the shepherd's mistake:40 an unpleasant smell:41 the eagle ... · but the wolf did not do...

The shepherd's mistake:....................40

The desert creature: .........................40

An unpleasant smell:.........................41

The doctor who didn't cure: ...............41

The apple tree:.................................42

River talk:........................................42

The mighty: .....................................43

The lion's share: ...............................43

Appearances are deceptive: ...............44

The donkey monkeys around: ............44

The leap: .........................................45

The palm reader:..............................45

The groomed house: .........................46

The travelers:...................................46

The lion cub:....................................47

Abdullah's gold:................................47

Tail-cut:...........................................48

The eagle and the arrow:...................48

The favor:........................................49

The boy and the wolf: .......................49

Dream palace:..................................50

The instructor: .................................51

What's for dinner:.............................52

Modesty pays: ..................................53

Qui jun and the arrogant monk: .........53

A tale of two sons:............................54

The elephant's nose: .........................54

Forgive and forget: ...........................55

Silence is golden: .............................56

Preparing for winter: .........................56

40 FFOOLLKKTTAALLEESS

The Shepherd'sMistake

Early every morn-ing, a shepherd tookhis flock of sheepout in the fields tograze. He would sitby watching - as thesheep lazily munched on fresh grass.After they had eaten, he would roundthem up and walk back home.Sometimes while watching his flock, hewould curl up in a quiet corner and gooff to sleep.

One day, the shepherd caught a wolfwhich had strayed into the field, eyeinghis sheep. However, it was some dis-tance away and it made no effort tocome nearer. The shepherd at firststood on guard against the wolf, asagainst an enemy, and kept a strictwatch over its movements.

But the wolf did not do anything.When the shepherd herded the sheepand headed home with his flock, thewolf quietly followed them at a dis-tance.

This continued for a while. The shep-herd would find the wolf waiting at theedge of the field every morning. But itmade not the slightest effort to seizethe sheep and would just watch. So, byand by, the shepherd let down hisguard a bit. A few days later, he beganto actually look forward to the wolf'spresence.

The wolf, who generally sat on alarge piece of rock, looked like a bigsheep dog from afar. The shepherdthought that other wild animals or mis-chief-makers would be scared of the'dog's presence and not harm his flockwhile it was around.

Now, he began to look upon the wolfas a guardian of his flock. One day, inthe middle of grazing his sheep, theshepherd was called back to homeurgently. Leaving the sheep entirely incharge of the wolf, he left.

When he came back, what did hefind? That the wolf had eaten most ofhis flock, with only a few sheep wan-dering about. Carcasses of the deadsheep lay around, everywhere.

The shepherd sat down in shockafter witnessing the slaughter. "Servesme right," he moaned to himself, "afterall, I entrusted the welfare of my flockto a wolf."

The Desert Creature

This happened thousands of years ago. Lifewas hard as people had to do all the work bythemselves. A large number of people werenomads - they would travel from one place toanother in search of food and shelter.

While traveling one day, a man arrived at theedge of a desert. He was walking in the sands,when suddenly, he came across a frighteningcreature - it had extremely long, thin legs, agiant hump and a long neck. It was this neck thathe extended towards the man, who, scared out ofhis wits, ran away from the spot.

The following day, he met the creature again.It was standing near a lake, drinking water. Thistime, the man was fascinated at what he saw -the creature putting its long neck into the lakeand drinking water continuously.

Then suddenly, aware it was being watched,the giant creature looked up and stared straightinto the eyes of the man standing across. But thistime, an expanse of water separated the two,and the man did not run away. He stood andwatched the animal, which made no effort tocome closer.

In the following

w e e k s ,the mansaw more

such crea-tures, again

and again. Itseemed they were all

over the desert, aim-lessly walking about for

miles on end. The manbegan to observe the creatures very closely. Hesaw that they were vegetarian. Moreover, despitetheir huge size, they were remarkably meek andgentle.

