English Short Stories with Moral Values
1) A Wise Counting
One day, king Akbar asked a question in his court that left everyone in the courtroom puzzled. As they all tried to figure out the answer, Birbal walked in and asked what the matter was. They repeated the question to him.
4) The Golden Touch
Once there lived a greedy man in a small town. He was very rich, and he loved gold and all things fancy. But he loved his daughter more than anything. One day, he chanced upon a fairy. The fairy’s hair was caught in a few tree branches. He helped her out, but as his greediness took over, he realized that he had an opportunity to become richer by asking for a wish in return (by helping her out). The fairy granted him a wish. He said, “All that I touch should turn to gold.” And his wish was granted by the grateful fairy.
The greedy man rushed home to tell his wife and daughter about his wish, all the while touching stones and pebbles and watching them convert into gold. Once he got home, his daughter rushed to greet him. As soon as he bent down to scoop her up in his arms, she turned into a gold statue. He was devastated and started crying and trying to bring his daughter back to life. He realised his folly and spent the rest of his days searching for the fairy to take away his wish.
|Moral of the Story :- Greed will always lead to downfall.|
She was talking to herself and said, “Once I get the money, I’ll buy a chicken. The chicken will lay eggs and I will get more chickens. They’ll all lay eggs, and I will sell them for more money. Then, I’ll buy the house on the hill and everyone will envy me.” She was very happy that soon she would be very rich. With these happy thoughts, she marched ahead. But suddenly, she tripped and fell. Both the pails of the milk fell and all her dreams were shattered. The milk spilt onto the ground, and all Patty could do was cry. “No more dream,” she cried foolishly.
|Moral of the Story :- Do not count your chickens before they are hatched.|
This is a story that explains how adversity is met differently by different people. There was a girl named Asha who lived with her mother and father in a village. One day, her father assigned her a simple task. He took three vessels filled with boiling water. He placed an egg in one vessel, a potato in the second vessel, and some tea leaves in the third vessel. He asked Asha to keep an eye on the vessels for about ten to fifteen minutes while the three ingredients in three separate vessels boiled. After the said time, he asked Asha to peel the potato and egg, and strain the tea leaves. Asha was left puzzled – she understood her father was trying to explain her something, but she didn’t know what it was.
Her father explained, “All three items were put in the same circumstances. See how they’ve responded differently.” He said that the potato turned soft, the egg turned hard, and the tea leaves changed the color and taste of the water. He further said, “We are all like one of these items. When adversity calls, we respond exactly the way they do. Now, are you a potato, an egg, or tea leaves?”
|Moral of the Story :- We can choose how to respond to a difficult situation.|
One summer, a well in the garden dried up and there was no water for the plants. The rose slowly began to wilt. The rose saw a sparrow dip its beak into the cactus for some water. The rose then felt ashamed for having made fun of the cactus all this time. But because it was in need of water, it went to ask the cactus if it could have some water. The kind cactus agreed, and they both got through summer as friends.
|Moral of the Story :- Never judge someone by the way they look.|
|Moral of the Story :- We all have the strength to be who we wish to be.|
Days went by without him making a wish but his best friend saw him looking at the crystal ball. He stole it from Nasir and showed it to everyone in the village. They all asked for palaces and riches and lots of gold, but could not make more than one wish. In the end, everyone was angry because no one could have everything they wanted. They became very unhappy and decided to ask Nasir for help. Nasir wished that everything would go back to how it was once – before the villagers had tried to satisfy their greed. The palaces and gold vanished and the villagers once again became happy and content.
|Moral of the Story :- Money and wealth do not always bring happiness.|
No one was around, so he decided to steal some grapes. He jumped high and high, but he couldn’t reach the grapes. The grapes were too high but he refused to give up. The fox jumped high in the air to catch the grapes in his mouth, but he missed. He tried once more but missed again. He tried a few more times, but couldn’t reach. It was getting dark and the fox was getting angry. His legs hurt, so he gave up in the end. Walking away, he said, “I’m sure the grapes were sour anyway.”
