Stories that teach values to children
Moral Stories
The moral of a story is the practical lesson that is learned from a story or event. Moral of a story is the positive message or advice that the story gives to its readers or listeners. Sometimes the moral lesson can be a straightforward message of advice to the audience or sometimes it can be in such a way that the audience would have to find it out for themselves. Many Indian folk tales and other tales from around the world help teach the values to the children in a simple way
We have selected a few stories from the books like Panchatantra , Hitopadesa and Indian Folk stories.
Use intelligence to win in difficult situations
A tale from Panchatantra
There was a Jamun (Black-berry) tree on the bank of a river, which was full of sweeet Jamun fruits throughout the year. This tree was home to a monkey ,who used to pass his days happily by playing and jumping, and used to eat the sweet Jamun fruits.
One day, a crocodile came out of the river to take some rest under the Jamun tree. When the monkey saw him from the tree, he said, “O Crocodile, this tree is my home and you have come under this tree to take rest. This makes you my guest. Please accept some Jamun fruits.”
The Monkey plucked lots of fruits and threw them in the crocodile’s mouth. The Crocodile loved the sweet fruits, and became friendly with Monkey. The Crocodile kept visiting back everyday and they both became good friends . One day the monkey sent some sweet Jamuns to the Crocodile’s wife.
The Crocodile took those fruits and offered his wife to eat them, and narrated the story of his friendship with the monkey who lives on the Jamun tree. The crocodile’s wife was overjoyed on eating those sweet fruits. and said, “O Dear, these fruits are as sweet as nectar. If the monkey eats these fruits every day, I wonder, he would be even tastier. Please bring the monkey’s heart for me.”
The Crocodile was taken aback and did not want to kill his friend, but due to his wife’s insistence he decided to bring the monkey for his wife. Next day when he visited the monkey, The crocodile convinced the monkey to come to his home . The Monkey too agreed to travel on back of the crocodile.
The Crocodile took the monkey deep in to the water and the monkey was too scared to see what the crocodile was doing to him and requested the crocodile to stop . The crocodile share the intent of killing the monkey and eating his heart to him . The Intelligent monkey was not perturbed but said “O Friend, Why didn’t you say that before? It would be my privilege if I could serve your wife with my heart. I keep my heart in the burrow of the Jamun tree. Let us go back and bring my heart at once.”
The foolish crocodile believed him, and turned around. But as soon as they reached the tree the monkey jumped down from the crocodile’s back, he climbed up the tree and sat on a high branch. He had finally saved himself from the crocodile’s evil plan.
The crocodile knew he had been tricked, and felt ashamed for his actions. He went away.
Test the water before jumping in
Why Rooster crows and Peacock has colorful feathers
Ancient Indian Folk Tale
Long, long time ago, there lived a rooster and a peacock in a village as neighbours. The rooster had a s long flowing tail with beautiful colourful eyespots, pointed golden feathers on his neck and back that brilliantly shone under the sun .
All birds envied the dandy rooster. “I wish I also had such beautiful feathers!” wistfully thought each of them. The Rooster was a very good friend of the neighbor peacock. One day the peacock got an invitation from one of his cousins who lived in a faraway land, to come attend his wedding. The Peocock asked if the rooster would lend his colorful feathers for the marriage and that he will return the outfit early next morning.
“What if you don’t come back by dawn?” asked the rooster after some thought.
“My dear friend , if I don’t return by the dawn, just crow ‘cock-a-doodle-doo,’ and I’ll definitely come to your call,” peacock hurried to assure him. “If I don’t appear in the morning, then crow at noon; but if by any chance I fail to come back by noon, then crow in the evening, as by that time I will surely be with you.”
The rooster believed the Peacock and shared his beautiful cloak of feathers and handed it to the peacock, in return for the latter’s feathers. The moment the peacock put on the beautiful costume, he became the most stunning bird in the village. Filled with joy and pride, he ran away to a faraway land.
A day passed, then night. Finally at predawn, the patience of the rooster wore thin and he loudly crowed, “Cock-a-doodle-doo!”
He kept on calling many times, but the peacock didn’t come.
“Let’s wait till noon,” he calmed himself. “He might be on his way.”
At noon rooster’s called out , “Cock-a-doodle-doo!”
There was no sign of the Peacock. Till late in the evening the rooster remained on the roof, anxiously waiting for the peacock. He crowed again and again, but the Peacock never showed up.
From that day till today, roosters crow three times a day — in the morning, noon and evening — calling out to peacocks to come back and return their beautiful outfit.
Knowledge is Power
A tale from Panchatantra
Once upon a time there lived a crow couple, who had built a nest on the top of a tree. But unfortunately the tree was inhabited by a serpent at its bottom. The serpent used to crawl up the tree and eat all the eggs that the lady crow used to lay. The crow couple were deeply grieved and when this happened often, they decided that the serpent was to be get rid of by a plan.
The crow then approached his friend the jackal and asked for a plan. The jackal then told him to go and fetch a costly thing from the palace of the king and throw the thing in the burrow of the snake. The crow went to palace, and stole a necklace of the queen while she was bathing. The guards of the palace ran after the crow. The crow then dropped the necklace in the burrow of the snake beneath the tree.
The guards on reaching the bottom of the tree, found the necklace guarded by the serpent. Then they lynched the serpent and recovered the necklace. The crow family was happy that their eggs were safe.