And what stamina the creatures had! Theycould walk the entire length of the desert withoutbeing exhausted.

Observing them the man thought - "What if Itame this creature and make it ferry all my stuff?I could then make the desert my home."

So, one day, while one of the creatures wasdozing, the man went up to it and put a bridle inits mouth. Then he rode around in it, after plac-ing an enormous amount of load on its back.After a little more time, the man even allowed hischild to ride the creature all on his own.

With that, the taming of the camel was com-plete (for that was who the creature was). Andever since that day, the camel has faithfully livedup to its title of 'Ship of the Desert'.

41FFOOLLKKTTAALLEESS

An Unpleasant Smell

A prosperous money-lender or Sethbought a house located right next door to thehouse of a tanner. From morning till eveningthe tanner converted hide into leather bytreating it with tannin. From day one themoney-lender wasput off by theunpleasant smells ofthe tannery.

So, he visited thetanner's house andoffered to buy hishouse.

"I would love tosell the house if youbuy it Seth," said thetanner. He had nointention of doing anysuch thing but heliked to play pranks. "Give me a week or soto wind up some things, will you?" The sethagreed and went away.

A week later, the overpowering smell com-ing from the tannery brought the seth to thetanner's doorstep again. "I understand sir,"said the tanner with wide-eyed sympathywhen the money-lender told him that thesmell had reduced his appetite largely. "Butmy mother is visiting me this week. I can'tsell the house as long as she is around.

Please wait for a month, until she goesaway."

The seth agreed with great reluctance. Hebegan to wait with bated breath for theguest's departure. In the beginning hecounted each day, impatiently waiting for oneto finish and the other to begin. After a while

though, he found hewas no longer all thatinterested in themonth coming to anend. And when themonth did end, theseth did not go thetanner's house to askhim to leave. He hadsimply forgottenabout it.

He did not ask thetanner to leave whenthey met next,

either. You see, by then the seth had becomeaccustomed to the tan-yard's smell. "Whathave you done to drive away that infernalsmell?" he asked the tanner. "Have you dilut-ed the solution?"

The tanner smiled and nodded. He hadbeen waiting for the day the seth would getused to the smells from the tannery and stopbothering him. That was why he had askedthe seth to wait in the first place.

The Doctor who 'did not' Cure

An old woman had lost her eyesight com-pletely. So she went to a doctor to help hersee again and made a bargain with him inthe presence of a few witnesses. The bargainwas that: if he could cure her, he would bepaid handsomely. But if he couldn't, shewould not be obliged to pay him anything.

The doctor had a special ointment. Whenit was applied in the eyes for a certain peri-od of time, it restored the eyesight of anyonewho was sightless.

The doctor began to visit his new patientdaily to apply the ointment. But knowing thatshe couldn't see, he started stealing thevaluables in her house, one by one. Whenthere was nothing more left to steal, hedecided to cure her and demanded his pay-ment.

When the old woman recovered her eye-sight, she saw that her valuables had beenstolen and guessed that the doctor was thethief. So, saying that she was not cured, sherefused to pay him. The doctor was aston-

ished when she refused to pay and he insist-ed on his fees. But the old woman refusedagain and the two went to court.

The judge asked the old woman why sherefused to pay the doctor. To this she said:"The doctor is telling the truth. I did promiseto give him money if I recovered my sight.However, if I remained blind, I was to givehim nothing. Now he declares that he hashealed me and so I should pay him. But I amstill blind."

Everyone in the court looked at the oldwoman in great surprise. "How can you say athing like that? Everyone in the courtroomcan see that your eyesight has beenrestored." said the judge sternly.

"Your honor," replied the old woman. "Ireally can't see. Before I lost the use of myeyes, I had seen a lot of valuable goods inmy house. But now, though the doctorswears I am cured of my blindness, I am notable to see a single thing of value in it."

The judge agreed that the old woman wasindeed still blind, and let her go without atrial.


