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.

Pallavi Hota

Bible is the collection of 66 books written by different authors describing the God's action and purpose with all creations. Bible contains life stories of Jesus. The bible gives the messages God has desired for us to understand. Following is a story from “The Bible”. Jesus us had been fasting forty days and nights in the desert. He was alone and hungry. The devil went to Him and tried to tempt Him into turning the stones into bread, but Jesus replied that man does not live on bread alone, but on the Word of God.Then, the devil took Jesus to the highest point in the Holy City. He told Jesus to throw Himself from there for the scriptures said that the angels would save Jesus. But Jesus replied to him that we should not put the Lord to the test.The devil then tried to promise all the kingdoms of the world to Jesus, as long as He bowed down and worshipped him.But Jesus rebuked the devil and told him that worship is meant for God alone. The devil then left Jesus, and the angels of the Lord came to attend to Him. Moral:If you hold fast to the Word of God, then nobody will be able to cause you to stumble.

Devil In the Desert

Shina Utavani

In the Motunui island, there lived a beautiful little girl named Moana. When kids of her age loved toys and chocolates, she had huge affection towards the ocean. She always loved the ocean. The other thing she loved was listening to Gramma Tala’s stories. From the stories, Moana’s favourite was the story about the trickster demigod Maui. In the story, Maui stole the heart of the mother island, TeFiti. Maui upset the balance of nature by stealing the heart according to Gramma.Little Moana’s affection and deep connection with the ocean scared her family. Her father, Chief Tui believed that the ocean was dangerous. Moana always felt a deep connection with all the creatures that belonged to the ocean. But the islanders were not allowed to sail beyond the bank. The ocean noticed the affection of Moana and gave a special gift to her. When her dad picked her, Moana dropped the gift. The gift was Gramma Tala. Someone else picked the gift dropped by Moana. She believed that the ocean’s real gift was the heart of TeFiti.When Moana grew up, she worked hard for her people and followed her father’s rules. But one day, when Moana turned sixteen, Gramma Tala took her aside and said that it was time for her to learn what she was meant to be. Gramma took her to a hidden cavern full of ancient canoes. Moana started drumming the canoes and she could feel the spirit of her ancestors who were the way-finders-voyagers on the ocean.The last wish of Gramma Tala was that Moana goes to the journey across the ocean and find Maui to restore the heart of TeFiti. By keeping the heart safe inside her necklace, Moana got ready to sail the ocean. Sailing on the ocean was difficult for Moana and it became worse when a storm hit the ocean.Moana met Maui the demigod when her boat reached on a faraway island. Maui was not as per the expectations of the Moana. He even stole Moana’s boat and tried to sail away. But the ocean made sure that Moana accompanied him. The ocean wanted them to work together.He promised her to return the heart of TeFiti only if she helped him in finding his magic fishhook. To get the fishhook, they had to pass Kakamora, an army of wild coconut-clad thieves. After that, they had to dive into the Lalotai, the kingdom of monsters. Moana smartly tricked a crab monster named Tamatoa and they recovered the missing fishhook.Maui taught Moana how to find way using the sun, the stars, the moon, and the ocean current to navigate. On the way to reach TeFiti, the journey became too difficult, Gramma Tala’s spirit returned and it said, “Know who you are meant to be”.After the long journey, they finally reached TeFiti. There they saw that the mother of the island was gone and instead there was a lava monster named, Te Ka. Maui and Moana tried hard but they could not defeat Te Ka. An idea stuck Moana and with all her courage she gave the heart to TeKa. The monster after receiving the heart remembered who she was meant to be. The monster was TeFiti. After receiving the heart, TeFiti bloomed once again. The world restored its balance.Moana and Maui’s journey together completed and they said goodbye to each other. Moana returned to her people. The little girl from the Motunui island now knew who she was meant to be. She was a daughter, a leader, and a way-finder. She was brave Moana. Moral:Be courageous and brave.

This is a story of Moana and courage.Moral(s) of the story: courage and bravery

Moana

Ravina Sewani

Once there lived a camel who had a bad habit of making funny comments on the looks of other animals and birds. He never spoke a good word about any of them.To the cow he said, "Just have a look at yourself. What an ugly looking animal you are! When I look at your bones, it seems to me they will tear through your skin any moment."To the buffalo he said, "You must have surely offended the Creator and so He has painted your entire body with the coal black colour. Your crooked horns make you look uglier still."To the elephant he said, "You are a cartoon among all the animals. The Creator must have made you in one of His humorous moods. All the parts of your body are out of proportion. Your huge body is tagged with a bit of a tail. Your eyes are so small, and ears so big. I had better not say anything about your trunk and legs and other parts of your body."To the parrot he said, "The Creator has shown His sense of humour through the hook-like red beak of yours."In this way the camel always jeered and sneered at one and all. Once the camel chanced to meet a fox who was very outspoken and blunt. The fox said to him, "Camel, give up your dirty habit of commenting on others. Just find some time to look at yourself. You have a long face, stone-like eyes, yellow and dirty teeth, legs like crooked sticks and an ugly hump on your back. You are the ugliest among ugly animals. Other animals have a fault or two each, but yours outnumber and outclass them all."The camel hung his head in shame and walked away silently. Moral:Look at your own faults rather than at those of others.

