The Oak Tree & An Ant & A The Fox Without Tail The Wolf And

The Reeds Grasshopper The Goat

The Miser The Wind And The Dreamy The Hare And The Tortoise The Crow
The Sun Milk-Maid And The
Pitcher
The Peacock And The Pig And The A Fisherman The Town-Mouse And The Country- The Boar
The Crane Sheepr And A Sprat Mouse And The
Foxes
The Lark In The The Cock And You Can't Be Good to Your
Corn-Field The Jewel Please Enemies
Everyone

The Oak tree always thought that he was far stronger

than the reeds. He said to himself "I stand upright in a
storm. I don't bend my head in fear every time the wind
blows. But these reeds are really so weak."

That very night blew a storm and the mighty oak tree was
uprooted.

"Good God!" sighed the reeds, "our way is better. We bend

but we don't break."

MORAL : Pride hath a fall

A lazy grasshopper laughed at a little ant as she was
always busy gathering food.

"why are you working so hard?" he asked, "come into the

sunshine and listen to my merry notes."

"But the ant went on her work. She said" I am lying in a

store for the winter. Sunny days won't last for ever."

"Winter is so far away yet, "laughed the grasshopper

back.

And when the winter came, the ant

settled down in her snug house. She
had plenty of food to last the whole
winter. The grasshopper had nothing
to eat so, he went to the ant and
begged her for a little corn.

"No", replied the ant, "you laughed at me when I worked.

You yourself sang through the summer. So you had
better dance the winter away."
MORAL : Idleness is a curse.
A fox was once caught in a trap. It was only after a tough
struggle that she could get free. But, to her sorrow, her
beautiful tail had been cut off and left in the trap.

"How ugly I shall look!" moaned the fox, " won't the other
foxes laugh at me ?"

Thinking hard, the fox hit upon a plan to save herself

from being laughed at. She called a
meeting of his friends and said,
"Brothers! have you ever wondered
why after all, we carry these long
tails?" Let us cut them off and be free
from their nuisance."

But the other foxes had noticed her cut-off tail. They
laughed aloud and replied, "You used to say that tails
looked very fine when your own was all right. Now that
you have lost yours, you want us to lose ours too."

MORAL : Dirty tricks seldom work.

Once a wolf saw a goat atop a hill and said, "Come down

here, Miss Goat! The grass here is greener and longer."

"Thank You," answered the goat, "the grass down there

may be much better. But, if I come down you will get a

good meal. So, I prefer to stay here - where you can't

reach. At least I am quite safe."

MORAL : Let not others exploit your gentleness.

There was once a miser. He melted all his money into a

block of gold and buried it in a pit. Every day he would

dig it up and smile to see it.

One night the gold-block was stolen. So, the miser was in

tears. A friend of his saw him weeping and said, " You

should bury a stone in the pit and look at it every day.

You never spent money when you had it Was it better

then a stone anyway?"

MORAL : It is a cause to be a miser.

Once the Wind and the Sun came to have a quarrel.
Either of them claimed to be a stronger. At last they
agreed to have a trial of strength.

"Here comes a traveller. Let us see who can strip him of

his clock," said the Sun.

The Wind agreed and chose to have the first turn. He blew
in the hardest possible way. As a result , the traveller
wrapped his cloak even more tightly around him.

Then it was the turn of the Sun. At

first he shone very gently. So, the
traveller loosened his cloak from his
neck.

The sun went on shining brighter and brighter. The

traveller felt hot. Before long he took off his cloak and put
it in his bag. The Wind had to accept his defeat.

MORAL : Fury or force cuts no ice where gentleness does the

job.
A Milk-maid had been to the meadow to milk her cows.
Now she was returning home with a pail of milk on her
head.

She thought, "I will make cream and butter out of this
milk. Then selling them, I will buy eggs. and when they
hatch, I shall have a good poultry farm."

She further thought, "I shall sell some of my fowls and

buy a fine dress. Seeing it on my body at the fair, all the
boys will admire me. But I will turn
them away just tossing my head at
them."

Lost in day dreams, she forgot about the pail on her head.
She tossed her head with a jerk and the pail of milk came
tumbling down. it was broken and all the milk got spilt. 

"Dear O dear !" she cried, "I have lost my all."

MORAL: Don't count your chickens before they are hatched.

