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Top 20 Short Moral Stories For Kids


The Goose, Golden Egg and Farmer

The farmer and wife might not have had everything they ever wanted, but what they did have was something very special. On their farm was a goose, which lay a golden egg every day. The farmer would sell it in the market and get ample money in return. This kept the farmer and his wife happy initially, but soon they desired more.

They planned to get as many eggs from the goose and sell them all together, so they can get rich quickly.

The next morning they cut open the goose to take out all her eggs, but to their horror, there was only flesh and bones inside. They had foolishly killed their beloved goose for more money but now they would get none! The tale of the farmer thus birthed the idiom “Kill not the goose that lays the golden egg” and became an important moral story for kids.

Read more 5 Minute Bedtime Stories

The Cow Squad

Four cows had been friends since forever. They did everything together, from grazing grass to resting and playing around. Because they always had each other, no lion or tiger could prey on them.

But one day, the four cows got into a fight. They argued and argued, till they decided that they would part ways.  That day each cow did everything on its own. They grazed alone, rested alone, and hopped around alone. Soon the lions and the tigers began to notice and hid in the bushes. As each cow passed by, they pounced on the cows and killed them all one by one.

Oh what an important moral for kids, it was their unity which was their strength, but the cows never realized it and had fallen to their fate.

Next up is an important moral story for kids, which takes through a fable with a fox.

The Fox and The Grapes

One day a hungry fox roamed the jungle in search of some food. He searched around himself, high and low, but couldn’t find anything appealing. Continuing his search he approached a farmer’s wall. His stomach grumbled at the sight of the big, juicy grapes at the top of the wall. Lush and purple in color, the fox could not wait to eat them.

He jumped as high as he could to try to grab the grapes but failed. He jumped again opening his mouth to catch the grapes, but missed again. Irritated, the fox kept trying, but to no avail.

Finally, he decided to give up and walk away.  “I’m sure they were sour anyway “huffed the fox as he made his retreat.

The fox unnecessarily despised what he could not have, just because it could not come easy.

The Four Friends Who Studied Hard

There was a group of four boys, who loved to party. If given the choice they would always pick partying over studying because they hated studying so much. A night before their test, they were out having fun once again and ended up missing it the next morning. They lied to the Dean that their car had a flat tire and because they didn’t have a spare they had to push it back in time. The Dean listened carefully and told them they could give the exam later.

Having gotten another chance, the boys studied happily and hard. They believed they had fooled the Dean.  As they arrived for the exam they were asked to sit in separate classrooms and to their surprise, the 100 mark exam only had two questions. “Your name?” and “which side tire did you burst?”  The moral for these kids was that they are not the smartest.

The Wolf and The Shepherds

Once upon a time, there was a wolf who occasionally visited a village. Once he was hungry and tired, and while at the village he decided to hunt a sheep for a meal. When the shepherds realized that the wolf had killed a sheep, they threw stones at him and hurled abuses at him, making him run away from the village.

Later one night, the wolf was strolling the village again when he peered inside the shepherd’s house. To his surprise, the shepherd’s family was enjoying a roasted lamb for their meal. The wolf laughed to himself. When he had done the same he had been thrown out of the village.

This is one of famous Aesop’s fables with a moral lesson for kids. It teaches us that we are quick to judge other peoples’ mistakes but often ignore ourselves when we do the same.

Controlling Anger

angry kid

A father noticed that his son could not control his anger. He would often lose his temper and say whatever came to his mouth. His father came up with a plan. He gave his son some nails and a hammer, asking him to knock a nail into the fence each time he said something rude. The first week, he used up most of the nails. The next week he used fewer and so on, till he did not need to hammer in any nails.

Now his father asked him to remove a nail each day he didn’t lose his temper. The boy did as asked till he had slowly removed all the nails. His father then showed him all the holes left in the fence.

He taught his son a moral, that once you say something rude, you may stop doing so later, but the damage remains forever.

The Other Side Of The Wall

A young woman’s grandmother had left her a beautiful garden, which she took great care of. One day the woman was looking through a magazine, where she saw a beautiful plant and wished to plant it in her own garden. She quickly ordered it and upon its arrival planted it near a stone wall in her garden.

