Short stories with morals are valuable in English literature and education for teaching important life lessons effectively.
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They convey morals such as honesty and courage clearly, encouraging empathy and ethical decision-making.
Their brevity allows for easy understanding and retention of core lessons, promoting reflection and personal growth.
Short stories also aid in language development by enhancing vocabulary and comprehension.
Furthermore, they stimulate critical thinking and imagination, fostering deep language learning.
Additionally, these stories promote cross-cultural understanding by reflecting universal values.
Their concise nature ensures better memory retention, influencing behavior positively.
List of Short Stories in English With Morals
- Happiness Comes Full Circle
- You’re Worth at right place
- The Buddha and the Spider !!!
- A sub-way violinist !!!
- A beautiful lesson from “Little Unknown Master”
- A classroom assignment with a Difference
- Calculate consequence of your Action
- Human beings deserves a Score
- An old Doberman and Panther
- The Rich man’s Wives !!!
- A Poison to Kill !!!
- The Tiger and The Cow !!!
- Love will always Return…
Happiness Comes Full Circle
This is the true story of a humble night clerk named George, who was managing a small hotel.
Night after night, he attended to his mundane duties, but to tell the truth, he was no ordinary man.
There was something extraordinary about him.
He worked with integrity; he was a true gentleman who kept his word. He was honest in his dealings.
He was affable, kind, considerate and obliging by nature. His sincerity was absolute.
He went out of his way to help as many people as he could.
One dark and rainy night, an old couple came to the hotel and asked for a room. Unfortunately, not one room was vacant.
The clerk could have easily said, We do not have a single vacant room in the hotel.
He could even have said, How can you expect to get a room in this hotel without prior reservation? We are almost always full.
But being the person he was, the clerk responded differently.
He looked at the old couple and glanced out into the darkness at the pelting rain.
He thought to himself, how can this old couple hunt for a room in such inclement weather?
Turning to them with a polite smile, he said, We do not have a vacant room in the hotel right now, but if you could wait for a while, I shall see what I can do for you.
He called the maid and told her, Mary, go and fix my room. Make it tidy and comfortable. I want an old couple to use the room for the night.
Within 15 minutes, the maid returned saying, Sir, the room is ready. It is warm and comfortable.
The night clerk then escorted the couple to the room.
He said somewhat apologetically I am taking you to a room which surely is not the best in the hotel, but I do hope you will find it cozy, neat and clean.
Make yourselves at home, and I shall send you two cups of hot tea to drink before you retire for the night.
For the grateful old couple, that night passed comfortably.
Several more months passed and the night clerk completely forgot about this incident.
For him, it was not an extraordinary gesture on his part. Many such incidents had, in the interim, occurred in his life, time and again.
Meanwhile, a big hotel was being built in New York, which came to be known as the famous Waldorf Astoria Hotel.
It was built by a man named John Jacob Astor.
When the time came to advertise for the post of the hotel’s manager, he said, I do not need to advertise for this post; I already have a man who, in my opinion, is perfect for the job.
And who was that man?
It was none other than the night clerk, who had obliged the couple on that fateful stormy night, unaware that they were Mr. and Mrs. Astor.
It was natural for him to go out of his way to bring comfort into the lives of those who needed it.
The clerk was pleasantly surprised with the offer!
From the confines of a small, nondescript hotel, he suddenly found himself in charge of a huge world-famous hotel.
He became successful only because he made that extra effort to help people.
He put his best foot forward to aid others and God helped him scale the dizzying heights of success!
You’re Worth at right place
Before he died, the father said to his son: “This is a watch your grandfather gave me. It is almost 200 years old now.
But before I give it to you, go to the watch shop on the first street . Tell him I want to sell it, and see how much he offers you.”
He went to the watch shop then came back to his father and said: “The watchmaker offered 150 dollars because it’s old.”
He said to him: “Go to the coffee shop.”
He went to the coffee shop then came back to his father and said, “The coffee maker offered 10 dollars because it’s outmoded.”
“Go to the museum and show that watch”.
