Yesha Desai

Sam’s mother takes him to get his first haircut. He is seven month old and already has a mop of long, curly hair.He is too tiny to fit in the chair at the shop so they place him on a pillow.Sam’s clothes are covered by a white coverall. The barber is very kind and thinks that Sam is a very happy baby.The barber sprays a little water on Sam’s hair and he giggles. The barber begins cutting with a few different types of scissors. It takes a lot of time.But then the barber is done and Sam looks cleaner with shorter hair. His clothes itch and he wants to play with the water spray.Sam goes home and takes a bath. His first haircut looks really pretty.

First visit to the barber’s shop.

Shina Utavani

Pongal is an important festival celebrated in South India. It is celebrated for four days. The festival is also known as the 'Harvest Festival' and is celebrated in the month of January.&nbsp;People enjoy the festival with great enthusiasm and energy. Pongal means ‘boiling over’ or ‘spill over’. The way harvested crop spills over the pot, in the same way, people wish for prosperity to spill over in their life. For the festival preparations, people decorate their homes with banana and mango leaves. The festival is celebrated to welcome health and prosperity into the household. The four days of the festival have different names and importance. Bhogi Pongal is the first day of the festival. On this auspicious day, people embellish their houses with paints to mark a new beginning. This day is celebrated differently in different parts of India. It is celebrated as Lohri in Punjab and Magh Bihu in Assam. On this day, the harvested crops are collected. Perum Pongal is the second day of the festival. This day holds the greatest significance. People offer their prayers to the Sun God. They seek his blessings for an adequate harvest for the rest of the year. This day is also known as Surya Pongal. The third day is known as Mattu Pongal. On this day, prayers are offered to the cow. People worship cows by decorating them with vermilion and garlands. Mantras and prayers are recited. On this day, bull-fight is also organised in certain parts of India. The day is also celebrated as ‘Kannu Pongal’ in some parts of South India where women offer prayers for good health and long life of their brothers. The last day is known as Kaanum Pongal. On this day, families gather on riverbanks and have a splendid meal (Kootanchoru). Traditional dances like Kummi and Kolattam are also performed on this day.

Pongal

Ravina Sewani

Long, long ago, a man called Buddhichand took from his neighbour Laxminandan a loan of rupees one thousand on the occasion of his daughter’s marriage. Only a few days after the marriage, Laxminandan asked Buddhichand to repay the loan.Buddhichand said, “I will repay every pie of yours. But you know very well that I am a poor man. I will need some time to repay the loan.”Laxminandan said, “I thought you were an honest man. But now I feel that I was wrong in my judgement.”Buddhichand said, “Please have patience, my dear friend. I will surely repay your loan. I am an honest man. Laxminandan said, “If you are really an honest man, as you say, come with me to the Kazi’s court and sign the papers saying that you have mortgaged your house to me against the loan.”Buddhichand said, “There is no need of going to the court. Please trust me and I will repay the loan as early as possible.”But Laxminandan would not listen to Buddhichand. He insisted that Buddhichand must go with him to the court and sign the papers. Actually, he wanted to take over the house of Buddhichand.Buddhichand saw through the evil design of Laxminandan. So he said, “I don’t have a horse to ride to the court.” “I will give you my horse to ride,” said Laxminandan. “I don’t have good clothes to wear,” said Buddhichand. “I will give you my clothes too,” said Laxminandan. “I have no sandals to put on,” said Buddhichand. “I will give you my sandals also,” said Laxminandan.When Laxminandan supplied all his needs, Buddhichand agreed to go with him to the court. Buddhichand put on Laxminandan’s clothes and sandals. He mounted Laxminandan’s horse and rode to the court.When Buddhichand’s name was called out, he stood before the Kazi and said, “Your Worship, my friend Laxminandan claims that my house and all my possessions belong to him. He quarrels with me all the time. He has forcibly brought me to the court. Please allow me to ask him a few questions.”The Kazi called Laxminandan and ordered him to answer the questions put to him by Buddhichand. “Whom does the cap on my head belong to?” asked Buddhichand. “It belongs to me,” said Laxminandan.“Whom do the clothes I wear belong to?” asked Buddhichand. “They belong to me,” said Laxminandan. “And whom do the sandals on my feet belong to?” asked Buddhichand. “The sandals also belong to me,” said Laxminandan in an offending tone.“And whom does the horse which I rode to the court belong to?” asked Buddhichand. | “The horse also belongs to me,” cried out Laxminandan excitedly. “The cap, the clothes, the sandals and the horse are all mine.”All the people in the court laughed more and more loudly at Laxminandan. The Kazi, too, stifled his laughter with difficulty. Everybody in the court believed that Laxminandan had gone mad. He stood aghast amidst the peals of laughter. The Kazi, finally, dismissed the case.Buddhichand made Laxminandan a laughing stock at the court and thus foiled the evil plot of Laxminandan. Moral:A quick wit is the way out from difficult situations.

