1. The River Isn't Deep: A stranger on horse back came to a river with which he was unfamiliar. The traveller asked a youngster if it was deep. "No", replied the boy, and the rider started to cross, but soon found that he and his horse had to swim for their lives. When the traveller reached the other side he turned and shouted : "I thought you said it wasn't deep ?" "It isn't", was the boy's reply : "it only takes grandfather's ducks up to their middles !" 2. The Bronze Rat: A tourist wanders into a back-alley antique shop in San Francisco's Chinatown. Picking through the objects on display he discovers a detailed, life-sized bronze sculpture of a rat. The sculpture is so interesting and unique that he picks it up and asks the shop owner what it costs. "Twelve dollars for the rat, sir," says the shop owner, "and a thousand dollars more for the story behind it." "You can keep the story, old man," he replies, "but I'll take the rat." The transaction complete, the tourist leaves the store with the bronze rat under his arm. As he crosses the street in front of the store, two live rats emerge from a sewer drain and fall into step behind him. Nervously looking over his shoulder, he begins to walk faster, but every time he passes another sewer drain, more rats come out and follow him. By the time he's walked two blocks, at least a hundred rats are at his heels, and people begin to point and shout. He walks even faster, and soon breaks into a trot as multitudes of rats swarm from sewers, basements, vacant lots, and abandoned cars. Rats by the thousands are at his heels, and as he sees the waterfront at the bottom of the hill, he panics and starts to run full tilt. No matter how fast he runs, the rats keep up, squealing hideously, now not just thousands but millions, so that by the time he comes rushing up to the water's edge a trail of rats twelve city blocks long is behind him. Making a mighty leap, he jumps up onto a light post, grasping it with one arm while he hurls the bronze rat into San Francisco Bay with the other, as far as he can heave it. Pulling his legs up and clinging to the light post, he watches in amazement as the seething tide of rats surges over the breakwater into the sea, where they drown. Shaken and mumbling, he makes his way back to the antique shop. "Ah, so you've come back for the rest of the story," says the owner. No, says the tourist, I was wondering if you have a bronze lawyer. 3. Stick to Words: One day, two friends Nancy and Jenny were sitting in a restaurant. Nancy asked Jenny about her age. First, Jenny tried to hide her age but when Nancy compelled her, she said, I am just sixteen years old. At this Nancy said, Last year you said that your age was sixteen and now again you are saying you are sixteen years old. What's this? Jenny laughed and said, I always stick to my words. Both the friends started laughing at this witty comment. 4. A trip to heaven : One morning, a farmer found that some animal had broken into his farm in the night and had eaten some of the sugar canes he was growing. He decided to keep a watch. In the middle of the night, he went to his farm to make sure no animal had invaded the farm. To his surprise, he saw a white elephant busy eating the sugar canes. He ran after the elephant shouting. The elephant tried to flee. The farmer caught it by its tail. To his horror, he found the elephant rising off the ground. The jumbo was flying! The frightened farmer held on the tail of the flying elephant. The elephant landed in a garden above the clouds. The farmer recalled his grandmother talking about heaven. “This must be heaven,” he thought. He was delighted to see beautiful trees laden with juicy fruits. He started eating the fruits. He put some fruits in his pocket. He wanted to share them with his friends back on earth. When the elephant flew again, the farmer held its tail. The elephant flew down heading for the sugarcane farm. After they landed on earth, the farmer ran home. The farmer’s friends would not believe his tale. He offered them juicy mangoes that he had plucked from the heavenly trees. The fruits were so sweet that all his friends agreed that they tasted heavenly. They wanted to know when he was going to heaven again. The farmer said he was planning a visit that night. His friends begged him to take them with him. The farmer agreed. “Yes, let’s all go to heaven and celebrate there,” he said. The friends decided they would meet in the sugarcane farm at midnight. That night as the farmer and his friends waited in the farm, they saw the white elephant descending from the sky. They waited patiently till the elephant had its share of sugarcanes. As the elephant was ready to take off, the farmer ran and held its tail. As the elephant rose, one of the friends ran and caught hold of the farmer’s legs. As the elephant rose higher, another man ran and held on to the legs of the man holding the legs of the farmer. Thus, the human chain grew, as every man held on to the legs of the other above him. As the elephant flew the friends started talking. One of them wanted to know whether there were water melons in the heavenly garden. “Of course, there are water melons,” said the farmer. “They are so huge!” he said. “How big?” the friend asked. “This big,” said the farmer, demonstrating with his hands. As he opened his hands to show how big the heavenly water melons were, the farmer and his friends fell. Luckily, they fell into a stream on good old earth. The heavenly elephant never returned to the sugarcane farm although the farmer and his friends waited for his return. 