Short Moral Stories are a great way of teaching kids the difference between good and bad. Here you will find 10 Short Moral Stories for Kids to get you started.

Short Moral Stories for Kids

The Woodcutter and the Axe

Once there was a poor woodcutter who earned his livelihood by selling wood. When cutting a tree near a river one day, his axe unintentionally dropped into the river. The river was deep and very quick moving. He was unable to locate his axe. He had no money to buy an axe again, and sat down on the bank of the river, crying.

The River God suddenly came out of the river and asked him what had happened.

“Why are you sad?” he asked the woodcutter.

The woodcutter said, “My only axe accidently slipped and fell into the river.”

When the god heard this, he went into the river to look for the woodcutter ‘s axe. He gave the woodcutter a golden axe and asked,

” Is this your axe? ”.

The woodcutter said,” No! this is not my axe.”

The River God reached the river again and looked for the woodcutter’s axe. Now he carried to the woodcutter a silver axe and asked again, “Is this your axe?”.

The woodcutter replied once again, “No, this is also not my axe.”

River God  went deep into the water again and returned with an iron axe. The woodcutter smiled and said it was his.

The God was pleased with the honesty of the woodcutter and gave him golden as well as silver axes.

The woodcutter thanked God and went home happily.

 Moral of the Story: Honesty is the best policy. 

The Proud Rose

Once upon a time, a rose was in a desert far away. She was very proud of her beautiful looks. Her only complaint was an ugly cactus growing next to her. The beautiful rose would insult the cactus every day, mocking his looks, all while the cactus remained silent. All the other nearby plants tried to make sense of the rose, but she was too swayed by her own appearance.

One scorching summer, the desert had become dry, and the plants had no water left. The rose was rapidly beginning to wilt. Her gorgeous petals dried up, losing their lively colour. She saw a sparrow dip his beak into the cactus to drink some water as she looked at the cactus. The rose asked the cactus, though ashamed, whether she might have some water. The kind cactus readily agreed, helping them both, as friends, through the tough summer. The rose learned her lesson and never judged anybody by appearance again.

 Moral of the Story: Never judge someone by the way they look

The Dog and the Bone

There was a dog that was very hungry. He went to search for food and found a juicy piece of bone. He thought that he would go back to his place and enjoy it. So he left for his place. He had to cross a bridge over the river while going back to his home. The dog saw his own reflection in the river as he crossed the bridge and thought that it was another dog with a piece of bone in his mouth. The dog was so greedy that he also wanted to have that piece of bone. So he opened his mouth, barking at his own reflection, to snatch that piece. As soon as he opened his mouth to bark, a piece of bone dropped into the river. The dog lost his bone to river and had to return home hungry.

 Moral of the Story: Don’t be greedy

The Goose that laid Golden Eggs

Once upon a time, a poor farmer lived with his wife in a village. One day he bought a goose thinking of selling its eggs. He took the goose home and made an egg-laying nest for it. The farmer went to the nest the next morning to check whether the goose had laid any eggs. The goose had laid a golden egg, to his surprise. The farmer sold the golden egg at a good price. The goose began to lay a golden egg each day. The farmer sold the eggs and made a fortune out of them. As the farmer began to become richer and richer by selling the golden eggs, he also became more greedy.

His wife said one day, “If we could get all the eggs inside the goose, we could get rich more quickly”.

“You are right”, the farmer said. “We wouldn’t have to wait for the goose to lay her egg each day”.

So, the couple decided to cut the goose open and get the gold mine all at once inside the goose. They went to the nest the next day and killed the goose and opened it to find she was just like every other goose. She didn’t have golden eggs inside. Now the farmer and his wife had lost the goose, and they were never going to get any more golden eggs.

 Moral of the Story: Too much greed always contributes to great losses.

The Peacock and the Crane

Once upon a time, there was a pretty peacock who lived in the woods. It was very proud and admired its beauty all day. It would flaunt its beautiful feathers at all times and make fun of other birds.

One day, on the bank of a lake, the peacock met a crane. He said with a grin to the crane, “What a colourless bird you are!”  “Your feathers are not at all beautiful and dusty in appearance. Look at my lovely feathers, just like the rainbow.

The crane said, “But I’m not jealous of you”.

” Don’t lie”, the peacock said .

“Yes ! My feathers are not beautiful but I can fly with my wings up in the sky. I can travel the world and I go wherever I want to go.

Can your feathers make you fly?”, the crane replied.

The peacock was embarrassed and kept silent.

 Moral of the Story: Beauty has no value unless it is useful. It is better to be useful than beautiful.

The Potato, The Egg, And The Coffee Beans

One day, a boy named John was sitting and weeping on the steps of his home. His father saw and asked him what was wrong. John answered in a very sad tone, “Papa, I’m always in trouble.  I don’t know what to do”. Simply smiling, his father asked him to get a potato, an egg and some coffee beans. In three bowls, he placed them. He then asked John to feel the texture of all three things and then filled it with water.

Afterwards, his father boiled all three bowls. John’s father asked him to feel the texture of the food items again after it had cooled down. John noticed that the potato had become soft and that it was easy to peel off its skin, the egg had become harder and the coffee beans had changed completely and filled the bowl of water with flavour and aroma.