The Apple Tree

There was an old apple tree in a farmer'sgarden. It was so old that it had stoppedbearing fruit a long time ago. The only pur-pose it served was to provide shelter to thesparrows, grasshoppers and squirrels in theneighborhood.

One day, the farmer decided to cut thetree down. He felt it had become completelyuseless. Besides, he wanted to get some fur-niture made and what better way to ensurethe wood supply from the tree? The woodwas still strong.

So, taking a sharp axe in his hand, thefarmer struck at the roots of the tree.

At once there was great commotionamong the many creatures that inhabited thetree. The grasshoppers, the sparrows andthe squirrels came out of their dwellingplaces and hovered around the farmer."Please sir," they begged him. "Spare thistree's life. It is our only home."

But the farmer only struck harder at theroots. "We promise to sing to you in theafternoons when you toil away. It wouldlighten your labors so," entreated the crea-tures.

But their cries were in vain. The farmercontinued his task with single-minded con-centration. He was in a hurry to finish off thechopping by afternoon. As he raised his axeone more time, something in the hollow ofthe tree caught his eye. A bee hive. Upon

looking closer, the farmer found that it wasfull of honey. He tasted the honey. Ummmm,heavenly.

Suddenly the farmer realized that the treewas not so useless after all. Its hollow wasthe ideal place for a beehive to rest. And if hetook away the honey now, the bees wouldmake more. They would certainly not aban-don such an attractive residence.

"Hey you up there," he announced as hethrew away the axe. "I'm sparing the life ofthis tree. You can live in peace now."

The sparrows, grasshoppers and squirrelsbreathed deep sighs of relief. What a bless-ing that the farmer had found something ofuse to him in the tree! After all, it was theonly reason the tree was still standing.

River Talk

The rivers were disgruntled lot. They had started out as tiny clear streams high upin the mountains and meandered through valleys and plateaus and plains. Their

waters had swollen up during monsoons and had then reduced to a trickle dur-ing summer. But on the whole, they had flourished.

And now, at the end of their journey, they had to merge with the sea. Theywould lose their precious freedom forever.

And yet, they couldn't stop themselves from flowing, could they? So theyflowed till they reached the sea. "This is too unfair!" they said sadly to eachother. "It's bad enough that we have to merge. It is worse that our sweetand drinkable water becomes terribly salty and tasteless when we mergewith the sea."

The sea heard the rivers and looked amused, "If that's the way youfeel, I see no point why you should join me at all. Go away, and enjoyyour cool, sweet waters by yourself."

Of course, there was no way the rivers could do that. Even if bysome miracle they could change their course and not flow into the sea,their very survival was at stake. For, very few rivers lasted on theirown without uniting with the sea. Most dried up and died. What use

was independence if one did not live to enjoy it? So the rivers madepeace with their situation and flowed into the sea.

The Mighty

At the edge of a forest, stood abig tree. Its branches spread outmajestically and so did its roots. Itshielded people from the sun underits shady leaves, and providedshelter to countless birds and othersmall creatures in its branches. Itbuzzed with activity all the time.

At the foot of the tree grew a lit-tle plant. The plant was willowyand delicate, and tended to keelover at the touch of the slightestbreeze.

One day, the two neighborswere having a little chat.

"Well, little one," said the tree tothe plant, "Why do you not plantyour feet deeply in the ground, andraise your head boldly in the air asI do?"

"I see no need to do so," whis-pered the plant with a smile."Actually, I think I may be saferthis way."

"Safer!" sneered the tree. "Areyou suggesting that you're saferthan I am? Do you know how deepmy roots are buried, how thick andstrong my trunk is? Even if twomen hold hands they would not beable to surround my trunk. Whocould possibly pluck me by theroots or bow my head to theground?"

And the tree turned away fromthe plant in a great huff.

But the tree was to regret itswords very soon. One evening agreat hurricane arose in the region.It hurled the trees off their rootsand almost completely destroyedthe forest. It uprooted the neemtree and hurled it away with greatforce.

