The Lion and the Mouse

Once when a Lion was asleep, a little Mouse began running up and down
upon him. This soon wakened the Lion, who placed his huge paw upon
him and opened his big jaws to swallow him.

"Pardon, O King!" cried the little Mouse, "Forgive me this time. I shall
never repeat it and I shall never forget your kindness. And who knows,
but I may be able to do you a good turn one of these days?"

The Lion was so excited at the idea of the Mouse being able to help him,
that he lifted up his paw and let him go.

Sometime later a few hunters captured

the King and tied him to a tree while
they went in search of a wagon to carry
him on.

Just then the little Mouse happened to

pass by, and seeing the sad plight in
which the Lion was, ran up to him and
soon gnawed away the ropes that bound
the King of the Beasts. "Was I not
right?" said the little Mouse, very happy to help the Lion.

MORAL: Little friends may prove great friends.

The Goose with the Golden Eggs

Once when a Lion was asleep, a little

Once upon a time, a man and his wife had the

good fortune to have a goose which laid a golden
egg every day. Lucky though they were, they
soon began to think they were not getting rich
fast enough.

They imagined that if the bird must be able to lay

golden eggs, its insides must be made of gold.
And they thought that if they could get all that
precious metal at once, they would get mighty rich very soon. So the man and his wife
decided to kill the bird.

However, upon cutting the goose open, they were shocked to find that its innards were
like that of any other goose!

MORAL: THINK BEFORE YOU ACT

The Fox and the Stork
A selfish fox once invited a stork to dinner at his
home and for a joke put nothing before her but
some soup in a very shallow dish. The fox could
easily lap this up, but the Stork could only wet
the end of her long bill in it, and stayed hungry.

“I am sorry that the soup is not to your liking,"

said the fox with a sly smile.

"Oh, please do not apologise," said the Stork. "I

hope you will return this visit, and come and dine
with me too sometime." So a day was appointed when the Fox should visit the Stork.

Finally, when they were seated at the table, the Stork served them both some soup in a
very long-necked jar with a narrow mouth. The stork drank the soup easily but the fox
could not insert his snout into the tall jar. This time it was the Fox’s turn to go hungry.

MORAL: ONE BAD TURN DESERVES ANOTHER.

The Hare and the Tortoise
There once was a speedy Hare who bragged about how fast he could run. Tired of
hearing him boast, the Tortoise challenged him to a race. All the animals in the forest
gathered to watch.

The Hare ran down the road for a while and then and paused to rest. He looked back at
the tortoise and cried out, "How do you expect to win this race when you are walking
along at your slow, slow pace?"

The Hare stretched himself out alongside the road and fell asleep, thinking, "There is
plenty of time to relax."
The Tortoise walked and walked; never ever
stopping until he came to the finish line.

The animals who were watching cheered so loudly

for Tortoise, that they woke up Hare. The Hare
stretched and yawned and began to run again,
but it was too late. Tortoise was already over the
line.

MORAL: SLOW AND STEADY WINS THE RACE

Friends

Bunny rabbit lived in the forest. He

had many friends. He was proud of
his friends.

One day Bunny rabbit heard the

loud barking of the wild dogs. He
was very scared. He decided to ask
for help. He quickly went to his
friend deer. He said: “Dear friend,
some wild dogs are chasing me. Can
you chase them away with your
sharp antlers?” Dear said: “That is
right, I can. But now I am busy.
Why don’t you ask bear for help?”

Bunny rabbit ran to the bear. “My dear friend you are very strong, please help me. Some
wild dogs are after me. Please chase them away,” he requested the bear.

Bear replied: “I am sorry. I am hungry and tired. I need to find some food. Please ask
the monkey for help”.

Poor Bunny went to the monkey, elephant, goat and all his friends. Bunny felt sad that
nobody was ready to help him.

He understood that he has to think of a way out. He hid under a bush. He lay still the
wild dogs went their way.
Sand and Stone

A story tells that two friends were walking

through the desert. During some point of the
journey they had an argument, and one friend
slapped the other one in the face. The one
who got slapped was hurt, but without saying
anything, wrote in the sand: “TODAY MY BEST
FRIEND SLAPPED ME IN THE FACE.”

They kept on walking until they found an

oasis, where they decided to take a bath. The
one, who had been slapped, got stuck in the
mire and started drowning, but the friend
saved him. After the friend recovered from the
near drowning, he wrote on a stone: “TODAY MY BEST FRIEND SAVED MY LIFE.”

The friend who had slapped and saved his best friend asked him, “After I hurt you, you
wrote in the sand and now, you write on a stone, why?”

The other friend replied: “When someone hurts us, we should write it down in sand
where winds of forgiveness can erase it away. But, when someone does something good
for us, we must engrave it in stone where no wind can ever erase it.”
The Thirsty Crow
One hot day, a thirsty crow flew all over the fields
looking for water. For a long time, she could not
find any. She felt very weak, almost giving up hope.

Suddenly, she saw a water jug below her. She flew

straight down to see if there was any water inside.
Yes, she could see some water inside the jug!

