Shina Utavani

Following is a story about Mahatma Gandhi. Gandhi is known as the “Father of the Nation”. He led the non-violence movement in India and helped India in getting freedom from the British rule.&nbsp;Once a monk visited Gandhiji’s Sabarmati ashram. His name was Swami Satydev and he spent the entire day at the ashram. He expressed the wish to stay there for the rest of his life.The monk told Gandhiji that he liked the work he was doing in the Ashram. He then said, “I would like to stay here in the Ashram and do the work.” Gandhiji replied, “You can stay in the ashram but you will have to put away your saffron robes and have to dress like others in the ashram.”The Swami did not like the idea to change his attire. He said, “But I am a Monk (sanyasi)!” Gandhiji explained, “I am not asking you to leave sanyas. You can continue with it. Sanyas is a state of mind and dress has nothing to do with it.”“The problem with wearing orange robes in the ashram is that the people will not allow you to do work out of respect for your robes, instead they will serve you, and that would be contrary to the principles of this ashram. We are here to serve, not to be served,” said Gandhiji. The swami was lost in deep thoughts. After some time, he decided to join the ashram. Moral:Serving everyone is the best way to live.

This is a story of Mahatma Gandhi and his life's philosophy.Moral(s) of the story: empathy and kindness

We are here to serve, not to be served

Ravina Sewani

A long time ago, there lived a kind tailor in a small village. In that village there also lived a giant elephant. He was very friendly with everybody. The elephant used to go to the village lake to have a bath daily. The tailor’s shop was on the way to the lake. One day, the tailor offered a banana to the elephant. From that day onwards, the elephant used to visit the tailor’s shop daily and have a banana from his hand. The tailor also eagerly waited for the elephant to come and take the banana.One day, the tailor had to go to the city for some urgent work. He left the shop in charge of his son and instructed him to give a banana to the elephant when he came by. The tailor’s son was a naughty boy and he thought of playing tricks with the elephant. When the elephant came to take the banana, he took a needle and drove it inside the trunk of the elephant.The elephant was very angry, but he kept quiet. That day while returning from the lake, he stored a lot of muddy water in his trunk. When he came near the tailor’s shop, he poured all the muddy water inside the shop. All the new clothes of the customers were spoiled.When the tailor came back, he was shocked to see what had happened to his shop. He then came to know of his son’s deed and scolded him a lot for misbehaving with the elephant. He went to meet the elephant and apologised to him, but the elephant never came back to his shop again. Moral:Once a bond or relationship goes sour, it can never be the same again. So preserve what you have.

This is a classic story from panchtantra.This is a story of elephant and tailor.Moral(s) of the story: love

The revenge of the elephant

Pallavi Hota

Blue is one aspect of the legend of Krishna that has remained unchanged through time and geography. We look at what this blue magic is all about, and why even Krishna's sworn enemies were irresistibly drawn to it.Blue is the color of all-inclusiveness. You will see in the existence, anything that is vast and beyond your perception generally tends to be blue, whether it is the ocean or the sky. Anything which is larger than your perception tends to be blue because blue is the basis of all-inclusiveness.Krishna being blue-bodied need not necessarily mean his skin color was blue. Maybe he was dark-skinned, but people who were aware saw the blueness of his energy, so they described him as blue. There are many disputes about who Krishna is and what he is but his all-inclusiveness is one thing that no one can deny. So the theme of blue remained common, and in every corner of the country, Krishna is seen as blue.

Why Is Krishna Blue?

One day, a rich merchant came to Birbal, the Wise. He said to Birbal, "I have seven servants in my house. One of them has stolen my bag of precious pearls. Please find out the thief."So Birbal went to the rich man's house. He called all the seven servants in a room. He gave a stick to each one of them. Then he said, “These are magic sticks. All these sticks are equal in length. Keep them with you and return them to me tomorrow. If there is a thief in the house, his stick will grow an inch longer by tomorrow."The servant who had stolen the bag of pearls was frightened. He thought, "If I cut a piece of one inch from my stick, I won't be caught." So he cut the stick and made it short by an inch.The next day Birbal collected the sticks from the servants. He found that one servant's stick was short by an inch. Birbal pointed his finger at him and said, "Here is the thief." The servant confessed his crime.He returned the bag of pearls and was sent to jail. Moral:The wise can figure out the simplest of ways to solve any problem.

