Moral Story

The Apple Tree and the Farmer:

Once upon a time, there lived a farmer in a village, beside a forest. He had a big garden that had an old apple tree and other plants, trees and beautiful flowers. When the farmer was a little boy, he spent much of his time playing with the apple tree. Those days, the apple tree had given the choicest of apples to him. However, as time passed, the apple tree became old and stopped bearing fruits.

Now that the farmer was not getting any apples from the tree, he decided that the tree was useless. Therefore, he decided to cut the tree and use its wood to make some new furniture. He felt that since the tree was old and huge, he did not have to cure it, and it would make great furniture. He forgot that as a boy, he had spent his entire childhood climbing the tree and eating its apples.

Now the apple tree was home to several little animals in the neighborhood. This included squirrels, sparrows and a huge variety of birds and insects. When the farmer took his axe and began chopping the tree, all the little animals came rushing down.

They all began to plead with the farmer. They gathered round the farmer and said, "Please don't cut the tree. We used to play with you when you were small, under this very tree. This is our home and we have no other place to go".

The farmer was adamant. He raised his axe and the commotion grew.

"Please don't chop and destroy my home and kids," cried the squirrel.

"Please don't chop and destroy my nest," cried the little birds.

"Please don't cut the apple tree," cried the grasshopper.

The farmer, however, forgot his childhood and his animal friends. He began to chop the tree harder. All the little animals became desperate, and wanted to protect the apple tree at any cost.

The little animals said, "We will sing for you when you are toiling away in the fields. We will look after your little boy. He will not cry, but instead will be entertained and happy. You will like our songs and will not feel tired."

However, their cries for help fell on deaf ears. Despite all their requests, the farmer continued to chop down the tree.

All of a sudden, he noticed something shiny. On inspecting it, he realized that it was a beehive, full of honey. He took a little and put it in his mouth. The taste of the honey woke up the little boy in him. Suddenly, the memories of his childhood came rushing back. The honey tasted so good that he wanted more. It brought a sense of happiness to him. He smiled and exclaimed, "This tastes amazing."

Realizing the change in the farmer's attitude, the little animals spoke in unison: The bee said, "I will always provide you with sweet honey." The squirrel said, "I will share any amount of nuts that you want." The birds cried, "We will sing as many songs as you want."

Finally, the farmer realized his folly, and put down his axe. He understood that the tree was home to many lovely animals that provided him with so many things. He wanted his little boy to have the childhood that he had.

The farmer realized that the apple tree was not that fruitless. The little boy in him saved the apple tree.

He threw away the axe and said to the little creatures, "I promise that I would never cut this tree. I have realized my mistake and you all can now live in peace and harmony."

The little creatures thanked the bee profusely. If the farmer had not found the beehive, they would have been homeless by now. They continued living happily in the old apple tree.

Moral: Each and every living thing in nature is of some use: we should not destroy any living thing.

Gold Coins and a Selfish Man:

Sam was a greedy and selfish man. He always desired to have lots and lots of money and never hesitated to cheat others to make money. Also, he never wished to share anything with others. He paid very low wages to his servants.

However, one day, he learned a lesson that changed his life forever.

It so happened that one day, a small bag that belonged to Sam was missing. The bag had 50 gold coins in it. Sam searched high and low for the bag, but could not find it. Sam's friends and neighbours also joined in the search, but all their efforts were in vain.

After a couple of days, the ten year old daughter of a man working for Sam found the bag. She told her father about it. Her father identified the bag as the one that was missing, and immediately decided to take it to his master.

He gave the bag back to his master Sam, and asked him to check whether the bag had 50 gold coins. Sam was exultant to get the coins back, but he decided to play a trick. He shouted at his worker, "there were 75 gold coins in this bag but you gave me only 50! Where are the other coins? You have stolen them!"

The worker was shocked to hear this and pleaded his innocence. Selfish and greedy, Sam did not accept the worker's story, and decided to take the issue to court.

The judge heard both the sides. He questioned the daughter and the worker about the number of coins they had found in the bag, and they assured it was only 50.

He cross-examined Sam and Sam replied, "Yes my lord, I had 75 gold coins in my bag, and they gave me only 50. Hence, it is quite obvious that they have stolen 25 coins!"

The judge then asked, "Are you sure that your bag had 75 coins?"

Sam nodded vigorously.

The judge then made his judgment.

