Last Updated on November 21, 2022
Storytelling is powerful. And sometimes, a way to make it even more powerful is to add humor to the equation.
Humor makes things more interesting, captivating, and relatable. It also makes the reader pay better attention.
In this article, we’ll explore funny stories. We’ll cover funny and short stories — those featuring nuns, a king, and a clever janitor.
Bonus: These funny stories come with moral lessons.
The nuns and “milk”
In an Irish convent, there lived Mother Superior. She had an illness and hadn’t spoken for months. She was old and only relied on the food served to her by the other nuns.
And for a while, a young man gave baskets of bread and treats to the convent. He said the baskets were, in a way, a gift to Mother Superior.
The old and sick nun, after all, would always listen to his troubles. She was also diligent in giving him wise advice.
One day, though, he told the nuns he wouldn’t send gifts anymore because Mother Superior wasn’t getting better and probably couldn’t speak ever again.
Upon hearing this news, the other nuns were devastated. But they accepted the old man’s decision. For them, it’s out of their hands.
But a fiery nun named Sister Mary thought of a solution. A solution that involved Irish whiskey!
Her idea was quite unconventional, though. So she decided to hush about it and act on her own.
When she got hold of the Irish whiskey, she poured a generous amount of it onto the glass of warm milk that’s served to Mother Superior in the mornings. And when the sick nun drank it, she knew it was a great idea.
It worked!
Mother Superior began speaking — and she did almost non-stop. It was a temporary solution. But it got the job done.
The sick nun spoke to the young man. And the baskets kept coming!
Moral lesson: Sometimes, the solution to a problem is unconventional. And if you want to solve it, you need to think out of the box.
The king who loved fairy tales
Once there lived a king with a penchant for stories. He loved narratives so much he was willing to grant a huge cash reward to anyone who can tell him the longest story.
After telling his men about his wishes, an announcement was made.
$10,000 reward to tell the longest story to the king
Upon learning of the announcement, a woman smiled. She dashed home, grabbed buckets, and took grains of corn with her. Then off to the king’s palace she went!
After the king granted her permission to tell a story, she laid out the five buckets in front of her. Then she poured down the grains of corn into each bucket.
“What are those?” the king asked.
“Grains of corn in buckets, your majesty. This is for my presentation. I want to tell you the best story ever,” she replied.
“I see. I appreciate how much effort you put into your presentation,” the king said. It was followed by a round of applause.
“My story begins when a hardworking bird told his wife and little boy that he’ll do anything to be a good provider. So he traveled to the land next to his family’s territory to find corn to feed them. Fortunately, it wasn’t long until he found what he was looking for,” she began.
Then she pointed to the buckets of corn in front of her.
“The hardworking bird took a grain of corn and put it in a container,” she began her story.
The king flashed a smile at her. With how things are going, the woman’s story is good. And she’s about to go home with the bounty.
“Then he took a second grain of corn and put it in a container. Then he took the third grain of corn and put it in a container. Then—, she tried to continue her story.
“No! There are thousands of grains of corn in one bucket. And you have five buckets,” the king interrupted her.
“Yes. Shall I continue, your majesty?”
“Are you going to enumerate the grains of corn inside the buckets?”
“Of course, your majesty. That’s why my story is long,” she said in confidence.
The king buried his face in his palms in disbelief. Then he ordered his men to send the woman home.
He made another announcement after that incident. In this announcement, he clarified what kind of stories he wanted: The best stories.
Moral lesson: Substance, quality, and value are important, too. The length of something won’t matter if it’s irrelevant.
Kiss marks and the janitor
In an all-girls high school, there was a clever janitor. One day, he was quietly doing one of his jobs — cleaning the bathroom — when he noticed a bunch of kiss marks on the mirrors.
He got angry at the sight of it. But he decided not to dwell on his negative emotion and do something actionable instead.
He was hopeful. The girls seemed smart and reasonable. After he wiped away the kiss marks, he left instructions on a piece of paper.
Please don’t leave kiss marks on the mirror. Lipstick stains are difficult to clean.
The next day, the janitor went inside the bathroom to clean. And much to his dismay, he saw a bunch of kiss marks on the mirrors again.
He got angry and went running to the principal’s office to report the incident.
Upon learning of the incident, the principal got angry at the students. He gave them a strong warning to not leave kiss marks on the bathroom’s mirrors.
The janitor overheard the principal when he reprimanded the students. He felt relieved. He figured the girls won’t leave kiss marks on the mirrors again.
But he was wrong.
The next day, it was as if the girls weren’t reprimanded by the principal, at all.
Again, when he went inside the bathroom, he found kiss marks on the mirror. Worse, there were more of them compared to the ones he found during the previous days.
Furious, he bolted out of the bathroom and went straight to the principal’s office. He was mad at the girls for their stubbornness and also at the principal for not punishing the girls’ actions.
“The girls are hard-headed. Based on experience, they don’t easily follow my orders. Wait it out. They’ll grow out of this,” said the principal.
Rather than say things out of anger and things that will probably get him fired, the janitor walked out to get some fresh air. He was sick and tired of the situation. And he didn’t know what to do.
He needed to think. And after about an hour, he had an idea to solve his dilemma.
The next day, he went inside the bathroom. Though he was angry at the sight of kiss marks on the mirrors, he quietly did his job — he cleaned the bathroom. Then he left a note.
“Please don’t leave kiss marks on the mirrors. I don’t want to wipe them clean again with the same sponge I used to clean the toilet bowl.”
It worked! The next day, the janitor entered the bathroom and didn’t find a single kiss mark on the mirrors.
Moral lesson: Other people can’t always fix things for you. If you want your situation to get better, you’re the one who has to figure out a solution.
Final thoughts
Enjoying a good laugh is beneficial to your physical health. It boosts your immune system, strengthens your heart, and brings more physical benefits. It benefits you mentally, too!
So make it a point to unwind from time to time. Sit down, enjoy a cup of coffee (or your favorite beverage), check out funny and short stories, and have fun.
What makes these funny stories worth reading is, they also leave you with a moral lesson. They’re not here just to make you laugh. They’re also here to impart wisdom.
And because of that, they’re worth sharing with your loved ones.
Related posts:
- 10 Very Short Inspirational and Motivational Stories with Morals
- 5 Inspiring Moral Stories for Adults
- Inspirational Short Stories About Life
She freelances as a web content writer from home. And she lives with the prettiest dog in the world.
