Yesha Desai

A long time ago, a king named Brahmadatta ruled the city of Banaras. His chief of guards, Bodhisattva, was a very wise and knowledgeable man.One day, the queen and her friends were walking in the palace gardens. It was a hot summer day, so they decided to get some respite from the heat by swimming in the royal pool. Before going in the pool, the queen took off her pearl necklace and gave it to her maidservant for safekeeping. The maidservant put the necklace in a wooden box and sat down under a tree to watch the royal ladies have fun in the pool.Some monkeys used to live on the trees near that pool. A little girl monkey had got a glimpse of the queen’s shining pearl necklace and was besotted by it. She imagined how beautiful would she look with that necklace around her own neck. So, she waited around, hoping that the maidservant who was guarding the wooden box would soon fall asleep. The girl monkey did not have to wait for long as the maidservant who was tired of watching the queen playing with her friends, began to nod in the heat of the day and was finally fast asleep. Quick as lightning, the girl monkey jumped down, filched the necklace and hurried back to the tree. She put the pearl necklace around her neck and admired herself for a while. Then, not wanting the other monkeys to see it, she hid the string of pearls in a hollow of the tree.When the maidservant woke up, she was petrified to see that the necklace was gone. She screamed at the top of her voice, “Somebody has stolen the queen’s pearl necklace!”The palace guards came from all around and ransacked the royal garden in search of the so-called thief. There was a homeless man loitering outside the walls of the garden. He heard the commotion and sure of being accused, took to his heels. This made the royal guards suspicious. They nabbed him and started beating him up. The man denied stealing the queen’s necklace, but the guards were not ready to believe him and beat him further. The man feared that the guards would probably beat him to death if he kept denying it, so he confessed to the theft.The man was produced before the king and charged with the theft of the queen’s necklace. The king was outraged to hear the whole story and asked the man in a firm tone, “You have committed a serious offense! Now, tell us what did you do with the pearl necklace?” In an endeavour to take off the blame from his shoulders, the man replied, “Your majesty, I am a poor man. What would I do with the string of pearls? All I needed was some money to buy food to eat. It was the treasurer who lured me into stealing the necklace. I stole it from the garden and gave it to him. He knows all about it.” The king sent for the treasurer, and interrogated him on whether the poor man had passed the necklace to him or not. The treasurer also thought on the same lines as the poor man and in order to save his skin, confessed to the crime. The king asked, “What have you done with the string of pearls?” Emulating the poor man, the treasurer transferred the blame on the royal priest and said, “I was working under the directions of the royal priest and the pearl necklace is at his house.”So, the royal priest was summoned on the king’s court and questioned in the same way. Seeing no other way out of the situation, the royal priest also confessed to his involvement in the crime. He also made a statement that he had given the necklace to the chief musician, who in turn said that he had gifted it to a dancer. When the dancer was presented before the king, she denied ever having received it.Bodhisattva was also present in the king’s court and was attentively listening to the versions of all the accused people. He found it difficult to believe that anyone could enter and escape the royal garden without being noticed. He was sure that none of the accused had to do anything with the theft and they were shifting the blame onto each other, just to save themselves from the wrath of the king. He went to the garden and again inspected the whole area where the incident had taken place. He also noticed a group of monkeys swarming in the trees of the garden. He thought that perhaps it was the deed of those naughty monkeys and perhaps they were the real culprits. In order to confirm his suspicion, he got a number of glass bead necklaces made. He then went to the garden and placed them below the trees where the monkeys lived. All the monkeys were charmed by the shining glass beads of the necklaces.Each one of them came down and picked up a string except for the girl monkey who kept sitting contently on a tree. She was not at all interested in collecting a string of glass beads for herself.Bodhisattva hid behind a large rock with other guards and waited. All the monkeys were prancing around and showing off their necklaces. The girl monkey could not control the urge to show off her prized possession as well. She pulled out the pearl necklace from the hollow of the tree and put it around her neck. Then she proudly called out to other monkeys and said, “Look here! All of you have got just ordinary glass bead necklaces, but mine is made of real pearls.”At that moment the guards came out and caught the girl monkey by the arm. After confiscating the queen’s necklace from the girl monkey, Bodhisattva gave her a glass bead necklace and let her go. He had thus solved the mystery of the missing necklace. The king was well pleased with Bodhisattva’s wit and rewarded him generously. Moral:Your intelligence and wisdom are always rewarded.

