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.

Ravina Sewani

There was a fox called Dabbu. One day, he was very happy after having a hearty meal. He had seen the lion going for a stroll after his meal and had gone into the lion’s den and gorged on the remains of the lion’s feast. It was a scrumptious meal of deer meat. “I wish I was lucky enough to have such a feast every day,” Dabbu thought. Dabbu started walking, looking at the clear sky, singing his favourite song, much contented with his lovely meal. He thought about film heroes and how they would sing and walk like this when they were in love.Dabbu wasn’t in love, but he thought that the emotional satisfaction obtained from a good meal was no less than the feeling of being in love. Dabbu’s eyes were almost filled with tears as myriad emotional thoughts crossed his mind, when he suddenly found himself falling into something really deep.“Dhuuummm, dhumm,” the sound came, and Dabbu understood that he was in trouble. On looking around he realized that he had fallen into a shallow well. He was lucky that there wasn’t much water in the well. It was a wide mouthed well that Dabbu had noticed every day while passing by it. It was only today that he was lost in his thoughts and had simply overlooked it. Dabbu was really angry at himself for being so foolish and careless and wanted to hit himself.He tried his best to get out of the well by climbing on its walls, but all in vain as the walls were too slippery. Frustrated, he waited for someone to come to help.Suddenly, Dabbu heard a squeaky voice, “What on earth are you doing down there?” Dabbu looked up and much to his relief he found Laadla the goat standing at the mouth of the well. He was a young and gullible goat. Dabbu knew that Laadla was innocent and ignorant of the world, as he was always asking very irritating questions. Dabbu was determined to get out of the well using Laadla’s help. It has never been difficult for a fox to fool a goat. He said, “Aren’t you aware that there has been a huge drought in the northern part of Bihar (they lived in a jungle in Bihar)?” “Really? I haven’t heard of any such thing” said the innocent goat. Dabbu replied, “That’s strange. Shantaram crow gave me the news this morning and he has also seen it with his own eyes as he was travelling from the same area. That is why I jumped into this well to save some water for myself.”“Oh God, how terrible!” exclaimed Laadla and jumped into the well in no time. As soon as Laadla jumped into the well, Dabbu climbed on his long horns and jumped out of the well. Dabbu said, “You are such a silly creature. You are not even aware that there have been floods all around the northern part of the country, and you believed my story of a drought. Instead of talking about a frog in a well, now people will talk about a goat in a well.”Laadla was stupefied and said to himself, “One should never trust anyone blindly.” Moral:One should never trust anyone blindly. Always use your wisdom and analyse the situation before putting in your trust.

This is a classic story from panchtantra.This is a story of fox and goat.Moral(s) of the story: trust

The fox and the goat

Shina Utavani

One upon a time, there lived a carpenter whose name was Gepetto. He was very old. One day, the carpenter carved a puppet in the shape of a boy and named it Pinocchio. He wished that the boy was real. He wanted the puppet to be a real one. Fortunately, a fairy heard his words and fulfilled his wish. She added life to the puppet. The only condition of the fairy was that if the puppet becomes a real boy then he must always be a good boy.Gepetto loved Pinocchio and he was very dear to him but Pinocchio was very naughty and he rarely spoke the truth. He used to lie very often. As soon as he lied, his wooden nose would grow long. He had had enough of his long nose so he promised to be a good boy. He soon left school and joined a circus. He started missing Gepetto.One day, he got the news that his father had been swallowed up by a huge whale. As soon as he got the news, he went to find the whale. He saw a big whale and as he went ahead, the whale swallowed him as well. Inside the whale’s belly, Pinocchio saw Gepetto and was very happy. They both were very happy to see each other. They made a plan to get out of the whale. They started tickling the whale’s stomach. The whale opened his mouth and sneezed and Pinocchio and Gepetto slipped out from the whale’s mouth.Pinocchio and Gepetto went to their home. They safely reached their home. The fairy was impressed by the Pinocchio’s bravery and she turned him into a real fleshed and blood boy. He now looked exactly like a human being. After that day, he became a good boy and he never missed school. They both lived happily ever after. Moral:We should never lie. We should always speak the truth.

