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.

Yesha Desai

A pet shop owner had put several animals up for a sale and as expected, a lot of children soon gathered around.A girl came up to the shop owner and asked him the prices of different cats that he had in his shop.The girl frowned because she did not have so much money and the shopkeeper smiled since he knew the girl from around the neighborhood, “It is alright child, you can pay me back later.”The shopkeeper took the girl to see all the animals.All the puppies and birds around them made eager noises, except for one.Toby, a stray cat, hid in his box, away from prying eyes.The girl asked the shopkeeper, “What is wrong with him?”The shopkeeper slowly brought Toby out and the cat whined before sadly limping away.The girl looked with determination, “Sir, I want to take Toby home.” and handed the little money she had to the man.The man shook his head, “Child, you do not have to pay for him. It is alright. I can give him to you for free as no one wants a limping, mean cat. People keep returning him.”The girl shook her head, “No. His worth is just as much as the other animals. His physical status does not matter and neither does the fact that his previous owners could not understand him.”“But, he won’t be able to play with you like the other kittens. He won’t be able to run fast or anything.”The girl smiled and showed him her metal leg. “Good, because I cannot run fast either.”Toby was brought to a home where his human played with him while considering his physical limits. The girl would always be very thoughtful of Toby’s needs. In return, the girl found companionship in Toby.Toby lived happily ever after, with a girl who loved him and understood him. He was never returned back to the shop. Moral:We are not meant to fit in with everyone. Sometimes we just need people who understand us.

This is a story of cat and pet store.Moral(s) of the story: understanding

Toby- The Cat

Ravina Sewani

Once, a huge flock of crows became a great nuisance to a farmer. The crows would swoop down on his cornfield and destroy the crop. The angry farmer decided to get rid of them.One day he spread a net in his field. Then he scattered some grain on it. The crows saw the grain. They came down to eat the grain. They were caught in the net. The farmer was glad to see the trapped crows. He said, "You robbers, now you will meet the end you deserve." Just then he was surprised to hear a pitiful sound of cooing. So he looked carefully and found a pigeon among the crows.The farmer said to the pigeon, "How come you are in this gang? Anyhow, I am not going to spare you. You have chosen bad company and so you must suffer."Saying so, the farmer whistled to call his hounds. The hounds came and killed all the birds one by one. Moral:Better be alone than falling in bad company.

This is a classic story from Vikas books.This is a story of farmer, crow and pigeon.

THE CROWS AND THE PIGEON

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”. One day, Jesus was holding a congregation near a mountain. There were nearly 5000 people gathered there to hear Jesus and watch his miracles.Many of these people were poor and hungry. But their faith was strong. They stayed on for the day, just listening to their savior without a complaint.But Jesus heart was filled with kindness. So he said to his disciple Philip ìWe must feed these people.î But Philip told Jesus that they didn't have enough money to feed all these people.On hearing this, Another of Jesus disciples, Andrew, said, ìThere is little food we have ñ five loaves of bread and two fish. But we cannot feed 5000 people with this food.But Jesus, the miracle maker, didn't utter a word. He took the food and blessed it. Then he began to distribute the food among his followers. And the food refused to run out!All the 5000 people ate to their heart's content and still there were 12 bucketfuls of leftover food remaining!Seeing this miracle, the gathered people tried to make Jesus their King. What they didn't know yet was that Jesus was God's son! Moral:Believe in God and you'll never go hungry

This is a story of Bible and Jesus Christ.

Five Loaves And Two Fish

The Ramayan is an ancient Sanskrit epic written by the famous sage Valmiki. It describes Lord Rama's effort to rescue Sita from the demon king Ravana. It also describes the challenges faced by Lord Rama, Laxaman, and Sita when they were exiled from the kingdom for 14 years. Following is a story from “The Ramayana”.Rishi Bhardwaj, a Vedic sage, was mesmerized by Vishrava, a rishi who belonged to the Pulastya clan, and offered his daughter Ilavida for marriage. Ilavida and Vishrava gave birth to Kuber, the Lord of Wealth. But Sumali, the son of demon king Sukesa and gandharva princess Manimaya, along with his wife Kutumati, also wanted Kaiseki, their daughter, to marry Vishrava. Vishrava fell in love with Kaiseki and gave birth to Ravana. Brahma asked the divine architect Vishwakarma to build Lanka for the Gods, but it was seized by the asuras. Kubera inherited Lanka from his father, Vishrava and was kind enough to share his kingdom with his step-brother Ravana. Later, after receiving all kinds of boons from Brahma, Ravana overthrew Kubera from Lanka.

This is a story of Kubera and Ravan.

Kubera, The Real Ruler Of Lanka

Nishita Sanghvi

Minku was a very mischievous child. He loved doing everything that annoyed people around him, although he was as innocent as any other child doing everything only for fun.There were complaints from school too regarding Minku's behaviour. Nevertheless he would never listen.Minku's mother loved making candles, she would paint them beautifully, but Minku would spoil all of them before they dried. Despite being given continuous warnings, Minku just would not listen.She realized that the time had come to find a way to teach her son a lesson. Usually she would place the candles somewhere within his reach but this time she placed it on top of the cupboard where his hands would not reach. His mother warned him to not try and reach the candles but as all would have guessed he would not give up, he went on to reach for the candles placed high up. And as his mother had expected, he fell. But before he could hit the ground, she held him. Minku was obviously terrified and he burst into tears. He hugged his mother and promised to listen to others next time.Moral:Obey your elders.

