12 Inspirational Short Stories to Motivate You

Have you ever felt speechless after reading a short story? Short stories that leave you at a loss of words and make you feel a variety of different emotions at the same time? Now that’s are sign of inspirational short stories.

Life is to be enjoyed. As opposed to what most of the world has made us believe, life is not meant to suffer all the time. But when life does feel like a suffering, when you feel down or slumped, you need to find a motivation to make yourself feel better.

The 12 Best Inspirational Short Stories with a Motivational Moral

Short inspirational stories are one of the most powerful ways to guide you, teach you and help you to find the motivation you need. The best thing about such motivational stories is that they are easy to digest. Moreover, there is always a moral at the end of the short story to motivate you.

Some such short inspirational stories have more than one meaning to them. As and when you read such stories, you will find yourself comprehending more than one meaning of the same story.

If you are looking for short inspiring stories to read, look no further. We have the best collection of motivational and inspirational stories to boost your morale!

12.The Wise Crow

Once upon a time there lived a crow in a village. It was summer season and the village was facing severe drought. All the streams and lakes had dried up.

The crow was thirsty. It was flying here and there in search of water but could not find even a single drop of water anywhere. After flying for hours, he spotted a tall jar. The jar had some water in it.  But it was too little.

The crow tried to drink the water with his beak, but it couldn’t reach the water as the water level in the jar was too low. The crow kept on trying for some time but could not succeed in touching the water with his beak.

Then crow was suddenly struck with an idea. He flew away and, in a few minutes, returned with a stone in its beak. It dropped the stone in the jar and it took the crow one hour to fill the jar with stones. Having done this, the crow looked at the jar which was now filled with rocks. The water had come up to the rim of the jar.

The crow was overjoyed. The water was no longer out of his reach. The thirsty crow drank the water to its heart and flew away happily.

Moral:  You can get yourself out of any situation if you think carefully and work hard.Never give up.

11.Mr. Frog and The Pail of Milk

It was 6’o clock in the morning. Lazy cows were lying in the shed of the milkman’s house. The milkman came into the shed with a big pail in his hand. He then milked the cows and placed the pail of milk in a corner of the shade.

Mr. and Mrs. Frog, who were hopping in the corner, were observing this. They playfully jumped and sat on the rim of the pail. While peeping in from the rim, they slipped and fell into the milk.

Trying to get out, Mr. and Mrs. Frog swam continuously for quite some time but could not get out of the pail. Soon, Mrs. Frog was tired. She said to her husband. “I cannot swim anymore. I shall die here.” Saying this, she sank to the bottom of the pail and breathed her last. But Mr. Frog did not stop. He kept on swimming, going around in the pail of milk.

After some time passed, the milkman came and carried the pail of the milk to his house. Meanwhile, Mr. Frog was still going about the milk in the pail, whipping the milk thick so thick that a thick layer of butter had formed in the pail. The butter was thick enough to hold Mr. Frog for some time. Mr. Frog jumped on the thick layer of butter, and stepping on the rim, jumped out and escaped the pail.

Moral: Never stop trying. If you stop, you will surely fail. But if you don’t, you surely will taste success someday.

10.The Wicked Crane and The Clever Crab

Once there lived a crane. He had grown old and weak and thus could not catch any fish to fill his stomach. So he decided to do something about his problem one day and approached the fishes a tank. He told the fishes, “My dear friends, the king’s men will be coming here tomorrow morning. They’re planning to drain all the water out of the tank and kill you!”

The fishes were scared. Turning to the crane, they said “O dear friend, will you not save us?”

” I will,” replied the crane. “There is a pond in the woods. I can take you there and the king’s men will not be able to hurt you. The fishes breathed a sigh of relief.  “Thank you, dear friend. We will go with you to the pond in the woods!”

But there was a crab in the tank. Hearing the crane’s words, the crab said “I will go first”. The crane agreed and took him in his beak. Then, it started walking towards the woods.

On the way, the crab told the crane, “Dear brother, you must be tired from holding my heavy weight in your beak. May I support your neck?”

“Oh! Yes, please! Thank you! “said the crane and opened his mouth. The crab the grabbed his neck and asked him. “How far till we reach the pond?”

The crane laughed and replied, “There is no pond. I am taking you to the woods. I will eat you and all the other fish in the tank.”

Upon hearing the crane’s cruel intentions, the crab dug his claws in to the crane’s neck. Thus, he caught the crane in his own trap and killed him.

Moral: Don’t trust anyone blindly. If you use your brains, you can get out of a problematic situation.

09.The Cunning Fox and The Silly Goat

It was a dark, black night. The moon was not visible in the sky and it was too dark to spot the stars. A fox was running through the woods. Suddenly, he fell into a ditch. He struggled to get out of it.