Once a hare was roaming near a lake in a forest.
Suddenly he saw a tortoise and mocked at him saying -
"Hurry up, you slow coach! Don't you find life very dull
taking so long to cover a few yards? I could have run to
the other side of the lake by now."

The tortoise felt teased and dared the

hare to a race. The race was to be
through the wood to a fixed goal.

The hare agreed laughingly. In a few

minutes he was away and out of sight.

"What a funny race it is!" he said to himself , "I am

already half -way through. But it is
too-too cold; why not have a nap in the
warm sunshine?"

The tortoise walked steadily on and

on. In a short time, he passed by the
sleeping hare.

The hare slept  far longer then he had

intended. When he woke up at last, he
looked around in surprise and said to
himself," Not even a sigh of the poor tortoise anywhere so
far; I had better trot along and finish the race."

The hare ran to the goal. He was amazed to see all the
animals cheering the tortoise who had arrived just a
minute earlier. how ashamed he felt indeed!

MORAL : Slow and steady wins the race.

A thirsty crow once found a pitcher with a little water in

it. But when he tired to drink the water, he could not. The

pitcher was tall and his beak didn't reach the water.

The cleaver crow thought and hit upon a plan. He went

on dropping pebbles into the pitcher. The water rose up

to its neck and he quenched his thirst.

MORAL : Will finds the way

One day a peacock met a crane and said, "So sorry for

you. You have so dull feathers. Look at the fine colors of

my feathers."

"Well!" replied the crane, "your look are brighter then

mine. but whereas I can fly high up into the sky, all you

can do is to strut about on the ground."

MORAL: Never find fault with others.

farmer's boy went into his field. There were some sheep

and a pig there. He picked up the pig

that squealed aloud.

"Why are you making a fuss? When he catches us, we

never cry." said a sheep.

"Shut up, cried the pig, "the shepherd wants only wool

from you. But this boy is taking me away for my meat."

MORAL: Life is dear to everyone.

A fisherman had been fishing for along time but without

luck. At last he tugged at his net and saw a small fish

caught in it.

"Please let me go," begged the fish, "I

will grow bigger in a few days and then

you can catch me again."

The fisherman said, "Now that I have caught you I won't

let you go. If I leave you, I may never see you again."

MORAL: A bird in hand is worth two in bush.

A town-mouse paid a visit to his friend who lived in the
countryside. The country-mouse was happy to see his
friend. So he prepared a fine feast for him. The town-
mouse looked at the fruit and the car of corn with hatred

"Is this how you live ?" he asked, "life in the country does
not offer much."

He persuaded the country-mouse to

accompany him to the town and see
all the good things there.

So, the country-mouse packed all his belongings and off

they went to the city. The country-
mouse was really surprised to see the
things there. But as soon as they
settled down to enjoy a fine meal of
cheese and fruit, a big cat leapt in
through the window. Seeing the cat,
both the mice ran into their hole to save themselves, so
the cat ate up all the cheese and fruit.

When the cat had gone away, the mice came out of their
hole.

"I am going," cried the country-mouse, "I like my simple

fare in safety than this grand feast in such a danger."

MORAL: Safety is the first importance.

Two foxes watched a wild boar sharpening his tusks on a

tree-trunk.

"Why do you do that?" asked one of

them, "the huntsmen are not out

today."

"Let that be so," answered the boar, "but whenever my life

is in danger, I shall need my tusks and there will be no

time to sharpen them."

MORAL: Lost time cannot be recalled.

Once a Lark made her nest in a corn-field. Soon she laid
eggs in it. After a few days small babies hatched out of
them.

One day the baby-larks overheard the farmer say, "I will
call my neighbors to reap this field."

The Baby-larks got alarmed to hear this and told their

mother about it.

"Don't worry," said the mother.

Some days later, the farmer came again and said, I will
call my relatives to reap this field." The baby-larks afraid
again.

"Fear not," said their mother.

But the next day the farmer came there with his little son
and said, "I will reap this field tomorrow."

"Now is the time to go. When a man says he will do the

work himself, he will certainly do it," said the mother-
lark.

MORAL : Don't fear hollow threats.

A cock was scratching the ground with his claws looking

for a tasty morsel to eat. While doing so, he chanced to

turn over a stone and find a shining gem under it.

"Cock-a doodle-do !" cried the cock and said, "It looks

very fine and it may be valuable to some people. But I

would rather have found a nice grain of corn."

