Ruskin Bond Stories For Children in English

Ruskin Bond stories are distinct in the genre of children stories. They reflect the particular affinity of humans towards nature, plants, human bonds, and other delicate aspects that lay hidden in every one of us. Children stories written by Ruskin Bond are popular across the world. 

A Ruskin Bond story is a beautiful choice to share with your children during bedtime. Here we compiled some of the Ruskin Bond stories for your convenience. We hope you enjoy this collection.

Who is Ruskin Bond?

Ruskin Bond is a great Indian author. He is popular for children stories. Ruskin Bond is a recipient of the Padma Shri in 1999, the Padma Bhushan in 2014, as well as Sahitya Akademi awards twice. He is popular for Children stories, novels, anthologies, and books for children. Ruskin Bond was born in Kasauli, India and now lives in Mussoorie.

Ruskin Bond stories are many. Here are some curated for your convenience.

The Cherry Tree

This Ruskin Bond story was written in 1980. It tells the story of a grandfather and his grandchild and their affection for a cherry tree in a compelling way.

Ruskin Bond's the Cherry tree
Ruskin Bond’s the Cherry tree

Story: There was a boy named Rakesh. He lived with his grandfather. Rakesh loves cherries. The reason is he cannot find them in his place of living, Mussorie. The land in the place where he lived is dry and stony. Not many fruit trees grow there. Hence, he always cherished cherries. 

Rakesh, when he was six, lived with his grandfather. His parents dropped him with his grandfather as there was no school in their village. Their house was near to a forest that is in its growing stage. His grandfather loved nature and gardening very much. 

Near Rakesh’s school, a seller sells cherries. One day, he purchased a bunch of cherries for fifty paise, while returning home from school. He kept chewing them to every last drop of juice and enjoyed their taste. When he was about to reach home, he had three cherries left in his hand. 

Cherry Plant
Cherry Plant

Rakesh gave one cherry to his grandfather, who was working in the garden when Rakesh was returning home. Then, he ate the rest two relishing each one. The last cherry, he licked it to its last drop of juice. He played with the seed inside his mouth rolling his tongue all over. 

When he had enough of it, Rakesh was about to throw it. Then, he stopped suddenly and asked his grandfather, “Dear Grandfather, are cherry seeds lucky?”

For which, he got a reply, “Yes, indeed.

Rakesh replied, “I will save this one.

Grandfather said, “nothing turns lucky if you just save it like that. You have to put anything to use to turn it lucky.”

Rakesh asked, “Shall I plant this seed, grandfather?”

For this, he got an answer with a smile from his grandfather, “Yes, ofcourse.”

Then, Rakesh chose a place in his garden that is not too sunny nor in shade. He showed that place to his grandfather. But grandfather stopped him, “Hey, no! There I sowed the mustard. You can take that place,” spotting another place a little away from this one.

Rakesh ran to that spot. The soil is wet, soft, and needed not much effort for digging. Rakesh pushed the soil with his thumb and made a hole. He put the seed in the hole and covered it with mud.

He was thrilled! It was the first seed he sowed! And that to his favorite fruit – cherry!

Daily on his way to school, he would peep at that place, if the plant had grown. He thought, “How many days should I wait!”

Then grandfather said, “You have water it little by little every so often.” Then Rakesh started watering little by little on his grandfather’s advice. Soon after some days, he forgot about the cherry seed. 

Rakesh was a good boy. He used to read the newspaper for his grandfather whose eyesight was weakening with age. In the evenings, he used to sit along with him and observe the birds that returned home in a V shape. 

At nights, he always wanted to sleep beside his grandfather for the bedtime stories he shared. Time is flowing lovely for Rakesh in the company of his grandfather.

After some days, he was working in the garden along with his grandfather, Rakesh found a twig. He tried to pull it up, but the twig seemed rooted. He called his grandfather and asked, “Should we take this off grandpa?”

After careful observation, grandfather replied, “Do you not remember my boy? This is your little cherry tree!” Rakesh asked, “What cherry?” Grandfather replied, “That little cherry seed you planted months ago!”

Rakesh’s happiness knew no bounds. His cherry tree sprouted – into a firm twig that has its roots deep into the soil. Fabulous! He ran inside the home and brought a bucket of water to water it. Grandfather smiled and said, “Careful, you may drown it. Pour only a little water into it. It is still tender.”

Listening to his grandfather’s advice, Rakesh watered it gently. He went into the rest part of the garden and collected some pebbles. He told his grandfather, “I am making a compound for this little cherry!”

Soon, the rainy season started. The little cherry started to grow into a medium-sized one. 

One day, a goat entered their compound and ate all the branches of the cherry tree! Rakesh was disappointed. But his grandfather said, “Never mind dear! Cherry trees are strong, it will grow back soon”. As he said, the cherry tree gained its previous strength and started growing leaves very soon. By the end of the monsoon, it again turned into a big sized one.

On another unfortunate day, a woman who was cutting branches and selling in the market cut down the branches of the cherry tree. One nig cut, the tree was into two pieces. 

Also Read: Akbar Birbal stories for Children

Rakesh saw this and rushed to his grandfather and explained to him. To his surprise, grandpa did not say anything to that woman. But Rakesh felt very sad, he thought the tree would die. 

But the tree was in no mood to die. It regained its strength no soon and started forming leaves. Now Rakesh turned eight. He went to his village for holidays too. After his holidays, he returned to his grandfather’s house again.

Now the cherry tree is full of leaves. He observed a green praying mantis on its branch. It was his first visitor indeed! He loved that a bird is taking shelter and enjoying his little cherry tree. 

Another day, he found a caterpillar crawling on the leaves. Rakesh immediately took a twig and removed the caterpillar and threw it onto a bunch of dried leaves outside the garden. “Come back when you are a butterfly!”, he said to the caterpillar.

Winter is here. And in February, it was Rakesh’s ninth birthday. The tree will turn four now.

One morning, grandfather was in the garden and observed something new. He called Rakesh immediately. Both of them looked at the pink blossom that was forming on the tree due to the rising sun. By the end of the year, the tree grew taller than Rakesh.

The tree became a home of tiny birds, butterflies, and many colorful insects that Rakesh used to love watching. That summer, the cherry tree bore green circular beauties – the small cherries!

Rakesh was fascinated. He took one and put it in his mouth. It tasted bitter! He spits it out. Grandfather said, “You should wait till they ripe. They will be better next year!”

Soon the tree became the favorite spot for both of them. Grandfather used to relax in its shade and Rakesh loved watching the leaves move with air and the insects and birds all over it.

Tree
Tree

Even the forest nearby their house grew into a bigger one. But there was something that tied both of them to this cherry tree.

Rakesh asked out of curiosity, “There are so many trees around us grandpa. But I love this one more. Why?”

With a beautiful smile, grandpa replied, “because we planted it ourselves!

Rakesh touched the stem of the tree. It was soft yet sturdy, smooth and lovely. He thought to himself, “Perhaps, this is what it feels to be God!”

Swetha Gangavarapu

Swetha Prasanna Gangavarapu loves telling stories to children. Moral stories are a way to pass the values to the next generation, she believes. She is a freelance writer with a decade of experience in writing and is reachable via LinkedIn.