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Story for reading practice

10+ Story for reading. New motivational stories for learning English. Read them one by one and try to understand their simple narrative to boost your understanding.

Story for reading practice

Story for reading means doesn’t mean it’s not for gaining something for enhancing your English vocabularies along with brushing up your Tenses, Modal auxiliary verbs, Conditional Sentences that you will come across while going through these amazing stories.

 

1. How Brother Rabbit Fooled The Whale And The Elephant

Story for reading

 

One day little Brother Rabbit was running along on the sand, lippety, lippety, when he saw the Whale and the Elephant talking together. Little Brother Rabbit crouched down and listened to what they were saying. This was what they were saying:

“You are the biggest thing on the land, Brother Elephant,” said the Whale, “and I am the biggest thing in the sea; if we join together we can rule all the animals in the world, and have our way about everything.”

“Very good, very good,” trumpeted the Elephant; “that suits me; we will do it.”

Little Brother Rabbit snickered to himself. “They won’t rule me,” he said. He ran away and got a very long, very strong rope, and he got his big drum, and hid the drum a long way off in the bushes. Then he went along the beach till he came to the Whale.

“Oh, please, dear, strong Mr. Whale,” he said, “will you have the great kindness to do me a favor? My cow is stuck in the mud, a quarter of a mile from here. And I can’t pull her out. But you are so strong and so obliging, that I venture to trust you will help me out.”

The Whale was so pleased with the compliment that he said, “Yes,” at once.

“Then,” said the Rabbit, “I will tie this end of my long rope to you, and I will run away and tie the other end round my cow, and when I am ready I will beat my big drum. When you hear that, pull very, very hard, for the cow is stuck very deep in the mud.”

“Huh!” grunted the Whale, “I’ll pull her out, if she is stuck to the horns.”

Little Brother Rabbit tied the rope-end to the whale, and ran off, lippety, lippety, till he came to the place where the Elephant was.

“Oh, please, mighty and kindly Elephant,” he said, making a very low bow

“will you do me a favor?”

“What is it?” asked the Elephant.

“My cow is stuck in the mud, about a quarter of a mile from here,” said little Brother Rabbit, “and I cannot pull her out. Of course you could. If you will be so very obliging as to help me — ”

“Certainly,” said the Elephant grandly, “certainly.”

“Then,” said little Brother Rabbit, “I will tie one end of this long rope to your trunk, and the other to my cow, and as soon as I have tied her tightly I will beat my big drum. When you hear that, pull; pull as hard as you can, for my cow is very heavy.”

“Never fear,” said the Elephant, “I could pull twenty cows.”

“I am sure you could,” said the Rabbit, politely,”only be sure to begin gently, and pull harder and harder till you get her.”

Then he tied the end of the rope tightly round the Elephant’s trunk, and ran away into the bushes. There he sat down and beat the big drum.

The Whale began to pull, and the Elephant began to pull, and in a jify the rope tightened till it was stretched as hard as could be.

“This is a remarkably heavy cow,” said the Elephant; “but I’ll fetch her!” And he braced his forefeet in the earth, and gave a tremendous pull.

“Dear me!” said the Whale. “That cow must be stuck mighty tight;” and he drove his tail deep in the water, and gave a marvelous pull.

He pulled harder; the Elephant pulled harder. Pretty soon the Whale found himself sliding toward the land. The reason was, of course, that the Elephant had something solid to brace against, and, too, as fast as he pulled the rope in a little, he took a turn with it round his trunk!

But when the Whale found himself sliding toward the land he was so provoked with the cow that he dove head first, down to the bottom of the sea. That was a pull! The Elephant was jerked off his feet, and came slipping and sliding to the beach, and into the surf. He was terribly angry. He braced himself with all his might, and pulled his best. At the jerk, up came the Whale out of the water.

“Who is pulling me?” spouted the Whale.

“Who is pulling me?” trumpeted the Elephant.

And then each saw the rope in the other’s hold.

“I’ll teach you to play cow!” roared the Elephant.