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

Birbal, the wise

There lived a huge king cobra in a dense forest. He ate all kinds of creatures like, “Frogs, Lizards, Bird eggs and every other small insect and animal.” He used to hunt for his food all night and would hide in his hole as soon as the sun would rise.All small animals began to fear the king cobra. This boosted up his pride. He began to think, “Now, I am the most powerful creature. I am the king of the forest. All the animals fear me.”The cobra was very lazy and soon he grew fat. Due to his fat, the cobra could not move easily from his old hole. So, he found himself a new hole which was a huge tree. The new tree had a huge group of ants at its roots. The cobra did not want ants near his house. He had a plan.As cobra was considered as the King of the forest, he ordered the ants to go somewhere else. The other animals around them were scared but the ants did not pay any attenion to cobra’s threats. The ants decided to teach cobra a lesson. They swarmed all over the body of the cobra and started biting him. Their bites causedunbearable pain to the cobra. He tried to pull ants away from his body but failed. He was in pain.After some time, the ants went away. The cobra was hurt and wounded. He was in severe pain. He was crying. All the other animals could only pity him. The ants taught king Cobra a great lesson. Moral:Bigger the ego, harder they fall. Powerful cannot face the small ones when they are in a large number.

This is a story of ant, cobra, fear and forest.Moral(s) of the story: ego

The Cobra and the Ants

There was once a jungle that had no king. All the animals of the jungle gathered and decided to elect a new ruler. They decided to select a king for the jungle. At the meeting of the animals, the monkey who was present there was asked to dance. The monkey started dancing and he did so well that all were impressed by his performance.All the animals enjoyed the monkey’s performance and decided to make monkey the king of the jungle. Everyone voted for the monkey except the Fox. The fox was disappointed by the decision and thought Monkey was not worthy of the title. Fox wanted to explain to everyone that Monkey was not the perfect choice as the king.One day, the fox found a trap with a bit of meat in it. The fox had an idea. He went running to the Monkey and said, “King, I have found a rich treasure but I did not touch it because I think it belongs to you my Majesty.” The greedy monkey was very excited and followed the fox to get the treasure. As soon as the monkey saw the meat, he immediately went to grasp it. In a couple of seconds, the monkey was stuck in a trap. The fox saw the monkey and started laughing.The fox then said, “You cannot even take care of yourself and you pretend to be our king!”. The monkey was ashamed and felt very bad. He bowed down his head in shame. All other animals realized their mistake and understood why the fox was telling that the monkey is not worthy to become a king.They understood that a true leader proves himself by his qualities and not by showing off what he has. Another election was conducted and this time they appointed the true king. They made Lion the king of the jungle. Moral:People who cannot control themselves should never control the people around them.

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

The Fox and the Monkey

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 which describes how Dronacharya was defeated.Yudhisthir was the eldest of the Pandava brothers. He had always followed the path of dharma, his whole life. He had never uttered a lie. Due to his values, his chariot stayed 2 feet above the ground.Dronacharya, who was the Guru of Pandavas and Kauravas, had become the chief of the Kaurava army in the Kurukshetra war. He was a warrior and for the victory of Pandavas, it was necessary to defeat Dronacharya.Lord Krishna told Pandavas that it was impossible to defeat Dronacharya because he was very strong. He was the only warrior who had Brahmastra (a weapon with the power of universe) and Divyastra. Krishna told that Dronacharya can be defeated only when he is unarmed.Krishna then said that the only way to remove Dronacharya was to convince him that his son, Aswathama was dead. His son was his weakness. Krishna further said, “If Dronacharya believes that his son is dead, he will drop his weapons.” After listening to this, Arjuna was a little shocked. He disagreed to kill his own Guru.Lord Krishna headed towards Yudhisthir and said, “We have to follow our Dharma. And we have to do anything we can to stand against Adharma. You are the epitome of Dharma and Righteousness. Only you can help do the right thing.” Yudhisthir thought for few seconds and said, “If this is the only way, I will do it. I will carry the weight of this sin on my shoulder.”Lord Krishna then pointed towards an Elephant. He directed Bheem to kill the elephant. The name of the elephant was Aswathama. Bheem killed the elephant and went to the battlefield and announced, “I have killed Aswathama.”Dronacharya did not believe him and went to Yudhisthir to know the truth. Dronacharya asked, “Is it true that my son is no more?” Yudhisthir replied, “Yes Aswathama is dead. I do not know if it is a man or an elephant.”After listening to the words, Dronacharya was shocked. He was in grief and fell on the ground. He dropped all his weapons and sat down. And so Guru Dronacharya was defeated.At that moment Yudhisthir’s chariot touched the ground as he had told a lie.