This is a classic story from Jataka tales.This is a story of monkey.

The girl monkey and the spring of pearls

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 ìThe Mahabharata.Dronacharya was the archery teacher for the Kauravas and Pandavas. In those days, Dronacharya was matchless in archery. Dronacharya had a son named Ashwathama. He was named Ashwathama because as soon as he was born he started neighing like a horse, and Ashwa means horse.Dronacharya was extremely fond of his son. Ashwathama learned archery from his father and became a great hero. Ashwathama's mother was the sister of another great archer, Kripacharya. Kripacharya also helped Ashwathama, as well as the Kauravas and Pandavas, in archery. It was also Kripacharya who had requested Dronacharya to teach the Pandavas and Kauravas after him. They were very close relatives.Ashwathama learned many secret ways to use the bow and arrow and soon became an expert. The Pandavas were in the forest because of Arjuna's and Yudhishthira's defeat in a game of dice with Duryodhana and the Kauravas. Ashwathama knew that Krishna was very fond of the Pandavas, especially Arjuna. So he thought, ìThis is the time for me to go to Krishna and get something from him.î He went to Krishna and said, ìI am giving you my most powerful weapon, the Brahmashira. It can kill anyone when it is used against them. Will you not give me your Sudharshan Chakra in return? Will you not trade with me? I would be so grateful,Krishna said, ìWonderful! I am ready to exchange. Please take it.î Ashwathama tried to lift the Chakra disc up, but it was impossible for him to lift it. Krishna said, ìYoung man, you cannot even lift my weapon. How are you going to use it?î Ashwathama was embarrassed and ashamed. Krishna smiled at him saying, ìBe satisfied with what you have and fight against others with the help of your weapon. My weapon is too heavy for you.

This is a story of Ashwatthama, Dronacharya and Krishna.

Ashwathama And Krishna's Disc  

Ravina Sewani

It so happened that once, Emperor Akbar misplaced his ring somewhere. When Birbal arrived in the court, Akbar told him, “I have lost my ring. It was very dear to me as my father had given it to me as a gift. Please help me find it!”Birbal said, “You need not worry, Jahanpanah! I will find your ring right away.”He further added, “Your Majesty, the ring is here in this court itself. It is with one of our courtiers. The courtier who has a straw in his beard has your ring.” The courtier who had filched the Emperor’s ring was shocked and immediately moved his hand over his beard. Birbal was waiting for this reaction from one of the courtiers. He immediately pointed towards that particular courtier and ordered the royal guards to search him. The guards frisked the courtier and found the Emperor’s ring lying in the pocket of his achkan.Akbar was pleasantly surprised at another wonderful example of Birbal’s wit and asked him “Birbal, tell me how were you able to find the culprit?” Birbal then told the Emperor, “Your Majesty, I just shot an arrow in the dark. As they rightly say that a guilty person is always scared, the real culprit revealed himself by moving his hand over his beard.” Moral:A guilty mind is always scared. The courtier was so scared of getting caught that it was revealed in his actions and gave away his crime. Birbal used his presence of mind and wit and caught the guilty person at once.

This is a story of Akbar Birbal and ring.Moral(s) of the story: alertness, smartness and wisdom