His father, listening to John’s observations, smiled and said, “We have the possibility to choose how we respond and how we become when we face a problem  The potato decided to become soft and delicate, the egg became strong and solid and the coffee beans took on a whole new shape.

 Moral of the Story: Life, like the boiling water in the story, will always have issues and pressures. It is how you answer and respond to these problems that counts the most.

The Three Little Pigs

Once there were three little pigs and they left their family to see the outside world. Each of the three little pigs decided to build  their own house .

The first pig hardly put in any effort and built a house made of straw. The second pig put some work into it and constructed a house made of sticks. They build their houses very quickly and without much hard work. The third pig put a lot of hard work and effort and built a house of  stone and brick. He did not mind the hard work as he knew there was a wolf in the jungle who liked eating pigs.

One evening, a wolf came.  He huffed and puffed and blew away the house made of straw. The pig ran to the house made of stick. The wolf huffed and puffed the stick house and it came down too. Then the two little pigs ran to the third pig’s house made of stone. Then the wolf went to the third pig’s house made of stone and bricks.  He huffed and puffed, but  was unable to blow away the house.

Soon, he was out of his breath and ran away.

 Moral of the Story: Hard work and dedication always pays off.

The Lion and the Mouse

Once upon a time, a lion lived in the jungle.. He was enjoying a blissful sleep. A mouse came and started to run up and down the lion. The lion was disturbed and rose from his sleep. It picked the mouse up in frustration and attempted to stomp it to death.

“Please don’t kill me, save my life, and one day I’m going to pay you back for the favour, ” the mouse pleaded.

The lion was fascinated and wondered if a tiny creature could ever help him. Yet he was in a good mood, and he eventually let the mouse go in his generosity.

After a few days, the lion was caught in a trap set by a hunter. The lion fought to free himself from the net. No matter how hard he wanted to do so, he found it impossible to free himself. He roared loudly in frustration. His roars were recognized by the same mouse he gave mercy to. He rushed to the lion ‘s trap, which tied him, and cut the net with his sharp teeth.Slowly she made a large hole in the net, and then the lion was able to free herself from the hunter’s trap. The lion thanked the little mouse for her help, and the mouse reminded her that she had eventually repaid the lion for saving her life. So the lion and the mouse became good friends and lived together in the forest.

 Moral of the Story: No act of kindness is ever lost.

The Cap seller and the Monkey

Once there was a cap seller  in a village. One fine day,  he was selling caps in village fair.  He had to cross the forest on his way. It was a sunny day, and in the heat of the sun he was exhausted. So, he sat down to rest under a tree. He set his basket of caps on the ground  and soon fell asleep.

A lot of monkeys lived on that tree’s branches. The monkeys came down, picked up the caps from the basket and climbed up the tree again and wore the caps. The cap seller woke up after sometime and found his  basket empty . He looked for his caps everywhere. To his surprise, he saw the monkeys wearing them.

He screamed at the monkeys  and the monkeys shouted back at him. He noticed that the monkeys were imitating him. The cap seller thought for a while. Then he removed his cap, threw it to the ground. The monkeys also dropped all the caps on the ground. The cap seller collected all the caps, put them back in his basket and went away happily.

 Moral of the Story: Intelligence always works

Two Frogs and the Churned milk

There were once two frogs living in a pond near a village. It began to rain one fine day. The two frogs jumped into a nearby house to seek shelter and food.

They continued to look for food once inside the home. They jumped and dropped accidentally into a pail of milk. The pail was deep and huge. Both the frogs began to drown in the pail of milk. After some time, both the frogs attempted to get out, but in vain.

One of the frogs lost hope and said, ‘I can’t swim anymore,’ and he drowned to the bottom, and at last died. The other one did not lose hope. The second frog remained inspired and went on swimming. He was eager to find a solution. With considerable force he kept paddling. The milk turned to butter due to several hours of churning. Soon the butter got hardened. The frog  climbed on the butter and jumped out from the pot.  The second frog, in an adverse circumstance, did not give up and saved his life.

Moral: Never lose hope

The Thirsty Crow

On a hot summer day,  a thirsty crow flew into a village looking for water. For a long time, he found no water. Suddenly he saw a pitcher under a tree. He jumped quickly towards the pitcher and looked inside. The pot had so little water in it. Sadly, he realized that the neck of the jug was too narrow. He attempted to put his head into the jug but failed. The crow became disheartened. He was very thirsty and desperately wanted to drink water.

Suddenly, the eyes of the crow fell on the mound of pebbles lying underneath the tree. And, he got an idea! He picked a pebble and put it in the pitcher. He gathered another pebble and another one and put them all in the pitcher. The water level reached up to the brim as he inserted more and more stones. The crow drank the water and went happily back home!

 Moral of the Story: Think and work hard, you may find solution to any problem.

In addition to being amusing, these short moral stories for kids are a great means of teaching moral values. They help to teach kids the difference between right and wrong. They are also short enough to capture the interest of the child. Keep reading to them ! More you read the same moral stories, more your child becomes familiar with the tale and the moral message.

I also love playing the moral stories on YouTube when I feel lazy to read. My favorite channel for moral stories is Kids Hut.

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