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.

Ravina Sewani

Long ago, there lived a woodcutter in a small village. He was sincere in his work and very honest. Every day, he set out into the nearby forest to cut trees. He brought the woods back into the village and sold them out to a merchant and earn his money. He earned just about enough to make a living, but he was satisfied with his simple living.One day, while cutting a tree near a river, his axe slipped out of his hand and fell into the river. The river was so deep, he could not even think to retrieve it on his own. He only had one axe which was gone into the river. He became a very worried thinking how he will be able to earn his living now! He was very sad and prayed to the God. He prayed sincerely so the God appeared in front of him and asked, “What is the problem, my son?” The woodcutter explained the problem and requested the God to get his axe back.The God put his hand deep into the river and took out a silver axe and asked, “Is this your axe?” The Woodcutter looked at the axe and said “No”.&nbsp;So the God put his hand back deep into the water again and showed a golden axe and asked, “Is this your axe?” The woodcutter looked at the axe and said “No”. The God said, “Take a look again Son, this is a very valuable golden axe, are you sure this is not yours?” The woodcutter said, “No, It’s not mine. I can’t cut the trees with a golden axe. It’s not useful for me”.The God smiled and finally put his hand into the water again and took out his iron axe and asked, “Is this your axe?” To this, the woodcutter said, “Yes! This is mine! Thank you!” The Goddess was very impressed with his honesty so she gave him his iron axe and also other two axes as a reward for his honesty. Moral:Always be honest. Honesty is always rewarded.

This is a story of gold, iron, silver and woodcutter.Moral(s) of the story: honesty

The Woodcutter and The Axe

Yesha Desai

One day, a rich man wanted to get an innocent man named Hasan, punished for some grudge that he held against him. He accused him of stealing his wife’s valuable necklace, and reported this theft in the Emperor’s court.Emperor Akbar asked the man, “Why do you think that Hasan has stolen the necklace from your place?” The rich man replied, “Your Majesty, I have myself seen him stealing the necklace!” Hasan said, “No Huzoor, I am innocent! I do not know anything about the necklace.”The rich man said, “Huzoor, if he is innocent, ask him to prove his innocence by holding a hot iron rod in his bare hands. If he is able to do so, then I will believe that he has not stolen my necklace, and he is speaking the truth.”The rich man also convinced the Emperor that if Hasan was telling the truth then the holy deities above would not let any harm come to him and it was the most ideal way to test the innocence of the accused person. The Emperor ordered Hasan to appear in his court the next day and do as directed by the rich man.Poor Hasan was at his wit’s end. He went to Raja Birbal for help. Birbal could understand that the man was telling the truth and suggested a clever idea to him.When he returned the next day, he said, “I am ready for the test. But the same thing should be applied to the rich man as well. If he is speaking the truth, then the red hot iron should not burn his hands also. So, first let him hold the hot iron rod in his hands, and then I will hold that iron in my bare hands.”Now, the rich man was speechless! He requested the Emperor Akbar to let him go and look for the necklace again in his house; maybe his wife had misplaced it somewhere in the house itself.Emperor Akbar ordered the rich man to give the necklace to Hasan as a punishment and praised Raja Birbal for his clever idea. Moral:Framing someone for a crime and lying does not end well.

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

Red Hot Test

Akbar’s court was famous for the witty question answer sessions between the Emperor himself, and his clever minister Birbal.On one such occasion – Akbar asked his courtiers whether they could tell the difference between truth and untruth within three words. All the courtiers started racking their brains to search for the three most appropriate words in which they could tell the difference between the truth and the untruth. But, enough time passed and none of them could come up with an answer.Birbal was also present in the court, but kept mum. The Emperor asked him, “What about you, Birbal? Why are you so silent?”“Your Majesty!” Birbal politely replied, “I was giving a chance to others first. In my opinion, the right answer would be: Four fingers.”The Emperor asked Birbal, “How is that, Birbal? Explain it to all!”“Yes, Your Majesty, four fingers is the difference between truth and untruth. What your eyes see is truth, and what your ears hear, may be false.”“I agree with that, but why did you say that the difference between truth and untruth is four fingers?” Akbar said.Birbal bowed and said, “Four fingers is the distance between one’s eyes and one’s ears, Your Majesty!” Akbar was very astonished to hear Birbal’s well thought reply. Moral:Never believe on what you hear from several mouths. Often times, the things we hear turn out to be mere rumours. It is better to trust our eyes than anyone else’s words.&nbsp;&nbsp;