The crow tried to push her head into the jug. Sadly,
she found that the neck of the jug was too narrow.
Then she tried to push the jug down for the water
to flow out. She found that the jug was too heavy.

The crow thought hard for a while. Then looking

around her, she saw some pebbles. She suddenly
had a good idea. She started picking up the pebbles
one by one, dropping each into the jug. As more
and more pebbles filled the jug, the water level kept
rising. Soon it was high enough for the crow to
drink. Her plan had worked!

If you try hard enough, you may soon find

an answer to your problem.
The Rope

The night fell heavy in the heights of the

mountains and the man could not see
anything. All was black. Zero visibility, and
the moon and the stars were covered by
the clouds. As he was climbing only a few
feet away from the top of the mountain, he
slipped and fell in to the air, falling at great
speed. He could only see black spots as he
went down, and the terrible sensation of
being sucked by gravity.

He kept falling, and in the moments of

great fear, it came to his mind all the good
and bad episodes of his life. He was
thinking now about how close death was
getting, when all of a sudden he felt the
rope tied to his waist pull him very hard.
His body was hanging in the air.

Only the rope was holding him and in that

moment of stillness he had no other choice
other to scream: “Help me God.”

All of a sudden a deep voice coming from the sky answered, “What do you want me to
do?”

“Save me God.”

“Do you really think I can save you?”

“Of course I believe You can.”

“Then cut the rope tied to your waist.”

There was a moment of silence and the man decided to hold on to the rope with all his
strength. The rescue team tells that the next day a climber was found dead and frozen,
his body hanging from a rope. His hands holding tight to it. Only one foot away from the
ground.

And We? How attached we are to our rope will we let go??? Don’t ever doubt
about the words of God. We should never say that He has forgotten us or
abandoned us.
Strong or Weak

There was a proud teak tree in the forest. He was tall and strong. There was a small
herb next to the tree.

The teak tree said, “I am very handsome and strong. No one can defeat me”. Hearing
this the herb replied, “Dear friend, too much pride is harmful. Even the strong will fall
one day”.

The teak ignored the herb’s words. He continued to praise himself.

A strong wind blew. The teak stood firmly. Even when it rained, the teak stood strong by
spreading its leaves.

At the same time, the herb bowed low. The teak made fun of the herb.

One day there was a storm in the forest. The herb bowed low. As usual the teak did not
want to bow.

The storm kept growing stronger. The teak could no longer bear it. He felt his strength
giving way.

He fell down. This was the end of the proud tree. When everything was calm the herb
stood straight. He looked around. He saw the proud teak had fallen.
The Monkey and the Dolphin
One day long ago, some sailors set out to sea in their
sailing ship. One of them brought his pet monkey along
for the long journey.

When they were far out at sea, a terrible storm

overturned their ship. Everyone fell into the sea, and
the monkey was sure that he would drown. Suddenly a
dolphin appeared and picked him up.

They soon reached the island and the monkey came

down from the dolphin’s back. The dolphin asked the
monkey, “Do you know this place?”

The monkey replied, “Yes, I do. In fact, the king of the

island is my best friend. Do you know that I am actually
a prince?”

Knowing that no one lived on the island, the dolphin

said, “Well, well, so you are a prince! Now you can be a king!” The monkey asked, “How
can I be a king?”

As the dolphin started swimming away, he answered, “That is easy. As you are the only
creature on this island, you will naturally be the king!”

Those who lie and boast may end up in trouble.

The Wolf and the Lamb
A lamb was grazing with a flock of sheep one day.
She soon found some sweet grass at the edge of
the field. Farther and farther she went, away from
the others.

She was enjoying herself so much that she did not

notice a wolf coming nearer to her. However, when
it pounced on her, she was quick to start pleading,
“Please, please don’t eat me yet. My stomach is full
of grass. If you wait a while, I will taste much
better.”

The wolf thought that was a good idea, so he sat

down and waited. After a while, the lamb said, “If
you allow me to dance, the grass in my stomach
will be digested faster.” Again the wolf agreed.

While the lamb was dancing, she had a new idea.

She said, “Please take the bell from around my
neck. If you ring it as hard as you can, I will be able
to dance even faster.”

The wolf took the bell and rang it as hard as he could. The shepherd heard the bell
ringing nd quickly sent his dogs to find the missing lamb. The barking dogs frightened
the wolf away and saved the lamb’s life.

The gentle and weak can sometimes be cleverer than fierce and strong.
The Ant and the Grasshopper

In a field one summer's day a Grasshopper was

hopping about, chirping and singing to its heart's

content. An Ant passed by, bearing along with

great effort an ear of corn he was taking to the

nest.

"Why not come and chat with me," said the

Grasshopper, "instead of toiling and moiling
away?" "I am helping to lay up food for the
winter," said the Ant, "and recommend you to do the same." "Why bother about winter?"
said the Grasshopper; "we have got plenty of food at present."

But the Ant went on its way and continued its toil. When the winter came the
Grasshopper found itself dying of hunger, while it saw the ants distributing, every day,
corn and grain from the stores they had collected in the summer.
Then the Grasshopper knew..

