Ravina Sewani

A long time ago, there lived a heron, by the side of a pond brimming with fresh fish. He was a lazy creature, who wanted to find a way to catch all the fish without any effort. One day, he got an idea! He went to the side of the pond and put on a gloomy face. His friend, the crab, came alongside him and asked, “What is bothering you, my dear friend?”The heron said, “Alas, my friends! I spotted fishermen making hungry nets in the village nearby! Soon, they will come to our pond, to catch all the fish.” On hearing this, the inhabitants of the pond were devastated.The heron said, “Luckily, I know of a pond not far from here, where all the fish will be saved.” So, everyday, some fish would volunteer to be carried in the heron’s beak, to the safe pond.The heron would take the fish each day and on reaching a large rock, he would eat all the fish, leaving nothing but their bones behind. For many days, the sly heron got a continued supply of fish without any effort.But the wise crab was suspicious of the heron’s motives and one day, volunteered to go with the heron to the new pond. As they were flying, the crab was shocked to see his friends’ bones lying around the rock.He realized there was something fishy going on, but chose to wait and watch. The heron took the crab to the rock to eat him up. Seeing this, the alert crab tightened its claws around the heron’s long neck and threatened to choke him.“Please, spare me!” cried the scared heron, knowing his game was up. The wise and merciful crab let go of the heron’s neck, who promised never to be so deceitful again. The wise crab had saved the day. Moral:A mission started on deceit never goes a long way.

This is a classic story from panchtantra.This is a story of crab, fish and heron.Moral(s) of the story: betrayal

The heron and the crab

Once upon a time, there lived a wizard who invented a very unusual spell. Anyone who was cast with this spell would have perfect, white, shiny teeth. The wizard had a lot of toads as his pets. He decided to test this spell on one of his toads. After the spell was cast, the toad was gifted with shiny white teeth. The toad loved his teeth so much that he would keep on smiling the whole day.The toad was able to speak and eat all kinds of food. He was very proud about his perfect teeth. “I prefer eating candy than filthy flies”, said the toad to the wizard. It came to wizard’s notice that the toad was not taking care of his teeth at all and was always eating different kinds of sweets. He said to the toad, “Brush your teeth regularly and don’t eat sweets otherwise you will get a toothache.”The toad did not pay heed to the wizard’s advice and kept on eating unhealthy food. One day, a tooth started decaying and the decay spread to all the other teeth. Soon, all the toad’s teeth fell out and he was back to eating flies his whole life. He lost his ability to talk and now regretted not listening to the wizard. Moral:Never take anything for granted. The toad thought that nothing could ever damage his teeth and so never cared for them. The more we take care of our health, the longer we live.

This is a story of toad and tooth.Moral(s) of the story: regret

The toothy toad

A poor Fisherman, who lived on the fish he caught, had bad luck one day and caught nothing but a very small fry. The Fisherman was about to put it in his basket when the little Fish said:“Please spare me, Mr. Fisherman! I am so small it is not worth while to carry me home. When I am bigger, I shall make you a much better meal.”But the Fisherman quickly put the fish into his basket.“How foolish I should be,” he said, “to throw you back. However small you may be, you are better than nothing at all.”Moral: A small gain is worth more than a large promise.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;

This is a story of Aesop fables, fish and fisherman.Moral(s) of the story: smartness