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

Repayment of the Loan

One upon a time, there were two beautiful princesses. They both were kidnapped by a vicious king when they were young. The princesses were taken to a lake where they were abandoned on a small island. The princesses had to live there forever under the guidance of a terrifying lake monster.After some time, the wicked king and his court of wizards and fortune-tellers were overthrown. And everybody knew that a brave prince was destined to release the princesses from their imprisonment.When princesses came to know about the news, their lives were finally filled with hope. Out of the two princesses, the youngest one was more beautiful and pretty than the elder one. She had a hope that one day prince will come to rescue her. So, she patiently waited for him, making small decorations from the flowers and singing songs. However, the older princess did not enjoy having to wait. She thought that she had to do something to help the prince rescue her. She thought that the prince should at least know where she was.The elder princess started working to help the prince. She started making signals, building towers, digging tunnels and a thousand other things. However, the lake monster always tried his best to ruin her plans.As time passed, the elder sister felt insecure and uncomfortable. She knew that the prince would choose her younger sister because she was more beautiful. So, she thought there was no point in waiting for the prince instead she started making plans to escape from the island not worrying about the prince.Every morning she would prepare a different escape plan, but the monster would always do something to ruin her plan. She attempted every day to plan an escape but the monster used to ruin it every time. It became like a game of cat and mouse between the princess and the monster. The princess tried to plan a new escape every day which used to be more original and creative. And the monster used a different creative way to destroy those plans. They put so much effort and imagination in their plans that at the end of each day the princess and the monster would spend hours chatting like friends. They used to discuss how they had planned their strategy. At night they both would say Goodbye and the monster would go back to the watery depths.One day the monster said to the princess that he will allow her to go the next day. He said that she was a clever and brave girl. She did not deserve to remain imprisoned like that. But the next morning the princess did not try to escape. She sat beside the lake, waiting for the monster to appear. When the monster came, he asked, “Why have not you gone?” The princess replied, “I did not want to leave you alone. You are indeed scary, but you are clever too. You deserve something better than guarding the princesses. Why don’t you come with me?” The monster sadly replied, “I cannot. I can’t leave the island; I’m attached to it by a long chain. You will have to leave on your own.”The princess went to the monster and hugged him tightly. She hugged him so tightly that the monster broke into a thousand pieces. And from those pieces appeared a slim, smiling young man, with the same expression and intelligence as he had as the lake monster.So, it was the Prince that had been with them all along. The princesses did not know that for the prince to rescue them, first, they would have to rescue him. This was only possible because of the spirit and the positive attitude of the older sister.The prince at the end decided to marry the older princess, leaving the younger princess to her songs, beauty, and her sweetness. Moral:You don’t achieve things by waiting for them to happen; instead you must work hard to achieve them. The story teaches us the importance of taking initiative with a positive attitude to achieve what we want.

This is a story of lake, monster, prince and princess.Moral(s) of the story: hard work, smartness

The Lake Princesses 

Sally sits on the big people table for the first time. She is three and can now eat by herself.Her mother makes dosa and sambhar. It is Sally’s favourite food. Sally patiently waits for her food and gets very happy when hot dosa is served in her plate.She has a knife, a spoon and a fork in front of her. Sally firstly tries to drink the Sambhar. She doesn't know what to use. She tries using the knife but the liquid falls down. She tries using the fork but the same thing happens.So Sally takes a spoon to drink her Sambhar. It works. She then looks at her dosa. It is too big to fit in a spoon or be held by a knife.Sally needs to cut the dosa into tinier pieces. She uses the knife because it is sharp and can cut the dosa.Then she uses a fork to eat the dosa because forks have teeth which provide better grip.Sally enjoys her dinner a lot.

This is a story of fork, knife and spoon.

What to use and when?

Nishita Sanghvi

Once upon a time in a dense forest stood a pineapple tree and an oak tree, side by side. Though they were neighbours, they never shared a great bond. The pineapple tree always made fun of the oak tree and displayed a lot of attitude.The pineapple tree would keep saying that “I am so juicy and delicious”. With me around, nobody would want you. This went on for a long time. There would be many trespassers who would just give a stare at the oak tree but when they saw the pineapple tree, they would try to grab one or two pineapples from the tree for a taste. In case of the oak tree, there is no edible use, since oaks contain acid they cannot be consumed. The trunk of the tree is used to make wood. The oak tree was well aware of this fact and felt miserable, but could do nothing about it except feeling bad.Soon a family came to live near the forest- a husband-wife and their son. The son had faced a weird injury wherein he kept bleeding little little everyday. The doctor had suggested that the only cure was to find the bark of an oak tree and apply it for several days until the bleeding stopped completely. Hence this couple had come around looking for an oak tree and here they were happy to find one. Now it was the oak tree’s turn to make the pineapple tree feel low. However, the oak tree did not because he knew how it felt to be ignored. The pineapple tree finally realised how it felt to be dejected. Moral:Everyone has abilities and good qualities; no one should be made to feel worthless.