MORAL: WORK TODAY AND YOU CAN REAP THE BENEFITS TOMORROW!
The Fox and the Grapes

One afternoon a fox was walking through the

forest and spotted a bunch of grapes hanging
from over a lofty branch. "Just the thing to
quench my thirst," quoted the fox.

Taking a few steps back, the fox jumped and just

missed the hanging grapes. Again the fox took a
few paces back and tried to reach them but still
failed.

Finally, giving up, the fox turned up his nose and

said, "They're probably sour anyway," and proceeded to walk away.

MORAL: IT'S EASY TO DESPISE WHAT YOU CANNOT HAVE.

The Greedy Mouse

A greedy mouse saw a basket full of corn. He wanted to eat it. So he made a small hole
in the basket. He squeezed in through the hole. He ate a lot of corn. He felt full. He was
very happy.

Now he wanted to come out. He tried to come out through the small hole. He could not.
His belly was full. He tried again. But it was of no use.

The mouse started crying. A rabbit was passing by. It heard the mouse’s cry and asked:
“Why are you crying my friend?”

The mouse explained: “I made a small hole and came into the basket. Now I am not able
to get out through that hole.”

The rabbit said: “It is because you ate too much. Wait til your belly shrinks”. The rabbit
laughed and went away.

The mouse fell asleep in the basket.

Next morning his belly had shrunk.
But the mouse wanted to eat some
corn. So he ate and ate. His belly was
full once again. He thought: “Oh! Now
I will go out tomorrow”.

The cat was the next passerby. He

smelt the mouse in the basket. He
lifted its lid. He ate the mouse.

Source: H&C
The Ant and the Dove
One hot day, an ant was searching for some water.
After walking around for some time, she came to a
spring. To reach the spring, she had to climb up a
blade of grass. While making her way up, she slipped
and fell into the water.

She could have drowned if a dove up a nearby tree

had not seen her. Seeing that the ant was in trouble,
the dove quickly plucked off a leaf and dropped it
into the water near the
struggling ant. The ant moved towards the leaf and
climbed up there. Soon it carried her safely to dry
ground. Just at that time, a hunter nearby was
throwing out his net
towards the dove, hoping to trap it.

Guessing what he was about to do, the ant quickly

bit him on the heel. Feeling the pain, the hunter
dropped his net. The dove was quick to fly away to
safety.

One good turn deserves another.

Don't Change the World
Once upon a time, there was a king
who ruled a prosperous country. One
day, he went for a trip to some distant
areas of his country. When he was back
to his palace, he complained that his
feet were very painful, because it was
the first time that he went for such a
long trip, and the road that he went
through was very rough and stony. He
then ordered his people to cover every
road of the entire country with leather.

Definitely, this would need thousands of cows’ skin, and would cost ahuge amount of
money.

Then one of his wise servants dared himself to tell the king, “Why do you have to spend
that unnecessary amount of money? Why don’t you just cut a little piece of leather to
cover your feet?”

The king was surprised, but he later agreed to his suggestion, to make a “shoe” for
himself.

There is actually a valuable lesson of life in this story: to make this world a
happy place to live, you better change yourself - your heart; and not the
world.

« Back
The Milkmaid and her Pail
Patty the Milkmaid was going to market carrying
her milk in a pail on her head.

As she went along, she began calculating what

she would do with the money she would get for
the milk. I'll buy some fowls from Farmer Brown,"
said she, "and they will lay eggs each morning,
which I will sell to the parson's wife..

With the money that I get from the sale of these

eggs, I'll buy myself a new dimity frock and a
chip hat; and when I go to market, won't all the
young men come up and speak to me!

Polly Shaw will be so jealous; but I don't care. I

shall just look at her and toss my head like this."
As she spoke that, she tossed her head back and
the pail fell off it, and all the milk was spilt!

MORAL: DO NOT COUNT YOUR CHICKENS

BEFORE THEY ARE HATCHED.
The Boy who cried 'Wolf'
Once there was a shepherd boy who had to look
after a flock of sheep. One day, he felt bored
and decided to play a trick on the villagers. He
shouted, “Help! Wolf! Wolf!”

The villagers heard his cries and rushed out of

the village to help the shepherd boy. When they
reached him, they asked, “Where is the wolf?”
The shepherd boy laughed loudly, “Ha, Ha, Ha!
I fooled all of you.

I was only playing a trick on you.”

A few days later, the shepherd boy played this
trick again.
Again he cried, “Help! Help! Wolf! Wolf!” Again,
the villagers rushed up the hill to help him and
again they found that boy had tricked them.
They were very angry with him for being so naughty.
Then, some time later, a wolf went into the field. The wolf attacked one sheep, and then
another and another. The shepherd boy ran towards the village shouting, “Help! Help!
Wolf! Help! Somebody!”

The villagers heard his cries but they laughed because they thought it was another trick.
The boy ran to the nearest villager and said, “A wolf is attacking the sheep. I lied before,
but this time it is true!”
Finally, the villagers went to look. It was true. They could see the wolf running away and
many dead sheep lying on the grass.

We may not believe someone who often tells lies, even when he tells the
truth.