She took great care of it, watering it and monitoring it every day. But the plant never grew any flowers as in the magazine. She waited and waited till she was so distressed that she wanted to cut it off. However, one day her neighbor called her thanking her for the beautiful flowers blooming in her garden. Confused, the young woman rushed to her neighbor’s garden to see that her plant’s vines had crept under the wall and had bloomed on the other side of the wall!

The Man and The Cat!

Once a man was walking down the road when he saw a cat stuck in a fence, unable to escape. As the cat meowed the man tried to free it, but the cat got scared and scratched him. The man winced in pain but continued to try and help the cat. The cat however kept scratching him out of fear. Another person soon passed by and witnessing the sight, asked the man to let the cat be. However, the man refused and continued to help till the cat was finally free.

“The cat is an animal and thus instinctively scratched me, but I am a human and it is my instinct to be empathetic and help the animal” the man explained to the bystander and went on with his day.

The moral in this story is to use our position to be kind and helpful whenever we can.

The Tortoise and The Bird

tortoise and the bird

Another story of moral having a good lesson for children is about a tortoise and a bird.

Once a tortoise was resting under a tree when he looked above him to find a bird’s nest perched on the tree. Observing the nest, he began mocking the bird for its shabby, weak nest made of twigs and sticks. The tortoise boasted that his shell was much stronger and better.

But the bird was not bothered. “My nest may be shabby and weak but I built it myself” chirped the bird. But the tortoise continued to gloat about his shell.

“My nest may be small, but it can hold my entire family, but your shell is lonely because it only holds you” chirped the bird, tired of the tortoises’ boasting.  The tortoise realized this was true and now felt ashamed of bothering the bird. The bird’s home may be small, but it was full, unlike his big shell.

The Proud Rose


In a garden, a rose and a cactus were planted together. The rose was very proud of her vibrant red petals and her beauty and would often complain about being planted next to the ugly cactus. She would shame the cactus and ridicule it because it was no match for her beauty.

But soon the tables turned. There came a season of drought, and no rain.  Soon the rose began to wilt and its petals began to droop. But the cactus remained the same. Birds would often come to the cactus to suck water too. Defeated, the rose requested the cactus for some water one day. Considering her own insults, she thought the cactus would turn her away but the kind cactus quickly gave her water, and they continued to foster this new friendship.

This brings us to an important moral in the story, to not judge anyone’s looks.

Read More: Free Bedtime Stories For Kids Online To Read Aloud

The Tale of a Pencil 

the tale of a pencil

A little boy sitting in a depressed mood as he failed the English test. 

He said to his mother “I prepared well for the test but the results are not equal to the efforts I made.” 

Mother: “Don’t be upset. Next time put more effort and then you will achieve the highest marks.” 

The boy threw all his books and a pencil box.  

The mother picked all the stuff and said: “What is this nonsense? “ 

Boy: “I won’t go to school now. All of my friends passed the test except me.” 

Mother: “Don’t be depressed. Try harder next time.” 

The boy got irritated and threw his pencil box again and said: “I don’t deserve this.” 

Mother: “Listen to me carefully! 

Life is full of ups and downs. Not every time we get the results we expect. Life is not easy to understand and it is different for different people.  

Think about the renowned people who worked day in and day out to achieve their goals. Our wishes don’t fulfill immediately we should have to work hard for them. 

Just look at this pencil. Do you know how it is made? 

It passes through a lot of steps. A lightweight pencil goes through the step of painful sharpening then it can make its mark on any surface. 

You have to go through some painful steps in life like a pencil to achieve your goals. I hope you will find the strength to overcome your hurdles. 

Just remember better results occur only when we focused on our goals and do every struggle to make our dreams come true.” 

The boy listened carefully to the whole story and was quite impressed and gathered the courage to give his life a new start. 

Be Honest – Moral Story


The mother of two grasshoppers said:” you both are now grown-ups and our house is quite tiny I guess it’s time for you two to find yourself a home. 

The grasshoppers agreed and went to construct their home. 

One of them was honest while the other one was cunning and always go for shortcuts. 

While constructing their houses, a man came and asked them a reason why they are here. Grasshoppers told him they are constructing houses for themselves. The man was an architect and also offered them help. 

The grasshoppers were muggle so they accepted his offer. 

