Kerala Syllabus 5th Standard English Stories for Children

Kerala Syllabus 5th Standard English Stories for Children

The following are some simple stories that children will enjoy reading. Encourage them to read them. By reading these stories, their vocabulary and their ability to read and understand things will improve. At the end of each story some questions are given which they have to answer.

KING MIDAS AND HIS DAUGHTER

There was a country named Phrygia. It was ruled by a king named Midas. He was a very rich man. He had everything a person could wish for. He lived in a beautiful palace. His wife had died. He had only one daughter who was very beautiful. Midas had a great desire for gold. He had collected thousands of gold coins. He spent hours counting and recounting them. When he saw his gold coins he felt very happy. He liked gold very much and often covered himself with golden things. His other love was his daughter. She was like a little angel. She also made him happy with her laughter and talk.

In the ancient Greek myths there are many gods. One is Dionysus. He is the god of wine and pleasure. Satyr is another God. Satyr is the god of woods. Dionysius and Satyr were great friends. They often went together into the forest to enjoy themselves. Once, as they were walking in the forest, they got separated. After walking for a long time alone, Satyr reached the garden of Midas. As he was tired, Satyr decided to rest there. Midas saw him and invited him to spend some days with him in the palace. Midas treated Satyr in a fine way. Midas gave him all kinds of luxurious foods and all other things he needed. Satyr was happy and he took Midas to Dionysus.

Satyr spoke very highly of Midas for his hospitality and Dionysus was very happy with Midas. Dionysus then told Midas that he would grant him one wish. Midas was very happy to hear that promise. He thought for some time and requested Dionysus to give him the blessing by which whatever he touched would turn into gold. Dionysus warned him such a blessing could become dangerous at times. But Midas, who loved gold above everything else, wanted this blessing. Dionysus then granted him this blessing saying that from the following day everything Midas touched would become gold. Midas went home with a lot of joy.

In the night he could not sleep well because he was thinking about the things he would change into gold. He got up early in the morning. First he touched the table near him. It changed into gold. He was so happy. He went to the bathroom. The bathroom door was changed into gold. He was mad with joy. He moved about his palace and touched everything he saw and they all changed into gold. He was tired now and he wanted to have his breakfast.

He sat at table and he took a juicy orange. It turned into gold. He was not happy and he was looking at it when his lovely daughter rushed into the room. Midas lovingly embraced her and suddenly she became a golden statue!

Now Midas realized the danger of his blessing. He prayed Dionysus to take back his blessing and bring his daughter back to life. Dionysus asked him to go and wash his hands in a holy River to remove the golden touch from his hands and then touch his daughter. He did that and the daughter became normal again.

Midas learned his lesson. Greed is dangerous.

Question 1.
Who was the king of Phrygia?
Answer:
Midas was the king of Phrygia.

Question 2.
Where did he live?
Answer:
He lived in a beautiful palace.

Question 3.
Was his wife alive?
Answer:
No, his wife was not alive.

Question 4.
How many children did he have?
Answer:
He had only one child, a daughter.

Question 5.
How did he spend his time?
Answer:
He spent his time counting and recounting his gold coins.

Question 6.
Who were Dionysius and Satyr?
Answer:
Dionysius was the god of wine and pleasure and Satyr was the god of woods.

Question 7.
Who lost the way while walking in the forest?
Answer:
Satyr lost the way while walking in the forest.

Question 8.
What blessing did Midas ask from Dionysius?
Answer:
Midas asked for the blessing by which whatever he touched would turn into gold.

Question 9.
What did Midas touch first?
Answer:
He first touched a juicy orange which turned into gold.

Question 10.
What happened to the daughter of Midas when he touched her?
Answer:
When he touched her, the daughter of Midas became gold.

Question 11.
What did he have to do to remove the golden touch from his hands?
Answer:
To remove the golden touch from his hands, he had to wash his hands in the holy river.

