Short Stories for kids on Greed an Wanting more

The story of the monkey and the bear

Mony ,the monkey and Beeru, the bear were good friends. They spent their days together wandering in the forest, eating juicy fruits and playing in the river. Every other animal was jealous of their friendship.

One day, they thought of going for a picnic.  They almost walked to the edge of the fores and saw a farm there. In the farm, humans were rearing honey and farming cherries and bananas. They were collecting fresh honey from the hive, plucking fresh cherries and bananas and storing them in the high shelves. Mony's and Beeru’s mouth watered seeing this amazing bunch of fruits. The fresh aroma lured them. They just could not resist. “I cannot walk back to jungle without having these fruits and honey! ”, said Beeru.  “Yes, very true, the freshly plucked banana and cherries are making me hungry too. We should plan and try to get some” ,said Mony.

There were humans everywhere. “If we get caught, they will wound us or make us captive. We have to deal the situation delicately” said Mony. “See, I cannot help you in stealing as neither can I climb up nor do I know to hold the boxes. You can do it very well. I can stand here and guard you. I will give you a signal  If I see someone coming your way. You can escape.” said Beeru. “Fair enough” said Mony. 

They began to execute their plan. Mony carefully climbed up the high shelves grabed some fruits and dropped it down to Beeru. He picked it up and collected in a bag which was lying on the ground. The bag was full! Mony came down and said “ We will get out of here before the humans come.” Beeru said – “ hey look, there is one more bag here. Why don’t you climb up and get some more? we can eat some here and take some for home.” “No Beeru, we have already collected more than what we need. Let us not risk ourselves. let’s go” Said Mony. But, Beeru did not listen. He was not ready to get out until they had more.

Pushed by Beeru, Mony climbed the shelves . This time Beeru, instead of keeping a watch,  started to eat some of the fruits from the bag. He was totally lost in the moment. Very soon, they both were caught by the human and were beaten. They were chased back to forest .

Parenting takeaway:

We all have desires in life.It is very important to remember that we should work hard and earn what we desire. 

Two precious jewels

This story is adapted from an old Arabian folk tale

Long ago there was a rich merchant dealing with live stock in the deserts of Arabia. He was a shrewd businessman. He was known for the best quality of livestock. It was very difficult to bargain with him. The richest of the richest also had to wait for their turn to negotiate and buy a livestock from his collection.  He had a huge collection of Camels, sheep, horses and yaks. He reared them on his land and took very good care of the livestock.

One day, he attended a huge live stock fair thinking of adding one or two animals to his collection. He was awestruck to see a beautiful camel . It was worthy of its high price. He thought he must have it. After a lengthy bargain, the merchant bought the camel.

After reaching his place,  he asked his assistant to remove the saddle from the camel’s back and take it for a wash. When his assistant removed the saddle, he found a pouch and was shocked to see some precious jewels inside! Running to his master, he showed and said “Sir, see what we have got along with the camel?” the assistant showed the pouch filled with jewels. The merchant examined the jewels. They were hightly precious jewels.

The merchant decided to return the jewels. His assistant was surprised. He said “Sir, even if you take this, no one will know. There were hundreds of merchants, buyers and sellers who attended that fair. How will anyone come to know that you have taken it?" . The merchant did not pay heed to the words of the assistand and decided to return the jewels.

The seller who sold the camel was pleasantly surprised . He thanked him for returning and praised him for his honesty. He insisted the merchant to take one or two jewels from the pouch as a token of appreciation . The merchant denied. The seller said that he cannot thank the merchant enough for the help he had done. And this was the only way to at least extend his gratitude. The merchant replied that he already has taken 2 jewels while returning the pouch to the seller. The seller took out all the jewels from the pouch but no jewel was missing. When asked the merchant he said -  “The two jewels I took was of integrity and self-respect! 

Moral of the Story

This is a great story to tell about the importance of honesty and integrity. You can ask the kids what the merchant must have felt when he returned the jewels that did not belong to him . You may also strike up a conversation about what the merachant may have felt had he not returned the jewels

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Smitha Prasad is a budding writer who writes articles and short stories for kids. She believes that childhood is the right age to inculcate the right values in kids. It helps them to develop into confident adults.  She designs and runs a kid’s magazine called A LITTLE MORE-An Engaging booklet, through which she tries to reach kids that helps kids stay away from screen, build conversations and build the right mindset in kids 


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