He went to the museum then came back, and said to his father: “The curator offered me half a million dollars for this very rare piece to be included in their precious antique collections.”
The father said: “I wanted to let you know that the right place values you in the right way. Don’t find yourself in the wrong place and get angry if you are not valued.
Those that know your value are those who appreciate you, don’t stay in a place where nobody sees your value.”
Know your worth. 💯
The Buddha and the Spider !!!
In a Zen monastery, the disciples had gathered around the master. “Please listen to the story I am going to tell you attentively,” said the master and started his narrative.
“Once when the Buddha was sitting with his eyes closed, he heard someone screaming ‘Help! Help!’
He realized that it was the voice of a man who had fallen into the pits of hell and was suffering there.
The Buddha realized that this punishment was given to him because he had committed many murders and thefts when he was living.
He felt compassionate and wanted to help him out.
He looked for some good deed the man had performed when he was living.
The man had once carefully avoided stepping on a spider while he was walking.
Buddha asked that spider to help the man.
The spider sent a long strong thread into the pit, the type that it uses to spin its web.
The man caught hold of the thread and started climbing up.
When the others who were suffering their punishments tried to climb up using the same thread, the man got anxious.
“This thread has been sent for me. If so many people try to climb on this, the thread will break!” he shouted angrily.
That very moment the thread broke and he fell into the pit again.
The man started screaming, “Help, Help!” again, but this time Buddha did not pay attention to his cries.
The master stopped the story here and asked, “What is wrong with this story?”
One disciple said, “The thread of a spider does not have the strength to carry a man.”
“There is no such thing as heaven and hell,” said another.
Another disciple said, “When Buddha was sitting with his eyes closed and meditating he must have heard some other sound.”
“All of you have missed the important thing,” said the master with a smile and got up and walked away.
A sub-way violinist !!!
“A man sat at a metro station in Washington DC and started to play the violin; it was a cold January morning.
He played six Bach pieces for about 45 minutes.
During that time, since it was rush hour, it was calculated that 1,100 people went through the station, most of them on their way to work.
Three minutes went by, and a middle aged man noticed there was musician playing.
He slowed his pace, and stopped for a few seconds, and then hurried up to meet his schedule.
A minute later, the violinist received his first dollar tip: a woman threw the money in the till and without stopping, and continued to walk.
A few minutes later, someone leaned against the wall to listen to him, but the man looked at his watch and started to walk again. Clearly he was late for work.
The one who paid the most attention was a 3 year old boy.
His mother tagged him along, hurried, but the kid stopped to look at the violinist.
Finally, the mother pushed hard, and the child continued to walk, turning his head all the time.
This action was repeated by several other children. All the parents, without exception, forced them to move on.
In the 45 minutes the musician played, only 6 people stopped and stayed for a while.
About 20 gave him money, but continued to walk their normal pace. He collected $32.
When he finished playing and silence took over, no one noticed it. No one applauded, nor was there any recognition.
No one knew this, but the violinist was Joshua Bell, one of the most talented musicians in the world.
He had just played one of the most intricate pieces ever written, on a violin worth $3.5 million dollars.
Two days before his playing in the subway, Joshua Bell sold out at a theater in Boston where the seats averaged $100.
This is a real story. Joshua Bell playing incognito in the metro station was organized by the Washington Post as part of a social experiment about perception, taste, and priorities of people.
The outlines were: in a commonplace environment at an inappropriate hour: Do we perceive beauty? Do we stop to appreciate it? Do we recognize the talent in an unexpected context?
One of the possible conclusions from this experience could be: If we do not have a moment to stop and listen to one of the best musicians in the world playing the best music ever written, how many other things are we missing?”
A beautiful lesson from “Little Unknown Master”
A few days ago I landed at the Bombay Airport (India) and took a cab to my scheduled destination in South Bombay.
I was enjoying the busy traffic with people rushing in every possible directions then we got stranded at a very busy intersection.
As we waited for the signal to turn green, my eyes met up with a poor young boy, about 12 years old.
He removed a piece of bread from his pocket and took a bite.