Question 12.
What is the moral of the story?
Answer:

THE HARE AND THE TORTOISE

Once there was a hare which was very proud of its speed. Whenever he met the slow walking tortoise, he made fun of it. The tortoise was sorry to hear such insults. One day, the tortoise felt so angry that he challenged the hare to a race. The hare laughed and thought that the tortoise was going to make itself a bigger fool. He gladly accepted the challenge. They fixed a time and a place showing where the race would start and where it would end. The animals in the entire forest came to know of the race. They came to watch the race on the appointed day.

All the viewers knew the possible result of the race.
How could they think, the slow-moving tortoise defeat the fast hare?
The hare ran with all its speed. After some distance he looked back to see where his rival, the tortoise, was. It was not even in sight as it was far behind.
“Why should I run so fast?” thought the hare. “Let me rest for some time till the tortoise comes up to here.” So he sat down under a tree and slowly dozed off. He soon fell asleep as he was tired from his fast running.

The tortoise came to the place where the hare was sleeping, snoring noisily. “Let him sleep. But let me continue with my work,” said the tortoise. It continued its slow but steady walk. After some time the tortoise reached the finishing point. The hare was not in sight. The tortoise felt happy.
The hare got up from his sleep and looked to see if the tortoise was near. It was not seen. The hare was worried as he did not know if the tortoise had overtaken him and gone ahead. With great speed he rushed to the finishing point. The tortoise was already there with a smile on its face. The hare felt much ashamed. All the animals present there laughed at the laziness of the hare. The tortoise was declared the winner of the race. The tortoise felt proud that its hard work met with success.
Slow and steady wins the race!

Question 1.
Why was the tortoise sorry?
Answer:
The tortoise was sorry because the fast running rabbit insulted it for its slow walk.

Question 2.
Why did the tortoise challenge the hare to a race?
Answer:
The tortoise challenged the hare to a race because it was angry at the insults by the hare.

Question 3.
The hare laughed and thought that the tortoise was going to make itself a bigger fool.
Answer:
The hare laughed and thought that the tortoise was going to make itself a bigger fool.

Question 4.
Who was the referee of the race?
Answer:
The referee was a deer.

Question 5.
What did the referee do to start the race?
Answer:
The referee blew the whistle to start the race.

Question 6.
When the referee blew the whistle what did the hare do?
Answer:
When the referee blew the whistle, the hare started running very fast.

Question 7.
After running for some time, what did the hare do?
Answer:
After running for some time, the hare looked back to see if the tortoise is anywhere near him.

Question 8.
When the hare saw the tortoise was nowhere near him what did he do?
Answer:
When the hare saw the tortoise was nowhere near him, he rested under a tree and soon fell asleep.

Question 9.
What was the tortoise doing when the hare was sleeping under the tree?
Answer:
When the hare was sleeping under the tree, the tortoise was steadily moving towards its destination.

Question 10.
When the hare got up from his sleep, what did he do?
Answer:
When the hare got up from his sleep, he started running very fast to reach the goal.

Question 11.
Who won the race?
Answer:
The tortoise won the race as he had reached the destination first.

Question 12.
What is the moral of the story?
Answer:
The moral of the story is “Slow and steady wins the race”.

THE MONKEY AND THE CROCODILE

Once, a clever monkey lived on a mango tree. The tree was on the bank of a river. The tree had juicy, yellow, ripe mangoes. He was very happy to live here. Once, a crocodile came near the tree. He requested the monkey to throw down some ripe mangoes to him. The monkey gave some mangoes to the crocodile. The crocodile gladly ate them. They were really sweet mangoes. The next day also the crocodile came. The donkey gave him some mangoes again. Then they talked about their families. The crocodile said he had a wife and they lived a little far. But the monkey did not have a wife yet. He was happy in the company of the crocodile.

The days passed. The monkey and the crocodile became close friends. They spent a lot of time together. Sometimes the crocodile would carry the monkey on its back. They roamed about talking and laughing and enjoying different sights in the river. Often they spent hours together. This was not liked by the wife of the crocodile.. She made a plan to destroy the friendship between her husband and the monkey.