After some time, a wild goat came that way. She heard noises and stopped in her tracks.

Goat: Who is it?

Fox: Hi! It’s your cousin. The fox. Are you see me in this ditch, dear cousin?

Goat: Yes! I can see you now. But what are you doing there?

Fox: There is sweet, juicy green grass to be fed upon in this ditch. I am fetching the grass.

Goat: But why, cousin fox? You don’t eat grass, do you?

Fox: That’s true, I don’t. But this grass is so soft, sweet, and fresh. Won’t you come down and taste it? Ah! It’s so tasty!

Goat: Oh yes, I will. I am coming down, dear cousin.

The silly goat jumped into the ditch. As soon as she landed, the cunning fox jumped on her head, climbed out of the ditch and said, “I am going now. You can eat all the green juicy grass.” Having spoken this, he turned around and ran away.

Moral: Think carefully before giving in to temptations.

08.A Pound of Butter

There was a farmer who sold a pound of butter to a baker. One day the baker decided to weigh the butter to see if he was getting the right amount, which he wasn’t. Angry about this, he took the farmer to court.
The judge asked the farmer if he was using any measure to weight the butter. The farmer replied, “Honor, I am primitive. I don’t have a proper measure, but I do have a scale.”

The judge asked, “Then how do you weigh the butter?” The farmer replied;
“Your Honor, long before the baker started buying butter from me, I have been buying a pound loaf of bread from him. Every day when the baker brings the bread, I put it on the scale and give
him the same weight in butter. If anyone is to be blamed, it is the baker.”

Moral:In life, you get what you give. Don’t try and cheat others.

07.The Scared Tiger

It was rainy season and unimaginable rains were pounding the jungle. A mama goat and her child got caught in the rain. The mama goat was scared, petrified of what might happen to her cubs. The rain was pouring down so thick, it blurred her vision towards the way to her home. She was also worried about her husband who had earlier left for the deeper parts of the jungle for food. Suddenly, things took a bad tun as it started to thunder.

The mama goat tried to reassure herself. But the little goat couldn’t hold back his fear and yelped.

The mama goat tried to focus and soon she spotted the glimpse of entrance to a cave. She slowly treadled towards the cave and managed to reach there along with her cub.

She then licked the cool water from cub’s smooth fur and gave him a warm hug. After they settled down, the tired cub fell asleep in few minutes.

Mama goat was tried too as she had just come out from a hurricane. She too wanted to sleep. But she couldn’t for the moment she closed her eyes, she felt a strange presence around her. She looked at her sleeping child again.

On looking carefully, she spotted something which scared her. Behind the cave, there was a mountain of animal skeletons of various shapes and sizes. It didn’t take her long to understand the situation.

They had taken residence in a tiger’s cave. They were in a grave danger and needed to escape as soon as possible. She took one glance at her sleeping child and the rain beating thunderously outside. It was dangerous to go outside but if the tiger came in the cave, they would die anyway.

Just thinking about it gave her chills. She nudged her child to wake up and as soon as she looked up, she spotted a huge tiger coming her way.

Running was pointless. Tigers were known to have sharp vision and she didn’t think her young one could run fast enough. Besides, the events of the day had already left them exhausted.

Mama goat was scared to her bones. But she refused to let her child die in such a gruesome manner. She was thinking hard now. “What can I possibly do?”, she questioned herself. Suddenly, a crazy idea struck her. She took a deep breath and thought it through, wishing all the while that her child wouldn’t wake up.

She waited till the tiger approached her enough to hear her voice. Then, she spoke in a deep, loud voice, “O my child! Stop crying. When the tiger of this cave is back, I will kill him and give his meat to you to eat. Wait till he comes back.”

The tiger had heard the mama goat. The hair on the back of his neck stood up. “There’s something in my cave and it wants to eat me”, he said to himself. The tiger was scared for his life, for he thought the creature waiting in the cave was so strong that it could even eat a tiger! Surely, that must be a dangerous animal! The tiger had turned around and had started running in the other direction when he saw his friend, the fox, and stopped in his tracks.

The fox could see his brave friend tremble with fear. He helped the tiger who was still breathing hard, calm down. He then asked him. “What is wrong? Why are you scared, tiger?” He had never seen his powerful friend tiger so scared.

 The tiger looked ashamed of himself. He told the fox what happened. The fox too was scared. But he was also cunning and wise. He figured was a trap. So, he decided to go into the tiger’s cave and see the monster for himself.

“My friend, I don’t think there is any animal in this jungle who can eat you. This must be a trap. Come. We shall both go together and check what is in the cave,” the fox said.

However, the tiger was so scared, he never wanted to go near his cave again. “No, I’m not going back there.”, he said to the fox.

