Tag: Short Stories

There was once a boy named Leo who lived in a small village. He was a small, slim child, and he lived forever in fear because some boys from a neighboring village would harass him and try to have fun at his expense.

One day, a young wizard was passing by the village and saw Leo being made fun of. When the other boys left, the wizard went over to Leo and gave him a beautiful lion’s tail, along with a small tie that allowed Leo to hang the lion’s tail from his belt.

“It’s a magic tail,” the wizard explained. “When the person wearing it acts bravely, he or she will turn into a ferocious lion.”

Because the boy had seen the young wizard’s powers before, Leo didn’t doubt his words. He wore the lion’s tail hanging from his belt, hoping that the mean kids would turn up so he could teach them a good lesson.

But when the boys came along, Leo was scared and he tried to run away. However, they soon caught up with him and surrounded him.

The usual jokes and pushing started, then Leo felt the lion’s tail hanging from his belt.

Then, summoning up all his courage, Leo tensed his body, made two fists, and looked up, fixedly into the eyes of each of the boys, and with all the calmness and ferocity in the world, he promised that if they didn’t leave him alone then they would regret it forever.

He kept looking them in the eye, with his hardest expression, ready to do what he had promised.

Leo felt goosebumps all over. This must be the sign that he was turning into a lion, because the looks on the boys’ faces were definitely changing. They all took a step back, looked at each other, and finally ran off.

Leo wanted to take off after them and give them a good beating with his new body, but when he tried to move, he felt his legs were short and not normal, so he had to abandon the idea.

Not far off, the wizard observed, smiling. He ran over to Leo. Leo was very happy, though a bit disappointed that his new lion body had lasted only a short time, and he hadn’t managed to fight them.

“You wouldn’t have been able to anyway,” the wizard told him. He went on to explain that no one fights with lions because lions are both brave and ferocious, so, everyone runs away.

It was true. Leo couldn’t remember ever having seen a lion fighting. Leo became filled with thought, looking at the lion’s tail. And then he understood everything.

There had been no magic, no transformation…nothing. What happened was that a good friend had shown him that bullies and other cowardly animals never dare to confront a truly brave boy.

There was once a boy who was afraid of the dark because he thought that when it was dark his bedroom filled up with monsters. But there came a time when he was too old to be allowed to keep sleeping with the light on.

That first night he was paralyzed with fear. So much so, that he went over to his wardrobe to get a torch. But when he opened the wardrobe door he came face to face with a monster, and he let out the loudest scream in the world.

The monster took a step back, grabbing its multicolored hair with its tentacles and started crying. The monster cried for so long that the boy’s shock and fear subsided. He calmed the monster as much as he could and started talking to him, asking him why he was crying, and what he was doing there.

The monster told him he lived in the wardrobe, but almost never went out, because he was afraid of the boy. When the boy asked him why, the monster told him the boy’s face seemed to him the most horrible thing he’d ever seen with eyes, ears, and a nose. The boy felt exactly the same way about the monster, who had an enormous head full of mouths and hair.

The two of them talked so much that they became quite friendly, and they realized that both of them had been afraid of the same thing: the unknown. To lose their fear all they had to do was get to know each other.

Together they traveled the world, seeing lions, tigers, crocodiles, and dragons. It was the first time either of them had seen such creatures, but they made the effort to get to know them, and ended up dispelling their fear, and becoming friends.

And, although his parents weren’t too happy, because they thought he was too old to still believe in monsters, the truth of it was that all kinds of creatures visited the boy’s bedroom each night. And, instead of fearing them he had learned to get to know them and befriend them.

Once a boy who lived in a home went up to the attic to find a book. There, he noticed two eyes watching him intently with a horrific expression on its face. They were big eyes, about a meter apart, giving some idea of the size of that terrible being’s head.

The boy yelled loudly and ran out, locking the door and leaving the monster in the attic. For the next two days the people in the village lived in terror. The growls and the beating on the attic door continued, and news of the beast’s cruel nature spread across the land.