When the storm had passed, thevillagers living nearby surveyed thedamage. Mighty trees that hadonce almost touched the sky, werenow reduced to stumps or worse.The forest was littered with theircarcasses.

But there was one exception.The little plant. The plant had beentossed and turned under the fury ofthe hurricane, and bent complete-ly. But when the hurricane ended,it sighed and stood upright again.

No trace remained of its mightyneighbor though.

The Lion's Share

One day anass and a foxentered into anagreement withthe lion that theywould assist eachother while hunt-ing for food. Theyfelt that their com-bined efforts wouldensure that none ofthem would have tostarve.

Of course, boththe ass and the fox were a little nervous aboutaccompanying the lion in the hunt. But the thoughtof the game they would acquire with his help, madethem salivate. They put the nervousness down tonerves.

It was an excellent hunt. The three had combedthe jungle in their search for food. When they cameto a clearing by the lakeside, they dispersed. It wasdecided that the ass would keep an eye out for ani-mals to prey on; when he spotted one, he would goup to the animal and introduce himself. The intro-ductory bray would alert the other two, who werehiding.

The fox would come out at first, growling at theanimal. The frightened animal would try to run, thefox would give chase and in trying to avoid him, theanimal would run directly in the path of the lion. Thelion would then finish the animal off in one swoop.

In the evening, the tired but happy trio assem-bled in front of the lion's den with their large booty.The lion ordered the ass to allot to each of the threepartners, his due portion in the treaty.

The ass was very happy. He felt that, by askinghim, the lion had bestowed a great honor on him.Very carefully, he divided the spoil into three equalshares. "Sirs, I have done the needful. I modestlyrequest the two of you to take your shares," he said.

The lion stared at the shares for a minute. "Oh!So you think each one of us deserves an equalshare. You think that your feeble attempts to chatwith the game compares with my efforts to killthem," he said and jumped on the ass. He killed theass in one second.

Then he told the terrified fox to make the division.The fox accumulated all that they had killed into onelarge heap and left to him the smallest possibleshare. The rest he requested the lion to have.

"Who has taught you, my dear fellow, the art ofdivision? You are perfect to a fraction," said the lion,pleased as punch. "I learned it from the ass sir, bywitnessing his fate," replied the fox. He made up hismind never to take a lion as partner in any futureventure.



Appearances are Deceptive

One day Bina the ant wasscurrying about in search offood. Summer was almostover and autumn wasapproaching. Soon it wouldbe winter and food would bedifficult to find. Bina knew itwas necessary to stock asmuch as possible so that herant colony could have

enough to eat during the dif-ficult months ahead.

She had collected quite abit already. Now she was onthe lookout for bits of sweet-meats that younger mem-bers of her colony loved tomunch on after their meal.Darting to and fro betweentrees and shrubs, Bina sud-denly smelt the sweet aromaof pastry. She quickly wentaround the bush and thereshe saw it - a large bit ofpastry with a whole raisin init!

Just then she looked upand saw something hangingfrom the leaf of a bush.Looking closer, she saw thatit was a tiny tail. It seemedto be all wrapped up insomething, as if bandaged.

Bina did not know it, butthe 'thing' was a chrysalis,the pupa of a butterfly.

"Oh you poor thing,"exclaimed Bina. She had noidea what a chrysalis was."What a sad fate you have! Ican run anywhere I wish,climb trees or go over moun-tains. And look at you, youare trapped in your shell. Allyou can do is move your tailaround a bit."

But there was no answerfrom the chrysalis. So Bina

went on, "Even ant childrencan run around and do asmuch as we can. They arefree, you are all bound upand can't even move. What alife you must have." And shewalked away with her pieceof pastry.

A few days later, Binacame that way again hopingto find more pastry or biscuitlying around. It was unusual-ly hot that day and she wassweating. Suddenly, a cloudseemed to come over herand she felt a soft coolbreeze. She looked up. Whatdid she see this time?

