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

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 the reason why we call Karna ‘Danveer’Karna was on his death bed amidst the battlefield and was gasping for breath in his last moments. Lord Krishna was confused about Karna’s generosity and wanted to check it. He went to Karna disguised as a beggar. Karna was on his death bed and seeing the beggar asked him what he needed. Lord Krishna as a beggar said, “Lord, I need some gold for my daughter’s marriage”. Karna showed his helplessness to the beggar and said, “I am sorry but I have nothing to give you as I am on my death bed. I feel worse that I am not able to give you anything. But you can ask gold from my wife in Angadesh.” Listening to this the beggar said, “I cannot travel so far for gold, Lord. I thought you are kind and generous and would help me.”Karna felt very bad and decided to give him the golden tooth he had. Karna took a stone and broke his golden teeth. The tooth was bleeding with blood and Karna did not want to give blood covered teeth to the beggar. He was injured badly and could not move. He took his arrow and bowed it towards the sky. The next moment rain broke out and then he gave the cleaned gold teeth to the beggar. Lord Krishna was shocked to see Karna’s sacrifice. He was proved that there was no one as generous and kind as Karna. Lord Krishna came into his real form and said, “You will live in the hearts of people. You will be remembered for your qualities Daan (Donation) and Veer (Heroic). You will be remembered as ‘Danveer.”That is how Karna got his name ‘Danveer”.

This is a story of Karan and Krishna.Moral(s) of the story: sacrifice

Karna as ‘Danveer’

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

There lived a princess named Jasmine. She was very lonely as she had no one to give her company. She was very sad as she did not have anyone to play with. Her father noticed her daughter’s sadness and decided to do something. He wanted to make her daughter happy.One day, the father told jasmine, “I have bought you a gift, Jasmine. The gift is under the red bed-sheet.” Jasmine got very excited and pulled the red bed-sheet. When Jasmine pulled the bed-sheet, she saw a little tiger under it. Seeing the tiger, Jasmine got very excited. She finally had someone with whom she could play. Jasmine named the tiger “Rajah”.Jasmine and Rajah did many things together. They ate together, played together, watched butterflies and played games. Jasmine spent most of her time with Rajah. Jasmine took care of him. She would comb her hair and feed him every day.Jasmine loved Rajah and used to spend most of her time with her. She liked to rub and scratch his furry belly. Rajah also enjoyed it. Jasmine would take care of Rajah and would protect him from any harm. She made a cosy bed for little Rajah. Little tiger enjoyed sleeping in his cosy bed.As time passed, Rajah grew bigger. He became strong and looked grown-up. Now, Rajah used to take care of Jasmine. He would protect Jasmine from any danger. Rajah became too big to sleep in his cosy bed. He did not even play dress-up games with Jasmine. But Rajah was never too big for a belly rub and a big hug from Jasmine. He still was the best company Jasmine had. They both still loved each other. Moral:Animals are our best friend.

This is a story of jasmine, tiger and friend.

Princess Jasmine

Ravina Sewani

Once a cat and a fox were discussing about hounds. "I hate hounds," said the fox. "So do I," said the cat. “They are swift runners,” said the fox, "but they can't catch me, I know many tricks to get away from them.""What tricks can you perform?" asked the cat. "A lot of tricks," boasted the fox. "I can run along a thorny hedge. I can hide amidst thick bushes. I can hide in burrows. These are only a few of the many tricks that I can perform," said the fox."I know only one good trick," said the cat. "How sad! Only one trick? What is it?" asked the fox."I am going to do it just now. Look out, the hounds are coming," said the cat and ran up a nearby tree. There she was safe from the hounds.The hounds chased the fox. He tried one trick after another. But the hounds caught him at last and killed him."My one trick is better than all the tricks of the poor fox," said the cat to herself. Moral:It is better to be a master of one art than to be a jack of all trades.

This is a classic story from Vikas story.This is a story of cat and fox.

THE CAT AND THE FOX

Pallavi Hota

Butterfly, butterfly, where do you fly? sang the little girl whom she kept as her pet. The girl took care of her butterfly just as a family member, but never allowed her the freedom to fly.One day the butterfly tried her best and got out of the cage. She felt as if she was born again. She flew here and there amidst the beautiful flowers with rain drops falling on her wings. The next day the little girl waking up to this, cried. She insisted her parents get her that butterfly back. But they could not find the butterfly. She tried to find the butterfly everywhere and called out for her. She also waited for her to fly back to her.After some time, she realised that one cannot stop anyone from having their own freedom, and cannot possess anything forcefully just because of his or her own happiness.Moral:Forceful things are not real.