The fisherman and the little fish

A long time ago, in a jungle there lived a deer, a mouse, and a crow. They were very good friends. They used to spend most of their time with one another and had their meals together. One day, a turtle came to them and said, “I’m all alone in the jungle. I also want to join your group and become your friend.”“You are most welcome to join our company,” the three friends said. The crow asked the turtle, “But what about your personal safety? You know that the jungle is full of dangers. Many hunters keep coming to the forest regularly. Suppose a hunter attacks, how will you save yourself?” The turtle replied, “That is the main reason why I want to join your group.” The four friends had hardly finished talking when they noticed a hunter approaching them. Quickly, to save their lives, the deer ran away into the forest, the crow flew high in the sky and the mouse darted into a nearby hole. Turtles, as we all know, are slow creatures. The turtle could not crawl away fast enough and the hunter trapped him in a net. Though the hunter was disappointed on not being able to catch the deer, he thought that it was better to at least have a turtle to eat rather than going hungry. The deer, the mouse and the crow were very worried to see the turtle getting trapped. They sat together to think of a plan for freeing their friend from the hunter. Together, they came up with a plan and started working on it. First, the crow flew high up in the sky to locate the hunter. He spotted him next to the river. Then, the deer overtook the hunter, unseen, and went and lay at a little distance, pretending to be dead. When the hunter reached this spot, he saw the deer lying on the ground. He thought that the deer must be dead. He was very happy at having found a deer finally. He thought that he would feast upon the deer’s flesh and sell its skin in the market for good money. So, he put the turtle on the ground and started moving towards the deer. As soon as the hunter left the turtle’s side, the mouse appeared out of a hole and nibbled off the net in which the turtle was trapped. The hunter, completely unaware of the animals’ plan, walked towards the deer thanking his stars. But, as soon as he came near the deer, the deer suddenly got up and bolted into the forest. The hunter was completely taken by surprise. Before he had time to react, the deer was gone. Dejected, the hunter went back to the place where he had set the turtle down. He was shocked to see that the turtle was gone! There was only a piece of nibbled net lying on the ground. By the time that the hunter was away, the turtle, freed by the mouse had crawled to the river and swam away. These strange occurrences were too much for the hunter. For a moment he thought that he must be dreaming. But the damaged, gnawed-through piece of net was evidence that all these things had truly happened. The hunter could not think of any explanation for these strange happenings other than that it was just a miracle. Scared out of his wits, the hunter ran away from the jungle as fast as he could.The turtle thanked his three friends for saving his life. Thereafter, the four friends lived happily. Moral:A friend in need, is a friend indeed.

This is a classic story from panchtantra.This is a story from crow, deer, mouse and turtle.Moral(s) of the story: friendship

The four friends and the hunter

Long ago, a youth named Brahmadatta lived in a village. One day, Brahmadatta had to go to the city for some important work. His mother was anxious about her son going alone, so she called him and said, “My dear son, I would advise you not to travel alone. You must take a companion with you so that he can help you if required.”Brahmadatta replied, “Mother, I am a grown man. I can take good care of myself. Besides, I do not have any companion to take with me.”“Not to worry! I will arrange a good companion for you,” said Brahmadatta’s mother. She then fetched a crab from the nearby pond and put it into Brahmadatta’s travelling bag. As Brahmadatta did not want to hurt his mother’s sentiments, he kept the crab in a camphor box and set out on his journey.The journey was long and Brahmadatta got very tired by evening. So, he decided to take some rest under a big banyan tree and soon he went to sleep. In the hollow of that banyan tree, there lived a snake. Seeing Brahmadatta fast asleep, the snake came down and hid himself in Brahmadatta’s travelling bag.The smell of camphor seemed very nice to the snake and thus, he slithered his way into the camphor box. As soon as he entered the camphor box, the crab sitting inside caught hold of the snake’s neck and killed it.When Brahmadatta woke up, he was astonished to find a dead snake lying beside him. In his heart, he thanked his mother for giving him the sage advice of taking a companion with him. Moral:You should listen to your parents’ advice as they mean the best for you at heart.

This is a classic story from panchtantra.This is a story of crab, mother, snake and son.Moral(s) of the story: family value

Brahmadatta, crab and the snake

jThere once was a speedy Hare who bragged about how fast he could run. Tired of hearing him boast, the Tortoise challenged him to a race. All the animals in the forest gathered to watch.The Hare ran down the road for a while and then paused to rest. He looked back at the tortoise and cried out, "How do you expect to win this race when you are walking along at your slow, slow pace?"The Hare stretched himself out alongside the road and fell asleep, thinking, "There is plenty of time to relax."The Tortoise walked and walked, never ever stopping until he came to the finish line.The animals who were watching cheered so loudly for Tortoise that they woke up the Hare. The Hare stretched, yawned and began to run again, but it was too late. Tortoise had already crossed the finish line. Moral:Slow and steady wins the race.

The Hare and The Tortoise: A Tortoise asks the Hare of the jungle to race against him. The hare being the faster one reaches ahead and rests for awhile. Meanwhile, the tortoise continues at his slow pace and crosses the finish line and wins the race.

