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SHORT ENGLISH
MORAL STORIES
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Story 1 - Don't Change The World

Once upon a time, there was a king who ruled a prosperous country. One day, he went for a
trip to some distant areas of his country. When he was back to his palace, he complained
that his feet were very painful, because it was the first time that he went for such a long trip,
and the road that he went through was very rough and stony. He then ordered his people to
cover every road of the entire country with leather.

Definitely, this would need thousands of cows’ skin, and would cost a huge amount of
money. Then one of his wise servants dared himself to tell the king, “Why do you have to
spend that unnecessary amount of money? Why don’t you just cut a little piece of leather to
cover your feet?”

The king was surprised, but he later agreed to his suggestion, to make a “shoe” for himself.

Lesson: to make this world a happy place to live, you better change yourself - your heart;
and not the world.

Story 2 - The Travelers and the Tree

Two men were walking along one summer day. Soon it became too hot to go any further
and, seeing a large plane tree nearby, they threw themselves on the ground to rest in its
shade.

Gazing up into the branches one man said to the other: “What a useless tree this is. It does
not have fruit or nuts that we can eat and we cannot even use its wood for anything.”

“Don’t be so ungrateful,” rustled the tree in reply.

“I am being extremely useful to you at this very moment, shielding you from the hot sun. And
you call me a good-for-nothing!”

Lesson: All of God’s creations have a purpose.

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Story 3 - The Hare and Tortoise

A tortoise one day met a hare who made fun of her.
“My, my, you move so slowly, you will never get far!”

The tortoises, upset by the hare’s manner, said,

“Let’s have a race and see who is faster.”

The hare laughed and said, “You must be joking! But all right, we’ll see who reaches the
other side of the hill first.” Off he ran, leaving
the tortoise far behind.

After a while, the hare stopped to wait for the tortoise to come long. He waited and waited till
he felt sleepy. “I might as well take a nap,” he thought. “Even if she catches up with me, I can
easily win the race.” So he lay down under a shady tree and closed his eyes.

When the tortoise passed the sleeping hare, she walked on slowly but steadily. By the time
the hare woke up, the tortoise was near the finishing line. He ran as fast as he could, but he
could not catch up with the tortoise.

Lesson: It doesn't matter how slowly you go as long as you don't stop!

Story 4- The Wolf and The Lamb

A lamb was grazing with a flock of sheep one day. She soon found some sweet grass at the
edge of the field. Farther and farther she went, away from the others.

She was enjoying herself so much that she did not notice a wolf coming nearer to her.
However, when it pounced on her, she was quick
to start pleading, “Please, please don’t eat me yet. My stomach is full of grass. If you wait a
while, I will taste much better.”

The wolf thought that was a good idea, so he sat down and waited.

After a while, the lamb said, “If you allow me to dance, the grass in my stomach will be
digested faster.” Again the wolf agreed.

While the lamb was dancing, she had a new idea. She said, “Please take the bell from
around my neck. If you ring it as hard as you can, I will be able to dance even faster.”

The wolf took the bell and rang it as hard as he could. The shepherd heard the bell ringing
and quickly sent his dogs to find the missing lamb. The barking dogs frightened the wolf
away and saved the lamb’s life.
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Lesson: The weak can be cleverer than fierce and strong.

Story 5 - The Thirsty Crow

One hot day, a thirsty crow flew all over the fields looking for water. For a long time, she
could not find any. She felt very weak,
almost giving up hope.

Suddenly, she saw a water jug below her. She flew straight down to see if there was any
water inside. Yes, she could see some water
inside the jug!

The crow tried to push her head into the jug. Sadly, she found that the neck of the jug was
too narrow. Then she tried to push the jug down for the water to flow out. She found that the
jug was too heavy.

The crow thought hard for a while. Then looking around her, she saw some pebbles. She
suddenly had a good idea. She started picking up the pebbles one by one, dropping each
into the jug. As more and more pebbles filled the jug, the water level kept rising.

Soon it was high enough for the crow to drink. Her plan had worked!

Lesson: If you try hard enough, you may soon find an answer to your problem.

Story 6 - A Pond Full of Milk

Once there was a king who told some of his workers to dig a pond. Once the pond was dug,
the king made an announcement to his people saying that one person from each household
had to bring a glass of milk during the night and pour it into the pond. So, the pond should be
full of milk by the morning.

After receiving the order, everyone went home.

One man prepared to take the milk during the night. He thought that since everyone will
bring milk, he could just hide a glass of water and pour it inside the pond. Because it will be
dark at night, no one will notice. So he quickly went and poured the water in the pond and
came back.

In the morning, the king came to visit the pond and to his surprise the pond was only filled
with water!

What has happened is that everyone was thinking like the other man, “I don't have to put the
milk in, someone else will do it.”
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Lesson: When everyone expects someone else to take action, nothing gets done, and
collective responsibility is essential for achieving a common goal.