This is a story of forest, pineapple tree and oak tree.

The proud pineapple tree

Pallavi Hota

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.” When Jayadratha, the husband of Dushala, the only sister of the Kauravas, was killed by the clever plan of Krishna, Duryodhana was pacing up and down in the night and he was thinking, “What is this? The clouds just came and then went! I am not a weather-man. This Krishna is just too much.” Gandhari, his mother, was thinking, “I must protect my son. This is cheating. With Krishna on their side, Pandavas will get victory.” Gandhari thought, “I have my siddhi.” So she said, “My dear Duryodhana, come and see me in the night without any clothes. When you stand before my eyes, I will take off the blindfold and by the force of my siddhi over the years, I will make you so strong that no one can touch you.” So in the dead of the night Duryodhana went to see his mother.He saw Krishna. Duryodhana was thinking, “Of all the people in the world, why should I see this personality?” Krishna saw him and started smiling. Duryodhan became ruffled. He asked, “why are you smiling?” Krishna said, “Why do you think I am smiling? Grown up man with no clothes walking in the dead of the night. Are you mental?” Duryodhana was embarrassed and said, “No no. I am just going to see my mother.” Krishna then said, “Your mother! You are going to see your mother with no clothes on? Where have you learned your etiquette? Some decency is required. At least wear some gumcha or something and then go to see your mother. I know you have had a bad day in the battlefield but that does not mean you have to become mental.” Duryodhana thinks, “Yes, it is very bad. I am very embarrassed.” He thought to himself , “I will wear my gamcha and when I stand before my mother, I will take it off. Then everything will be alright.” So he went before his mother. Gandhari asked, “Are you ready son? Is everything as I told you?” He replied “Yes.” She opened her eyes and saw him. She went all the way down and she saw the gamcha. At the end, Duryodhana’s thighs could not be strengthened because they were covered. Gandhari tells Duryodhana, “I gave you a simple instruction to take off your clothes and stand.” He said, “I met Krishna.” Gandhari thought, “why of all people must my son meet Krishna? In the night, the Pandavas were very happy and they must have all gone to sleep. Why was Krishna roaming around?” She asked his son, “What did Krishna tell you?” He replied, “Krishna told me to wear a gamcha as it is not right to walk around without any clothes. Mother, I agreed to Him and I decided to remove the gumcha when I came to you.” But Gandhari realized with an air of resignation that no matter what she planned for her son, the truth is Krishna in a very simple and cheeky way was teaching her something that whatever plans she had for her son, were not within His line of vision. It was not going to help. She was only going to be disturbed. But till the end of the war, Gandhari could not accept this.

This is a story of Duryodhana, Gandhari, Krishna, and Pandavas.

Naked Duryodhana in front his mother Gandhari

Krishna’s childhood was filled with adventurous stories. Though filled with joy, each episode of his childhood shows one spiritual dimension or the other.Gokula was a land with pure cowherds (a person who tends to cows), the men were named 'Gopalas' and the girls were called 'Gopis'. Krishna was about three months old when his mother brought him to the place where people gathered for a festival with their relatives.Yashoda and other people had to prepare the afternoon meal and she left the sleeping child in the shade of a bullock cart. The food was consumed, people were busy with the music. Krishna woke up to the sounds of music while sleeping soundly.Playfully, wanting to join the party, the kid began to move his feet to the beat and pushed the cart's wheel. The cart fell with a thud, and everyone was surprised by the sound, and they ran to the place hoping for the worst. Together they raised the collapsed cart and were overjoyed to see the boy, appearing as happy as ever, and completely unharmed by the crash.&nbsp;That was indeed the first confirmation of his heavenly abilities, but this fact was not known by everyone around at that moment, but rather played off as a miraculous escape.

This is a story of bullock cart, Krishna and Yashoda.

Krishna’s Childhood

The story of Saraswati plays an important role in Indian mythology. It is believed that life would not have been the same that it is today without her. Brahma who is the creator of the Universe, felt that something was missing and was lacking concept. So, he decided to create the embodiment of knowledge to help him with this task of bringing order to the universe. So, Saraswati-the goddess of knowledge and wisdom emerged from his mouth.Goddess Saraswati was a symbol of wisdom and knowledge. She was the goddess of learning, art, and literature. She emerged from Brahma to give him directions. She guided him on how to create order in the cosmos; and that is how moon, sun, and stars all came into being.She guided him in creating the universe we see today. It is said that later she became the bride of Brahma. Thus, Brahma became the creator of the world with Saraswati as his wisdom.

This is a story of Brahma, Saraswati and universe.Moral(s) of the story: knowledge and wisdom

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.