The next day, the architect was late and they reached the place first. They were out of bricks.  

Cunning grasshopper: “we will have to go so far to collect the bricks and I don’t have this much energy.”  

Honest grasshopper: “we don’t have any other choice. We must have to go.” 

Cunning grasshopper:” we can take the architect’s bricks by breaking his house. 

He somehow managed to convince the honest grasshopper. 

They broke his house from a hammer and used the bricks in their house. Throughout this work, the honest grasshopper was not satisfied. 

After a while, the architect came and inquired what had happened to his house. 

Cunning grasshopper: “we don’t know. When we came here your house was like this. I think it’s your enemies” 

The other grasshopper was quiet and embarrassed. 

The architect asked him if he knows anything but he was still quiet. 

Architect: “I’ll help only if you tell me who did this, go and find out.” 

On their way home, the honest grasshopper was continuously saying to tell truth to the architect otherwise he won’t help. 

Cunning grasshopper: “Telling a truth will get us into trouble. I’m sure he will forget this and will help us” 

The architect overheard their conversation. 

They reached home. 

Mother:” you have to construct properly your house within 3days otherwise you both will be kicked out of the house” 

The very next day the other grasshopper told the truth to the architect and also said he is ashamed of his act. 

Clever grasshopper: “no, he’s telling a lie. We didn’t break your house. Please help us so then after constructing our house we will construct your house too. ” 

Architect:” you’re a liar and deceiving the person who was helping you. I hope you remember I said I’ll help the one who will tell me the truth.” 

Also, he added further: “Go and construct your house yourself. I’ll help the honest one” 

Then the architect helped the honest grasshopper while the other failed in constructing his house and after three days his mother kicked him out of the house. 


Honesty is the best policy. Speak the truth no matter how hard it is. No one respects a liar and truthfulness is the identity of a nice person. Grasshopper lied and now he has no place to live. 

Boastful Traveler 

boastful traveler

“Mom! I’m extremely happy today.” Said, Carl. 

Mom asked the reason and he said: “All my friends are good at basketball but I’m not so I told them I’m also a big fan of basketball and I play daily in the evening.” 

Mom: “You lied?” 

Carl: “It’s not an issue. They will never come to watch me play basketball.” 

Mom: “Let me tell you a story. 

There was a man who was boastful and went to Rhodes. When he came back he told people of his own city about what he did there and lied mostly. He told them he had an adventurous journey, everyone there loved him and was stunned on seeing his strength. 

He also added: “I leaped long distances and heights which is not an easy feat, my friends and you people can’t even do that as it requires a lot of strength and bravery. The people there praised me a lot and didn’t want me to go back. They were a big fan of mine and also they wanted me to teach them the skills I have.” 

A wise man listening to his boastful stories said: “Oh man! Why are you boasting so much? We have our eyes on you for a long time and you haven’t got this much attention from your own people. And also we’ve never seen your strength here.” 

The boastful man said: “I’m full of strength and bravery. You can ask the people of Rhodes for confirmation if you don’t believe me.” 

The wise man said: “We don’t need to ask anyone. If you’re honest with your words then you don’t need anyone to witness your strength. Whatever great things you’ve done at Rhodes, do it here in front of our eyes.” 

The boastful man’s facial expression changed as his lies were clear to wise man. 

So, Carl have you understood this story? 

Carl: “Yes, I have. I realize I’ve done a bad thing. They’ll get to know about my lie if my friends will someday want to play basketball with me at school? ” 

Mom: “Yes, Don’t lie, and remember if you’re skillful at anything you don’t need to tell people about it. Your actions will speak everything.” 

Count The Crows 

count the crows

One day Emperor Akbar was strolling in his garden in the morning and was enjoying the lively weather.  

His courtiers came and asked: “you are looking so happy today.” 

Emperor: “Yes, the weather today made me smile. The cool breeze, clear sky, and chirping of birds. I’m having a bit of fun.” 

Courtiers and Emperor strolled together in a garden. 

One of the courtiers said: “I have a question, Emperor.” 

Emperor: “Go ahead” 

Courtier: “Why do you only ask questions to Birbal? We are also smart like him. We are also capable of providing you solutions.” 

