3 Short Moral Stories To Spark Kindness And Wisdom in Kids

Stories are a powerful way to teach kids important life lessons in a fun and engaging manner. Through captivating characters and meaningful plots, children can learn values like kindness, honesty, and responsibility. In this post, we’ve curated three delightful moral stories that are sure to inspire young minds while keeping them entertained. Let’s dive in and explore these tales together!

1. A Story About Hundred Gold Coins & Witty Birbal

The wisdom of Birbal was unparalleled during the reign of Emperor Akbar. But Akbar’s brother in law was extremely jealous of him. He asked the Emperor to dispense with Birbal’s services and appoint him in his place. He gave ample assurance that he would prove to be more efficient and capable than Birbal.

Before Akbar could take a decision on this matter, this news reached Birbal. Birbal resigned and left. Akbar’s brother in law was made the minister in place of Birbal. Akbar decided to test the new minister. He gave three hundred gold coins to him and said,

“Spend these gold coins such that, I get a hundred gold coins here in this life; a hundred gold coins in the other world and another hundred gold coins neither here nor there.”

The minister found the entire situation to be a maze of confusion and hopelessness. He spent sleepless nights worrying how he would get himself out of this mess. Thinking in circles was making him go crazy. Eventually, on the advice of his wife, he sought Birbals help.

Birbal said, “Just give me the gold coins. I shall handle the rest.” Birbal walked the streets of the city holding the bag of gold coins in his hand. He noticed a rich merchant celebrating his son’s wedding. Birbal gave a hundred gold coins to him and bowed courteously saying,

“Emperor Akbar sends you his good wishes and blessings for the wedding of your son. Please accept the gift he has sent.” The merchant felt honored that the king had sent a special messenger with such a precious gift.

He honored Birbal and gave him a large number of expensive gifts and a bag of gold coins as a return gift for the king. Next, Birbal went to the area of the city where the poor people lived.

There he bought food and clothing in exchange for a hundred gold coins and distributed them in the name of the Emperor. When he came back to town he organized a concert of music and dance. He spent a hundred gold coins on it.

The next day Birbal entered Akbar’s darbar and announced that he had done all that the king had asked his brother-in-law to do. The Emperor wanted to know how he had done it. Birbal repeated the sequences of all the events and then said,

“The money I gave to the merchant for the wedding of his son – you have got back while on this earth. The money I spent on buying food and clothing for the poor – you will get it in the other world. The money I spent on the musical concert – you will get neither here nor there.”

Akbar’s brother in law understood his mistake and resigned. Birbal got his place back.

Moral: The money you spend on friends is returned or reciprocated in some form or the other. The money spent on charity gets converted into blessings from God which will be your eternal property. The money spent on pleasures is just frittered away. So when you spend your money, think a little, if not a lot.

2. A Dish of Ice Cream: A Story About Kindness

In the days when an ice cream sundae cost much less, a 10 year old boy entered a hotel coffee shop and sat at a table. A waitress put a glass of water in front of him.

“How much is an ice cream sundae?”

“50 cents,” replied the waitress.

The little boy pulled his hand out of his pocket and studied a number of coins in it.

“How much is a dish of plain ice cream?” he inquired. Some people were now waiting for a table and the waitress was a bit impatient.

“35 cents,” she said brusquely.

The little boy again counted the coins. “I’ll have the plain ice cream,” he said.

The waitress brought the ice cream, put the bill on the table and walked away. The boy finished the ice cream, paid the cashier and departed.

When the waitress came back, she began wiping down the table and then swallowed hard at what she saw.

There, placed neatly beside the empty dish, were 15 cents – her tip.

3. A Story About Mahatma Gandhi & Copper Coin

Once Mahatma Gandhi (popularly called Bapu) was in Orrisa for the Khadi movement (boycotting foreign goods including cotton and promoting Indian goods.) He addressed a meeting there and after the meeting was over, an old woman came to see him. She had gray hair and a hump.

Her clothes and overall appearance indicated that she was very poor. She struggled with the volunteers before reaching Gandhi and touching his feet. “I wanted to see you,” she said and took out a copper coin and placed it on Gandhi’s feet.

He picked up the coin and carefully put it away. The responsibility of managing all funds for the movement was under the charge of his associate Jamnalal Bajaj. Bajaj, who had witnessed the scene, later on asked Gandhi for the coin. But Gandhi refused.

“I handle Charkha Sangh’s cheques worth lakhs [thousands] of rupees and yet you won’t trust me with this petty coin?” Bajaj exclaimed. Gandhi then replied, “This pity coin is worth lakhs of rupees too.

If a person has several lakhs [thousands] of rupees and gives a thousand rupees to someone there’s nothing extraordinary about it. But this coin from the poor old lady is worth much more. Just imagine how generous she is, giving away such a big part of her fortune!

What a great sacrifice she has made. That is why I value this copper coin more than a crore [millions] of rupees.”