This is a story of carpenter, fairy and pinnochio.Moral(s) of the story: trust

Pinnochio

There was a carnivorous plant named Flora. As she was a carnivorous plant, she used to eat meat. She had a friend named Porky. Her friend was a butcher and she used to live in the supermarket, next to the butcher’s counter. Porky treated Flora with great attention and affection, and always had some piece of meat to give her at the end of each day.One day, Flora did not get her share of the meat. It was unusual as Porky never forgot to give meat to Flora. The next day also Flora did not get her part of the meat. She was worried and decided to follow Porky to know the reason.After spying on Porky, she found out that he was not giving her meat because he was putting big slabs of meat in a big yellow box. Flora asked Porky if she could have a little of the food kept in the yellow box. The Porky replied saying she should not do that and added, “Don’t even think about it, Flora! Don’t even touch the meat in the yellow box.”Flora felt very bad about it. She was disappointed and hungry as well. She could not stop wondering why Porky was keeping the delicious meat in the box. She was very angry, and her mind was filled with negative thoughts. On that very night, when the shop was empty, she went to the box. She opened the box and ate the meat kept in the box until her belly ached.The next morning, Porky arrived and saw the yellow box empty. He asked Flora several times whether she had taken the meat, but she denied. But after seeing Porky’s worry, Flora decided to confess.After Flora’s confession, Porky was very angry and said, “What have you done Flora?” “I told you not to touch it! All that meat was poisoned! That’s why I did not give you anything for days. They sent us a spoiled delivery.” Further, without any delay, they took Flora to the hospital. She managed to survive. She was feeling great pain in her roots and her leaves were changing colours. Flora felt terrible. She felt very bad for going against Porky. At last, she realized her mistake and promised to follow rules made by those who love her. Moral:Always listen to those who love you. All they say is for your betterment.

This is a story of butcher, meat and plant.Moral(s) of the story: trust

The Carnivorous Plant and the Butcher

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”. There was a time when the disciples of Jesus still had a hard time understanding his miracles. So, once when they were in the city of Bethsaida, the disciples brought a blind man to Jesus. They requested Jesus to heal the man so he could see God’s wonderful creation. So, Jesus led the man out of the city, he spat on the ground, made some mud with the saliva, and put it on the man's eyes. He then asked him to go and wash in the pool of Siloam, which means ‘Sent’. The man went and washed his eyes, and returned home with healed eyes that could see. The architectural setting of the miracle is symbolic. Just as Jesus was sent by the Father to give light/enlightenment, Jesus now sends the man to a pool that bears the meaning ‘Sent’, in order to receive sight/insight, and to bring light to a dark world. Moral:Trust in God and you will see the true beauty of his creation.

This is a story of Jesus Christ.Moral(s): trust

The Story Of The Blind Man

Yesha Desai

Here’s another great story from the Hitopadesha. Once upon a time, there lived a deer and a crow in a dense forest. They were very good friends and often spent time with each other. One day a jackal spotted the deer and said to himself, “Nothing tastes better than&nbsp;deer flesh! I must somehow make friends with this deer and try to get close to him.”So, he approached the deer and said, “O deer! I am an orphan jackal and do not have any friends in this forest. You appear very kind-hearted to me. Would you agree to be my friend?” The deer was very pleased with the jackal’s mannerisms and took his new friend to his home.When the crow saw the deer with the jackal, he warned him, “Dear friend, you must be careful!” But the deer did not pay heed to the crow’s warning and continued being friends with the jackal. One day, the jackal said to the deer, “I know of a big field that is full of fresh corn. Do you wish to go there with me? “The deer happily accompanied the jackal to the corn field. From that day onwards, both of them started visiting that corn field every day. The owner of the field was very annoyed and decided to catch the thief who ate corn from his field. He set a trap in the field and the next day when the unsuspecting deer came to eat the corn, he got trapped in the net.The jackal saw the deer getting caught in the net and thought, “Once the owner of the field kills the deer, I shall finally get to eat the tasty deer meat for which I have waited so long.” The deer called the jackal for help, but the cunning jackal said, “I am sorry, I cannot do anything! The net seems to be very strong.” Saying so, he walked away from there and hid himself near the field, waiting for the owner to come and kill the deer.When the crow did not see his friend deer by the evening, he started searching for him and found him lying trapped helplessly in the field. When the deer saw the crow, tears filled up in his eyes and he said, “My friend, I disregarded your advice at first and now I suffer. Tomorrow, I shall be killed by the owner of this field.” The crow felt very sorry for the deer. He thought for a while and then a bright idea struck him. He told the deer, “Listen to me, my friend! When the owner comes tomorrow morning, lie down quietly; make your legs stiff and pretend to be dead. When he takes off the net, I will start cawing. That would be a signal for you to stand up and run away quickly.”The owner of the field came the next morning and saw the deer seemingly dead. As soon as he removed the net, the crow began to caw loudly. In a moment, the deer stood up and sped away. The owner got very angry and threw a stick at the deer. The deer escaped, but the stick hit the jackal on the head and killed it. Moral:We must not trust unfamiliar people very easily and instead put our loyalty and belief in the advice of the people we know.