“I’ll show you how to fool me!” fumed the Whale. And they began to pull again. But this time the rope broke, the Whale turned a somersault, and the Elephant fell over backwards.

At that, they were both so ashamed that neither would speak to the other. So that broke up the bargain between them.

And little Brother Rabbit sat in the bushes and laughed, and laughed, and laughed.

 

2. Racism (जातिवाद)

Story for reading

 

This happened on TAM airlines.

A 50-something year old white woman arrived at her seat and saw that the passenger next to her was a black man.

Visibly furious, she called the air hostess.”What’s the problem, ma?” the hostess asked her

“Can’t you see?” the lady said – “I was given a seat next to a black man. I can’t seat here next to him. You have to change my seat”

– “Please, calm down, ma” – said the hostess

“Unfortunately, all the seats are occupied, but I’m still going to check if we have any.”

The hostess left and returned some minutes later.

“Madam, as I told you, there isn’t any empty seat in this class- economy class.

But I spoke to the captain and he confirmed that there isn’t any empty seats in the economy class. We only have seats in the first class.”

And before the woman said anything, the hostess continued

“Look, it is unusual for our company to allow a passenger from the economy class change to the first class.

However, given the circumstances, the commandant thinks that it would be a scandal to make a passenger travel sat next to an unpleasant person.”

And turning to the black man, the hostess said:

“Which means, Sir, if you would be so nice to pack your handbag, we have reserved you a seat in the first class…”

And all the passengers nearby, who were shocked to see the scene started applauding, some standing on their feet.”

Share If You Are Against RACISM

 

3. The Miser Old Woman

Story for reading

Once upon a time an old woman lived in a village. She was wealthy but was very clever and miser. She lived alone in an old hut and never allowed anyone to enter her hut. Though she was getting weaker day by day due to old age but did not have any servant or other helping hand and used to do all the household work by herself.

She had only one thing in her mind…..

” If I allow someone to enter my house the person will steal away all my money and I will get poor.”

One day a young man from other village came to the old woman’s village and he heard about that woman from the villagers.

The young man thought that how good it would be for him if he succeeded in getting a good share of the old woman’s wealth by any means.

Next day he went to old woman’s house and knocked the door .

”Who is there” ? ,asked the woman.

”I am a relative of yours” ,the young man replied.

”Why have you come here?” ,old woman asked again .

I heard that you are living alone and it is not good for you to live alone in this old age so I decided to stay here and look after you.

The woman did not allow him to come in but he started to live in the compound of the house.

Many days passed like that and one day the old woman got sick and she called the young man in the house as she had no one else to look after her.

The young man served the woman like her own child, she became so pleased with him that she allowed him to stay with her.

After some time the illness of the woman worsened.

Now she knew that she was going to die soon , she called the young man and said to him, ” Son, I want to tell you my last wish , that when my body will be placed on the pyre please burn my pillow with my body.”

Two days later, the woman died. The young man did exactly what the woman had asked him to do. He burnt the huge pillow with her.

After completing the funeral and rituals he rushed to the old woman’s hut and started searching madly for the money.

He searched here,

he searched there,

he searched everywhere.

But the young man didn’t find a single penny.

So where was the money? Well, it was in the pillow which was burnt with the old woman.

Ah ! all the efforts of the young man failed.

 

4. Making An Ass Over A Mare

Story for reading

Once there was a boy. Not the brightest of boys, to be sure. One day when he was returning from the fields, he met a man leading a mare. The boy suddenly had a great desire to own the mare. So he asked the owner, “What will you ask for this mare? I would like to have her.”

The man said, “A hundred rupees and the mare is yours.”

“I do not have one hundred rupees,” said the boy, “but I do possess fifty rupees.”

“Well then, you will just have to walk home, my lad,” said the owner. “It is hundred, or nothing.”

“Listen,” pleaded the boy, “let us make a deal. I will give you fifty rupees cash and instead of the remaining fifty I will give you back your mare. How is that?”

The man was no fool. He quickly agreed and then quietly walked away with his mare and the fifty rupees as well.