Akbar’s ring

King Vikram was given the duty of bringing Betal to a tantric. Betal traditionally means ‘evil spirit’. Each time Vikram tried to capture Betal, it told him a story that ended with a riddle. If Vikram could not answer the question correctly, Betal agreed to remain in captivity. But, if the king knew the answer and still kept quiet, his head would burst into a thousand pieces. And if King Vikram spoke, Betal would escape and return to his tree.Betal began another story, as he was being carried upon King Vikramaditya’s shoulders.A long time ago, there was a beautiful and intelligent princess named Chandralekha. Many suitors came to offer proposals of marriage to her. She always declined, saying, “My husband should be strong, courageous and talented.”One day, a prince named Virendra came to propose to Chandralekha. He said, “I can tell the fortune of people and have never been proven wrong.”Chandralekha offered him a chamber in the palace to stay in while she made her decision.The next day, Prince Udaivir arrived, wanting to have her hand in marriage. “I have a chariot which can run on land as well as in the sky,” said the prince, hoping to impress her.He too was offered a chamber in the palace to wait.The third day, Prince Dhananjay came to ask for Chandralekha’s hand in marriage. He boasted, “I am an unparalleled warrior. No one can destroy me!”Chandralekha asked him to wait while she chose between the three.The next morning, Chandralekha’s mother was horrified to find her daughter was missing. Scared for her well-being, she called upon the three princes to help find the princess.Prince Virendra closed his eyes for a moment and then said, “As a fortune teller, I can see that the princess has been kidnapped by a giant who wants to marry her.”Next, Prince Udaivir said, “My chariot is the fastest, we can rush to save the princess!” With that, the three princes, rode off in the chariot.Upon reaching the giant’s lair, Prince Dhananjay took out his sword, fought the giant bravely and won.Chandralekha was returned safely to her mother and the kingdom was at peace.“So tell me King Vikramaditya,” said Betal. “Who should the princess choose as her groom?”King Vikramaditya thought and then said, “Prince Dhananjay deserves to be the groom. Even though Prince Virendra foretold where the princess would be and Prince Udaivir used his chariot to take them there, Prince Dhananjay defeated the giant. Without his strength, the giant would have eaten them all!”Betal looked at the king and said, “Right you are, my king. But you have opened your mouth to speak and so I must fly away, back to my tree!” With that, Betal was chased once more by King Vikramaditya. Moral:It’s not the size of the dog in the fight, it’s the size of the fight in the dog.

This is a story of king, prince, princess and Vikram Betal.Moral(s) of the story: bravery and strength

Princess Chandralekha

A long time ago, there lived a kind tailor in a small village. In that village there also lived a giant elephant. He was very friendly with everybody. The elephant used to go to the village lake to have a bath daily. The tailor’s shop was on the way to the lake. One day, the tailor offered a banana to the elephant. From that day onwards, the elephant used to visit the tailor’s shop daily and have a banana from his hand. The tailor also eagerly waited for the elephant to come and take the banana.One day, the tailor had to go to the city for some urgent work. He left the shop in charge of his son and instructed him to give a banana to the elephant when he came by. The tailor’s son was a naughty boy and he thought of playing tricks with the elephant. When the elephant came to take the banana, he took a needle and drove it inside the trunk of the elephant.The elephant was very angry, but he kept quiet. That day while returning from the lake, he stored a lot of muddy water in his trunk. When he came near the tailor’s shop, he poured all the muddy water inside the shop. All the new clothes of the customers were spoiled.When the tailor came back, he was shocked to see what had happened to his shop. He then came to know of his son’s deed and scolded him a lot for misbehaving with the elephant. He went to meet the elephant and apologised to him, but the elephant never came back to his shop again. Moral:Once a bond or relationship goes sour, it can never be the same again. So preserve what you have.

This is a classic story from panchtantra.This is a story of elephant and tailor.Moral(s) of the story: love

The revenge of the elephant

Shina Utavani

Rani Padmini was a legendary Indian queen during the 13th century. She was the wife Raja Ratan Sen, who was a wise ruler of Chittor. Among the courtiers of Ratan Sen, there was one courtier named Raghav Chetan who was an exceptional artist and a musician.Raghav Chetan was a great artist but secretly he was performing black magic for his own selfish needs. When Ratan Sen discovered about this, he banished Raghav Chetan from his kingdom. Raghav Chetan then went to Delhi.At that time, Delhi was ruled by a powerful king named Alauddin Khilji. Raghav Chetan to take revenge asked Alauddin Khilji to attack Chittorgarh. The king was not at all interested in attacking but Raghav used his last bait and informed Khilji about Ratan Sen’s beautiful wife Padmini.Khilji sent a message to Chittor asking to meet Raja Ratan Sen along with his family. Rani Padmini sensed something wrong and agreed to greet Khilji but only through a mirror. Khilji took a look at the queen and decided he wanted the queen for himself. As soon as Ratan Sen accompanied Khilji to the entrance, Khilji’s soldiers kidnapped Ratan Sen and took him to Delhi.Rani Padmini received a note from Khilji which said that in order to see her husband alive she needs to hand herself to him. Padmini agreed with a condition that she would arrive in Delhi with 700 maids in palanquins for her help. Khilji agreed and so Rani Padmini arrived in Delhi and instead of maids, she arrived with 700 Chittor’s best soldiers. Ratan Sen was successfully brought back to Chittor.Khilji was enraged. He laid siege on Chittor to obtain Padmini. Meanwhile, in a duel with Devpal, Ratan Sen was killed. When Khilji was finally able to capture the fort, only Padmavati and her women were left.Rani Padmini along with the women went through a secret passage that was linked from the fort to Jauhar Kund. In order to protect their honour, they courageously laid down their lives.

