In todays world, People have enough money to fulfil their desire but even they are still not satisfy in life. They are still in the race of self discovery. They have money but can’t buy the inner satisfaction.
If you are also in search of self discovery then we have compiled a list of Short Stories about Self Discovery which will educate you about the point of view of life.
So without wasting much time, lets start the inspirational stories about finding yourself.
Self-discovery Short Stories
Short Stories about Self Discovery – The Serpent King
Two brothers were saints. Now, there was a serpent king. He had a wish fulfilling gem and could assume any form.
One day, he changed into a human and came to the hermitage of the brothers. He met the younger brother and became his friend.
After that, he visited the brother frequently. One day, the serpent visited the brother in his snake form. The brother was terrified.
After that his health deteriorated. His brother noticed this and asked him the reason. The younger brother told him everything.
The elder brother said, “Ask the snake for his most valuable possession which is the gem. He will not part with it and stop coming to you.”
So, the saint asked the serpent for his gem. The serpent king did not say anything and left.
After this, the saint kept asking for the gem every day. The serpent finally said, “You ask for too much. I will never visit you again.”
The serpent went away and never came back.
Short and Sweet Stories – The Ascetic
There was a rich man who had a son. When the son grew up, he gave up his home and became an ascetic. He achieved great powers through meditation. Slowly, he obtained a large number of disciples.
There were times when the ascetic would risk his life for the sake of his people.
Once, a severe famine struck the land. Many creatures died of hunger and thirst. The ascetic was very upset. He meditated for several days. Due to his hard penances, he brought a river in the land.
The people were shocked and happy. They realised that the ascetic was a divine being with great powers. They thanked the ascetic profusely.
The ascetic became famous everywhere. Many people came to listen to his sermons. He taught the people to be unselfish and make sacrifices for others.
One day, the ascetic fell ill. But such was his greatness that God himself came to cure him.
Short Stories from Panchatantra – The Three Princes
A king had three sons. The first two were from his previous queen. The stepmother wanted the king to make her son the king, but he refused.
The king was scared that the queen would harm his sons, so he told them to live in the forest until his death.
As they were going out of the palace, the youngest prince also joined them. They reached a forest. The youngest prince went to get water from a pond.
Now, a fairy lived in the pond who allowed water to be taken only if her question was answered correctly. If not, she would imprison that person.
She asked the prince her question. The prince’s answer was wrong and the fairy imprisoned him.
The second prince also suffered the same fate.
Finally, the eldest prince came and gave correct answer.
The fairy released the other two brothers. The brothers lived in the forest and returned when the king died. Then, the eldest brother became the king.
Self Awareness Story – The King and The Disciple
Once, a hermit and his disciples were the guests of a king. After some days, the hermit decided to go back to his hermitage.
The king requested him to extend his stay. The ascetic accepted but the disciples went back.
One day, the chief disciple came back to pay homage to the hermit.
He did not notice the king standing there. The king heard him uttering, “Oh, what a great pleasure! Unh, what a great pleasure!”
The King thought that the disciple was happy after eating the royal dishes, which were scarcely available in forests. He thought the disciple was greedy.
The hermit, however, read the king’s mind. He told the king that the disciple was once a king himself.
The words “great pleasure” were meant to show the pleasure of the life of an ascetic, which he had never experienced when he was a king.
The king felt ashamed of his thoughts and apologized to the disciple.
Indian Short Story – The Rogue Sage
Once, a sage came to a village. A rich man gave him a place to stay. Now, the rich man had a lot of gold. He was scared of thieves. So, he kept the gold
under the sage’s care.
After a few days, the sage came to the merchant and said, “I have spent enough time here. Now, I wish to leave.
The merchant bade him farewell.
The sage went some distance and came back to the merchant. He said, “I do not keep anything that belongs to others.” Saying so, he took out a straw from his beard, which he himself had put there, and gave it to the merchant.
The merchant was mighty pleased with the sage’s honesty. But a friend of his saw all this and grew suspicious.
He said to the merchant, “Have you checked your gold?”
They both went to check the gold. To the merchant’s surprise, the gold was missing.
They caught the fraud sage. He was punished for cheating the merchant.
Indian Folk Tales – The Two Gamblers
Two gamblers gambled every day. One was honest but the other was a cheater. He played as long as he won. When he began to lose, he would secretly put one of the dice in his mouth and claim that it was lost. Then he would stop the game.
The honest gambler saw this happening many times. He realised that the man was a cheat. He decided to teach the cheat a lesson.
One day, he put poison on the dice and let it dry. The game started after some time.
When the cheat started losing the game, as usual, he put the dice in his mouth. Soon he fell sick and fainted. The honest gambler, who was good at heart, cured him.
Afterwards, he advised the cheat not to deceive anyone again. Eventually, the cheat mended his ways.
Indian Short Story with Moral – The Clever Turtle
A king got a lake made for his children to play in with some fish in it. The excited children rushed off to see the fish. Now, among the fish was a turtle as well.
The children not having seen a turtle before thought it to be a monster. They told the king that there was a monster in the lake.
The king ordered his men to kill the monster. There were different suggestions on how to kill it. Some said, “Crush it.” Some said, “Burn it.”
Finally, an old man, who had always been afraid of water said, “Throw it into the water where it will flow over the rocks and get killed.”
The turtle said, “Please do not put me in the water. I will surely die!”