Story 7: The Clever Boy

A man with his donkey carrying two sacks of wheat was on his way to the market. After a
little while he was tired and they rested under a tree. When he woke up from his nap he
could not see the donkey and started searching for the donkey everywhere. On the way he
met a boy, he asked the boy, “Have you seen my donkey?” The boy asked, “Is the donkey’s
left eye blind, his right foot lame and is he carrying a load of wheat?” The man was happy
and said, “Yes, exactly! Where have you seen it?” the boy answered, “I haven’t seen it.” This
made the man very angry and he took the boy to the village chief for punishment.

The judge asked, “Dear boy, if you had not seen the donkey, how could you describe it?” The
boy answered, “I saw the tracks of a donkey
and the right and left tracks were different from this. I understood that the donkey that
passed there was limping. And the grass on the right side of the road was eaten but the
grass on the left was not. From that I understood that his left eye was blind. There were
wheat seeds scattered on the ground and I understood that he must have been carrying a
load of wheat. The judge understood the boy’s cleverness and told the man to forgive the
boy.

Lesson: This story teaches us that we should not be quick to judge the people.

Story 8: A Merchant and his Donkey

One beautiful spring morning, a merchant loaded his donkey with bags of salt to go to the
market in order to sell them. The merchant and his donkey were walking along together.
They had not walked far when they reached a river on the road.

Unfortunately, the donkey slipped and fell into the river and noticed that the bags of salt
loaded on his back became lighter.

There was nothing the merchant could do, except return home where he loaded his donkey
with more bags of salt. As they reached the slippery riverbank, now deliberately, the donkey
fell into the river and wasted all the bags of salt on its back again. The merchant quickly
discovered the donkey’s trick. He then returned home again but re-loaded his donkey with
bags of sponges.

The foolish, tricky donkey again set on its way. On reaching the river he again fell into the
water. But instead of the load becoming lighter, it became heavier.
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Lesson: Deceitful actions ultimately lead to consequences that are harder to bear,
highlighting the importance of honesty and integrity.

Story 9: The Fox Who Got Caught In

The Tree Trunk
Once upon a time, there was a hungry fox that was looking for something to ear. He was
very hungry. No matter how hard he tried, the fox could not find food. Finally he went to the
edge of the forest and searched there for food. Suddenly he caught sight of a big tree with a
hole in it.

Inside the hole was a package. The hungry fox immediately thought that there might be food
in it, and he became very happy. He jumped into the hole and when he opened the package,
he saw there was a lot of food, bread, meat and fruit in it!

An old woodcutter had placed the food in the tree trunk while he cut down trees in the forest.
He was going to eat it for his lunch.
The fox happily began to eat. After the fox had finished eating, he felt thirsty and decided to
leave the trunk and drink some water from a nearby spring. However, no matter how hard he
tried, he could not get out of the hole. Do you know why? Yes, the fox had eaten so much
food that he became too big to fit through the hole.

The fox was very sad and upset. He told himself, “I wish that I had thought a little before
jumping into the hole.”

Lesson: It's important to think before taking actions.

Story 10: Wealth - Success and Love

A woman came out of her house and saw 3 old men with long white beards sitting in her
front yard. She did not recognize them. She said “I don’t think I know you, but you must be
hungry. Please come in and have something to eat.”

“Is your husband at home?”, they asked. “No,” she replied. “He’s out.”
“Then we cannot come in,” they replied.

In the evening when her husband came home, she told him what had happened.
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“Go tell them I am home and invite them in!”

The woman went out and invited the men in.

“We do not go into a House together,” they replied. “Why is that?” she asked.

One of the old men explained: “His name is Wealth,” he said pointing to one of his friends,
and said pointing to another one, “He is Success, and I am Love.” Then he added, “Now go
in and discuss with your husband which one of us you want in your home.”

The woman went in and told her husband what was said. Her husband was overjoyed. “How
nice!,” he said. “Since that is the case, let us invite Wealth. Let him come and fill our home
with wealth!”

His wife disagreed. “My dear, why don’t we invite Success?”

Their daughter-in-law was listening from the other corner of the house. She jumped in with
her own suggestion: “Would it not be better to invite Love? Our home will then be filled with
love!”

“Let us heed our daughter-in-law’s advice,” said the husband to his wife.

“Go out and invite Love to be our guest.”

The woman went out and asked the 3 old men, “Which one of you is Love? Please come in
and be our guest.”

Love got up and started walking toward the house. The other 2 also got up and followed him.
Surprised, the lady asked Wealth and Success: “I only invited Love, Why are you coming
in?”

The old men replied together: “If you had invited Wealth or Success, the other two of us
would’ve stayed out, but since you invited Love, wherever he goes, we go with him.

Wherever there is Love, there is also Wealth and Success!”