Emperor: “I love all of you but no one of you is as smart as Birbal.” 

Courtiers looked at the Emperor with disappointment. 

Emperor: “Okay. I’ll ask a question and you all have to give the right answer.” 

Courtiers happily said: “Sure. We will show you our smartness.” 

Emperor looks at the sky and said: “Can anyone of you tell me how many crows are there in our city?” 

Courtiers said: “Pardon me Emperor but this question made no sense.” 

“How is it possible to count the crows?”, “The crows are of the same size and color, we can’t count them.” 

Birbal came and wondered why there is so much noise and asked what the matter was? 

Birbal on hearing the question said: “Emperor, I can answer this.” 

Courtiers were amazed when Birbal claimed that he can answer. 

Birbal: “There are twenty-one thousand, five hundred and twenty-three crows are in our city.” 

Courtiers and Emperors got shocked. 

Courtiers: “Emperor, he is just making a guess. He hasn’t even counted. Ask him how could he know the exact figure?” 

Emperor calmed down all the courtiers and said: “Birbal, you’ve always provided me the right solution to every problem. How do you know the exact figure?” 

Birbal: “If there are more crows it means they are the relatives of the crows of our city and if they are less it means our crows are in another city to see their relatives.” 

All courtiers were again stunned on the listening the Birbal’s explanation. 

Emperor smiled and said: “Birbal, I’m proud of you. You’ve never let me down.” 

He also said: “My dear Courtiers, now you all know why I always seek Birbal’s help for solutions of the mysterious questions.” 

Courtiers accepted the fact that Birbal is smarter than them. 


Having an explanation of the answer is as important as answering. A person should not only provide the answer but must also have an explanation of the answer. Just answering without having any explanation is useless while having logical reasoning of your answer is the identity of a smart person. 

Read Funny Short Stories for Kids

Potato, Egg, and Leaves 

potato, eggs and leaves

A girl named Asha lived in a village with her parents. 

As they were poor, she was unable to go to school. So, her father always tells her amazing facts to enhance her knowledge and she also loves having a conversation with her father. 

Her mother came and spilled the news that their neighbor’s cousin deceived them. 

On hearing this Asha asked her father: “Daddy, what would we do if someone deceives us? “ 

Her father didn’t answer. 

Later, he called her and gave her a task. He took three vessels with water filled in it and put a potato in one vessel, egg in another, and tea leaves in the third vessel. He ordered Asha to let the vessels boil for fifteen minutes. 

Asha did and when fifteen minutes got over he asked her to peel the potato and egg and strain the tea leaves from the vessel. 

As Asha began, she found out after boiling the potato turned soft from hard, the egg turned hard and tea leaves changed the color and taste of water. 

Father: “Did you learn something?” 

Asha: “I’m trying to comprehend but I’ve just felt the change in the state of ingredients.” 

Father: “Exactly! That’s how we can respond.” 

Asha was still confused. 


Father: “Listen Asha! When adversity strikes we have the option of how to respond. Some people turned soft and are patient, while some turned hard and rude and there are some people who completely change themselves.  

All these three ingredients were in the same condition but they all responded to boiling water differently. Similarly, humans can also respond differently to different situations. It’s up to us what option we are choosing.” 

He further added:  

“Sometimes we’ve to be patient, soft and have to handle the situation carefully without panic. Sometimes we’ve to be a little hard to make things normal again and sometimes we’ve to change ourselves and have to move on with life further.”

The Toy That Made Wishes Come True  

toys that made wish come true

Matteo was a very proud kid. He never wanted to talk to or help the ones who were needy and poor. Matteo’s birthday was near and he was very excited like any other kid. His parents made all the preparations and were ready to have his birthday. 

Matteo woke up his birthday morning very happy. After a few hours, the birthday party started and everyone came with lots of presents. When the party was over and everyone went home tired, Matteo was excited to open his presents although he was very tired. He opened all his presents one by one and loved them all. 

Days passed, he played with his new toys when he wanted to. Then one day, he opened another one of his new presents and found a toy. It seemed like a special toy. When he looked into that toy, he was amazed by what it did. He came to know that the toy can make all your wishes come true. He made wishes and they came true. 

