeping soundly.Playfully, wanting to join the party, the kid began to move his feet to the beat and pushed the cart's wheel. The cart fell with a thud, and everyone was surprised by the sound, and they ran to the place hoping for the worst. Together they raised the collapsed cart and were overjoyed to see the boy, appearing as happy as ever, and completely unharmed by the crash.&nbsp;That was indeed the first confirmation of his heavenly abilities, but this fact was not known by everyone around at that moment, but rather played off as a miraculous escape.

This is a story of bullock cart, Krishna and Yashoda.

hitopadesha tales 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.