One day the crocodile’s wife pretended to be very sick. She was crying. She would not let her husband rest peacefully. He asked her what her problem was. She told him that her heart ached severely. She added that she had consulted a doctor. The doctor advised her to make a soup made with the heart of a monkey. She wanted her husband to get her a monkey’s heart. The husband asked her how he could get it. Then she told him he could easily get it as he had a monkey friend. The crocodile said he could not cheat his friend. Then the wife crocodile started crying saying that her husband loved the monkey more than he loved her. Finally the crocodile said he would get the monkey’s heart.

The next day the crocodile asked his friend to jump on to his back. They would go for a long ride. The crocodile swam into the middle of the river. Then he told the monkey that he was going to kill him as he needed his heart for curing the illness of his wife. He did not like to do it, but he had no choice. H could not get the heart of another monkey.
The monkey was frightened. But he was clever. Suddenly he told the crocodile. “You should have told me of your need earlier. If you kill me now you can’t get my heart. I have left it on the tree. But surely I will give it to you if you take me back to the tree. I want to help you so that your wife can recover.”

Believing the words of the monkey, the crocodile took the monkey back. As soon as monkey got off the back of the crocodile, the he laughed loudly and said, “You foolish fellow! You are a cheat! How could you think of killing me when I loved and trusted you so much? Get out of my sight and don’t come here again! I don’t want to see your ugly face again!” The crocodile realized his foolishness. But it was too late.
If you are smart, you can overcome any difficulty.

Question 1.
Where did the monkey live?
Answer:
The monkey lived on a mango tree.

Question 2.
Where was the mango tree?
Answer:
The mango tree was on the bank of a river.

Question 3.
What did the mango tree have?
Answer:
The mango tree had juicy, yellow, ripe mangoes.

Question 4.
Who asked the monkev to give him mangoes?
Answer:
A crocodile that lived in the river asked the monkey to give him mangoes.

Question 5.
Was the crocodile married and where did he live?
Answer:
Yes, he was married and he lived with his wife a little away from the mango tree.

Question 6.
To show his gratitude to the donkey for giving him mangoes, what did the crocodile do?
Answer:
To show his gratitude to the donkey for giving him mangoes, the crocodile took him for rides in the river by making him sit on his back.

Question 7.
Why was the wife of the crocodile angry with her husband?
Answer:
The wife of the crocodile was angry with her husband because he was spending too much time in the company of his friend, the monkey.

Question 8.
To destroy the friendship between her husband and the monkey, what did the wife do?
Answer:
To destroy the friendship between her husband and the monkey, she pretended to be very sick. She wanted a soup made of a monkey’s heart.

Question 9.
When the crocodile told the monkey that he was going to kill him to get his heart, what did the monkey say?
Answer:
The monkey said “You should have told me of your need earlier. If you kill me now you can’t get my heart. I have left it on the tree. But surely I will give it to you if you take me back to the tree.
I want to help you so that your wife can recover.”

Question 10.
What did the crocodile do when the monkey told him he had left his heart on the tree?
Answer:
When the monkey told the crocodile that he had left his heart on the tree, the crocodile took him back so that he could go to the tree and get his heart.

Question 11.
What does this story tell you about the crocodile?
Answer:
It tells me that the crocodile was a cheat and also he was foolish.

Question 12.
What lesson do you leam from this story?
Answer:
The lesson I learn from this story is: ‘If you are smart, you can overcome any difficulty “.

THE DUCK THAT LAID GOLDEN EGGS

Once there was a poor farmer. He had a large family. He found it hard to feed the family properly. He had no money to buy them good clothes. He could not buy any toys for his children. His wife wanted ornaments, but he had no way of getting them. His life was not a happy one.

Once he bought a duckling. He took good care of it. It grew fast. The man was happy as he knew it would start laying eggs soon.
When it was big enough, it laid an egg. To the utter surprise of the man, it was a golden egg.
He could not believe his fortune. His wife and his children were also happy at their luck.
The man took the egg to the gold shop and sold it for a good amount. With the money he got, he bought things for the house.
On the next day also the duck laid another golden egg. The man sold it and bought clothes and other things for his wife and children. When he got the third egg, he sold it and got good furniture and things like a mixer and grinder for the kitchen. The duck laid an egg everyday and the man went on buying the things he needed. The family was happy now. There was joy on everybody’s face. The family was happy that their bad days had come to an end.