"Since Sam lost a bag of 75 gold coins and the bag found by the girl had only 50 coins, it is obvious that the bag that was found does not belong to Sam. It was lost by someone else. If anyone finds a bag of 75 gold coins, I will declare that it belongs to Sam. As there are no complaints about the loss of 50 coins, I order the girl and his father to take those 50 coins as a token of appreciation for their honesty!"

Honesty will always be rewarded and greed punished!

Money Can't Buy Everything:

Nick was a 10 year old boy. He was the only son to his parents. Nick's father was a very busy businessman who could not spend time with his son. He came home after Nick slept, and was off to office before Nick woke up in the morning. Nick yearned for his father's attention. He wanted to go outdoors and play with his father just like his friends did.

One day, Nick was surprised to see his father at home in the evening.

"Dad, it is a big surprise to see you at home," Nick said.

"Yes son, my meeting was cancelled. So I'm at home. But after two hours I have to catch a flight," his father replied.

"When will you be back?"

"Tomorrow noon."

Nick was in deep thought for a while. Then he asked, "Dad, how much do you earn in a year?"

Nick's father was taken aback. He said, "My dear son, it's a very big amount and you won't be able to understand it."

"Ok dad, are you happy with the amount you earn?"

"Yes my dear. I'm very happy, and in fact I'm planning to launch our new branch and a new business in a few months. Isn't that great?"

"Yes, dad. I'm happy to hear that. Can I ask you one more question?"

"Yes, dear."

"Dad, can you tell me how much you earn in a day or even half a day?"

"Nick, why are you asking this question?" Nick's father was perplexed.

But Nick was persistent. "Please answer me. Can you please tell me how much you earn in an hour?"

Nick's father gave in and replied, "It will be around $ 25/- per hour."

Nick ran to his room upstairs, and came down with his piggy bank that contained his savings.

"Dad, I have $50 in my piggy bank. Can you spare two hours for me? I want to go to the beach and have dinner with you tomorrow evening. Can you please mark this in your schedule?"

Nick's father was speechless!

The greatest gift a parent can give his child is time. Money can't buy everything!

True Wealth:

Once upon a time, there lived a very rich and wealthy man in a big town. He led a luxurious life. He always boasted about his wealth to his friends and relatives.

His son was studying in a distant city and he returned home for vacation. The rich man wanted to show off to his son how rich he was. But his son wasn't fond of any luxurious lifestyle. However, the rich man wanted to make his son realize that his lifestyle was extremely rich and that poor people suffered a lot. He planned a day's visit to the entire town to show him the life of the poor people.

The father and the son took a chariot and visited the entire town. They returned home after two days. The father was happy that his son was very quiet after seeing the poor people honouring the rich man and after witnessing the sufferings of the poor due to lack of facilities.

The rich man asked his son, "Dear boy, how was the trip? Have you enjoyed it?"

"Yes my dad, it was a great trip with you," the son replied.

"So, what did you learn from the trip?" the father asked.

The son was silent.

"Finally you have realized how the poor suffer and how they actually live," said the father.

"No father," replied the son. He added, "We have only two dogs, they have 10 dogs. We have a big pool in our garden, but they have a massive bay without any end! We have luxurious and expensive lights imported from various countries, but they have countless stars lighting their nights. We have a house on a small piece of land, but they have abundant fields that go beyond the horizon. We are protected by huge and strong walls around our property, but they bond with each other and surround themselves with their fellow beings. We have to buy food from them, but they are so rich that they can cultivate their own food."

The rich father was stunned and speechless, on hearing his son's words.

Finally the son added, "Dad, thank you so much for showing me who is rich and who is poor. Thank you for letting me understand how poor we really are!"

True wealth is not measured by money and property! True wealth is created in good friendships and compassionate relationships.

Cocoon and the Butterfly:

Many of us know that a beautiful and colourful butterfly comes from an unappealing worm! Here is the story of a butterfly that was never able to live its life as a normal butterfly.

One day, a man saw a cocoon. He loved butterflies and had a craze for its wonderful combination of colours. In fact, he used to spend a lot of time around butterflies. He knew how a butterfly would struggle to transform from an ugly caterpillar into a beautiful one.

He saw the cocoon with a tiny opening. It meant that the butterfly was trying to make its way out to enjoy the world. He decided to watch how the butterfly would come out of the cocoon. He was watching the butterfly struggling to break the shell for several hours. He spent almost more than 10 hours with the cocoon and the butterfly. The butterfly had been struggling very hard for hours to come out through the tiny opening. Unfortunately, even after continuous attempts for several hours, there was no progress. It seemed that the butterfly had tried its best and could not give any more try.