Why, one of the mostbeautiful butterflies she hadever laid eyes on! Light bluespotted with light pink andyellow dots. How beautifuland how lucky to be able tofly around free, thoughtBina, as she stared at thebeauty.

"Look at me," said Sundrithe butterfly. "I am yourmuch-pitied friend. Youboasted of being able to runaround and climb mountains.But now try to get me to lis-ten." And with a graceful flapof her wings, Sundari flewaway. Like a soft sigh of thebreeze...

The donkey monkeysaround

Gopu the donkey was happily goingmunch munch on an extremely green patchof grass right in the heart of the meadow. Sointent was Gopu on eating, that he did nothear anyone approaching until he looked upand gave an involuntary shiver. For standingright in front of him, was Shikari, the wolf.

Gopu began to limp and make a lot of oohaah noises while doing so. Shikari watchedhim in silence for a while and then askedwhat was wrong.

"I trod upon a sharp thorn while passingthrough a hedge. It is causing me so muchpain," Gopu added. "Please, take it out forme."

"And why would I do that?" asked Shikariwho thought to himself: hee hee, the donkeyis so foolish. Here I am trying to think of away to eat him up, and there he, wants meto remove a thorn from his foot.

"It is for your benefit that I'm telling you

to take it out, sir," said Gopu earnestly. "Thatthorn is long and sharp. When you eat me, itis sure to get stuck in your throat."

Shikari then agreed to remove the thorn.So Gopu lifted his foot up for Shikari, whobrought his face close to the foot to peerdeep into it.

This was the opportunity Gopu was wait-ing for. With all his might, he kicked Shikariin the mouth and galloped away.

"I should have known," moaned Shikariafter he had finished reeling from the force ofthe kick. He had also lost a few teeth. "Whydid I ever attempt the art of healing, when allI have been taught is the trade of a butcher?"He thought as he 'limped' away from themeadow.

The Palm Reader

Hari Prasad was the mostsought-after man in the market-place. A palmist rumored to bethe best in the area; he lived-offpeople's hands as he wasbelieved to possess superiorqualities of prediction.

All he had to do was stare atthe faint little criss-crossinglines on someone's palm for alittle while and bingo, the clientwould listen astounded, as the palmist laidhis life history bare before him.

The client would return home somewhatdazed by what he thought were the amazingpowers of the astrologer. Few realised thatHari Prasad had actually said very little thatwas not a generalisation. Later it might strikesome that they had been taken for a ride.But by then it was too late, they had alreadypaid him his fees.

It was hard to believe Hari Prasad couldlie. He had the look of someone very graveand authoritative. So people still queued upto have their palms examined and hear a fewsurprisingly accurate observations about

their life - to be followed by a wholelot of nonsense. This was courtesy afew discreet enquiries made duringthe palm-reading session.

One day, in the middle of one suchsession, the neighbour's boy camerunning to Hari Prasad's shop:"Chacha (uncle), come homeimmediately. Someone broke intoyour house and stole all the valu-ables," he said.

At this, Hari Prasad leapt to hisfeet and began to run very fast. As

he ran home, everyone in the vicin-ity watched him with surprise.

"Hey, he should not be running so fast,"said someone, "surely he knew this wasgoing to happen."

"How on earth could he have known that?"asked another person. "Do you think thethief served him a special notice that he wasgoing to be robbed?"

"No," said the first man. "But how couldHari Prasad, the man who foretells everyoneelse's fortune, not have foreseen his own?And that too, a theft in his ownhouse?"

The Leap

One day a newly married couple threw aparty. Among those who attended, was aman who claimed to be a seasoned traveler.He was an interesting-looking man with aweather beaten face. So, by his appear-ance, he did look like a well-traveledperson.

But once he started talking, therewas no stopping him. He braggedto anyone who would listen,about his exploits in countriesacross the world.