The behavior got worse, but no one was brave enough to go up to that attic and confront the beast.

Before long, a fisherman passed by whose ship had sunk. The man seemed like a formidable old character who didn’t fear anything, so some men in the village asked him to help them confront the awful creature.

The fisherman did not hesitate to help in return for a little money. But when he approached the attic and heard the growls of the monster, his expression changed and he went downstairs to ask for a lot more money.

He also asked for some tools, a big net, and a cart. If he was to triumph against the beast, he wanted to take it away as a trophy.

All the village folk gathered around and watched as the fisherman opened the attic door, and went inside to be met by deep, shuddering growls. After the fisherman had been inside for a short while, the noises stopped.

Never again would the villagers see the fisherman or hear the sounds of the beast. Neither did anyone ever dare to go up to the attic again.

So what happened behind that door?

Well, when the fisherman opened the door, he could see the eye of Olaf, his enormous and fierce helmsman. But the eye was reflected in a mirror, giving the impression of both belonging to the same head–but Olaf’s other eye had been covered by a patch for years.

The whaler told his imprisoned friend that the nervous villagers had given him so much money that they would be able to buy a new ship and carry on fishing.

Together they managed to find a way to escape the attic, get to the cart, and disappear forever.

And so it was that fear alone impoverished the whole village and enabled the fishermen to recover.

And this is what happens to this day. Senseless fear drives people to foolishness, and often allows others to take advantage of us.

There was once a town that had a “cave of fear” where everyone feared getting lost at night. No one had ever returned from there, and whenever anyone got lost and ended up there, the last that the villagers heard was a great cry of terror, followed by a few enormous guffaws.

The townsfolk lived in terror that one day a monster would come out from the cave, so they regularly left gifts and food at the mouth of the cave, which always soon disappeared.

One day, a young man came to town and decided to enter the cave and confront the monster. He asked for some help, but everyone was so afraid that no one would approach the mouth of the cave with him. He went inside alone, finding his way with a torch, and calling out to the monster.

At first, the monster had a good long laugh, and the young man followed the sound of the monster’s voice. But then the monster went quiet, and the young man had to carry on, not knowing his way.

He eventually arrived at a large cavern, and he thought he could see the monster at the bottom. As he approached it, he felt something hit him hard on his back, pushing him forward towards a hole in the rock. He fell through it and let out a loud cry. Then he heard the guffaws.

“The monster has swallowed me,” he said, while falling.

However, as he fell, he heard music and voices. They got clearer, and when he made a soft landing at the bottom, he found himself among a group of people having a big party. The partygoers were all those people who had never returned to the town.

They explained to him that this place had been the idea of an old mayor of the town who had tried to accomplish great things, but was always held back by the fears of the people around him. So the mayor invented the story of the monster to demonstrate to people how such an attitude was so limiting.

So the young man stayed there, enjoying the party and the company of all those who had dared to approach the cave while the people in the town still believe that entering the Cave of Fear is the worst of all punishments.

There were three ships around one sinking ship when a distress signal was being sent. The first one, Sampson, was only 7 miles away from the sinking ship, but they turned their backs because the crew aboard the ship had been involved in illegal hunting of seals and they didn’t want to get caught.

There was another ship about 14 miles away from the sinking ship. The Californian saw the distress signals, but they were surrounded by ice and it was night time, so it didn’t feel safe to move. They decided to wait until the morning for the conditions to improve.

The third ship, Carpathia, was about 60 miles away and moving in the other direction when they heard the cries over the radio. The captain, Arthur Rostron, decided to try to help. He just prayed to God for direction and turned his boat. The ship drudged through ice fields in the dark and kept going.

The shipwreck it sailed to was none other than the Titanic. They saved 705 lives that night because one man had the courage to look beyond his own comfort and choose the right over the easy.

Courage is not about intense bravery. It’s just about having the guts to let go of what’s important to you because someone else is in need.

Hopefully these stories about showing courage and bravery have helped give you another perspective on some intimidating situations. Think back to these stories next time you’re in a situation where you could show more courage.