The man, who had a passion and love for butterflies, decided to help the butterfly. He got a pair of scissors and tweaked the cocoon to make larger opening for the butterfly and removed the remaining cocoon. The butterfly emerged without any struggle!

Unfortunately, the butterfly looked no longer beautiful and had a swollen body with small and withered wings.

The man was happy that he had made the butterfly come out of the cocoon without any more struggles. He continued to watch the butterfly and was quite eager to see it fly with its beautiful wings. He thought that at any time, the butterfly might expand its wings, shrink the body and the wings could support the body. Unfortunately, neither did the wings expand nor the swollen body reduce.

Unfortunately, the butterfly just crawled around with withered wings and a huge body. It was never able to fly. Although the man did it with a good intention, he did not know that only by going through struggles the butterfly can emerge to be beautiful, with strong wings.

The continuous effort from the butterfly to come out of its cocoon would let the fluid stored in the body be converted into wings. Thus, the body would become lighter and smaller, and the wings would be beautiful and large.

If we don't want to undergo any struggle, we won't be able to fly!

Struggles make us shine!

The value of a copper coin:

Mahatma Gandhi, honoured as the father of India, was a very special person. The following story illustrates one of the reasons for him to be called 'Mahatma' (great soul).

Once, Gandhi was on an expedition to collect funds from various cities and villages for an organization to help the poor. He went to several places and finally reached Orissa. He organized a meeting in Orissa.

There, he gave a speech to the public, requesting them to give him funds for the organization. At the end of his speech, a very old woman with bent back, tattered clothing, white hair, and shrunken skin got up. She requested the volunteers to allow her to reach Gandhi. However, the volunteers stopped her. She did not give up. She fought with them and reached Gandhi.

She touched the feet of Gandhi. Then she took out a copper coin kept in the folds of her saree and placed it at his feet. Then the old lady left the stage.

Gandhi very carefully took the coin. The treasurer of the organization for the poor asked Gandhi for the copper coin, but he refused to give it.

"I keep cheques worth thousands of rupees," said the treasurer. "Yet you won't trust me with a copper coin!"

Gandhi said, "This copper coin is worth much more than those thousands. If a man has several lakhs and he gives away a thousand or two, it doesn't mean much."

Yes, the coin might have been the only thing that the poor old woman possessed. She did not even have proper clothes and could not afford good food. Still she gave everything she had. That is why Gandhi regarded the coin as very precious.

Offering help when we have nothing or very little makes it more valuable.

Sand and Stone:

John and James were best friends. They fought for many reasons, but never gave up their friendship. They went in search of a job and visited many places to earn some money. They passed through various places, villages, towns, forests, and beaches. They supported each other throughout their journey.

One day, they reached a desert. They had a very little food and water. John said that they should save the food and water for later use. However, James disagreed. He wanted to drink water, as he was very thirsty. They quarrelled with each other for water. John slapped James, and they walked in silence. James wrote on the sand, "My best friend slapped me!"

Finally, they reached an oasis. They were very happy, and had a lot of fun in the water. While they both were bathing, James was a bit careless and began to drown. John rushed to him and saved him.

James hugged his friend and thanked him. They had a little nap and decided to leave the place. When they were about to leave, James carved something on the rock.

It was "My best friend saved my life!"

He said to John, "When you slapped me, I recorded it on sand. The wind would have blown it away by now. However, when you saved my life, I recorded it on rock. It will remain there forever."

We have to forget the bad things and cherish the good things done to us.

Three Sons and a Bundle of Sticks:

Once upon a time, an old man lived with his three sons in a village. The three sons were hard workers. Still, they quarrelled all the time. The old man tried a lot to unite them but he failed. Though the villagers appreciated their hard work and efforts, they made fun of them on their fights.

Months passed by and the old man fell sick. He told his sons to stay united, but they didn't listen to him. So, he decided to teach them a practical lesson so that they would forget their differences and stay united.

The old man called his sons. He told them, "I will give you a bundle of sticks. Separate each stick and you will have to break each stick into two. The one who breaks the sticks quickly will be rewarded more."

The sons agreed.

The old man gave a bundle of 10 sticks to each of them and asked them to break each stick into pieces. They broke the sticks into pieces in minutes.