One day as the man was relaxing, a thought came to his mind. He should have a big palace-like house. He should have a big expensive vehicle and diamonds for his wife and children. He thought if he could get all the eggs in the stomach of the duck, he could buy all the things he needed at once. Waiting for the daily egg was tiresome. So he decided to kill the duck and take out all the eggs at once. He consulted his wife on the issue. She too agreed that it would be good if all the eggs were collected at once.
On that fateful day, the farmer caught the duck and cut its stomach open in the hope of getting all the eggs there at once. There was not even a single egg in the stomach of the duck. The duck died and the man’s dreams of building a bungalow and getting a big vehicle and diamonds for his wife were shattered. As the days passed he drifted into poverty once again.
A thoughtless action can ruin your life.

Question 1.
Describe the condition of the poor man in the story.
Answer:
The poor man in the story had a large family. He found it hard to feed the family properly. He had no money to buy them good clothes. He could not buy any toys for his children. His wife wanted ornaments, but he had no way of getting them. So she was not happy.

Question 2.
What did the poor man do one day?
Answer:
One day the poor man bought a duckling.

Question 3.
How did the man take care of his duckling?
Answer:
He took good care of it and it grew fast.

Question 4.
What was special about this duck?
Answer:
This duck laid a golden egg.

Question 5.
How did the poor man feel when he saw the golden egg?
Answer:
When he saw the golden egg, the poor man felt very happy.

Question 6.
As the man was getting a golden egg every day, what did he do?
Answer:
He went on buying things for the family – good food and clothes, good furniture and things like a mixer and grinder for the kitchen. He bought all the things the children and his wife wanted.

Question 7.
As he was relaxing one day, what thought came to the man’s mind?
Answer:
He thought that he should have a big palace-like house. He should have a big expensive vehicle and diamonds for his wife and children.

Question 8.
What looked tiresome for him?
Answer:
Waiting for an egg everyday looked tiresome for him.

Question 9.
What did he want?
Answer:
He wanted all the eggs in the stomach of the duck at once so that he could sell all of them and build the palace and carry out his other wishes.

Question 10.
Did his wife agree with his plan of killing the duck and taking out all eggs at once?
Answer:
Yes, she did. She was ambitious and foolish like her husband.

Question 11.
What did the man do to get all the golden eggs at once?
Answer:
He opened the stomach of the duck, but he found no eggs there.

Question 12.
What lesson do we get from this story?
Answer:
The lesson we get from this story is: “A thoughtless action can ruin your life”.

A JEALOUS MAN AND HIS GREEDY FRIEND

In a village there lived a jealous man. He felt bad when he saw people with more wealth, more education or more achievements. Instead of working hard to get the things he wanted, he spent his time in his jealous thoughts. His friend was a greedy man who was never satisfied in his life. He wanted this, that and the other. Even when he got the things he wanted he was not happy because he wanted more and more and more.

Once they were walking along the road talking ill of others. An ascetic (sanyasi) came their way. The sanyasi looked very happy, although he did not seem to have any possessions. They asked the sanyasi how he could be so happy. He told them that there was a god on the nearby mountain and if they went there and prayed to him, they too would be happy. The god was capable of granting them their wishes.

The jealous and greedy men rushed to the mountains. They sat on a big stone and started praying to the god there. The heat of the sun or the rain did not stop them from praying. They were hungry and thirsty, but they continued praying. On the second day, the god appeared before them. He told them he was pleased with them. He was ready to grant them a wish each. He asked the greedy man first. Being greedy, he told god to give him the double of whatever he would give to his friend. God then asked the jealous man what his wish was. The jealous man thought for a moment. If he asked for a car, his friend would get two cars. If he asked for a bungalow, his friend would get two bungalows. If he asked for a million rupees, his friend would get two million! He could never allow such a thing to happen.