This is a classic story from Hitopadesha tales.This is a story of crow, deer, jackal and trust.Moral(s) of the story: trust

The Story of The Jackal, The Deer And The Crow

Once, a Brahmin was passing through a jungle to reach another town. A diabolical giant used to live in that forest. When he saw the Brahmin coming towards him, he sprang upon the Brahmin and sat on his shoulders, curling his legs around the Brahmin’s neck. The Brahmin was petrified to see a giant perched on his shoulders, but he could not do anything to take him off his shoulders. The giant said to the Brahmin, “O Brahmin, I am very fond of eating human flesh. But, before killing you I wish to take a joy ride on your shoulders. So, take me where I want.”The Brahmin had no choice, but to obey the giant. So he kept on walking. While walking, the Brahmin noticed that the giant’s feet were unusually tender and tiny. Out of curiosity, the Brahmin asked the giant, “O mighty giant, I want to ask you something. I see that you are so big and strong but your feet are very tiny and delicate. Why is it so?”The giant thought that there was no harm in revealing the secret of his feet to the Brahmin as he was soon going to kill him. So, he told the Brahmin, “Well, I generally do not walk much. Walking or running with wet feet hurts me a great deal.”The Brahmin kept the giant’s words firmly in his mind and kept on walking. After some time, they reached a river. When the Brahmin saw the river, a brilliant idea struck him. He said to the giant, “Dear Sir, Pardon me for saying so, but I sincerely think that you need to take a shower. You can take a bath in this river, freshen yourself up and then eat me.” The giant had not taken a bath since a very long time, so he liked the Brahmin’s idea. He asked the Brahmin to let him down from his shoulders and warned him, “Do not dare move an inch from your place or else, I will come out of the water and kill you.”The Brahmin promised the giant not to move from there. He was very happy to see the giant bathing in the river as he knew that he was bound to get his tender feet wet. As soon as the Brahmin saw that the giant was completely soaked in water, he ran away from there to save his life.The giant saw the Brahmin running away from the river bank, but he could not do anything to stop him. With his delicate wet feet, he was unable to chase the Brahmin. He repented telling his little secret to the Brahmin. Moral 1:Keep your secrets to yourself and don’t share it with everyone as people might take an advantage. Only share your secrets with the people you trust. Moral 2:Quick wit and thinking can help us escape out of difficult situations.

