Do you find your children having trouble sleeping at night? Never let it go on, mom! If you continuously ignore it, it can cause your children to have sleep problems. Instead of asking them to go to sleep, though it’s hard for them, you can try to read some fun and entertaining stories to put them to sleep.
Apart from being bedtime stories, the stories can also teach them a lot of things. You may have to choose a story that contains a moral message. If you’re looking for suitable shortest bedtime stories ever for your children, you can find them in our post below.
Read also: Best 20 Short Poems about Mother
The following are the seven most popular bedtime stories for children with moral messages in them:
1. A Foolish and Arrogant Crane
One morning, there was a crane near a small lake that was hunting fish. With his neck and beak ready to catch fish, his eyes were fixed on the river water, hoping to find the prey he wanted—that was a big fish. Unfortunately, the prey he wanted did not come, while many small fish were swimming under his feet.
“I don’t want to eat small fish, and small fish do not deserve a graceful crane like me,” he said. But when a slightly bigger fish appeared, he was still not satisfied.
“No, I can’t be bothered to open my beak to eat such a small fish,” he said. As a result of this arrogance, the sun slowly began to rise, and the fish moved to the middle of a cooler river. The crane, who could no longer see the fish, was forced to eat a small snail that he found on the bank of the river.
The moral of the story is: Be grateful for what we have and never ignore the food we have.
2. An Arrogant Rabbit and an Innocent Tortoise
In a forest, there was a rabbit who was very arrogant and felt he had the fastest running ability among other animals. He then challenged his friend’s tortoise to a race. Without being half-hearted, he also invited the whole forest to witness his victory.
On the day of the race, the rabbit sped away, leaving the slow tortoise behind. Due to his arrogance, he decided to take a nap since he felt that the tortoise was far behind. The rabbit really slept soundly while the tortoise kept walking consistently and caught up. In the end, the tortoise won the game, while the rabbit was surprised by his friend’s victory.
The moral of the story is: Never underestimate the abilities of others, because fortune could have been theirs.
3. A Mischievous Shepherd
Long ago, there lived a boy who worked as a sheep herder. One day, he was feeling bored with his job and tried to find entertainment by pranking the villagers. He then duped the villagers into believing a wolf had attacked his flock.
“Wolf, wolf, there is a wolf!” “Oh no, there are so many wolves who prey on my sheep,” he shouted.
The villagers who heard his shout were shocked, and they immediately ran to him. What a surprise! They only found the shepherd laughing out loud. Then, they announce that his cream was just a trick.
It is likely not enough for shepherds to prank the villages. He repeated the same action a few days later, and the villagers were deceived again.
Then, one day, the real wolf came to the meadow where his sheep gathered to eat. Of course, the shepherd was screaming in fear and tried to summon the villagers. Unluckily, none of the villagers came and helped him, so all the sheep were eaten by wolves.
The moral of the story is: Don’t lie and trick other people because it will be bad for yourself.
4. The Lion and the Mouse
One day, there was a mouse playing pranks to wake the lion from his sleep. The lion then woke up in a rage and tried to catch the mouse to devour it as punishment. However, the lion finally let him go since the mouse begged to be forgiven. Due to the lion’s kindness, the mouse promised to return the favor one day.
A few days later, the lion was caught in a hunter’s net while he was walking in the forest. The lion cried all night until the mouse heard him and came to help him. Finally, the mouse helped release the lion by biting the net until it broke. Since then, the lion and the mouse have become close friends who often help each other out.
The moral of the story is: Forgiving others is not bad since there might be something good that the person will do for us when we are in a hard situation.
5. The Ants and the Grasshoppers
One summer, there was a grasshopper who was jumping happily in a field. While doing it, he then saw a herd of ants who were struggling to bring corn to their nest. After observing the difficult conditions that ants face, the grasshopper invited the ants to a discussion, but the ants declined.
“I am preparing food for the winter. Why don’t you do it?” Ants said.
However, the grasshopper, who felt he had had enough to eat, even laughed at the ants. “Hah?” “Why bother thinking about winter?” he said.
After that, he returned to having fun, while the herd of ants continued their activities, i.e., bringing the corn to their nest. The winter finally came, and the grasshopper found himself dying from running out of food. On the other side, the herd of ants has more than enough food reserves to survive.
The moral of the story is: Don’t underestimate others just because you feel more capable than them. However, the difficult circumstances that people faced could have happened to you one day.
6. An Unwise Bear
There was a hungry bear who was looking for food in the middle of the forest. He then found a beehive that stored honey on a fallen tree. He decided to try to get the honey from the beehive. While he was observing the situation around him, a swarm of tiny bees stung him, knowing the bad intentions of the bear.
Instead of retreating, the bear even went on a rampage to destroy the beehive. Of course, it resulted in a swarm of bees attacking him again from the hive, causing the bear to run screaming.
The moral of the story is: Never try to take the rights of others if you do not want to get hurt.
7. An Apple Tree and a Child
This story is about an apple tree that is loyal to a child.
Once upon a time, there lived an apple tree that was friendly with a little boy. Since getting to know the little boy, the apple tree has been willing to make it a place where the child can spend time playing and enjoying its fresh apples.
One day, the boy came to the apple tree with a sad face. “Come and play with me again,” the apple tree yelled.
“I’m not a kid anymore, and I don’t have time to play with you,” the boy replied. “I only need money to buy a toy, but I don’t have any.”
After hearing the boy’s complaint, the apple tree then gave him fruit to sell at the market. The boy finally has money and buys the toy. The apple tree always waited for the boy to play again, but he didn’t appear for a long time.
One day, the boy came back and told the apple tree that he wanted to build a house and needed a tree.
“I’m sorry. ” I don’t have a house either, but you can cut all my branches to build your house,” the apple tree replied.
The boy then got some of its stems to become a solid foundation for the house. After that, the boy never came back, and the apple tree felt lonely and sad. One summer, the boy came again, and the apple tree was very joyful to welcome him.
“I’m sad, I want to live in peace and go sailing. “Can you give me a ship for a cruise?” said the youngster.
The apple tree, on the other hand, did not have a ship; instead, it gave its torso. The boy then used it to build the ship he wanted. The boy then went sailing and never came back to see the apple tree again.
After many years, the boy was getting old and came again to see the apple tree.
“Now, I don’t have anything else to give you since all that’s left is my root, which is getting old and dying,” the apple tree said.
The boy replied that he did not want anything but just needed a place to rest since he was tired after leaving the apple tree for so long. The boy then lay in the arms of the apple tree roots. The apple tree smiled and let the boy lean on it until death came. In the end, the root of the apple tree became the last place for him to rest in peace.
The moral of the story is: Never throw away people who have genuinely loved us.
Okay, those are the seven popular bedtime stories with plenty of morals for children.