This is a classic story from Vikas books.This is a story of buffalo, camel, cow, elephant, fox and parrot.Moral(s) of the story: empathy

The ugly Camel

One day a pencil and eraser were doing some work. The pencil had to do some important work. The pencil was busy with her work. While doing the work, pencil lost its balance and there was an unnecessary line on the paper. She asked the Eraser, “Hey, eraser, please erase the line.” The eraser came quickly came and started cleaning the line. While erasing the line, the eraser was doing it quickly as the pencil had to do some important work. Due to the speed, the page was torn down by the eraser. Seeing this pencil got very angry. She said, “You cannot do one thing properly.” Eraser got upset and went away.Pencil continued doing its work. After some time, the pencil noticed a photo that was hanging on the wall. In the photo, the pencil and eraser were posing and they both were very happy. The eraser was very big in the photo. The pencil noticed that the size of the eraser and thought that the eraser was becoming smaller day-by-day. Pencil realized that the eraser was losing its existing by cleaning her mistakes. She felt very bad for being rude with the eraser. She decided to apologize.She went to the Eraser. The eraser was very sad. The pencil said, “Hey, eraser, I am sorry. I am sorry for being rude to you. You were the one who always helped me in cleaning my mistakes.” The pencil further said, “Because of me, you are losing your existence. You are becoming smaller in size. I am sorry you get hurt because of me.” The eraser replied, “That is okay. It is my job to clean your mistakes. I have my powers because of you. You do not need to feel bad.” The pencil said, “But you lose a part of yourself every time you erase my mistakes.”The eraser replied, “I was made to help you every time you did something wrong. Even though one day, I know I will be gone, I am happy with my job. So please, stop worrying! I will not be happy if I see you sad. But please do not be mad at me if I commit any mistake.”The pencil said, “Never, I promise. I will make sure you do not suffer because of me.” They both were in tears but they both understood each other’s value.The pencil realized the sacrifice of the eraser and its powers. She took extreme care of the eraser and made sure that the eraser did not have to suffer. Both of them realized that they are nothing without each other. Moral:Treat your loved ones with kindness.

This is a story of eraser and pencil.Moral(s) of the story: sacrifice

The Pencil and The Eraser 

There was once a boy who was mischievous and ill-mannered. He used to always misbehave with others and disrespect them. His behaviour was very bad, and it was annoying for the people around him. His behaviour was such that one day, the Chief Fairy of the land had to come to punish him. The fairy turned the boy into a monster. The boy could only escape from being a monster if he managed to seriously frighten someone. At first, the boy thought that this would be easy, but he realized that the children in his area were difficult to scare.Many days passed by, but the monster failed in scaring anyone. So, he decided to look for an easy target. There was a boy who was well known as an easy target for anything. The monster started studying the behaviour of the boy for some time. He followed him wherever he went. The boy used to go to give charity to people, helped people in need and played with the children in the hospital. The boy did all the good work.The monster finally prepared himself to scare the boy. However, when he went to scare the boy, the images of people whom he had helped came into his mind. The monster did not want to scare someone who had done so much good work for others. The monster decided to leave him alone. Because the boy did all the good work without any price, the monster did not do any damage to the boy because then he would be responsible for him not being able to help more people.The Chief Fairy appeared in that moment and was impressed by the kind gesture of the monster. So, she rewarded him by turning him back into a normal boy. And the boy with the bad behaviour finally became a kind and generous person. He even became best friends with the boy he had planned to scare. Moral:Always be kind to others. Do good for others and good things will come back to you.

This is a story of fairy and monster.Moral(s) of the story: kindness

Forever a Monster

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

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

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

Kind Cactus

jThere once was a speedy Hare who bragged about how fast he could run. Tired of hearing him boast, the Tortoise challenged him to a race. All the animals in the forest gathered to watch.The Hare ran down the road for a while and then paused to rest. He looked back at the tortoise and cried out, "How do you expect to win this race when you are walking along at your slow, slow pace?"The Hare stretched himself out alongside the road and fell asleep, thinking, "There is plenty of time to relax."The Tortoise walked and walked, never ever stopping until he came to the finish line.The animals who were watching cheered so loudly for Tortoise that they woke up the Hare. The Hare stretched, yawned and began to run again, but it was too late. Tortoise had already crossed the finish line. Moral:Slow and steady wins the race.

The Hare and The Tortoise: A Tortoise asks the Hare of the jungle to race against him. The hare being the faster one reaches ahead and rests for awhile. Meanwhile, the tortoise continues at his slow pace and crosses the finish line and wins the race.

The Hare and The Tortoise

Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru was widely admired as a great statesman across the world. Most of the time he stayed busy shaping the future of India but still found enough time for children. From the very beginning, Pandit Nehru deeply loved two things, roses, and kids. Nehru saw kids as India's future, the nation's real strength. Nehru was the one who set up institutes such as AIIMS and IIT to provide India with better quality education. Pandit Nehru considered children as the asset of the country and always insisted on giving them love and affection. He was fondly known as ‘Chacha Nehru’ among children. He launched a plan to address the health of children, especially malnutrition and infant mortality, with support from the World Health Organization. A charismatic leader and a man of letters and poetry, Nehru left some great work to inspire generations. He once said, "Children are like buds in a garden and should be carefully and lovingly nurtured, as they are the future of the nation and the citizens of tomorrow." While Universal Children's Day is celebrated on November 20th, it was in India that his birthday- 14th November, was chosen as Children's Day because of Nehru's love and passion for children.

sharing 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.

Devil In the Desert

Moana

The ugly Camel

The Pencil and The Eraser

Forever a Monster

Little Boy with a Slingshot

Kind Cactus

The Hare and The Tortoise

Chacha Nehru

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