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

There was once a boy who always treated his mother horribly, shouting at her, insulting her. It didn't matter to him how sad he made her.One day, without knowing how, he woke up in an immense and lonely place. He was sitting on a rock from which four huge pillars rose up into the sky, appearing to support the entire world.He was all alone, but soon an enormous flock of crows with beaks made of steel landed on the rock, and set about violently chipping away at it.After the crows left, a mysterious door in one of the pillars opened, and through it came a charming and pretty girl. "Have you come to help us? That's great! We need all the people we can get."The boy was puzzled, and spotting his confusion, the little girl explained, "So you don't know where you are? This is the centre of the Earth. These pillars support the whole planet, and this rock keeps the pillars in place.""And how can I help you?" said the boy, confused. "Well, to help look after the rock, of course. Anyone can see by your face that you're the best person for the job," answered the girl,"The birds you saw are only increasing in number and if we don't look after this rock it will eventually crumble and everything will come crashing down.” "And what do you see in my face?!" exclaimed the boy, surprised. "I've never looked after a rock in my whole life!" "But you'll learn how, even if you've never done it. Here, look in this mirror," said the girl, holding one in front of the boy's face.The boy could clearly see he now had the face of a bird, and his nose was gradually turning into steel. There he stood, shocked and worried, not a word passing his lips. "All those crows used to be children like you and I”, explained the girl, "but they decided not to look after the rock. Now that they're older they've turned into evil birds; all they do is destroy the pillars now. Up to now, you haven't done much to look after it, but now that you know, will you help me to preserve all this?"She said all this with a smile, taking his hand in hers.The boy still didn't quite understand all this. He looked closely at the pillars and could see that each one was made of thousands and thousands of little figurines, representing the best virtues: sincerity, effort, honesty, generosity...Closely inspecting the ground beneath him, he could see that the enormous rock was made up of little instances of children showing respect to their mothers, grandparents, brothers, sisters, and old people.What the crows were trying to do was cover over these instances by carving out scenes of shouting and insults. Next to his feet, he could see his own little carving, representing the last time he shouted at his mother. That image, in such a strange place, made him realise that the only thing keeping the columns standing was respect. Respect was sustaining the world.The boy, filled with regret, stayed there and looked after the rock for many days. He carried out his task joyfully, going without sleep to repel every crow attack. He carried on until, exhausted by his efforts, he collapsed; completely spent.When he woke he was back in his bed at home, and he didn't know whether it had all been a dream. However, what he was now sure of was that no crow would ever again get the chance to carve a picture of him shouting at his mother.Moral: It is only respect with which we can go forward in life.

This is a story of earth and crow.Moral(s) of the story: respect

Pillars of earth and a boy

A long time ago, there was a king who reigned over a large empire. The king was very noble and kind but his son was rude, ill-mannered and bad-tempered. The king tried all kinds of ways to reform his son. The ministers, courtiers and other important and learned people of the kingdom also tried to make the prince change his ways but to no avail. They tried to make the prince realize that his bad behaviour could create a bad impression on the public, but the prince was never willing to listen to any well-meant advice. One day, while the king was taking a walk in his palace garden, he saw a sage pass by. There was a radiant glow on the sage’s face and a confidence in his gait that made the king infer that the sage must be a very learned person full of divine knowledge. The king sent a messenger to invite the sage to his palace. The sage accepted the invitation and was welcomed warmly by the king. When the king found out that the sage was looking for a place to live in, he offered to make a hermitage in the palace for the sage. The sage accepted the king’s offer and started residing in the hermitage in the palace.One day, while the king was talking to the sage, he said, “Dear Sir, it must have come to your knowledge by now that I have a son on whose account I am constantly worried. He is very ill-mannered and bad-tempered. The public of my kingdom considers him unworthy of being a prince. I’m afraid they won’t accept him as their king after me. Please help me, Sir. You are wise; you can teach my son to mend his ways.” The sage assured the king that he would do something to set things right.Next day, the sage asked the prince to come for a walk with him in the palace garden. There, he pointed towards a little plant and said, “Eat a leaf of this plant and tell me how the taste is.” The prince plucked a leaf of the plant and put it in his mouth. As soon as he tasted it, he spat it out on the ground in disgust. “It’s bitter! It must be some poisonous seedling. It could prove to be dangerous to the health of many people if it grows. So, it should not be allowed to grow into a big tree.” Saying this, the prince pulled the plant out of the ground and tore it up.The sage picked up the plant that the prince had destroyed and said, “The way that you reacted towards this plant today, one day the people of your kingdom may react towards you in the same way. They think that you are a wicked prince, so they may not allow you to become their king and may exile you. It is for your own good that you must mend your ways and try to develop a sense of sympathy, compassion and kind-heartedness towards all your fellow beings.”The prince learnt his lesson. He understood the message that the sage was trying to convey through the example of the plant. From that day forth, the prince tried to change his rude and ill-mannered behaviour and became humble and kind. The king was very pleased to see a change in his son and expressed his gratitude to the sage. Moral:All beings deserve respect, empathy, and compassion.