5. The goatherd and the goat: A Goatherd was one day gathering his flock to return to the fold, when one of his goats strayed and refused to join the rest. He tried for a long time to get her to return by calling and whistling to her, but the Goat took no notice of him at all; so at last he threw a stone at her and broke one of her horns. In dismay, he begged her not to tell his master: but she replied, "You silly fellow, my horn would cry aloud even if I held my tongue." Moral: - It's no use trying to hide what can't be hidden. - Wicked deeds will not stay hid. 6. The Tortoise and The Geese: Once upon a time beside a lake, there lived a tortoise and two geese who were great friends. As the lake was drying, the geese decided to migrate to a new place. The tortoise also wanted to move with them but he couldn’t fly and so he pleaded the geese to take him with them. After trying really hard to convince them, finally, the geese agreed. They held a stick with their beaks and asked the tortoise to hold the stick with his mouth and warned him to not open his mouth in order to avoid letting go off of the stick. As they flew high, some onlookers thought that the tortoise was kidnapped and commented: “Oh, the poor tortoise!” This angered the tortoise and he immediately opened his mouth to say something back. As soon as he did, he fell to the ground and died. 7. The Black Band: One day Nick and Jane met in a garden. They were best friends and were studying in the same school in the same class. When they both were playing in the garden Jane saw a black band tied on the wrist of Nick. She asked him the reason for wearing that band. Nick replied, My mother tied it so that I don't forget to post an important letter. At this Jane asked, But where is the letter? Nick searched for it everywhere. Then he remembered that his mother had forgotten to give him the letter. When Jane came to know about this, both laughed a lot. 8. Bald man and a fly: A bald man was the owner of a sweet shop, where he sold candies and sweets. The sweets attracted a lot of flies, and the owner tried everything possible to prevent the flies from sitting on his sweets. One day, a giant fly comes and sits on the sweets. He tries to clap it with his hands, but it escapes and sits on another sweet. He tries to clap it again, but it flies away and sits on another dish, and this continues. The fly challenges the bald man to clap and hurt it if he can. The man says, “I can sacrifice anything to keep you away from my store.” Then the fly sits on the man’s bald head. Without much thought, he hits his own head to catch the fly. The fly flies away leaving a big red bump on the man’s head. Keep our collection of funny and interesting stories for kids to read handy, so you can pick one for each day or night and spend some fun and quality time with your children. As parents, you must be familiar with the importance of storytelling to your children. It keeps them entertained while stimulating their imagination. The story and the reading should be engaging to grab your children’s attention. So, use your skills and narrate these short stories to your children to keep them waiting for the next one with anticipation. 9. A Tale of Three Fish: In a lake, there were three fish who were great friends. The first fish was very smart, the second one knew how to find his way out of trouble and the third was adamant and hated changes. The first fish overheard a fisherman’s conversation about coming back the next day and fishing in the lake. Sensing danger, he cautioned his friends to move out of the lake. The second fish said, “I will stay here and find a way out if I’m caught.” The third fish said, “I do not want to move out. I will remain here and if I have to get caught, I will.” The first fish moved out. The next day, the fisherman arrived and caught the other two fish. The second one cleverly escaped by pretending to be dead. The third fish did nothing and got caught and died. 10. The Stork and The Crab: Once upon a time, there lived a stork beside a pond who used to pick fishes from the pond and eat them. However, as he grew older, he found it difficult to catch a single fish. In order to feed himself, he thought of a plan. He told the fish, frogs, and crabs that some men are planning to fill the pond and grow crops and that’s why there won’t be any fish in the pond. He also told them how sad he felt about this and that he will miss them all. The fish were sad and asked the stork to help them. The stork promised to take all of them to a bigger pond. However, he told them, “As I am old, I can take only a few of you at one go.” The stork would take the fishes to a rock, kill and eat them up. Every time he was hungry, he would take a few of them to the rock and eat them. There also lived a crab in the pond and he also wanted to go to the bigger pond too. The stork thought of eating the crab for a change and agreed on helping him. On the way, the crab asked the stork, “Where is the big pond?” The stork laughed and pointed to the rock, which was filled with fish bones. The crab realised that the stork would kill him, and so quickly thought of a plan to save himself. He caught the stork’s neck and did not let it go until the stork died.