As he was about to take his next bite, a stray dog wagged his tail looking at him.
Without hesitation, he sat down and put the bread on the road for the dog to eat.
The dog sniffed the bread and walked away.
The boy waited until he was sure the dog was gone then he picked up the bread and ate it!
My heart cried and wanted to walk up to the boy but before I could open the door the signal turned Green and our car drove away.
I kept thinking about the boy and later during my evening meal I realized that I was thinking of approaching the boy but never did, I could have stopped the car and walked up to him which again I never did.
All I did was “thinking” and this poor little boy who had only one piece of bread without any hesitation sharing it with the dog, though he himself seemed to be very hungry.
I learnt one of the biggest lessons in my life which that boy taught me without a conversation. He taught me to share with love and happiness.
I am so blessed to have learnt this beautiful lesson from my ‘little unknown master’.
It is my moral duty to share this incident with all my friends across the globe and be blessed with happiness.
A classroom assignment with a Difference
One day a Math teacher asked her students to list the names of the other students in the room on two sheets of paper, leaving a space between each name.
Then she told them to think of the nicest thing they could say about each of their classmates and write it down.
It took the remainder of the class period to finish their assignment, and as the students left the room, each one handed in the papers.
That Saturday, the teacher wrote down the name of each student on a separate sheet of paper, and listed what everyone else had said about that individual.
On Monday she gave each student his or her list. Before long, the entire class was smiling. ‘Really?’ she heard whispered.
‘I never knew that I meant anything to anyone!’ and, ‘I didn’t know others liked me so much,’ were most of the comments.
No one ever mentioned those papers in class again.
She never knew if they discussed them after class or with their parents, but it didn’t matter.
The exercise had accomplished its purpose.
The students were happy with themselves and one another. That group of students moved on.
Several years later, one of the students was killed in ‘Kargil’ war and his teacher attended the funeral of that special student.
She had never attended Funeral of a serviceman before. He looked so handsome, so mature.
The place was packed with his friends. One by one those who loved him took a last walk.
The teacher was the last one to bless .
As she stood there, one of the soldiers who acted as pallbearer came up to her. ‘Were you Sanjay’s math teacher?’ he asked.
She nodded: ‘yes.’
Then he said: ‘Sanjay talked about you a lot.’
After the funeral, most of Sanjay’s former classmates were there.
Sanjay’s mother and father were there, obviously waiting to speak with his teacher.
‘We want to show you something,’ his father said, taking a wallet out of his pocket ‘They found this on Sanjay when he was killed. We thought you might recognize it.’
Opening the billfold, he carefully removed two worn pieces of notebook paper that had obviously been taped, folded and refolded many times.
The teacher knew without looking that the papers were the ones on which she had listed all the good things each of Sanjay’s classmates had said about him.
‘Thank you so much for doing that,’ Sanjay’s mother said. ‘As you can see, Sanjay treasured it.’
All of Sanjay’s former classmates started to gather around.
Arjun smiled rather sheepishly and said, ‘I still have my list. It’s in the top drawer of my desk at home.’
Prithviraj’s wife said, ‘ Prithviraj asked me to put his in our wedding album.’
‘I have mine too,’ Rashmi said. ‘It’s in my diary’
Then Deepali, another classmate, reached into her pocketbook, took out her wallet and showed her worn and frazzled list to the group. ‘I carry this with me at all times,’ Deepali said and without batting an eyelash, she continued: ‘I think we all saved our lists’
That’s when the teacher finally sat down and cried. She cried for Sanjay and for all his friends who would never see him again.
The density of people in society is so thick that we forget that life will end one day. And we don’t know when that one day will be.
So please, tell the people you love and care for, that they are special and important. Tell them, before it is too late.
Calculate consequence of your Action
A young man saw his primary school teacher on a wedding.
He went to greet him with all the respect and admiration.
He said to him: “Do you remember me, Teacher?”
The teacher said: “No, introduce yourself.”
The student said: “I was your student in the 3rd Grade, I am the one who stole the watch of a child in the classroom.