A poor kid got to know about this and he asked Matteo to wish so that he can have food because he was hungry. Matteo was an arrogant kid and refused the poor kid to wish for him because he thought that he is of no use.

Years went by, Matteo’s toy got broken and he became sad because everyone told him that it can’t be fixed. However, a man told him that there is a kid who can fix this for him. As much he wanted to fix that toy, he went to that kid. 

But, when he went there, he found out that he was the same poor kid that he refused to help with the wish and now he is in need of him. Then, Matteo realizes that he should not think of anybody as useless because everyone has their own worth. 

When Georgie Told The Truth 

When Georgie Told The Truth

There was a time when a school took its students to an adventure park. That adventure park was full of amazing games. The best part of this park the kids liked was that after playing games, you earn different types of small and big gifts. Everyone was excited to go to that park. Like everyone, Georgie was excited too. One thing you should know that Georgie is not a very good kid. 

When the kids reached the adventure park, all of them went to their favorite games. Georgie was also amazed by every game and did not decide on which to go then. Finally, at last, he decided to go to a game, named “The Game of Unexpected Ends”. 

This game was not like the other ones. You get small presents after winning every level of this game. When the game started, Georgie noticed a question on the screen. He got confused and said, 

“What is this? I don’t know what to do? Then, he realized two small boxes below the questions that said only “YES” or “NO”. 

He understands this is a game in which I’ve to only answer the questions. Remember that Georgie was not a very good kid, and the questions were of the good deeds one did. If you did any of them, you tap on the YES box and if you did not, you tap on the NO box. Georgie thought in his mind, 

“I can just lie to the questions so that I can have the gifts and the machine will not know.” Georgie was about to lie but suddenly his parents’ words came to his mind that they said, “Never Lie.” 

Georgie became upset already at the beginning of the game because he knew if he tells the truth he will lose the game. But, even he knew that he is going to lose, he obeyed what his parents told him. 

When the game was about to end, the last question came which was, “Did you tell the truth about the question?” On this only question, he said “Yes” because he was telling the truth the whole time. 

When the game ended, a very surprising thing happened that Georgie was awarded many candies and presents. He thought, “I didn’t win any levels, why was I awarded with the gifts?”  

Then a man standing next to him told him, “All the gifts you received were because you were telling the truth on all the levels. The main focus of this game is if the kid is telling the truth or not.” 

Georgie was very happy to obey his parents’ advice and decided to never lie again. 

Gold and Greed 

A rich man, madly in love with gold and wanted everything of gold. He used to live with his daughter. They had a great loving bond between them.  

The gold and daughter were the only precious things in his life. Everyone used to call him a gold lover. 

One day at night the gold lover was strolling in his garden and had his eyes on a lady. He was stunned, scared, and stepped back.  

The lady: “Don’t be afraid of me. I’m a magician.” 

Gold lover: “A magician? “ 

Magician: “Yes, I am. I’ll fulfill your three wishes.” 

Gold lover instantly replied:” Make this world full of gold.” 

Magician: “Quite easy for me. What are the other two wishes?” 

Gold lover: “My all three wishes are the same. I want power in my hand so whenever I touch anything it would become gold. Can you do that magician?” 

Magician: “Yes, of course, I can.” 

Gold lover: “I’m elated today. Can’t believe my dream is going to be fulfilled today.” 

The magician gave him power. 

He touched the grass of the garden and it became gold. He got happy and touched other stuff.  

He went inside the house from the garden and touched the television, refrigerator, dining table, and fruits lying over it, sofas, and then he went into the kitchen and happily touched everything. 

In the morning, his daughter came out of her room and saw everything is converted into gold. Her father told her the whole scenario and said: “Okay, I’m going to make breakfast for us and you wait for me in the gold garden.” 

When he went to the kitchen he smiled to see everything is of gold but when he started cooking breakfast he was unable to cook as everything converts into gold. 

He got upset and went into the garden and told the whole story to his daughter. 

Daughter: “We are starving because of your love for gold” 

Gold lover: “Don’t worry. I’ll do something”  

Then he patted his daughter’s shoulder and his daughter became a gold statue. 

He shouted: “Oh! I’ve done a terrible thing. Help me to fix it.” 

He sat on a gold grass and thinking about a solution to make things normal. 