This is story of Akbar Birbal.Moral(s) of the story: honesty and lying

Truth and Untruth

Bajirao Peshwa was a great commander of the Maratha Army. Once he was returning to his capital after fighting many successful battles. On the way he camped with his army in Malva. His soldiers were very tired and hungry after a long march. They did not have enough food to eat.Bajirao called one of his captains and commanded, "Go with a hundred armed soldiers to the countryside. Cut some corn from the fields and bring it to the camp for our army."So the captain went to the countryside with a hundred armed soldiers. On the way they met a farmer. The captain said to the farmer, "Please take us to the biggest cornfield in this area." So the farmer took them to a very big cornfield. The captain ordered the soldiers to cut the corn and put it into their bags. The farmer requested the captain, "Sir, please don't cut any corn from this field. I will take you to another field where the crop is ripe and ready."So the captain and the soldiers went with the farmer to another cornfield which was a few miles away from there. It was a small field. The farmer said, "Sir, please cut from this field as much corn as you need." The captain angrily asked the farmer, "Why did you make us ride a long distance for this small field? This field is much smaller than the former one." The farmer politely said, "Sir, please don't be angry. That field was not mine. This one is mine and so I have brought you here."The farmer's reply cooled down the captain's anger. He rode back to the Peshwa without any corn and narrated his experience to him. The Peshwa then realised his own mistake. Peshwa himself went to the farmer's cornfield. He paid the farmer the price of the corn in gold and collected all the corn from the field. Moral:Be just and honest in everything you do.

This is a classic story from Vikas books.This is a story of farmer.Moral(s) of the story: honesty and justice

The peshwa and the farmer

Once, a man planned to go for a pilgrimage with his family. He put all his savings in an empty pickle jar and gave it to his neighbour for safe custody. The neighbour took it and promised to take good care of his money.When the man returned from the pilgrimage, he went to meet his neighbour and asked for his jar. The neighbour brought the jar from inside and gave it to the man. When the man opened the jar, he saw that there was just some mango pickle in the jar, instead of the money. He understood that his neighbor had replaced the money with the mango pickle. He said, “Sir, when I gave you this jar, it was full of my hard earned money, now it contains only mango pickle. How could it be so?”The dishonest neighbor replied, “I do not know anything about your money. I did not touch the jar in your absence. Whatever you gave me, I am giving it back to you.”The man was devastated and went to Birbal for justice. Birbal summoned the neighbor and asked him, “Where is the money that was kept in this jar?”The neighbor replied, “Respected sir, I have already told this man that I do not know anything about his money. I did not open his jar even once! I just took it from him, kept it safely and then returned it back to him when he came back. Instead of thanking me for taking his jar of pickle, he is accusing me of theft.”Birbal realised that the man would not easily confess his crime, so he called a cook from the royal kitchen and asked him, “My good man, could you tell us how old this pickle is?”The cook was very experienced and after having a careful look at the pickle, he told Birbal that the pickle was not even a month old. It was definitely not made six months back, as per the claim of the neighbour.This is how Birbal caught the neighbour’s lie and proved that he had stolen the money from the jar. The culprit was duly punished for the act of theft. Moral:Lies are always found out/ Stealing is bad

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

The pickled clue

Everyone knew that Stuti was the best speller in the whole class. She could spell difficult words like "encyclopedia" and "amendment" very easily. She used to get perfect scores during each weekly spelling test.Ms. Daisy, her English teacher made a rule for the spelling tests that any child who doesn't get at least 60% correct spellings would have to copy each word fifty times for next week's spelling test. Seema, who sat next to Stuti always struggled in spellings. Last Thursday, she received 56 percent which meant copying each word fifty times.Stuti was so confident in her spelling abilities that she had felt and decided not to study for her next spelling test. The test began. Ms. Daisy pronounced each word and then repeated it. Everything was OK until she spoke "Handkerchief". Stuti scribbled h-a-n-d-k-e-r-c-h.....now what?? i??...or…e?? Her mind was blank.Ms. Daisy started to move on to the next word. It occurred to Stuti that Seema knew how to spell it!! Seema had written this word fifty times.&nbsp;There was wide open space between Stuti and Seema. Stuti's eyes rolled to the right. There it was, spelled out in Seema's handwriting. Her eyes went quickly back to her own paper and finished the word with the letters "i-e-f".Stuti remained tense and nervous as Ms. Daisy read the last spelling word. She had cheated just for the first time in her life. She thought, "Is this the way I want to keep my perfect record - by being a cheater?"Frantically, she erased what she had written earlier and replaced it with what she knew was the wrong answer. She wrote "e-i-f". As her sweaty hands released pencil and passed the test up to the front, she sighed with relief. She thought, "So, what if my perfect scores are no longer intact? At least my honesty is."Moral: Honesty is the best policy. Stuti could have cheated and scored good but that guilt would then always have stayed with her.