I will remind you but I am sure you remember the story.”
One of the boys in my class had a beautiful watch, so I decided to steal it.
He came to you crying that someone had stolen his watch. You asked us to stand so as to search our pockets.
I realized that my action would be exposed in front of the Students and Teachers.
I will be called a thief, a liar and my character will be shattered forever.
You asked us to stand and face the wall and close our eyes completely.
You went searching from pocket to pocket, and when you reached my pocket you pulled the watch out of my pocket, and you continued until you searched the last student.
After you finished you asked us to open our eyes and to sit on our chairs.
I was afraid you will expose me in front of the students.
You showed the watch to the class, and gave it back to the boy, and you never mentioned the name of the one who stole the watch.
You never said a word to me, and you never mentioned the story to anyone.
Throughout my school life, none of the teachers nor the students talked about me stealing the watch.
I thought to myself you saved my dignity that day.
Do you remember me? How can you not remember me, Teacher?
I was your student and I am sure you remember the story, that I stole the watch and you did not want to embarrass me. This story is unforgettable.
The teacher said: “I can’t remember who stole the watch that day, because I searched the pockets of all of you while my eyes were also closed.”
Human beings deserves a Score
A student studying in Russia says: The highest score for most of the exams in Russia is 5.
If a student does not answer any question and returns back his exam paper blank, with no question answered, he gets 2 out of 5.
In my first days at the University of Moscow, I did not know about this system and I was surprised and asked Dr. Theodor Medraev:
“Is this fair that a student did not answer any question and you give him 2 out of 5? Why not give him a zero ? Isn’t that the right way ?”
He answered: “How can we give a Human Being a zero ?
How can we give him a zero to someone who was getting up at 7 am to attend all the lectures?
How can we give him a zero since he got up in this cold weather, and used public transport and reached to do the exam in time, and tried to solve the questions ?
How can we give him a zero for the nights he used to study and spent his money on pens and notebooks and bought a computer for studying ?
How can we give him a zero when he left all other life styles and pursued his studies ?
Here my son, we do not give a zero to a student just because he did not know the answer.
We at least try to respect the fact that this is a Human Being, and he is having a brain, and he tried.
Because this result which we give, is not just for the questions in the exam paper, it is also about showing appreciation and respect to the fact that this is a Human Being and deserves to have a score.”
Truly I cried and did not know how to respond. There I knew my value as a Human Being.
Zeros can actually decrease motivation on students, and can quickly destroy them and make them stop caring about their studies altogether.
Once a zero score has been put in the grade book, they need no longer care about that subject and they may assume that, there’s nothing they can do about it.
An old Doberman and Panther
An old Doberman starts chasing rabbits and before long, discovers that he’s lost.
Wandering about, he notices a panther heading rapidly in his direction with the intention of having lunch.
The old Doberman thinks, “Oh, oh! I’m in deep trouble now!”
Noticing some bones on the ground close by, he immediately settles down to chew on the bones with his back to the approaching cat.
Just as the panther is about to leap, the old Doberman exclaims loudly, “Boy, that was one delicious panther! I wonder, if there are any more around here?”
Hearing this, the young panther halts his attack in mid-strike, a look of terror comes over him and he slinks away into the trees.
“Whew!,” says the panther, “That was close! That old Doberman nearly had me!”
Meanwhile, a squirrel who had been watching the whole scene from a nearby tree, figures he can put this knowledge to good use and trade it for protection from the panther. So, off he goes.
The squirrel soon catches up with the panther, spills the beans and strikes a deal for himself with the panther.
The young panther is furious at being made a fool of and says, “Here, squirrel, hop on my back and see what’s going to happen to that conniving canine!”
Now, the old Doberman sees the panther coming with the squirrel on his back and thinks, “What am I going to do now?”
But instead of running, the dog sits down with his back to his attackers, pretending he hasn’t seen them yet, and just when they get close enough to hear, the old Doberman says ……
“Where’s that squirrel? I sent him off an hour ago to bring me another panther!”