And again they started to quarrel among themselves as to who came first.

The old man said, "Dear sons, the game is not over. Now I will give another bundle of sticks to each of you. You will have to break the sticks as a bundle, not as separate sticks."

The sons agreed and tried to break the bundle of sticks. Though they tried their best, they could not break the bundle. They failed to complete the task.

The three sons reported their failure to their father.

Breaking bundle of sticksThe old man replied, "Dear sons, See! You could easily break the single sticks into pieces, but you were not able to break the bundle! So, if you stay united, nobody can do any harm to you. If you quarrel every time with your brothers, anyone can easily defeat you. I request you to stay united."

The three sons understood the power of unity and promised their father that whatever be the situation, they would all stay together.

Moral: Unity is Strength!

The Monkey and the Dolphin:

One day long ago, some sailors set out to sea in their sailing ship. One of them brought his pet monkey along for the long journey.

When they were far out at sea, a terrible storm overturned their ship. Everyone fell into the sea, and the monkey was sure that he would drown. Suddenly a dolphin appeared and picked him up.

They soon reached the island and the monkey came down from the dolphin's back. The dolphin asked the monkey, "Do you know this place?"

The monkey replied, "Yes, I do. In fact, the king of the island is my best friend. Do you know that I am actually a prince?"

Knowing that no one lived on the island, the dolphin said, "Well, well, so you are a prince! Now you can be a king!" The monkey asked, "How can I be a king?"

As the dolphin started swimming away, he answered, "That is easy. As you are the only creature on this island, you will naturally be the king!"

Those who lie and boast may end up in trouble.

The Ship:

A voyaging ship was wrecked during a storm at sea and only two of the men on it were able to swim to a small, desert like island.

The two survivors, not knowing what else to do, agreed that they had no other recourse but to pray to God. However, to find out whose prayer was more powerful, they agreed to divide the territory between them and stay on opposite sides of the island.

The first thing they prayed for was food. The next morning, the first man saw a fruit-bearing tree on his side of the land, and he was able to eat its fruit. The other man's parcel of land remained barren.

After a week, the first man was lonely and he decided to pray for a wife. The next day, another ship was wrecked, and the only survivor was a woman who swam to his side of the land. On the other side of the island, there was nothing.

Soon the first man prayed for a house, clothes, more food. The next day, like magic, all of these were given to him. However, the second man still had nothing.

Finally, the first man prayed for a ship, so that he and his wife could leave the island. In the morning, he found a ship docked at his side of the island. The first man boarded the ship with his wife and decided to leave the second man on the island.

He considered the other man unworthy to receive God's blessings, since none of his prayers had been answered.

As the ship was about to leave, the first man heard a voice from heaven booming, "Why are you leaving your companion on the island?"

"My blessings are mine alone, since I was the one who prayed for them," the first man answered. "His prayers were all unanswered and so he does not deserve anything."

"You are mistaken!" the voice rebuked him. "He had only one prayer, which I answered. If not for that, you would not have received any of my blessings."

"Tell me," the first man asked the voice, "What did he pray for that I should owe him anything?"

"He prayed that all your prayers be answered."

For all we know, our blessings are not the fruits of our prayers alone, but those of another praying for us.

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!

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

Think Before You Speak:

It was a sunny day, but the climate was enjoyable. Everyone in the railway station was waiting for the train to arrive. Among the crowd, there was a group of friends, youngsters who were on board for vacation.

It was a busy station with juice shop, mobile restaurants, coffee and tea stalls, newspaper shop, restaurants, etc. The announcement regarding the arrival of the train was made and everyone prepared to get into the train to their appropriate places.

The group of friends made loud noise to welcome the train as it entered the station. They ran to get their reserved seats before anyone could get into the train.

The empty seats were filled and the train whistled to move. An old man with a young boy aged around 15 years came running to catch the train. They entered the train and the train started to move. They had their seats just adjacent to the friends' group.

The young boy was so surprised to see everything.

He acclaimed at his father, 'Dad, the train is moving and the things are moving backwards.'

His father smiled and nodded his head.

As the train started moving fast, the young boy again screamed, 'Dad the trees are green in colour and run backward very fast.' His father said, 'Yes dear' and smiled.

Just like a kid, he was watching everything with great enthusiasm and happiness loaded with tons of surprises.

A fruit seller passed selling apples and oranges. The young boy asked his dad, 'I want to eat apples.' His father bought him apples. He said, 'Oh apple looks so sweet than it tastes' I love this colour.'