This is a story of girl.Moral(s) of the story: cheating and honesty

Stuti in an Exam

Once upon a time Sammy and his sister Marie visited their grandparents at their farm. Sammy picked up a slingshot to play with out in the woods. He practiced in the woods but he could never hit the target. Getting a little discouraged, he headed back for the lunch. As he was walking back he saw Grandma’s pet duck.Just out of impulse, he let the slingshot fly which hit the duck square in the head and killed it. He was shocked and grieved. In a panic, he hid the dead duck in the pile of woods. Marie had seen it all from the window but she said nothing. After the lunch, the next day Grandma said, “Marie, let’s wash the dishes.” Marie said,“But Grandma, Sammy told me he wanted to help in the kitchen.”Then she whispered to Sammy, “Remember the duck?” Sammy got nervous knowing his sister knew about the duck and if he doesn’t obey, she may tell his grandparents about it. So without saying anything, he did the dishes.Later that day, Grandpa asked if the children wanted to go fishing but Grandma said, “I’m sorry but I need Marie to help make a supper.” Marie just smiled and said, “Well that’s all right because Sammy told me he wanted to help.”She whispered again to Sammy, “Remember the duck?” So Marie went fishing and Sammy stayed to help. After several days of Marie taking advantage of Sammy, he finally couldn’t stand it any longer. He came to Grandma and confessed that he had killed the duck.Grandma knelt down, gave him a hug and said, “Sweetheart, I know. I was standing at the window and I saw the whole thing but because I love you, I forgave you. I was just wondering how long you would let Marie take advantage of you.” Moral:Always confess of your mistakes. It will take away a load of guilt from your heart and no one will take an advantage of your secret mistakes! Accept your mistake, apologize and seek forgiveness politely.

This is a story of brother, duck, grandfather, grandmother and sister.Moral(s) of the story: confession and honesty

Little Boy with a Slingshot

Once, there lived a man who was very rich but was a miser. He had a great deal of money but he did not like to spend it on anyone. One day, he was very sad because ants had entered his bowl of sugar. So, he thought of drying the sugar in the sun to drive the ants out. He placed the sugar in a heap on a large piece of paper and kept it out in the sun. But he was worried that his friend, Subba Sastry might come and eat the sugar so he sat and kept watch next to it.Subba Sastry, who was very fond of sweets in any form, had seen the rich man keep the sugar out in the sun. He called his son and said, “I am going to the rich man’s porch to talk to him. After five minutes, come running to me, shouting ‘Our cow is dead.’”After giving his son these instructions, Subba Sastry went to the rich man’s porch and started talking to him. Subba Sastry asked the rich man why he was looking so upset. The rich man replied that he had been having a great deal of losses. Then Subba Sastry asked him what he was drying and the rich man replied by saying that water had fallen into some mud in his garden so he was drying it.Just then, Subba Sastry’s son came running to the porch shouting, “Our cow is dead! Our cow is dead!” Subba Sastry pretended to be grieving, and as was the custom, picked up one handful of the mud that was actually sugar and put it into his mouth. He picked up another handful and put it in his son’s mouth. The rich man was shocked to see this. He started shouting, “This is not mud! Don’t eat it. This is sugar.” Subba Sastry replied, “No, you told me that this is mud. It tastes like mud, too.” He went on eating till all the sugar was over. The miserly rich man was left sad and grieving over the loss of his sugar. Moral:If you lie, it can backfire on you.

This is a classic story from Tenali Raman.This is a story of ant and cow.Moral(s) of the story: honesty

Subba sastry and sugar

Sam was a greedy and a selfish man. He always desired to have lots and lots of money and never hesitated to cheat others to make money. Also, he never wished to share anything with others. He paid very low wages to his servants.However, one day, he learned a lesson that changed his life forever.It so happened that one day, a small bag that belonged to Sam was missing. The bag had 50 gold coins in it. Sam searched high and low for the bag, but could not find it. Sam’s friends and neighbours also joined in the search, but all their efforts were in vain.After a couple of days, the ten year old daughter of a man working for Sam found the bag. She told her father about it. Her father identified the bag as the one that was missing, and immediately decided to take it to his master.He gave the bag back to his master Sam, and asked him to check whether the bag had 50 gold coins. Sam was exultant to get the coins back, but he decided to play a trick. He shouted at his worker, “there were 75 gold coins in this bag but you gave me only 50! Where are the other coins? You have stolen them!”The worker was shocked to hear this and pleaded his innocence. Selfish and greedy, Sam did not accept the worker’s story, and decided to take the issue to court. The judge heard both the sides. He questioned the daughter and the worker about the number of coins they had found in the bag, and they assured it was only 50. He cross-examined Sam and Sam replied, “Yes my lord, I had 75 gold coins in my bag, and they gave me only 50. Hence, it is quite obvious that they have stolen 25 coins!” The judge then asked, “Are you sure that your bag had 75 coins?”Sam nodded vigorously. The judge then made his judgment. “Since Sam lost a bag of 75 gold coins and the bag found by the girl had only 50 coins, it is obvious that the bag that was found does not belong to Sam. It was lost by someone else. If anyone finds a bag of 75 gold coins, I will declare that it belongs to Sam. As there are no complaints about the loss of 50 coins, I order the girl and his father to take those 50 coins as a token of appreciation for their honesty!” Moral:Honesty will always be rewarded and greed punished!

This is a story of coin.Moral(s) of the story: greediness, honesty and selfishness

honesty 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 Woodcutter and The Axe

Red Hot Test

Truth and Untruth

The peshwa and the farmer

The pickled clue

Stuti in an Exam

Little Boy with a Slingshot

Subba sastry and sugar

Gold Coins and a Selfish Man

More like this

Bee Suggestions

About Bee