The Rich man’s Wives !!!
In ancient times, it was very common for men to have more than one wife.
An old man, who had four wives, lay on his deathbed.
He was going to die soon, he called his fourth wife, whom he loved very much, to his bedside.
For many years, he had indulged this wife the most.
He had got her the best jewellery, the most expensive clothes and had given her the best of everything.
He loved her, she loved him and they were always together.
He called her and asked, ‘I want you to accompany me after I die. Will you come with me?’
She replied, ‘What?! What are you saying? I love you very much, but I can’t come with you. I am sorry.’
His heart broke. He couldn’t believe her words.
He thought to himself: ‘I gave her the best of everything, but she ditched me in the end!’
In grief and despair he sent word to his third wife.
She was second in his affections and he had done a great deal for her too. ‘I want you to accompany me after I die. Will you come with me?’ he asked.
She replied, ‘How can you expect that?
I can’t come along and in any case, I have decided that after you die, I … I am … going to marry someone else! Sorry!’
This shocked him again. He had given her considerable attention, had indulged her and yet here she was, betraying him in his hour of need.
Now, he sent word to his second wife and asked her the same question.
He had shared all personal matters with her and she was very close to him.
To his dismay, she too gave him a similar reply. She said she could come with him up to the cemetery, but not beyond.
Finally, the man’s last hope was his first wife.
He had always misbehaved with her, had never given her any importance, or valued her and hadn’t done anything special for her.
He had always taken her for granted. She had always been his last priority.
He felt ashamed and guilty to even ask her to accompany him.
But he did so anyway. Guiltily, he asked her, ‘I am almost dying and leaving this world. I don’t want to go alone. Will you accompany me?’
She said, ‘Of course, I will come with you, my dear. I will be there with you forever.’
Tears welled up in the old man’s eyes. He couldn’t believe how much she cared for him.
He said, ‘My dear, I have always ignored you. You looked poor and miserable in front of the other three.
I never realized that it was only you who loved me truly and selflessly. I wish I had taken more care of you.’
This beautiful analogy of the four wives was explained thus by Lord Buddha: Every person has four wives/husbands.
A Poison to Kill !!!
A long time ago in China , a girl named Li-Li got married & went to live with her husband and mother-in-law.
In a very short time, Li-Li found that she couldn’t get along with her mother-in-law at all.
Their personalities were very different, and Li-Li was angered by many of her mother-in-law’ s habits.
In addition, she criticized Li-Li constantly. Days passed, and weeks passed.
Li-Li and her mother-in-law never stopped arguing and fighting.
But what made the situation even worse was that, according to ancient Chinese tradition, Li-Li had to bow to her mother-in-law and obey her every wish.
All the anger and unhappiness in the house was causing Li-Li’s poor husband great distress.
Finally, Li-Li could not stand her mother-in-law’ s bad temper and dictatorship any longer, and she decided to do something about it!
Li-Li went to see her father’s good friend, Mr. Huang, who sold herbs.
She told him the situation and asked if he would give her some poison so that she could solve the problem once and for all.
Mr. Huang thought for a while, and finally said, ‘Li-Li, I will help you solve your problem, but you must listen to me and obey what I tell you.’
Li-Li said, ‘Yes, Mr. Huang, I will do whatever you tell me to do.
‘Mr. Huang went into the back room, and returned in a few minutes with a package of herbs.
He told Li-Li, ‘You can’t use a quick-acting poison to get rid of your mother-in-law, because that would cause people to become suspicious.
Therefore, I have given you a number of herbs that will slowly build up poison in her body.
Every other day prepare some delicious meal and put a little of these herbs in her serving.
Now, in order to make sure that nobody suspect you, when she dies, you must be very careful to act very friendly towards her.
‘Don’t argue with her, obey her every wish, and treat her like a queen.’
Li-Li was so happy. She thanked Mr. Huang and hurried home to start her plot of murdering her mother-in-law.
Weeks went by, and months went by, and every other day, Li-Li served the specially treated food to her mother-in-law.