Hearing his pleas, the king’s soldiers immediately threw the turtle in the water. The clever turtle laughed saying, “Those people do not know how safe I am in the water!”
Short Story on Self Control – The Tempting Nymph
Once there was an ascetic. He lived on the Himalayas near a lake.
One day, he was bathing in the lake. Suddenly, a water nymph came out of the lake and saw him. She immediately fell in love with him.
She thought, “Why is such a handsome man leading a hard life? He should enjoy the worldly pleasures.
She tried to impress him by singing a beautiful song. But the man remained unimpressed.
Then she went up to him and said, “Young man, why are you wasting your life in such hardships when the pleasures of the world await you. You can always become an ascetic when you are old.”
The ascetic replied, “My dear lady, I can do that but who knows whether I will live to grow old or not.” Hearing these words, the nymph sighed and realized that the ascetic would not be deviated and disappeared.
Indian Short Story in English – The Prince and The Monster
Once, there was a prince. He was very brave. One day, while going through the forest, he came face to face with a monster.
The monster growled, “I am going to eat you up!” The prince said, “I will kill you with my weapons.”
The prince fought very hard. The monster was surprised. He found that the prince was not afraid of him at all. He asked the prince, “Are you not afraid of me?”
The prince replied, “In my belly is my diamond weapon. It will cut you if you swallow me. So if I die, so will you! That is why I am not afraid of you.”
Hearing this, the monster set him free.
In reality, the prince had no diamond in his belly. He had just made it up. His quick thinking had saved his life.
Indian Short Story for Kids – The Wise Advice
King Pratap was the ruler of a big kingdom. He had a wife and a son. One day, his kingdom was attacked by King Brij.
He killed King Pratap and forcefully made the queen his own wife.
Luckily, the son (prince) escaped. When the prince grew up, he raised a large army to attack King Brij. He sent a message to the king telling him to surrender or fight a battle.
The prince’s mother heard of this. She sent a message to her son saying, “Do not fight. It would be wiser to close every entrance to the city. Lack of food and water will weaken the army. Then it will surrender immediately.”
The prince followed his mother’s advice. After some time, the army and the king surrendered.
The prince killed King Brij and became the new king himself. His mother was very happy.
Free Indian Story – The Foolish Servant
A king had a loyal servant. His job was to set a price for anything the king wanted to buy or sell.
But this man would buy things at very low prices and sell them at high prices. Once, a merchant sold 500 horses. The price the servant gave was only a cup of rice for the horses.
The merchant was upset and wanted to get a good price for his horses. So, he gave the servant a valuable gift. Then, in front of the king, he asked the servant, “I want to know the actual price of one cup of rice.”
The servant, after receiving a gift from the horse dealer, wanted to please him. So he said, “One cup of rice is worth this kingdom!”
On hearing this, everyone started laughing. The king was very embarrassed and shocked. He immediately threw the servant out of his court.
Short Indian Stories – The King and the Deer
A king used to hunt deer. Many deer died due to this. One day, the deer king came to the king and said, “Sir! Many of my deer are dying every day.
To stop this, we will send you one deer every day.”
The king agreed. He was also very impressed by the deer king and said, “You will never be hunted.”
So, every day one deer presented itself to the king. One day, it was the turn of a deer who had a young baby.
She went to the deer king and said, “O King! I want my baby to grow. Then, I will go to the king.”
The deer king said, “Do not worry. I will go in your place.”
The next day, the king was surprised to see the herd king. The deer king told him everything.
The king was impressed with the deer king’s sacrifice. He said, “My friend! I promise not to hunt deer anymore.”
Online Indian Short Story – The Plough eater Mice
Once, two traders, Ram and Shyam, were friends. One day, Ram went on a business trip and kept his plough at Shyam’s house.
Shyam sold the plough and kept the money. When Ram came back to get his plough, Shyam said, “The mice have eaten your plough.”
Ram was surprised at this strange answer. That evening, Ram took Shyam’s son to a friend’s house saying, “Please keep this little boy here until I come back for him.”
Shyam asked Ram about his son, Ram replied, “A bird carried him away.”
Shyam said, “How can a bird carry a boy?” Shyam went to the court. The judge heard everything.
He asked Ram, “How can a bird carry a boy?”
Ram replied, “If a bird cannot carry a boy, can mice eat a plough?”
“What do you mean by that?” asked the judge. Ram told everything.
The judge understood everything. He said to Shyam, “Give back the plough and he will give your son back.”
Indian Moral Story – The Baby Elephant
A rich man became an ascetic and lived in a forest. Once, he came across a baby elephant. He instantly bonded with the baby elephant. He took it to his hermitage. From then on, he started taking care of the elephant. He fed it every day.
One day, the ascetic was away for some work. The baby elephant got hungry and ate more than it could digest. Soon, it got sick and died.
When the ascetic came back, he was filled with sorrow. He remained in that state for many days.
One day, a great sage was passing by. He saw the ascetic grieving. The sage taught the ascetic not to grieve as he was a man who had given up all attachments.
This sermon helped the ascetic overcome his grief and he resumed his life preaching others.
Self discovery is the way to succeed but it requires a lot of time to understand. If you want to make your kids to understand about life then from the birth you should work on them to understand good habit and read good and moral stories.
Hope you have enjoyed above short stories about self discovery. Let us know which story you like the most in below comment and share with your finds and love ones.