Stories for Kids & Learning

Short stories that teach honesty, empathy, curiosity, responsibility, problem-solving and scientific thinking.

For children, with age labels · 22 stories

For KidsFable & folk tale

Birbal's Khichdi

A poor man stands all night in an icy lake to win a reward from Emperor Akbar. But the court says a far-away lamp kept him warm, and he gets nothing. Then Birbal starts cooking his khichdi.

3 min readAges 6–10Mughal India, 16th century

For KidsFable & folk tale

Counting the Crows

Emperor Akbar asks his court a question nobody could possibly answer. How many crows live in the city? Birbal answers at once.

4 min readAges 5–9Mughal India, 16th century

For KidsFable & folk tale

Tenali Rama and the Thieves

One hot summer night, clever Tenali Rama spots two thieves hiding in his garden. Instead of shouting for help, he has a quiet chat with his wife, loudly enough for the thieves to hear.

3 min readAges 5–9Vijayanagara Empire, 16th century

For KidsFable & folk tale

The Ant and the Grasshopper

All summer long, Grasshopper sings while Ant carries grain. Then the first cold wind blows across the field.

4 min readAges 4–8Ancient Greece

For KidsFable & folk tale

The Blue Jackal

A hungry jackal falls into a tub of blue dye and comes out a colour no animal has ever seen. The whole forest bows to him. But can he keep his secret?

3 min readAges 5–9Ancient India

For KidsFable & folk tale

The Boy Who Cried Wolf

A bored young shepherd finds a funny way to bring the whole village running up the hill. It works once. It works twice.

4 min readAges 4–8Ancient Greece

For KidsFable & folk tale

The Clever Rabbit and the Lion

A greedy lion makes the animals of the forest send him one of them every day for his dinner. When it is the little rabbit's turn, he walks very, very slowly, because he has a plan.

3 min readAges 5–9Ancient India

For KidsClassic retold

The Elves and the Shoemaker

A poor shoemaker has leather left for just one more pair of shoes. He cuts it out, goes to bed, and in the morning, something wonderful is waiting on his workbench.

3 min readAges 4–819th-century Germany

For KidsFable & folk tale

The Fox and the Grapes

A hungry fox spots a bunch of shining purple grapes, high up on a vine. He jumps and jumps. Then he says something very interesting.

3 min readAges 4–8Ancient Greece

For KidsFable & folk tale

The Goose That Laid the Golden Eggs

A poor farmer and his wife find a golden egg in their goose's nest. Then another. Then another. One golden egg a day should be plenty, shouldn't it?

3 min readAges 5–9Ancient Greece

For KidsFable & folk tale

A little red hen finds some grains of wheat and asks her friends to help her plant them. "Not I," says the cat. "Not I," says the dog. "Not I," says the duck. But at the end, everyone wants a slice of bread.

3 min readAges 3–7Traditional

For KidsClassic retold

The Princess and the Pea

On a stormy night, a dripping-wet girl knocks at the palace gate and says she is a real princess. The queen has a clever, rather strange way to find out.

2 min readAges 4–819th-century Denmark

For KidsFable & folk tale

The Thirsty Crow

On the hottest day of the year, a tired crow finds a pitcher with a little water at the very bottom. Her beak can't reach it. So she thinks.

4 min readAges 4–8Ancient Greece and India

For KidsFable & folk tale

The Town Mouse and the Country Mouse

A plain little country mouse visits her grand cousin in the big town, where the food is fancy and the plates are silver. But there is something the town mouse forgot to mention.

3 min readAges 4–8Ancient Greece

For KidsClassic retold

The Ugly Duckling

One egg in the mother duck's nest is bigger than the rest, and the chick that hatches from it looks nothing like his brothers and sisters. Nobody wants him. Not yet.

4 min readAges 5–91840s

For KidsFable & folk tale

The Lion and the Mouse

A mighty lion laughs when a tiny mouse promises to repay his kindness one day. Then the hunters' net falls.

3 min readAges 4–8Ancient Greece

For KidsFable & folk tale

The Tortoise and the Hare

The fastest animal in the meadow is so sure of winning that he stops for a nap. The slowest one simply keeps going.

3 min readAges 4–8Ancient Greece

For KidsFable & folk tale

The Monkey and the Crocodile

A clever monkey shares sweet fruit with a crocodile every day. But one afternoon, halfway across the river, his friend tells him a terrible secret.

3 min readAges 5–9Ancient India

For KidsClassic retold

The Emperor's New Clothes

Two tricksters sell a vain emperor cloth that only clever people can see. Everyone pretends, until one child says what they all can see.

3 min readAges 6+1830s

For KidsFable & folk tale

Stone Soup

A hungry traveller arrives in a village where nobody will share. All he asks for is a pot of water and a fire, because he knows how to make soup from a stone.

3 min readAges 5–9

For KidsOriginal story

Mira and the Experiment That Failed

Mira's seeds were supposed to grow faster with music. When nothing happened, she thought she had failed, until her grandfather showed her what a real scientist does next.

4 min readAges 8–12

For KidsOriginal story

The Broken Kite

Tavi didn't mean to break his sister's kite. Hiding it seemed easy, but keeping a secret turned out to be much heavier than telling the truth.

3 min readAges 5–8