|Moral of the Story:- We pretend to hate something when we can’t have it.|
On a cold day of winter, a colony of ants was busy drying out some grains of corn. The half-dead grasshopper, cold and hungry, came up to the ant who was his friend and asked for a piece of corn. The ant replied, “We work day and night to collect and save up the corn so that we don’t die hungry on cold winter days. Why should we give it to you?” The ant further asked, “What were you doing last summer? You should have collected and stored some food. I told you as much before.”The grasshopper said, “I was far too busying singing and sleeping.”The ant replied, “You can sing all winter as far as I am concerned. You will not get anything from us.” The ant had enough food to last through the winter, without any worries at all, but the grasshopper didn’t and he realised his mistake.
|Moral of the Story :- Make hay while the sun shines|
12) The Ant and the Dove
On a hot scorching day of summer, an ant was walking around in search of water. After walking around for some time, she saw a river and was delighted to see it. She climbed up on a small rock to drink the water, but she slipped and fell into the river. She was drowning but a dove who was sitting on a nearby tree helped her. Seeing the ant in trouble, the dove quickly dropped a leaf into the water. The ant moved towards the leaf and climbed up on it. The dove then carefully pulled the leaf out and placed it on the land. This way, the ant’s life was saved and she was forever indebted to the dove.
The ant and the dove became the best of friends and days passed happily. However, one day, a hunter arrived at the forest. He saw the beautiful dove sitting on the tree and aimed his gun at the dove. The ant, who was saved the dove saw this and bit on the heel of the hunter. He shouted from the pain and dropped the gun. The dove was alarmed by the voice of the hunter and realised what could have happened with him. He flew away!
|Moral of the Story :- Make hay while the sun shines|
13) A Bundle of Sticks
Once upon a time, three neighbours living in a village were having trouble with their crops. Each of the neighbours had one field, but the crops on their fields were infested with pests and were wilting. Every day, they would come up with different ideas to help their crops. The first one tried using a scarecrow in his field, the second used pesticides, and the third built a fence on his field, all to no avail.
One day, the village head came by and called the three farmers. He gave them each a stick and asked them to break it. The farmers could break them easily. He then gave them a bundle of three sticks, and again, asked them to break it. This time, the farmers struggled to break the sticks. The village head said, “Together, you are stronger and work better than you do it alone.” The farmers understood what the village head was saying. They pooled in their resources and got rid of the pests from their fields.
|Moral of the Story :- There is strength in unity.|
Moral of the Story :- A friend in need is a friend indeed.
A lion was once sleeping in the jungle when a mouse started running up and down his body just for fun. This disturbed the lion’s sleep, and he woke up quite angry. He was about to eat the mouse when the mouse desperately requested the lion to set him free. “I promise you, I will be of great help to you someday if you save me.” The lion laughed at the mouse’s confidence and let him go.
One day, a few hunters came into the forest and took the lion with them. They tied him up against a tree. The lion was struggling to get out and started to whimper. Soon, the mouse walked past and noticed the lion in trouble. Quickly, he ran and gnawed on the ropes to set the lion free. Both of them sped off into the jungle.
Moral of the Story A small act of kindness can go a long way.
Once upon a time, there lived a mouse and a frog, who were the best of friends. Every morning, the frog would hop out of the pond to visit the mouse, who lived inside the hole of the tree. He would spend time with the mouse and go back home. One day, the frog realised that he was making too much of an effort to visit the mouse while the mouse never came to meet him at the pond. This made him angry, and he decided to make things right by forcefully taking him to his house.
When the mouse wasn’t looking, the frog tied a string to the mouse’s tail and tied the other end to his own leg, and hopped away. The mouse started getting dragged with him. Then, the frog jumped into the pond to swim. However, when he looked back, he saw that the mouse had started to drown and was struggling to breathe! The frog quickly untied the string from his tail and took him to the shore. Seeing the mouse with his eyes barely open made the frog very sad, and he immediately regretted pulling him into the pond.
Moral of the Story :- Don’t take revenge because it can be harmful to you.