The silly lad too walked on, proud and happy at the deal. He trotted along, holding the imaginary reins and urging his mare onwards. He reached home and called his father. “Father, look what I bought today. A mare.”

“Where is it, son?” asked the father.

The boy explained, “You see, it was like this. The mare cost a hundred rupees. I had only fifty. So I paid fifty to the owner and returned to him the mare instead of the remaining fifty. I did not want to come home with any debts on my head.”

“Bravo, son!” said the father. “Hats off to your bargaining ability!

5. Father’s Love

Story for reading

 

An 80 year old man was sitting on the sofa in his house along with his 45 year’s old highly educated son.

Suddenly a crow perched on their window.

The Father asked his Son, “What is this?”

The Son replied “It is a crow”.

After a few minutes, the Father asked his Son the 2nd time, “What is this?”

The Son said “Father, I have just now told you “It’s a crow”.

After a little while, the old Father again asked his Son the 3rd time,

What is this?”

At this time some expression of irritation was felt in the Son’s tone when he said to his Father with a rebuff. “It’s a crow, a crow, a crow”.

A little after, the Father again asked his Son the 4th time, “What is this?”

This time the Son shouted at his Father, “Why do you keep asking me the same question again and again, although I have told you so many times ‘IT IS A CROW’.

Are you not able to understand this?”

A little later the Father went to his room and came back with an old tattered diary, which he had maintained since his Son was born. On opening a page, he asked his Son to read that page. When the son read it, the following words were written in the diary:-

“Today my little son aged three was sitting with me on the sofa, when a crow was sitting on the window. My Son asked me 23 times what it was, and I replied to him all 23 times that it was a Crow. I hugged him lovingly each time he asked me the same question again and again for 23 times.

I did not at all feel irritated I rather felt affection for my innocent child”.

While the little child asked him 23 times “What is this”, the Father had felt no irritation in replying to the same question all 23 times and when today the Father asked his Son the same question just 4 times, the Son felt irritated and annoyed.

From today say this aloud, “I want to see my parents happy forever. They have cared for me ever since I was a little child.

They have always showered their selfless love on me.

They crossed all mountains and valleys without seeing the storm and heat to make me a person presentable in the society today”.

 

6. The Giant and the Tailor

Story for reading

Once, there lived a tailor who was very proud. He hardly did any work and decided to go abroad and seek his fortune in the world.

On the way he met a big giant. The giant invited him to stay with him provided he searched for food for him. The frightened tailor kept wonder­ing how he could escape from the giant.

When the giant ordered him to fetch a jug of water, the tailor boasted that he could get the whole well. Hearing this, the giant was alarmed. When the giant asked him to get wood, the tailor declared that he could bring the whole forest. The giant, who was actually very timid, was terri­fied and wanted to get rid of the tailor.

The next day, the giant told him to sit on the branch of a tree and bend it. The tailor drew in his breath so hard that he was hurled high into the air and was never seen again. He had learnt his lesson for being so vain.

 

7. Salem and the Nail

Story for reading practice

Salem was a carpet trader. Once, his shop caught fire and he lost everything. He was very upset and had no means of earning a living now. He decided to sell his house and buy carpets with that money.

However, Salem did something strange. He decided to sell the whole house except for a nail. Abu willingly bought Salem’s house. And so, while Abu lived in his new house,

Salem would visit him. He would hang his big bag or cloak on the nail. Abu did not mind that at all. One day, Salem dragged in a stinking dead donkey and hung it on the nail! Abu begged him to take it away but Salem refused.

It was his nail and he could hang anything he wanted on it. When the stink got really bad, Abu was forced to give the house back to clever Salem and ran away. Salem was rich and happy again.

8. A True Servant

English short stories

A king had a large number of slaves. One of them was very black. He was true to the king. So, the king loved him greatly.

One day the king went out on a camel. Some slaves walked in front of the king. Others went behind the king. The black slave rode on a horse by the side of his master – The King.

The King had a box. There were pearls in it. On the way the box fell down in a narrow street. It broke into pieces. The pearls rolled on the ground.