This is a story of Alauddin Khalji, Delhi, Rana Ratan Singh and Rani Padmini. Moral(s) of the story: strength

Rani Padmini

Once a learned Pandit came to Akbar’s court and expressed his desire to test the intelligence of his courtiers. Emperor Akbar was very proud of his set of learned and highly decorated courtiers and he was sure that they would be able to clear whatever test the Pandit gave them. Thus, he granted Pandit’s wish. Next day all the courtiers gathered in the Emperor’s durbar and waited for the Pandit to arrive. The Pandit reached the court at the appointed time. He had a pot covered with a cloth in his hand. He put it in front of the courtiers, and said, “If any one of you can tell me what lies in this pot, I would accept my defeat.”There was pin drop silence in the court. Nobody knew how to tell the contents of a covered pot. Then Birbal came forward, he uncovered the pot, peeped inside and said, “There is nothing inside the pot. It is empty!”The Pandit said, “This is cheating! You opened the pot.”Birbal replied, “But, Panditji, you never said not to open it in the first place!”The Pandit understood that the clever minister of Emperor Akbar had outwitted him. He humbly bowed to the Emperor and left. Moral:Even if the question is silly, you can manage the situation by thinking on your feet and giving a witty answer.

This is a classic story from Akbar Birbal.

Birbal passes the test

Lohri is a harvest festival celebrated every year on 13th January. It is an important festival for Punjabis. The festival is widely celebrated by people living in North India.&nbsp; For the festival, huge bonfires are organised in various places and people gather around it to offer their prayers. They throw puffed rice, sweets, popcorn into the flames of the bonfire and offer their prayers. The festival is celebrated to observe the new harvest season. It is termed as the festival of farmers in north India. On this day, agriculturists show their gratitude towards Almighty for a good harvest season and seek blessings for their future. The festival is celebrated with much pomp and show. In this festival, it is a tradition to eat Gajak, Sarson da saag with Makki di roti, ground nuts and jaggery. It also a tradition to eat ‘til rice’. The important food item of Lohri is radish which can be harvested between October and January. In some of the places of Punjab, about 10 to 15 days before Lohri, groups of young and teenage boys and girls go around the neighbourhood collecting logs for the bonfire.&nbsp; Women sing folklore named ‘Sunder Mundriye’ on this day. The song is associated with a story from Akbar’s rule. It is a tale of a man named Dulla Bhatti, who lived in Punjab during the Akbar’s reign. The man used to rescue girls from being taken forcibly to be sold in slave markets. He saved those girls and arranged their marriages to the boys of the villages. Among all the girls, two of the girls’ names were Sundari and Mundri. The folklore Sunder Mundriye came from their names. The song is sung to commemorate this story. The celebrations are accompanied by traditional Punjabi dance forms - "gidda and bhangra".

Lohri

Bub was born in the bubble soap liquid along with his brothers and sisters. He had always waited to be set free in the real world and enjoy with his friends.His dream came true when a human blew from the bubble soap. Soon Bub and his friends were set free in the wild, wild world. Bub was very excited to see the world for the first time.His friends were equally excited too. Bub flew over a tree and met beautiful birds. The tree waved at him.He flew over a river and the river smiled at him. The fish came up to meet him. Bub was delighted. Bub almost crashed into a car as he flew near to the ground but the car driver put Bub’s safety first.Bub got chased by a cat and their screaming never stopped. He was so scared for his life but he escaped. Then Bub flew high above the ground and could see kids in the ferris wheel, they excitedly blew at him so he could go further.Bub smiled.He was so high above the ground and he had the best day ever. The sun welcomed him as he went higher.Bub had an amazing day. He saw the world, he made people happy, he made some new friends, lost some old ones along the way but he had a lot of fun.

thanksgiving stories

Stories help in improving a child's imagination. Here are a few interesting ones for you to narrate to your child.