The jealous man suddenly told god, “God, please make me one-eyed.” God was surprised. But he granted his wish immediately. The jealous man lost one eye and the greedy man, as he wanted double, lost both his eyes. The one-eyed man started laughing at his friend for trying to be over smart. The blind man got angry and hit the one-eyed friend with a stone in his good eye. That eye also became blind. Both men then returned home crying, accusing and cursing each other.
Jealousy and greed can ruin your life.

Question 1.
Who was the friend of the jealous man?
Answer:
The friend of the jealous man was a greedy man.

Question 2.
When the jealous man and the greedy man were walking on the road, whom did they meet?
Answer:
When the jealous man and the greedy man were walking on the road, they met an ascetic (a sanyasi).

Question 3.
What did the ascetic tell them?
Answer:
The acetic told them that there was a god on the nearby mountain and if they went there and prayed to him, they too would be happy. The god was capable of granting them their wishes.

Question 4.
After hearing about the god, what did the jealous and greedy man do?
Answer:
After hearing about the god, the jealous and the greedy man rushed to the mountains. They sat on a big stone and started praying to the god there.

Question 5.
What did the god tell them?
Answer:
The god told them that he was pleased with them and he was ready to grant them a wish each.

Question 6.
Whom did God ask first to say his wish?
Answer:
God asked first the greedy man to say his wish.

Question 7.
What was the greedy man’s wish?
Answer:
The greedy man’s wish was that he should be given the double of whatever the god gives to his friend, the jealous man.

Question 8.
What was the wish of the jealous man?
Answer:
The wish of the jealous man was that he should be made blind in one eye.

Question 9.
Why did the jealous man wish that he should be made blind in one eye?
Answer:
The greedy man had asked god to give him the double of whatever he gives to the jealous man. If the jealous man asked for a car, his friend would get two cars. If he asked for a bungalow, his friend would get two bungalows. If he asked for a million rupees, his friend would get two million! He could never allow such a thing to happen.

Question 10.
What happened to the jealous man and the greedy man when granted them their wish?
Answer:
The jealous man became blind in one eye and the greedy man became completely blind.

Question 11.
What did the greedy man do when the jealous man started laughing at him for his greed?
Answer:
The greedy man took a stone and hit the jealous man in the eye which was still good and that eye also became sightless. Thus both became completely blind.

Question 12.
What is the moral of the story?
Answer:
The moral of the story is “Don’t be jealous”.

Funny/Tricky Questions

Children like to ask and answer Funny/Tricky Questions which test their intelligence, thinking * capacity and knowledge. Here are some such questions:

Question 1.
There are 26 letters in the English Alphabet. One of them contains a lot of water. Which letter is that?
Answer:
The letter C

Question 2.
The more you take the more you leave behind. What are they?
Answer:
Your footsteps

Question 3.
Which building has a number of stories?
Answer:
A library building

Question 4.
I have teeth but I can’t eat. Who am I?
Answer:
A comb

Question 5.
I have a face and two hands. But I have no legs. Who am I?
Answer:
A clock

Question 6.
What goes up when rain comes down?
Answer:
An umbrella

Question 7.
Where does today come before yesterday?
Answer:
In a dictionary

Question 8.
What has a head and a tail but no body?
Answer:
A coin

Question 9.
You can catch it, but you can’t throw it. What is it?
Answer:
A cold

Question 10.
There is something which has an eye. But it can’t see. What is it?
Answer:
A needle

Question 11.
What can you see once in June, twice in November, but not at all in May?
Answer:
The letter “e”

Question 12.
What begins with T, ends with T, and has T in it?
Answer:
A Teapot

Question 13.
What can run but never walks, has a mouth but never talks, has a head but never weeps, has a bed but never sleeps?
Answer:
A river

Question 14.
What is so fragile that saying its name breaks it?
Answer:
Silence

Question 15.
What gets bigger the more you take away?
Answer:
A hole