The Hare and The Tortoise

Yesha Desai

One day a she-wolf had a craving to eat fresh fish-meat. The wolf did not know how to swim, but still he went down to the river, hoping to get some fish-meat for his mate.When the wolf reached the river, he saw two otters standing on the bank, also looking for fish. Soon one of the otters spotted a big fish in the water. He swiftly jumped into the river and caught the fish by its head. But the fish was very strong and was struggling continuously to get out of the otter’s hold. Fearing that he might lose the fish, he called out to his friend for help. The other otter also jumped into the river and held the fish tightly from the tail. Together, they were able to bring the fish to land.The first otter said, “This fish is good enough for both of us! Let us divide the fish into two parts.”“I want the half with the head on,” said one.“You cannot have that half. That is mine,” said the other. “You can take the tail.”The wolf heard the otters arguing over the division of fish and a brilliant idea struck him. He went up to the otters and offered his help to settle the dispute. There was no other way of ending the quarrel, so the otters also readily agreed. The wolf cut off the head and gave it to the first otter as he had caught the fish by the head. Then he severed the tail of the fish and gave it to the second otter as he had caught the fish by the tail. Both the otters were anxiously waiting to find out how the wolf would divide the rest of the fish, just then, quick as the lightning, the cunning wolf quickly ran away with the body of the fish.The otters realized that they had been fooled by the wolf. They were full of remorse and said, “If only we had not been greedy and fought with each other, we could have enjoyed a scrumptious meal.”The wolf was very pleased with himself for fooling the two otters and happily went home with the fish-meat. Moral:You must be very clever with how you deal with people so you are not fooled.

This is a classic story from Jataka tales.This is a story of wolf and otter.Morals(s) of the story: foolishness

The otters and the wolf

There once lived three great friends- a pair of geese and a tortoise. Once summer, the scorching sun rays dried up their lake, and they decided to leave and look for a new lake.But the tortoise could not fly, so, the geese thought of an idea, where the tortoise would have to bite on to a stick, which would be carried by the two geese. The only condition was that the tortoise should not open its mouth, or it would meet a terrible fate.Soon, the geese rose into the sky, with the tortoise holding firmly onto the stick. “Remember! No talking!” said the geese to the tortoise. On witnessing this, animals on the ground started laughing at the unusual sight.“A flying tortoise!” they shouted. Unable to control his anxiety, the tortoise spoke out. “What’re you all laughing about? Oh no! I’m falling!” screamed the helpless tortoise.And so, the poor tortoise came crashing to the ground, only to be saved from death by her thick shell. “If only I would’ve kept my mouth shut, I would be in a new lake with my friends,” thought the tortoise, as she slowly began her journey to go find her friends. Moral:We should trust the decisions of our loved ones for they always want the best for us.

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

The talkative tortoise

Shina Utavani

In a huge forest, once there was a lovely pond. The pond was situated in the middle of the forest. The pond was surrounded by beautiful grass and flowering plants. There were also many trees around the pond.Many frogs used to live in the pond. The frogs lived happily in the pond. The frogs argued over one thing. They could not decide their chief. Due to this, they use to fight and argue a lot. They never came to a decision.One frog would say, “I will become the chief.” Another would say, “No, I will become the chief.” Such arguments continued every day and they never came to any conclusion. They fought every day. One day, a crane come to the pond. The crane was very hungry. All frogs were fighting and arguing and this caught the crane’s attention.All the frogs were arguing and crane saw one of the frogs who said that he wanted to become the chief. The frog shouted and jumped saying, “I will become the chief.” At that exact moment, the crane caught the frog in its beak. The frog could not move or escape.The crane was about to eat the frog but at that very moment, the crane felt a slimy thing in its leg. The crane sighed and the frog jumped out of his mouth. The crane felt very bad. The crane decided to catch the frog the next day.Next day when the crane went near the pond. He still heard the noise in the pond. Everyone was arguing but the frog that was caught yesterday remained silent. This time again a frog that was shouting was caught by the crane. This time too when the crane was about to eat the frog, something happened and the frog escaped from his mouth,In the evening, again the crane came. This time, the two frogs that were caught by the crane were silent. The frogs were arguing and one among them shouted, “I am the chief.” This caught the crane’s attention and this time he easily grabbed the frog and ate him. Moral:It is not wise to boast loudly.

This is a story of crane, frog, pond and tree.Moral(s) of the story: boasting

water animal stories

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