The fox understood the tiger’s plight. He did not push his friend further. “Please wait here. I’ll go and see for myself”, he said to him. Having said this to the tiger, he left.

It wasn’t raining as heavily as before anymore. The fox approached the cave and hid behind the rocks at the entrance. He then saw the mama goat and her child in the cave, looked back at the tiger, and smiled at him.

The mighty tiger was scared of a goat!  How funny! Having seen the goats, the fox was now tempted to feast on them.

He turned back and ran to the tiger who was still shaking. He then told to the tiger what he saw inside the cave. The tiger refused trust him. “I heard it. If I go back, the monster will not spare me.” , said the tiger.

 But the fox remained adamant. He thought of a way to convince his friend to come with him. He grabbed a strong strand of vine lying nearby and said to the tiger. “Let’s tie ourselves together with this. Then I can show you what’s inside the cave. This way, you can be assured that I won’t run away leaving you alone.”

The tiger liked this idea. The fox tied both his neck and the tiger’s neck together using the vine. Then, both slowly walked in the direction of the cave.

The mama goat had been watching them all this time. It had stopped raining now. Having scared the tiger away, the mama goat was ready to escape the cave when she saw a stranger sight. The tiger was approaching the cave with the fox in the lead. Both their necks were tied together.

They were coming at her. them. She didn’t know what to do anymore. These were two predators and it was hopeless fighting against them. Instead, she hid behind a rock near the entrance and waited till they approached her. Then she spoke loudly in her deep voice again.

“What is this? Fox, I had asked you to bring two tigers. You just brought a one. And he too is not big enough for me. For this insult, I’m going to eat you too.”

That was it for the tiger. He turned around and started running in the opposite direction of the cave, completely forgetting about the fox tied to him with the vine. The fox got pulled after the tiger. As the tiger ran, the fox got hit by rocks and trees and got wounded. He screamed at the tiger to stop but the scared tiger didn’t hear him and kept running. When the vine finally snapped, the fox was released but he was so tired and wounded that he didn’t have the strength to stand up.

 The mama goat woke her child up and together they left the cave and went home. After that, the tiger didn’t go near his cave for a long time.

Moral: If you use your brain in hard situations, you will find a way to solve any problem.It’s always possible to overcome a tough situation throughout of the box thinking, and not give in to the only options you think you have to pick from.

 06.Rocks, Pebbles, and Sand

A philosophy professor stood before his class with some items on the table in front of him. When the class began, wordlessly he picked up a very large and empty mayonnaise jar and proceeded to fill it with rocks, about 2 inches in diameter. He then asked the students if the jar was full. They agreed that it was. So the professor then picked up a box of pebbles and poured them into the jar. He shook the jar lightly. The pebbles, of course, rolled into the open areas between the rocks.

He then asked the students again if the jar was full. They agreed it was. The professor picked up a box of sand and poured it into the jar. Of course, the sand filled up the remaining open areas of the jar.
He then asked once more if the jar was full. The students responded with a unanimous “Yes.”

“Now,” said the professor, “I want you to recognize that this jar represents your life. The rocks are the important things – your family, your partner, your health, your children – things that if everything else was lost and only they remained, your life would still be full. The pebbles are the other things that matter – like your job, your house, your car. The sand is everything else, the small stuff.” “If you put the sand into the jar first.”

He continued, “there is no room for the pebbles or the rocks. The same goes for your life. If you spend all your time and energy on the small stuff, you will never have room for the things that are important to you. Pay attention to the things that are critical to your happiness. Play with your children. Take your partner out dancing. There will always be time to go to work, clean the house, give a dinner party, or fix the disposal.” “Take care of the rocks first – the things that really matter. Set your priorities. The rest is just sand.”

Moral: If you starting your life like putting sand into the jar, you will not have room for rocks or pebbles. This holds true with the things you let into your life. If you spend all of your time on the small and insignificant things, you will run out of room for the things that most valuable for your life. In order to have a more effective and efficient life, pay attention to the “rocks,” because they are critical to your long-term well-being.

05.King Bruce And The Spider

Bruce was the king of Scotland.He was a good king, but he had some enemies. Once a big enemy army attacked his country.There was a battle between this big army and Bruce’s small army.The enemy killed and wounded many of Bruce’s brave soldiers.

Now Bruce could not fight,and he left the battle field and ran away. He ran from place to place and at last came to a wood.He was very sad and tried and went into a cave.There he sat down on a stone in a corner.

“The enemy cannot find me now,” he said.

After some time he looked at one of the walls of the cave.A spider was weaving a web.It was going up the wall to the ceiling.It went up and fell down.It tried again but again it fell down.It went up and fell down six times.But it did not stop.It tried again and reached the ceiling at last.