This is a story of Ashwatthama, Dronacharya, Krishna and Yudhistra

Yudhisthir and Dronachrayaa

Joy loved his birthday. He was always very excited to receive presents and be the centre of attention.Every year he patiently waited for his birthday to get gifts from his parents and friends. This year, in particular, he was excited to open his gifts because he had gifts from his new friends at school.He had been expecting the latest toy car in gift. However, he didn’t get good enough gifts and ended up lashing out at his friends and spent the rest of his day visibly upset. His parents pulled him to the side and his mother told him, “Joy, I am angry at you.” Joy frowned, “Why?” “Because you are not wearing a white t-shirt.” Joy frowned further. This was no reason to be angry so he asked again, “But why?” “I expected you to wear a white t-shirt and you are not wearing one. So I am angry at you.” “But Ma, that is no reason to be mad at someone. I did not know what you wanted.” “Exactly, Joy, just like your friends did not know what you wanted. You need to be thoughtful of people’s feelings and understand their choices. They got you gifts that they thought you needed, so what if it did not turn out to be what you liked.” That was how Joy realised he could not have tantrums because he expected something and did not get what he wanted. Moral:Before reacting, we must understand the situation completely.

This is a story of birthday.Moral(s) of the story: understanding

Joy's Birthday

A long time ago, the birds of a forest called a meeting to elect a new king for themselves. They were dissatisfied with their present king, Garuda, who spent most of his time enjoying in heaven rather than fulfilling his duties as the king of the birds. So, the birds decided that they would elect some other bird as their king. After many arguments and heated discussions, the birds finally came to the decision that they would crown the owl as their new king. They started making preparations for the coronation of the newly-elected king of the birds. Just then, a crow flew in and made an objection to the birds’ selection saying, “You have chosen the owl as the king? What were you thinking? Why, such an ugly bird! He also goes blind during the day! And what’s more, owls are birds of prey. He might just kill one of you and have you for his meal rather than protecting you as his subject. What kind of a king would such a bird make? A peacock or a swan would do much better.”The birds thought that the crow’s arguments were based on logic. This made them reconsider their decision. They decided to hold another meeting on a later date for the election of the king. The coronation ceremony was postponed.The owl who was still sitting, ready to be crowned as the king, noticed that suddenly everybody had gone absolutely quiet around him. Since it was day time, the owl could not see anything at all. He started growing restless and a little suspicious too. At last, he asked his attendants why the coronation was taking so long. The attendants replied, “Sir, the coronation ceremony has been postponed. The birds have changed their minds about crowning you as their king, They have all gone back to their homes now. There is nobody here.The owl was infuriated. “Why?” he asked.The attendant replied, “A crow put up arguments against the owl family. He said that owls are ugly and are killers.”The owl lost his temper even more. He said to the crow who was smirking, “You have deprived me of the honour of becoming the king of the birds. So, from now on, the owls will be sworn enemies of the crows. Beware of us.”The crow realised that his over-smartness had made him an enemy but it was too late now. Moral:Think twice before doing or saying anything.

This is a classic story from panchtantra.This is a story of crow and owl.Moral(s) of the story: smartness

nicodemus 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.