The king said to his slaves. “Go and take the pearls. I do not want them any longer,” said the king.

The slaves ran and gathered the pearls. They took those pearls. The black slave did not leave his place.

He was by the side of his master. He guarded his master. He cared for the life of his master. He did not care for the master’s pearls. He was the true servant.

The king observed the attitude of the servant and gave him many gifts.

9. Square peg in a around hole

Two fishermen were throwing their nets into the river, and a monkey, on the branch of a tree, watched their actions with interest. At midday, the men went off to eat and left their nets on the river-bank, intending to use them again after lunch.

The monkey came down from the tree, picked up one of the nets and tried to throw it as he had seen the men do. The only thing it succeeded in doing, however, was to imprison itself completely in the tight netting.

‘Now,’ said the monkey, ‘I have learnt that it is better to leave that task to those who know how to do it.’

A little knowledge is a dangerous thing. 

10. He who laughs on Friday will weep on Sunday

The ox and the horse realised that their master was preparing to depart for the war. The horse was very worried when it thought about the dangers it would have to face up in a battle.

The ox, on the other hand, was extremely cheerful in the belief that, in the absence of the master, he would have less work to do.

All this changed a shortwhile later, when the news arrived that the enemy had already surrendered.

To celebrate the great victory, the cavalryman held an enormous banquet with plenty of roast meat; who do you think was the loser?

Only the wearer knows where the shoe pinches.

11. THE SICK LION

Once the lion had very bad indigestion and all the doctors in the forest visited him.

‘What bad breath you have, your majesty!’ exclaimed the zebra.

‘How dare you!’ said the indignant lion and knocked down the zebra.

‘What a pleasant smell!’ said the hyena, who had seen what had happened to the zebra.

‘Do you think I’m stupid?’ roared the angry lion, and killed the hyena as well. ‘And what do you think?’ the lion asked the fox.

‘Unfortunately, your majesty,’ replied that shrewd animal, ‘my nose is completely blocked with a cold and I can smell nothing!’

Think before you speak.

12. THE DOG AND THE DONKEY

Th he dog was awakened by a noise, but went back to sleep at once.

‘Why don’t you bark?’ asked the amazed donkey. ‘It could be thieves!’

Then the sun comes with its knife, little by l for us to see.

‘You would be better advised to mind your own business,’ he told the donkey. The indignant donkey began to bray as loudly as he could. He frightened off the thieves and caused the master to come running. The master was so furious at being woken up that he began to beat the donkey.

I warned you, said the experienced old dog afterwards: ‘With a master like that, it is better to think only of yourself, first and foremost.

To mind one’s own business.

13. The weasels and the mice

The weasels and the mice were at war and the mice kept on losing. They thought that this might be due to the fact that they were not well organised and disciplined and also they had no leaders.

So the mice appointed some generals and to set themselves apart from the soldiers, the generals made themselves helmets decorated with long horns.

The next battle was won by the weasels again. And the mice only saved themselves by running into their burrows but the generals could not get in because of the horned helmets, so they were all eaten by the weasels.

If you cannot bite, never show your teeth.

14. The hare and the frogs

A hare was berating itself for being so afraid all the time and running away from everything. He was just promising himself that he would behave more courageously in future, when a sudden noise made him run away again as fast as he could.

He came to a pool where, as soon as the frogs heard his approach, they dived into the water and did in the mud.

‘Thank goodness’, thought the hare. “That just proves that no matter how scared you are, there is always someone else who is even more scared!’

15. You cannot burn candle at both ends

Long ago, a fox that was being chased by hunters took refuge in the house of a woodcutter and asked him to conceal her.

The astonished man agreed, but when the hunters arrived, although he said that he had not seen the fox, he tried to point out with dramatic gestures, the place where she was hiding. The hunters paid no heed and went on their way.

Afterwards, the fox came out of hiding and prepared to leave. ‘Are you not even going to thank me?’ complained the woodcutter. ‘And should I thank you for what you said?’ retorted the fox, ‘or for what you did?’

Do to others as you would like to be done by.

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