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.

Shina Utavani

There lived a bear named Winnie the Pooh. He lived with his friends in the Hundred-Acre Wood. One day, it was very windy and Winnie decided to visit his thinking spot. Whenever he wanted to think of something, he used to go to his thinking spot. The fluffy bear took all of his things and happily went to his thinking spot. He happily exclaimed that the day was very windy.Winnie quickly went to his thinking spot. After reaching there, he sat down quickly and tried to think of something. He quietly tried to think of something. He whispered to himself, “Think, Pooh, Think.” He tried very hard but could not think of anything. While he was busy thinking, Gopher, the beaver came out of the ground. The beaver said, “Why are you sitting here on a windy day? If I were you, I would have quickly gone back to my home. It’s Windsday, you know?After listening to beaver, pooh excitedly asked, “Windsday?” The pooh surprisingly looked at the beaver and an idea came to his mind. He decided to wish everyone a “Happy Windsday”. The fluffy bear quickly left his thinking spot and went to the piglet’s house.When he reached the piglet’s house, he was sweeping away the fallen leaves on a windy day. Piglet almost swept off the leaves and suddenly a huge gust of wind brought back all the leaves again. “Happy Windsday, Piglet”, pooh said with full of excitement. Another strong gust of wind blew and this time it took piglet along with the leaves. The poor piglet cried and said, “This is not a happy day for me.”&nbsp;Pooh saw piglet floating away with the wind and asked, “Where are you going piglet?”. The piglet said, “I do not know. Please Help Me, Pooh!” The pooh quickly grabbed onto a piglet scarf before he could fly out of reach. The wind was blowing so heavily that pooh also flew along with the piglet. Whenever piglet floated, pooh ran after him. Pooh and piglet went right through the rabbit’s carrot patch. They carried carrots along with them everywhere due to the wind and that made the rabbit very angry.The wind started blowing even stronger and with that, pooh and piglet were thrown at the Owl’s window. Looking at both of them, owl happily said, “What a pleasant surprise.” The Owl opened the window and invited them inside. As soon as the Owl opened the window, a strong gust of wind entered and his entire house was brought down.Everyone from the Hundred-Acre Wood came to help them but no one knew what to do. In the end Eeyore, the donkey said it’s time to look for a new house. Sadly, everyone agreed and the donkey gave the job of finding the new house to the Owl.When the night came, it was still windy. Poor pooh tried to sleep but he could not sleep. Pooh heard some strange voices and that made him uncomfortable. He decided to investigate and see who was there. He got up, opened the door and with trembling hands due to the wind, he asked, “Who’s out there?” Pooh prayed for no reply.At that very moment, pooh saw a strange-looking animal. The animal was orange in colour with black stripes all over its body. The animal said, “My name is Tiger.” Pooh said, “Oh, you scared me.” Tiger said, “Everyone is scared of Tigers.” And he laughed. Pooh curiously asked, “What is a Tiger?” tiger jumped around showing all he could and said, “I am hungry”. The pooh sadly said, “I hope not for honey.” Fortunately, the tiger hated honey. So, he left.The windy night turned into a rainy night. It rained heavily that night. The next morning, Hundred-Acre Wood was flooded with water all around. Pooh was scared that due to the water all his honey pots would go to waste. So, he decided to eat them all. But as he was licking the last pot, the water was flowing so heavily that it took pooh and his honey pot along with it.Everyone was struggling because of the flood. Piglet was also suffering in the water. The water entered his house through the window. He had no one to help him. So, poor piglet wrote a note asking for help and put it in a bottle. Then, he threw the bottle in the water. He thought someone would surely come to help him.All the people from the Hundred-Acre Wood gathered around Christopher Robin. Christopher Robin lived on a high hill and water could not reach there. He found the piglet’s note and sent Owl to find the piglet. Owl went to find a piglet. While flying he saw two objects. The two objects were Pooh the bear and the piglet. Owl shouted, “Pooh, Piglet! Christopher Robin is planning a rescue for you two.” Pooh was still stuck in his honey pot and the piglet stood firmly clinging onto a chair. They finally floated to Christopher Robin’s hill. After seeing Pooh and Piglet, Christopher said, “Pooh, you rescued Piglet! You are a hero. I must throw a Hero party for you, pooh!”Christopher threw a grand party for everyone and everyone started coming to the party. When Eeyore arrived, he announced, “I have found a new house for Owl.” Eeyore wished to show everyone Owl’s new house. Everyone followed Eeyore and to their surprise, Eeyore stopped in front of Piglet’s house. Before Pooh could say anything, Piglet gave up his house to Owl. Pooh happily said, “Piglet, you shall stay with me then.”Christopher Robin was very happy seeing the kind gesture of the Piglet. He said, “Piglet, that was a very kind gesture. So, the hero party was thrown not for one but two heroes. Pooh rescued little piglet and piglet saved Owl by giving him his home.”

This is a story of bear, owl and Winnie Pooh.Moral(s) of the story: kindness

Winnie and the Pooh

Ravina Sewani

Once, there was a huge banyan tree on which thousands of crows lived. Close to this banyan tree, there was a cave in which thousands of owls had made their home. The owls used to hunt the crows at night. Every day, many crows were killed by the owls. The main reason for this was that the crows could not see clearly at night while the owls, being nocturnal birds, could see very clearly and locate exactly where the crows were sitting. The poor crows could not fly away to safety in time and became easy prey for the owls. Soon, the population of crows became considerably less. The king of crows was very troubled by this. He called a meeting to come up with a solution to this problem. After a lot of discussion, finally the crows hit upon a clever idea. They chalked out the details of their plan and decided to put it into action the next day.As per the plan, the next day, a drama was staged near the cave of the owls. The king of the crows pretended to beat up an old crow. They sprinkled a goat’s blood on the old crow to make it seem as if he was injured and bleeding. Then they left him lying there in a seemingly pitiable condition.The owl king’s senior minister advised the owl king to admit the wounded crow in their kingdom. He said, “Your Majesty, this poor crow has come to be in this miserable condition because he spoke favourably about us to his king. He said that owls were a superior race and stronger and more intelligent than them and so owls should be recognized as the king of birds. This led to him being beaten.”The owl king said, “Let him in and help him to regain his health and heal his injuries.” So, the old crow was carried into the cave by the owl king’s soldiers. Soon, the old crow made a favourable place for himself among the owls. Most of the ministers of the owl king’s court were in the old crow’s favour. There were only one or two who opposed him saying that, after all, a crow is an enemy. But the opposition was quite weak and the crow continued living with the owls.One day, he found his opportunity and began to put his plan into action. It was day time, so the owls were unable to see anything because of the sunlight. The apparently injured crow got up and gradually made a pile of a thousand wooden logs at the mouth of the owls’ cave. Then, he set fire to the logs. The flames leapt high and soon the whole cave including all the owls inside it were burnt down to ashes. Moral:Never trust an enemy and allow them to get close to you.

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

The old wise crow

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

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

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.

owl 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.

Winnie and the Pooh

The old wise crow

The cat, the rat, and the hunter

The owl and the lion

Why the owls became the enemies of the crows

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