The group was watching all the activities of this boy and asked the boy's father 'Is your son having any problem? Why is he behaving very differently?'

A friend from the group made fun of him and shouted, 'His son is mad I think.'

The father of the young boy, with patience, replied to the friend-group.

'My son was born blind. Only a few days before he was operated and got the vision. He is seeing various things in his life for the first time.'

The young friends became very quiet and apologized to his father and son.

Think Before You Speak.

Heart Touching Father Son Story:

A young boy used to live with his father alone. He loved playing football and his father always encourage him.

His father never missed a game. Even though his son would always on the bench, yet his father would always be there in stands cheering for him.

When young man entered high school. He was very determined about playing football and despite being a bench warmer for all four years, he never missed even a single practice or game.

When the young man went to college, he decided to try out for the football team as a “walk-on.”

Everyone was sure that he wouldn’t make the cut but he did and coach decided to keep him on roaster because he always puts his heart and soul to every practice and at the same time provided the other members with the spirit and hustle they badly needed.

He was so thrilled with the news that he rushed to nearest phone and shared this excitement with his father and told him that he had sent him season tickets fro all college games.

Young boy was persistent and even in college he never missed a practice but still never got to play in game.

It was end of his senior football season and he was on field for practice before big play off game. Just then he received a telegram. After reading telegram young boy became silent and mumbled to coach,”My father died this morning.. Will it be alright if i miss today’s practice?”

Coach gently consoled him and said, “Take rest of week off and you don’t even have to come back for game on Saturday..” and young man left.

Saturday arrived. Game was not going well and in third quarter team was ten points behind. Young boy silently came to locker room and put on his football gear. As he ran onto the sidelines, the coach and his players were astounded to see their faithful team-mate back so soon.

Young boy went to coach and said, “Coach please let me play today..!! I have to play today..”

Coach pretended not to listen to him as he didn’t want to take risk in play off game but young man persisted and at last coach agreed and said, “Alright..!! You can go in.”

When young boy started playing opposing team couldn’t stop him and he played like a star and his team began to triumph. Before long everyone who knew him couldn’t believe their eyes as he had never play in any game before.

In closing seconds of game, Young boy ran all the way for winning touch down. His team won the game and his team mates hoisted him onto his shoulders.

After all concluding ceremony was done everyone left. Just when coach was leaving he saw that young man was sitting quietly in corner all alone. Coach went to him and said, “Congratulation kid, you did great today.. You were fantastic..”

Coach continued and asked him, “You never played in any game before.. Tell me how did you do it??”

Young boy with tears in his eyes replied, “Well you knew my dad died.. but did you knew that he was blind..!!

Still my dad came to all my games but today was first time he could see me play and i wanted to show him i could do it..!!”

Creative Thinking:

Story 1: Card board Sign..!!

Once a young man was passing by a street where he saw an old man sitting on road side begging for money.

That old man was sitting there with an empty bowl in kept in front of him and a card board sign was kept beside that empty bowl.

On card board cut out it was written: “Blind – Please Help..!!”

Young man noticed that despite it was rush hour and many people were passing by that old man yet no one was giving him any money.

Young man felt very bad that no one was helping that old man or giving him any money.

So he went to that old man and took his card board in his hand. He then took out a thick marker pen out of his pocket and turned the cardboard sheet back-to-front and re-wrote the sign then went on her way.

Old man noticed that someone was there writing something on the board but didn’t said anything.

Just in few minutes, that empty bowl was now filled with money. Old man noticed that and stopped a stranger and asked him what was written on that card board.

Stranger replied, “It says.. – It’s a beautiful day. You can see it. I cannot..”

Moral:

Our Choice of Words and Language can create Positive or Negative effect on other. If we Chose right words then we can Truly connect with people and Change their Views.

Story 2: Unusual Test..!!

Once a philosophy professor gave an unusual test to his class. He lifted his chair up and kept it on his table.

Now he turned toward board and wrote, “Prove that this chair does not exist..”

Whole class was surprised and confused yet all students started writing long complex explanations.

Among all there was one student who completed that test in a minute and handed paper to professor, attracting surprised glances from his classmates and the professor.

Some days later class received their grades for the test and student who took just a minute to complete the test was announced the best answer.

His answer was, “What chair??”

Moral:

We tend to Think a lot. Sometimes Answers are just simple.