This is a story of mother, school and candle.Moral(s) of the story: obedience

Mischievous Minku

Once upon a time, a tribal king who was hunting in the forest caught two parrots in his nest. He was very pleased with this and thought that he would teach the parrots to talk and his children would be happy to play with the talking parrots. As the tribal king was returning home with his catch, one of the parrots somehow escaped from the net and flew away to the other end of the forest. At the other end of the forest was a sage’s hut. The parrot that escaped started living here with the sage. The other parrot was carried to the tribal king’s home and he began living there with the tribal king and his family. Many months later, one day, a king from a nearby kingdom was passing through the forest on his horse. While riding, he came near the tribal king’s house. As he came nearer to the house, the tribal king’s parrot who was kept in a cage outside the house, started shouting loudly, “Who is there? Catch this man who is coming here and beat him black and blue.”The king was displeased on hearing the parrot talk in such a filthy way and decided to ride in the other direction. Soon, he reached the other end of the forest where the sage’s hut was situated. When the king came closer to the hut, the sage’s parrot, who was also kept in a cage outside the hut, said politely, “You are welcome, dear sir. Please come in and have a seat. Would you like a glass of water and some sweets?” After having welcomed the guest with proper manners, the parrot called out to his master, “Guruji, you have a visitor. Please take him inside and offer him some refreshments.”The king was amazed to see the intelligence and manners of this parrot. He realized the contrast between the tribal king’s parrot who was extremely rude and the sage’s parrot who was polite and courteous. He understood that a good environment and training always give better results and that a man is known by the company he keeps. Moral:A man is known by the company he keeps. If you have good people around you, you will develop good values. If you have bad people around you, you will be influenced by their values. Hence, choose your circle of people wisely.

This is a classic story from panchtantra.This is a story of parrot.

The king and the parrots

A Porcupine was looking for a good home. At last he found a little sheltered cave, where lived a family of Snakes. He asked them to let him share the cave with them, and the Snakes kindly consented.The Snakes soon wished they had not given him permission to stay. His sharp quills pricked them at every turn, and at last they politely asked him to leave.“I am very well satisfied, thank you,” said the Porcupine. “I intend to stay right here.” And with that, he politely escorted the Snakes out of doors. And to save their skins, the Snakes had to look for another home.Moral: Give a finger and lose a hand.

This is a story of Aesop fables, porcupine and snake.Moral(s) of the story: helpfulness and regret

The Porcupine And The Snakes

Anonymous Anonymous

શહેનશાહ અકબરે એક દિવસ બઘા દરબારીઓ માટે ભોજન રાખ્યુ, બીરબલ પર તેમને વિશેષ પ્રેમ હતો આથી તેઓ તેને આગ્રહ કરી-કરીને જમાડી રહ્યા હતા. બીરબલ ખાઈ ખાઈને હેરાન થઈ ગયો આથી તેને શહેનશાહ જોડે માફી માગી અને કહ્યું કે. "મારા પેટમાં જગ્યા ન હોવાથી હવે હું નહિ ખાઈ શકુ, તમારી આજ્ઞા માની નહી શકુ." એટલામાં જ એક સેવક કેરી કાપીને લાવ્યો, બીરબલનું મન કેરી જોઈને લલચાયું. બીરબલે પોતાનો હાથ લંબાવીને, કેરીની થોડી ચીરીઓ પેટમાં ઉતારી લીધી. તેને આ રીતે કેરી ખાતો જોઈને અકબરને ગુસ્સો આવ્યો કે હું પ્રેમથી જમાડતો હતો ત્યારે આના પેટમાં જગ્યા નહોતી અને હવે કેવી રીતે ખવાઈ રહી છે. તેમણે તરતજ ગુસ્સામાં બૂમ પાડીને બીરબલને બોલાવ્યો. બીરબલ સમજી ગયો એમના ક્રોઘનું કારણ. તે અકબરની સામે જઈને ઉભો રહ્યો અને હાથ જોડીને બોલ્યો "જ્યારે રસ્તા પર ખૂબ ભીડ હોય છે, અને ચાલવા માટે એક પગ મૂકવા જેટલી પણ જગ્યા નથી હોતી ત્યારે જો તમારી સવારી નીકળે તો તેવી પરિસ્થિતિમાં પણ બઘાએ પોતાની મેળે જગ્યા બનાવીને તમને રસ્તો આપવો પડે છે. તેવી જ રીતે કેરી પણ બધા ફળો પર રાજ કરે છે તે પણ તમારી જેમ જ ફળોનો રાજા છે તેથી તેને જોઈને પેટમાં જગ્યા બની જ જાય છે". તેનો જવાબ સાંભળી અકબર ખુશ થઈ ગયા, તેમણે મીઠી કેરીની એક ટોપલી મંગાવી અને એક કિંમતી ભેટની સાથે તે ટોપલી બીરબલને આપી. બીરબલ આ મીઠી ભેટ મેળવીને ઘણો ખુશ થઈ ગયો.

બીરબલનું મન કેરી જોઈને લલચાયું...

ફળોનો રાજા

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

thomas 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.

Toby- The Cat

THE CROWS AND THE PIGEON

Five Loaves And Two Fish

Kubera, The Real Ruler Of Lanka

Mischievous Minku

The king and the parrots

The Porcupine And The Snakes

ફળોનો રાજા

The Woodpecker and the Lion

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