Power
This is perhaps the most important theme and message behind the story. Despite being a king of a very happy kingdom, Yertle is shown to be extremely power hungry and inconsiderate of his own people. Indeed the fact that he uses his own people to make a thrown for himself is a sad image. He has no respect for the people he pledged to look after and as a result, this led to his own downfall. His power hungry nature is reference to Adolf Hitler's rise to power.
Freedom
This is an important message and moral to the story. Yertle tried to build a throne out of members of his own kingdom and though they tried to resist, they were unsuccessful in thwarting him. However, Mack was getting tired of having his back ache all the time so when he takes the initiative to sneeze, he ends up collapsing the throne and freeing all the turtles. It is ironic that Yertle tried to gain more power by making the throne but in the end he ended up losing his kingdom and title.