Magician appeared and he said: “I want to take back all of my wishes. I don’t want gold. I just want my daughter back. Help me, the magician.” 

Magician: “Have you realized your mistake.” 

Gold lover: “Loving gold is not a mistake. I just accidentally touched my daughter.” 


Magician: “Yes, loving gold is not a mistake. Everything becomes worst when the limits exceed. Your greed for gold made your life miserable. You never thought about what would happen if everything is made up of gold. Your greed made you blind and you just wanted everything of gold without thinking of the consequences. Be content with what you have.” 

Gold lover realized his greed for gold and was now cursing his love for gold. 

What Honesty Brings You 

What  honesty brings you

Once upon a time, there was a kid who was a very honest boy. He always told the truth and never did anything of dishonesty. Whenever he made a mistake, he was always honest. 

Then, one day he was playing with his friends in the garden. When someone from the team of players hit a long shot, the ball got to an area full of woods. 

The kid was told to bring the ball back from the woods. When he went there, there were many planks of wood and trash all around the place. He was looking for the ball with a lot of struggles. Then, suddenly there was a rustling of leaves. He got afraid of the sound and it was about to get dark. He was trying to find his way out but he has to find the ball as well. 

Because it was his only ball and it would make him very sad if he loses it. 

When he looked back, he saw an old man coming out of the leaves. He was holding a ball but it was not his as it was a new ball and seemed expensive. The old man asked the little kid, 

“Hey, you there boy, what are you looking for?” 

The kid replied with a sad expression, 

“I have lost my ball and now I can not find it.” 

The old man said to the boy while showing the ball in his hand, “Oh boy, is this your ball?” 

The kid sees the ball and said, “No, no, this can’t be my ball, this is like a new ball while mine was old.” 

The old man then showed the kid another ball which was old and it was the boy’s ball. He asked if that was his ball. The kid replied with happiness, 

“Oh yes, oh yes, that is my ball.” 

The old man was there for a purpose and he wanted to test the little boy’s honesty. When he saw that the little kid was not greedy and he did not lie, he gave the kid the new ball too and said, 

“Here, here, you little boy, take this new ball. I was just checking your honesty and you pleased me by telling the truth.” 

Jack’s Cookie Case 

cookie case

The house was flooded by the fresh aroma as Jack’s mother took the cookies out of the oven. He stood by the kitchen counter watching as his mouth watered for some fresh cookies.  

“You’ll get some cookies after dinner Jack, you just have to wait till then,” his mom said before cleaning up the kitchen and leaving the room.  

Jack knew that the right thing to do would be to listen to his mother. But he felt very tempted by the cookies. So when his mother left the kitchen he removed the lid from the cookie box and thought, “my mummy won’t know if I just take one.” So he snuck out a cookie and snacked on it, enjoying every last bit. 

“Maybe if I take just one more mummy won’t find out, ” he said to himself as he took another one gobbling it down. 

“Just one more” he repeated to himself and took yet another cookie from the box. 

All evening Jack kept taking cookies one after the other from the box till only one cookie was left. As he realized what he had done he gasped in panic. What will he tell mummy now? Jack spent the rest of the evening in his room thinking about how to escape this situation. 

Soon the sunset and it was time to have dinner. As everyone finished their food, Jack’s mum went to fetch the cookies, but to her surprise, there was only one cookie in the box! “Who ate all the cookies?” she inquired.  

“It must have been Mabel, I saw her around the kitchen in the evening”. Jack lied, blaming his little sister. Mabel was shocked and refused, but their mum was cross and sent both of them to their rooms. 

The rest of the night Jack felt guilty for having blamed his sister for something he had done. He tossed and turned in bed till he decided that he should tell his mum the truth. 

So he mustered the courage to go to her bedroom and when she asked him to come in, he said “Mummy I had eaten the cookies, not Mabel.” His mother smiled. “I had known all along Jack, but I wanted you to have the courage to tell the truth” she explained as she pulled him in for a hug. Jack then apologized for the act and his mum forgave him, making him promise that he wouldn’t give in to greed again.  

“I’m proud that you came to me with the truth” appreciated his mother, and it was then that Jack learned, that being honest isn’t that hard after all. 

Read more: Famous Arabian Nights Stories

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