This is a classic story from panchtantra.This is a story of king and prince.Moral(s) of the story: compassion, empathy and respect

The prince and the seedling

Shina Utavani

The Sun and the Moon were best friends once upon a time. As they were always together there was no concept of the night. No one in the world knew anything about the night. They did not know anything about sleeping. The children played the whole day without feeling sleepy. One day, the Moon and the Sun were passing by and saw the ocean. The ocean was the most beautiful thing they had ever seen. The ocean enjoyed the Sun’s warmth and Moon’s beautiful face. She loved the moon more than the Sun. Whenever Moon was around, she created waves and tides in excitement. This made Sun very jealous.One afternoon, as the Ocean slept, the Sun did something terrible. He slowly lifted the Moon and threw him against the wall of the sky! Instead of breaking like glass, the Moon created millions of sparks that could not go out. He called the sparks “stars.”The Stars knew what the Sun had done to the Moon. The stars were very angry at the Sun and decided to attack the Sun. The stars formed an army and went on to attack the Sun. Before they could attack the Sun, the Ocean stopped them and asked, “Where are you going little stars?” The stars replied, “We are going to destroy the Sun!”The Ocean did not want either the Sun or Moon to be hurt or destroyed in a fight. She loved them both. So, she made a quick plan. She told the stars she had an idea. She called the Moon and the Sun. She told them to share their time with her. The Sun would visit her in the day, and the Moon at night. Both were very happy with the idea. This made the Ocean happy too. The Stars followed the Moon every day, to protect him from the Sun.From that day onwards, people saw the Sun in the day and the Moon at night. Moral:Fighting is not the solution to every problem.

This is a story of moon, ocean and star.Moral(s) of the story: ego and respect

Stars guarding the Moon

Once upon a time, there was a gang of evil goblins who lived in a forest. They spent a lot of their time making fun of a poor old man who could now hardly move, see, or hear. They showed no respect for his age.The situation became so extreme that the Great Wizard decided to teach the goblins a lesson. He cast a spell, and from that moment, every insult they directed at the old man made the old man better, but had the opposite effect on the goblin who was doing the insulting. Of course, the goblins knew nothing about what was happening. The more they called the man an "old fool", the younger and sharper of mind he became, while the goblin who had shouted at him aged rapidly, and became a little more foolish.As time went on, those evil goblins were becoming terribly old, ugly, stupid, and clumsy... without even realising it. Finally, the Great Wizard allowed the goblins to see themselves, and, terrified, they saw that they had turned into the disgusting creatures we now know as trolls.They had been so busy picking on the old man, that it had made them incapable of noticing that their own acts were turning them into monsters. And when they finally realised what they had done, it was too late. Moral:Being disrespectful does no good. If anything, it only brings problems upon us.

