Short Story Collections for Children: 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.

Moral of the Story: Slow and steady can win the race.

Classic Short Story Collections: Ant and Dove

One hot day, an ant was searching for some water. After walking around for some time, she came to a spring.

To reach the spring, she had to climb up a blade of grass. While making her way up, she slipped and fell into the water.

She could have drowned if a dove up a nearby tree had not seen her. Seeing that the ant was in trouble, the dove quickly plucked off a leaf and dropped it into the water near the struggling ant. The ant moved towards the leaf and climbed up there. Soon it carried her safely to dry ground.

Just at that time, a hunter nearby was throwing out his net towards the dove, hoping to trap it.

Guessing what he was about to do, the ant quickly bit him on the heel. Feeling the pain, the hunter dropped his net. The dove was quick to fly away to safety.

Moral of the Story: One good turn deserves another.

Short Story Collections for Children: Wolf and 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.

Moral of the Story: The gentle and weak can sometimes be cleverer than fierce and strong.

Classic Short Story Collections: Fox and Grapes

It was a sunny day and fox was walking across the fields. Soon he came to a vineyard. As he came nearer, he could see some bunches of juicy grapes.

The fox looked carefully around him. He had to make sure that he was safe from the hunters. He decided to steal some before anyone came along.

He jumped upwards but he could not reach the grapes. He jumped again as high as he could. He still could not reach them. The grapes were just too high for him!

He was not ready to give up. He backed off, took some running steps and leapt into the air towards the grapes. Again he failed to reach them.

It was getting dark, and he was getting angry. His legs hurt with all that running and jumping. At last he stopped trying.

As he walked away, he said to himself, "I don't really want those grapes. I'm sure they are too sour to eat."

Moral of the Story: Sometimes when we cannot get what we want, we pretend that it is not worth having.

Short Story Collections for Children: 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!

Moral of the Story: If you try hard enough, you may soon find an answer to your problem.

Classic Short Story Collections: The Milkmaid

A milkmaid was on her way to the market to sell some milk from her cow. As she carried the large jug of milk on top of her head, she began to dream of all the things she could do after selling the milk.

"With that money, I'll buy a hundred chicks to rear in my backyard. When they are fully grown. I can sell them at a good price at the market."

As she walked on, she continued dreaming, "Then I'll buy two young goats and rear them on the grass close by. When they are fully grown, I can sell them at an even better price!"

Still dreaming, she said to herself, "Soon, I'll be able to buy another cow, and I will have more milk to sell. Then I shall have even more money..."

With these happy thoughts, she began to skip and jump. Suddenly she tripped and fell. The jug broke and all the milk spilt onto the ground.

No more dreaming now, she sat down and cried.

Moral of the Story: Do not count your chickens before they are hatched.