This is a story of butterfly.Moral(s) of the story: happiness

The Caged Butterfly

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”. It rained in the forest as a punishment of God to the unfaithful mankind which led to flood. But Noah, an obedient servant of God in the Old Testament who found favor with God amidst a sinful world saved his family with God’s grace. Years after the flood, when Noah and his family settled down and had more children, they began to move from place to place. When they reached the land of Babylon, they decided to settle there and build a tower so high that it would reach the sky. The hearts of the people were proud, and they thought that they could reach the same level as God, the Highest. This pride was their downfall. When God came down to the city and saw what the people were doing, He became very angry. He decided to put a stop to their construction, by making sure that nobody could understand each-other. God made sure that all the people there began to speak a different language, so that neighbours could no longer understand each other. When people tried to communicate, it turned into a whole babble of confused voices. Soon, everyone who spoke the same language left the city together, and in this way, they spread out across the world, taking their different languages with them. This is why the tower is called the tower of “babel.” Perhaps the origin of the word “babble”. Moral:The pride of the people of Babylon led to their downfall. Just like Satan, they wanted to be like God. We must humble ourselves before the Lord.

This is a story from Bible.Moral(s): pride

The Tower of Babel

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

Yesha Desai

In a kingdom long lost, there lived a very old wizard in the woods located on the edge of the kingdom. In the small hut that was heavily guarded by magic spells, she created her own potions and spells.This wise wizard was known throughout the lands and was always present to help people. But the wizard was now growing old and she was worried about who will help the ordinary people after she is dead. So she decided to take on a student to whom she could teach and pass her knowledge.Soon, the wizard began searching for people who showed the potential to take on such a massive responsibility. For months and months she searched the kingdom and further but to no avail.Everyone would have one or the other flaws. Either someone was too stupid to cope up with her knowledge, or people were too greedy to work with her and would compromise their morals.At this rate, the wizard thought that she would never find someone.So the wizard came up with a plan. She spread the news in the kingdom that she lost her book of magic spells. She went to the town square and yelled with distress, “I have lost my book of magic spells. Oh, what am I going to do now. The book contained all of my spells— powerful and weak. It had all of my knowledge what should I do now?”The people surrounding her looked at her with worry. They all tried to comfort the wizard since she always helped them but they all also wondered what would happen now that the wizard had lost such an important book.The news of this lost book spread across the kingdom very quickly. In fact, it spread across the world and lots of people came to the wizard. Many young men and women came to the wizard and said that they will find the book for her.There were many other people who tried their best to find the book for their own gains. Lots of people wanted to find the book of magic spells to become powerful.Days passed and turned into weeks. Still no one had successfully found the book. Lot of people had already given up by now and others had turned even more aggressive. To get the people to search more she went to the town square and said, “I still haven't found my book! What am I going to do now? The last I remember is taking the book to the woods. It must be there. I need your help my friends. If anyone finds that book for me, I will take them as my student.”This got the people to search for the book even more actively.One day when the wizard was eating in a diner, she met a teenage girl. She asked the girl, “Child, are you not trying to find the book of magic spells? Have you already given up?”The girl smiled and replied, “I have not given up Ma’am, I did not even begin.”The wizard was confused and asked, “Why so? Do you not want to help this old feeble woman? Or are you not interested in being my student?”The young girl smiled again, “That is not so. I definitely want to help you. But there is just nothing to help with.”The wizard was even more confused now. She asked, “What do you mean?”“You have lost no book, have you? A clever and responsible person like you wouldn’t lose something so important. And even if you did you can find the location of the book by the magic spell you created yourself.”Now the wizard was very shocked. This young girl was very clever. And that is how the wizard found her student. The wizard taught the clever girl all that she had learned in her life and soon the young girl grew up to be a very wise and talented young woman.

This is a story of notebook, teacher and wizard.Moral(s) of the story: wisdom

The book of magic spells

Once upon a time, there lived a woodpecker and a lion. One day, the lion hunted a big bison and sat down to devour it. It so happened that while having his meal, a big bone got stuck in the lion’s throat. He was not able to remove it and was in great pain.A kind hearted woodpecker lived nearby. He offered to help the lion. He, however, told the lion that he would only take out the bone if the lion promised not to eat him while removing the bone. The lion gladly agreed and opened his mouth in front of the woodpecker. The woodpecker hopped inside the lion’s mouth, stretched his head deep inside the lion’s throat and easily pulled out the bone. The lion kept his promise and let the woodpecker fly away to safety after taking out the bone.Soon the lion recovered completely and made another kill. The woodpecker also thought of joining the lion and asked for a small share of meat. To his utter disappointment the lion blatantly refused to share his meal and said, “How dare you ask me for more favours? I have already done so much for you!” The woodpecker did not understand what the lion was talking about. The lion then clarified, “You should be thankful to me that I did not gobble you up when you were taking out the bone from my throat. Now do not expect anything else from me and go away.” The woodpecker said to himself, “It was indeed a mistake to help such an ungrateful creature!” Moral: The wicked are always ungrateful. Some people have the tendency to turn a blind eye towards all the kindness they have received.

This is a story of lion, woodpecker and Jataka tales.Moral(s) of the story: helpfulness and kindness

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.

Karna as ‘Danveer’

Kind Cactus

Princess Jasmine

THE CAT AND THE FOX

The Caged Butterfly

The Tower of Babel

Little Boy with a Slingshot

The book of magic spells

The Woodpecker and the Lion

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