This is a story of wizard.Moral(s) of the story: respect

The evil goblins

Once upon a time, there was a village called Dancing. A group of young girls and boys lived in that village. Every night after dinner, they would light a fire and dance around it.One evening a monkey came to the dance, wearing smart clothes and a stylish hat. He came and sat in a corner on a stone. No one recognised that he was a monkey. He also played melodious music with his drums.Every night, the monkey would come and play and the girls would dance with him happily. The girls loved him more each day. They also started showering him with gifts. One of them gave him a ring, the other gave him cookies.The boys were extremely jealous, as the attention of all the girls was always focused on the monkey.“Who is this new fellow and what is he doing in our village?” the boys asked one another, and decided to keep a close eye on him. That night they watched him quietly from a distance.The boys simply could not believe their eyes when they saw that the person whom the girls loved so much was a monkey in reality. It had a hairy body and a long tail.That night the guys laughed their hearts out and finally slept peacefully.The boys decided to play a prank on the monkey. They burnt some wood and put it around the stone where the monkey sat every day, and covered it with leaves.Like every evening the monkey came and sat on its usual place, only this time it did not feel the same. “OOOUUUUCHHHH!” screamed the monkey and jumped up from its seat. The hot stone had burnt his bottom through his pants. The monkey jumped into a bucket full of water to comfort himself.The boys laughed at the girls for dancing with the monkey and told them that they had taught a lesson to the monkey. When the girls got to know what the boys had done, they scolded the boys saying it didn’t matter if he was a monkey. He was a kind soul. They asked the boys to go and apologise to him but it was too late .The monkey ran away in the night and never come back.Ever since, monkeys have had red bottoms. Moral:We should respect the differences of everyone and accept everyone for who they are.

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

How monkeys got their red bottoms

Once there was a village named Singapuram. There lived a carpenter named Kasi. He had a younger son who was five years old. His name was Vasu. Kasi’s father Ramu was too old and he also stayed with them in their house. Kasi began to think that his father is of no use to him since he became too old and was unable to do any work. Kasi always spoke angrily to his father. Ramu was old man and he remained silently whenever Kasi spoke in anger.One day, Kasi gave food in a clay plate for his father to eat. Being too old, Ramu was not able to hold the clay plate properly. He dropped it and the clay plate broke off. Kasi became very angry and scolded his father. Vasu observed his father’s behaviour towards his grandfather.The next day , Kasi gave a new clay plate to his father. He went to work. When he came back, he was angry to see the new clay plate broken into pieces. He scolded his father badly and warned him, “Hey old man, if you break the next clay plate, there will be no food for you and you will have to leave the house”. Vasu was listening to his father’s words silently.Next day, in the evening, when Kasi came back to home after his work, he saw his son Vasu doing some work with his carpentry tools. He was surprised to see this and happily went near him, and asked Vasu “ What are you doing my son?” Vasu replied “Dad, I am making a wooden plate for you. When you grow old, I will give you this wooden plate so that you will not break it and I do not have to send you out of the house”Kasi realized his mistake on hearing his son’s words. He felt sorry for hurting his aged father. He apologised to his father for his mistakes and his angry words. Kasi, Vasu and his grandfather used to eat dinner together that day onward. Moral:Respect your elders. Do not let your parents down; they are the ones to bring you up.