This is a classic story from panchtantra.Moral(s) of the story: trust and wisdom

The giant and the helpless Brahmin

Once upon a time, an old man lived with his three sons in a village. The three sons were hard workers. Still, they quarreled all the time. The old man tried a lot to unite them but he failed. Though the villagers appreciated their hard work and efforts, they made fun of them on their fights.Months passed by and the old man fell sick. He told his sons to stay united, but they didn’t listen to him. So, he decided to teach them a practical lesson so that they would forget their differences and stay united.The old man called his sons. He told them, “I will give you a bundle of sticks. Separate each stick and you will have to break each stick into two. The one who breaks the sticks quickly will be rewarded more.”The sons agreed. The old man gave a bundle of 10 sticks to each of them and asked them to break each stick into pieces. They broke the sticks into pieces in minutes. And again they started to quarrel among themselves as to who came first.The old man said, “Dear sons, the game is not over. Now I will give another bundle of sticks to each of you. You will have to break the sticks as a bundle, not as separate sticks.” The sons agreed and tried to break the bundle of sticks. Though they tried their best, they could not break the bundle. They failed to complete the task. The three sons reported their failure to their father.Breaking bundle of sticks, the old man replied, “Dear sons, See! You could easily break the single sticks into pieces, but you were not able to break the bundle! So, if you stay united, nobody can do any harm to you. If you quarrel every time with your brothers, anyone can easily defeat you. I request you to stay united.”The three sons understood the power of unity and promised their father that whatever be the situation, they would all stay together. Moral:Unity is Strength!

This is a story of father and son.Moral(s) of the story: family value, trust and unity

Three sons and a Bundle of sticks

Penguin, Reindeer and Fox were great friends. One day, Penguin and Reindeer found a load of fruit, and decided to keep it a secret. On the way, they met Fox, who seeing them so happy, asked them why. They told him they couldn't say, because it was a secret, but Fox asked them to trust him, so they told him about the fruit.When they arrived at the village, Fox forgot about his promise, and told everyone. When Penguin and Reindeer returned to the place where they had found the fruit, the animals of the village had already been there and eaten it all.That same day, Penguin and Reindeer found another place full of food, and the same thing happened again with Fox. Angered by these betrayals, they decided to teach Fox a lesson. The next day they told Fox that they had found a lake so full of fish that no effort was needed to catch them. Fox again told everyone in the village about this. The next day, Fox came by, covered in cuts and bruises. After telling all the animals about the lake full of fish, everyone, including even the polar bears, had gone there. But, not finding anything, they felt deceived, and had given Fox a good beating.Fox learned that keeping people's trust is very important, and that to get it in the first place you have to earn it with loyalty and always keeping your word.Penguin and Reindeer devised another trick for Fox but, as he was no longer a bigmouth, he did not betray them, and Penguin and Reindeer regained their faith in Fox, thus forgiving him.Moral: Betrayal often leads to loss of friends and family.

This is a story of fox, deer, penguin and reindeer.Moral(s) of the story: loyalty and trust

Bigmouth fox

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, Moses, the most important Jewish prophet, played many vital roles in the holy book Bible, saw an Egyptian man beating a Hebrew man. The sight of such injustice broke young Moses’ heart. As he tried to stop the fight, the Egyptian man was killed. Left with no other option, Moses had to flee Egypt to save his life.Moses wandered around as a shepherd, trying to understand the purpose of his life. One day, as he sat near Mount Horeb, tending to his sheep, he saw a miraculous sight! The Lord himself appeared to Moses in the middle of a burning bush. As Moses looked on with wonder, God spoke out “Remove your sandals as you stand on sacred ground.” Then he told Moses that the people of Egypt needed him, so he was to go back to save the Hebrew slaves. Moses was confused and said, “I am but a common man. How can I convince the Pharaoh to let slaves go? And in any case, the sons of Israel, the Hebrews in Egypt won’t follow me!” God knew that Moses still did not trust his strength, so he said, “Throw your stuff to the ground.” Moses did as the Lord said, and lo behold, the stuff turned into a serpent. And as Moses picked up the serpent it again became his stuff. Moses finally understood that he was God’s chosen one. With complete faith and trust in the Lord, Moses left for Egypt to save the sons of Israel. The story of Moses will be one of the kids favourite bible stories. Moral:We all have the strength to change the world.

trust 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.

The fox and the goat

Pinnochio

The Carnivorous Plant and the Butcher

The Story Of The Blind Man

The Story of The Jackal, The Deer And The Crow

The giant and the helpless Brahmin

Three sons and a Bundle of sticks

Bigmouth fox

The Story Of Moses

More like this

Bee Suggestions

About Bee