She remembered what Mr. Huang had said about avoiding suspicion, so she controlled her temper, obeyed her mother-in-law, and treated her like her own mother.
After six months had passed, the whole household had changed.
Li-Li had practiced controlling her temper so much that she found that she almost never got mad or upset.
She hadn’t had an argument with her mother-in-law in six months because she now seemed much kinder and easier to get along with.
The mother-in-law’ s attitude towards Li-Li changed, and she began to love Li-Li like her own daughter.
She kept telling friends and relatives that Li-Li was the best daughter-in- law one could ever find.
Li-Li and her mother-in-law were now treating each other like a real mother and daughter.
Li-Li’s husband was very happy to see what was happening.
One day, Li-Li came to see Mr. Huang and asked for his help again She said,’ Dear Mr. Huang, please help me to keep the poison from killing my mother-in-law.
She’s changed into such a nice woman, and I love her like my own mother.
I do not want her to die because of the poison I gave her.’
Mr. Huang smiled and nodded his head. ‘Li-Li, there’s nothing to worry about.
I never gave you any poison. The herbs I gave you were vitamins to improve her health.
The only poison was in your mind and your attitude towards her, but that has been all washed away by the love which you gave to her.’
HAVE YOU REALIZED that how you treat others is exactly how they will treat you?
The Tiger and The Cow !!!
One day, a cow grazing in a field close to a jungle suddenly noticed that a tiger was racing towards her.
The cow desperately running to escape jumped into the pond nearby barely evading the tiger’s reach.
In the heat of the chase, the tiger too leaped after her.
The pond was very shallow and filled with deep recesses of mud in which both the cow and tiger got stuck at small separation from each other.
Both had their heads above water but were unable to free themselves no matter how much they tried…
The tiger snarled at the cow, “I am going to enjoy your meat between my teeth !!”
He thrashed about in fury but became fretful knowing the escape was impossible.
The cow had a smile as the tiger struggled to free itself and asked him, “Do you have a master?”
The tiger with ego replied, “I am the king of the jungle. Why do you ask me if I have a master? I myself is my master !”
The cow said, “You may be the king of the jungle, but here all your power has failed to save your life.”
“And what about you?” Retorted the tiger. “You are going to die here in this mud too!”
The cow smilingly said, “No, I am not.”
“When the king of jungle cannot free itself from this mud, how can you, an ordinary cow?” snapped the tiger
The cow gently replied, “I cannot free myself from this mud, but my master can.
When the sun sets he will come looking for me, will raise me up and escort me home.”
Soon as the sun set, the cow’s master arrived. Seeing the plight she was in, he lifted her to safety.
As they walked home, the cow and the master both felt renewed gratitude for one another.
They pitied the tiger… they both would have been happy to save if only the tiger had allowed them to…!!
The cow represents a surrendered heart,
The Tiger represents an egoistic mind,
The Master represents the Guru who can be the parents / friend / mentor etc.
The Mud represents the world.
The Chase represents the struggle for existence therein…
Love will always Return…
At 40, Franz Kafka (1883-1924), who never married and had no children, walked through the park in Berlin when he met a girl who was crying because she had lost her favorite doll.
She and Kafka searched for the doll unsuccessfully.
Kafka told her to meet him there the next day and they would come back to look for her.
The next day, when they had not yet found the doll, Kafka gave the girl a letter “written” by the doll saying “please don’t cry. I took a trip to see the world.
I will write to you about my adventures.”
Thus began a story that continued until the end of Kafka’s life.
During their meetings, Kafka read the letters of the doll carefully written with adventures and conversations that the girl found adorable.
Finally, Kafka brought back the doll (she bought one) that had returned to Berlin.
“It doesn’t look like my doll at all,” said the girl.
Kafka handed her another letter in which the doll wrote: “my travels have changed me.”
The little girl hugged the new doll and brought her happy home.
A year later Kafka died.
Many years later, the now-adult girl found a letter inside the doll. In the tiny letter signed by Kafka it was written:
“Everything you love will probably be lost, but in the end, love will return in another way.”
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