“Bravo,little creature!”said the king.”You are my teacher.I will try again.I will fight and beat my enemy.I will drive the enemy out of my country.”

He left the cave and returned to his people.His soldiers gathered round him.There was a big battle.Bruce’s brave men beat the enemy army and drove it out of the country.

Moral:Never give up!You may fall many times when you try to reach your goal.You may lost your valued things and friends.But if you keep try with motivation,one day you will earn victory.Try and try.One day you can fly.

04.The First Fruit

One morning a king went on horseback to the countryside.He came to a village and saw an old man in the field.The old man was digging the earth and planting mango saplings.He was sweating from head to foot.

King: Good morning,friend.You are planting these saplings.When will you get fruit from them?

Old man: These little saplings will be big trees in ten or fifteen years.They will give fruit then.

King: But you are old and weak.You will die after some years.You will not eat their fruit .

Old man: You are right,sir.I will not eat the fruit of these trees.But others will eat it.I am planting these saplings for them and I am happy.

King: I am pleased with you,old man.You are doing your duty.You are an honest man.Please take this gold coin.It is for you.

03.The Wise Judge.

Two women were brought before King Solomon. Both these women had a quarrel over a single baby. Each woman was saying that she was the baby’s mother.

One lady said, “Oh King! I am the baby’s mother”.
The other lady said, “Oh King! Believe her not. She is not the mother. I am the mother of the child”.

King Solomon was confused. After a deep thought he said, “Cut the baby into two and give one part to each mother”. One woman was silent. The other cried “Oh King! Let she have the baby. Let the baby live”. The king gave the child to the crying mother.

Moral : Truth Always Triumphs.

02.Smartest Man in The World

A doctor, a lawyer, a little boy and a priest were out for a Sunday afternoon flight on a small private plane. Suddenly, the plane developed engine trouble. In spite of the best efforts of the pilot, the plane started to go down.

Finally, the pilot grabbed a parachute and yelled to the passengers that they better jump, and he himself bailed out. Unfortunately, there were only three parachutes remaining.

The doctor grabbed one and said “I’m a doctor, I save lives, so I must live,” and jumped out.

The lawyer then said, “I’m a lawyer and lawyers are the smartest people in the world. I deserve to live.” He also grabbed a parachute and jumped.

The priest looked at the little boy and said, “My son, I’ve lived a long and full life. You are young and have your whole life ahead of you. Take the last parachute and live in peace.”

The little boy handed the parachute back to the priest and said,

“Not to worry Father. The smartest man in the world just took off with my back pack.”

Moral: Your job doesn’t always define you, but being a Good Human being Does.

Here we are at our last one of wonderful, motivational and inspirational short stories.So lets read this story of inspiration.

01.False Judgement – True Decision

A doctor entered the hospital in hurry after being called in for an urgent surgery. He answered the call asap, changed his clothes & went directly to the surgery block.

He found the boy’s father pacing in the hall waiting for the doctor. On seeing him, the dad yelled: “Why did you take all this time to come? Don’t you know that my son’s life is in danger? Don’t you have any sense of responsibility?”

The doctor smiled & said: “I am sorry, I wasn’t in the hospital & I came as fast as I could after receiving the call…… And now, I wish you’d calm down so that I can do my work”

“Calm down?! What if your son was in this room right now, would you calm down? If your own son dies now what will you do??” said the father angrily The doctor smiled again & replied: “I will say what Job said in the Holy Book “From dust we came & to dust we return, blessed be the name of God”. Doctors cannot prolong lives. Go & intercede for your son, we will do our best by God’s grace” “Giving advises when we’re not concerned is so easy” Murmured the father.

The surgery took some hours after which the doctor went out happy, “Thank goodness!, your son is saved!” And without waiting for the father’s reply he carried on his way running. “If you have any questions, ask the nurse!!”

“Why is he so arrogant? He couldn’t wait some minutes so that I ask about my son’s state” Commented the father when seeing the nurse minutes after the doctor left.

The nurse answered, tears coming down her face:

“His son died yesterday in a road accident, he was at the burial when we called him for your son’s surgery. And now that he saved your son’s life, he left running to finish his son’s burial.”

Moral : “Never judge anyone….. because you never know how their life is & what they’re going through.

Now we came so far with these amazing inspirational short stories.Thank you for read every story here.I think you may find the motivation you want from here.

If you know or if you have more suggestions about more motivational and inspirational short stories that you should think appear in this collection please leave a comment.That will help me for more works.

To read more inspirational short stories use our inspirational short stories.

Sasindu Jayasri

Sasindu Jayasri is an Engineering student from Sri Lanka and he studies mechanical engineering at the department of mechanical engineering at the University of Moratuwa. He is passionate about writing and giving inspiration to the world. Follow him in LinkedIn for updates and you can contact him directly.