This is a story of father, grandfather and son.Moral(s) of the story: respect

A son walks the path of respect

Yesha Desai

In the town of Agra, there lived a rich, but miserly businessman. Many poor people gathered outside his house everyday in the hope of getting something in charity from him, but they always had to return home disappointed. He used to make promises to every man he met and then never fulfill them.One day, a famous poet named Raidas came to meet the rich businessman and said that he wanted to recite his poems in front of him. The rich man was very fond of poetry and thus, he welcomed Raidas with open arms.Raidas started to recite all his poems one by one. The rich man was very pleased to hear the intriguing poems of Raidas, especially the one in which Raidas had compared him to ‘Kubera’, the god of wealth. He promised Raidas some gifts and asked him to come and collect them the next day. Raidas was very happy.The next morning when Raidas came to collect his gifts from the rich man, the cunning man acted as if he had never seen Raidas before. When Raidas reminded him of his promise, he said that he had promised to reward him just to please him, not to give him anything in reality.Raidas was extremely upset, but as there was nothing that he could do, he quietly left the house. He went to meet Birbal and conveyed his grievance to him. Birbal thought of a plan and told Raidas to act according to it. He asked Raidas to go to one of his friends, ask him to plan a dinner and invite the rich man.Raidas went to Mayadas, a good friend of his and asked him to help him with the plan. Mayadas willingly agreed to help Raidas. The next day, Mayadas went to the rich man’s house and invited him over for dinner.He also told the rich man that all the guests would be served in vessels of gold, which the guests would get to take home after the meal. The rich man was ecstatic to hear Mayadas’s offer and consented to come.On the fixed date and time, the rich man arrived at Mayadas’s house and was surprised to see no other guests there but Raidas. Mayadas welcomed the rich man and all of them started a polite conversation. The conversation was not coming to an end. The rich man had come on an empty stomach and so was getting hungrier by the minute. What he did not know was that Raidas and Mayadas were quite full as they had eaten just before the rich man’s arrival.Finally, when the rich man could bear his hunger no longer, he asked Mayadas to serve dinner. Mayadas acted surprised when the rich man asked him about food. He said that he did not remember inviting anybody over for dinner. When the rich man tried to remind him, Mayadas said with a meaningful smile on his face, “My dear friend, I had extended the invitation just to make you happy. I didn't mean to feed you dinner in reality. So, please go back to your home.”Just then, Birbal walked into the room and reminded the rich man of the ill treatment that he meted out to Raidas. The rich man realised his mistake and begged for forgiveness. He took out the necklace that he was wearing and gifted it to Raidas. Raidas was all praise for Birbal and thanked him from the bottom of his heart. Moral:We must treat people with respect and hold onto our promises despite our status.

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

Poet Raidas

Vikramaditya also called Chandragupta II was a powerful emperor of Northern India. He was the grandson of Chandragupta I and the son of Samudra Gupta. Under his rule, art, architecture flourished and cultural development of ancient India reached its climax.Inheriting a large empire, he continued the policy which his father followed and extended his control over neighbouring territories. He was an ideal king and was known for his courage, generosity, and intellect.The king was well-known for his justice and kindness. He was generous towards people. Once the king had to build a palace near the riverbank. He ordered ministers and workers to survey the site and commence the work. The workers started the work and the palace was built in a few weeks. The minister was happy to inform the king about it and decided to have a final look at the palace. While seeing the palace his eyes fell on a hut near the palace. He had not seen the hut before and now the hut was only a few steps away from the palace gate.He decided to ask the lady leaving in the hut to vacant the place and in return, he offered anything she asked. But the lady refused to accept anything as the hut was dearer to her. The minister tried to convince the lady but she refused. Then the matter was taken to the king.The wise king ordered, “Let the lady stay in her hut and let it be where it is. It will only add beauty to the palace.” The king then said to the minister, “Let us not forget that what seems ugly to us might be precious to someone else.” Moral:We should respect what is dear to others.

This is a story of Chandragupt Maurya and Hemchandra Vikramaditya.Moral(s) of the story: respect

Vikramaditya

Once upon a time, the King's two Princes were playing in a forest, and - meeting one at a time -, they came across four dwarves who asked them to be more careful. The first dwarf had a headache and he asked them not to shout. The second dwarf was painting a landscape, and he asked the children to move away because they were blocking out the light. The third dwarf was doing a giant jigsaw puzzle in the middle of the road, and he asked the children not to tread on it. The fourth dwarf was watching a butterfly and he asked them not to frighten it away.The Prince who respected others did as the dwarves asked, but the disrespectful Prince ignored the dwarves´ pleas, and kept bothering them. In the evening, both boys had become separated and lost. They needed to get back to the palace quickly.Each of them separately came across the four dwarves again, and asked for their help. They refused to help the disrespectful Prince, but with the respectful Prince they did whatever they could to help, and took him along some secret tracks which led right to the palace.The other Prince arrived much later, and was punished for it. He now understood that it's much better to respect everyone if you want to have friends. Moral:Respect everyone regardless of age, authority, caste and creed.

This is a story of dwarf and prince.Moral(s) of the story: helpfulness and respect

respect 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.

Pillars of earth and a boy

The prince and the seedling

Stars guarding the Moon

The evil goblins

How monkeys got their red bottoms

A son walks the path of respect

Poet Raidas

Vikramaditya

A respectful prince and dwarves

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