MORAL: Gems can't pacify hunger.

One day a man was going to market with his son and his
ass. they met a couple on the way.

"Why walk when you have an ass to ride?" called out the
husband, "seat the boy on the ass."

"I would like that," said the boy, "help me up father."

And the father did that willingly.

Soon they met another couple. "How shameful of you!"

cried the woman, "let your father ride, won't he be tired?"

So, the boy got down and the father rode the ass. Again
they marched on.

"poor boy", said the next person they met, "why should
the lazy father ride while his son is walking?"
So, the boy got onto the ass too. As they went on, they
met some travellers.

"How cruel of them!" They are up to kill

the poor ass." cried one of the
travellers.

Hearing this, the father and the son got

down. Now they decided to carry the
ass on their shoulders. As they did so, the travellers
broke into laughter.

The laughter frightened the ass. It broke free and galloped

away.

MORAL: You can not please everyone

Long ago, there lived a little boy named Sammy. He was a
good boy. He was good in his studies, obedient to his
parents, more intelligent than many other boys in his
class and kind to everyone. Grown-ups as well as those
junior to Sammy loved him very much. But that aroused
jealousy in many other boys who longed to be as loved as
Sammy.

Now there was another boy named Timmy who studied in

the same class as Sammy. Unlike Sammy, he was not
good at studies and always liked to play during school
hours. He misbehaved with his parents, bullied his
classmates and even ill-treated Sammy. He always tried
to put Sammy down and belittled him before other kids in
the class. But no matter what he did, Sammy's grades
kept getting better and better. Whether in studies or in
sports or from his classmates, Sammy kept getting
accolades from everywhere.

On his eighth birthday, Sammy got a nice pen as a gift

from his parents. He brought it to school so that he could
use it to take down the notes of the lectures that the
teachers gave in class. This was a very beautiful pen and
it could help one write very fast. When Timmy saw it, he
was very jealous of Sammy. He asked Sammy,

"Hey, where did you get that? Did you buy it?"

"My parents gave it as a birthday gift to me." replied

Sammy.

Timmy was overwhelmed with anger and jealousy. The

bad boy that he was, he rarely got any present from his
parents. He decided to steal Sammy's pen. During recess,
when everyone had gone out from the class, Timmy
opened Sammy's bag and took out his pen. Then he hid it
inside his bag and went out to have his tiffin.

When Sammy came back and could not find his pen, he
informed his class teacher about it. There was a hunt for
the missing pen and the class teacher ordered the class
monitor to search the bag of every children inside the
class. The missing pen was soon found out of Timmy's
bag and the furious teacher asked the errant boy,
"Now Timmy, what do you have to say about it?"

Timmy was in tears. He had nothing to say.

When Sammy saw Timmy cry, he took pity on the boy.

The kind boy that he was, he had no ill-feeling against his
classmate. He requested his class teacher not to take any
action against Timmy, now that his stolen pen was found.

This opened Timmy's eyes. He could now see what a good

boy Sammy was. He asked for forgiveness from his
teacher and Sammy. From that day, he became friends
with Sammy and gradually changed himself to be as good
as Sammy. Everyone began to love Timmy and Sammy
was proud of his new friend.

Despite being hurt by Timmy, Sammy gave him back only

love in return. This is how we should also treat our
enemies. Who knows? One day, our behaviour may just
change themselves for the better.

Moral: Do not harm someone even if he harms you. Be good to

all.
 *********************************************

Once upon a time, there lived a farmer who had a little

land. His name was Tuan and he was a very kind and
good-natured person. He lived in a hut on his land with
his wife and children and earned by selling whatever
crops he could produce on his small land.

Tuan loved to help others. Whenever someone fell ill or

needed something badly, Tuan was there to help that
person. If someone died in the village, Tuan assisted the
family members of the deceased person in whichever way
he could. If anyone fell ill at night, Tuan was right beside
the village doctor to help him prepare the medicines and
tend to the sick. There seemed to be none who hated this
man. He appeared to be loved by one and all.

But there was one person who hated Tuan with all his
heart. He was Juan, a neighbour of Tuan, who lived in
the land next to him. A lazy person by nature, Juan
hardly put in as much effort to cultivate his land as Tuan
did to produce crops in his own. So when the harvest
season arrived every year, Juan found that he had very
few crops to sell. Tuan on the other hand, earned a
handsome profit through the selling of his produces.

One year, Juan could no longer contain his jealousy. Just

days before Tuan was to reap his harvest, Juan set fire to
his crops at night. Tuan was asleep at this time and it
was only the alertness of one of his other neighbours that
saved much of his crops from being perished in the
deadly flames of the fire that Juan had lighted.

When the flames were doused, Tuan saw which direction

the fire had started from. Juan's animosity towards him
was unknown to Tuan. But he let the matters rest and
decided to take action only if he saw Juan repeating his
dastardly act once again.

That year, Tuan managed to sell the rest of his crops at a

good price but he could not make much profit for a good
part of his produces had been burnt. He had a heavy
heart but he did not like to tell anyone about it.

Only days later, Tuan was awakened by the sound of

lamentations. He went out to find a crowd beside Juan's
hut. He rushed to find that Juan's son had fallen ill. He
found that the village doctor was unable to provide a cure
to his illness. Tuan knew what he had to do. He untied
his own horse and rode it. Then he rushed to the town
that was ten miles away and fetched a more experienced
doctor who lived there.

This doctor was able to guess the disease correctly and

provided an exact cure for it. Within hours, the boy was
found to sleep soundly and Tuan went with the doctor to
take him back to the town.

A day later, Juan went to Tuan's hut and began to weep

bitterly. He confessed to his sins but was surprised when
Tuan told him that he knew about it all.

"You knew that I had set fire to your crops? And still you
fetched the doctor for my son?" asked the astonished
Juan.

Tuan nodded and said, "I did what I knew was right.
Could I do wrong just because you had done so?"
Juan stood up and embraced Tuan. Both men were in
tears and so were the others who stood by them.

From that day, Juan changed himself. Within a year, he

could produce much crops in his land through his hard
work. When the others asked him how he had changed so
much, he only replied,

"It was the goodness and love of Tuan that transformed

me."

Moral: Be nice to your friends. Be nicer to your enemies.

*********************************************

Many many years ago, there lived a dog named Tom. Tom
was adopted as a pet in a wealthy household and he was
daily showered with nice foods and affections by her
mistress Mrs Havisham. All day, Tom lived in a kennel
within the compound of the house and he tried his best to
guard the home of his mistress. Whenever a thief or a
burgler came within the vicinity, Tom would bark as
loudly as he could to scare the living daylights out of the
culprit. He was the favourite of his mistress. When night
fell, he slept on a nice blanket inside his kennel and when
day broke he had his food served before him in no time.

But the neighbourhood dogs were not so lucky and they

were jealous of Tom's fortune. Now and then, they would
bark from outside the gates of Tom's house and utter
curses at him. All this disturbed Tom a little, but he
would only say,

"Poor fellows, they have to struggle so much for their food

while I am so lucky. I must not shout at them and add to
their misery."

So he kept quiet and went about his business, turning a

deaf ear to their insults.

One day, as he was taking a walk with his mistress, Tom

found that some young boys were throwing stones at
those same dogs who insulted him. The dogs were
cornered and they had nowhere to go. They could in no
way avoid being hit by the stones thrown at them. Many
of them were bleeding and barking feebly in protest. But
the boys were not in a mood to let go of them so lightly.
They picked up bigger stones and rocks to have more fun
at the expense of the weak, helpless dogs.

Tom could not hold himself back. He was of a strong

build and had a very deep voice. He knew that he could
scare the boys. He managed to wrench his leash free out
of his mistress' hands and he ran towards the boys.

The boys were startled at the terrible barking that Tom

directed at them. Their blood froze at the sight of the
huge Tom baring his fangs and running towards them.
They dropped their rocks and ran away as fast as their
legs could carry them.

"Go home" Tom said to his bloodied abusers "no one will
disturb you anymore."

He ran back to his mistress who had seen all that Tom
did. She patted Tom and praised him for his courage.

That night, Tom's mistress saw a strange sight. The dogs

whom Tom had saved in the morning had gathered near
the gates of her house. It seemed to her as if they were
telling something to her pet.

"Maybe they are thanking Tom for his brave gesture." she
thought.

And right she was! From that day, Tom and his abusers
had become friends. Tom's kindness had won over his
abusers' hatred and he had earned their love, respect and
admiration that nothing on earth could buy.

Moral: Be good to all, even if they happen to be your enemies.