He spoke of many wonderfuland heroic feats he had accom-plished. "I was an acrobat, amagician, a lion-trainer and evena hunter," he announced in abooming voice.

"I've fought with a tiger, shot anelephant...it's amazing the things I've done,"he boasted.

"But friends," and here he lowered hisvoice for effect, "...it's what I've done inSamarqand that beats everything else."

"What did you do in Samarqand?" askedsomeone.

The man, who was waiting for that ques-tion, immediately launched into a longdrawn-out yarn.

"There were two buildings facing each

other, each at least 50 feet high. That's fivestoreys high. They were 10 meters apartfrom each other," he said. "Guess what I hadto do?"

There was pin drop silence in the audi-ence. "You didn't!" exclaimed

someone."I did indeed," boasted

the traveler. "I jumpedfrom the end of one build-ing to the end of theother. It's the highest fly-ing leap ever recorded.Such a large crowd hadgathered to watch. Why,people talk about it evennow in Samarqand."

"Give us something totalk about too," said thehost suddenly. "Why don't

you show us how you did it? Try leapingbetween our house and the one facing us.They're barely five meters apart. Comefriends, let's go up to the terrace," he added.

The traveler agreed, "Yes, that would be agood idea. I haven't done a good leap inyears" And he started to walk with the oth-ers. Then he stopped. "First I have to visitthe bathroom, though. May I?" he asked thehost. And he sprinted off to the toilet.

Needless to say, that was the last timeanyone saw the traveler in those parts again.


The Groomed Horse

Chetak was the mostattractive horse in theneighborhood. Hisproud owner, RamSingh, never lost anopportunity to showhim off to his friendsand neighbors.

"Here he is, mypride and joy," hewould exclaim in adramatic way as heopened the door to theyoung stallion's stable. And Chetak wouldcome out galloping, his shiny brown coat andlight brown mane glistening in the sun.

Ram Singh would then ride him across thefarm, for the benefit of the admiring crowd.His attractiveness apart, Chetak was swift,too. Riding him was like, "flying through air,"his owner often said eloquently.

One day Ram Singh hired a new groom forChetak. The groom, Baloo, was acknowl-edged to be a good one. Horses under hiscare always ended up looking far better thanthey did before. Sure enough, Chetak was noexception to the rule.

Early every morning, Baloo would arriveand go about his task with great concentra-tion. He would begin by washing the stallion,then brushing his coat again and again, untilit shone. Hours passed by, with Balooengaged in this way.

So why wasn't Chetak happy? RamSingh began to notice that his spiritedstallion was somewhat subdued lately. Itwas his habit the minute stable doorswere opened, to be out in a flash, going

round and round the farm...carefree, wild.But lately, he was just lazing about, and hadeven to be coaxed at times, to run.

"What's happening?", thought the worriedowner.

He found out a few days later. Everyday, he would arrange for a huge sack-ful of good quality oats for Chetak'smeal. His instructions were that Chetak

be fed at least thrice. But one day hestumbled upon sackful of oats hidden in an

unused tank inside the shed. It was a part of what should have been

Chetak's meal, now waiting to be sold for atidy sum by Baloo. He had been keepingsome aside from Chetak's meal, everyday.

An unrepentant Baloo refused to admit hewas guilty when Ram Singh confronted himlater in the day. "I am a great groom," heboasted. "I brush Chetak's coat, rub oil onhim and make him look so good. Have youever seen him looking better than thisbefore?"

"I employed you to keep him in good con-dition," Ram Singh thundered. "And thatmeans keeping him well-fed first and fore-most. Without that, you could have beengrooming him for all the world and it would-n't have made any difference," and sayingthis, he dismissed the groom from serviceimmediately.

The Travellers

In a temple city in south India, lived agroup of young merchants who wanted tobecome rich. They had often heard abouttraders who had amassed a great deal ofwealth in the course of their travels acrossthe world.

So, one fine day, the merchants set out ona long journey in quest of riches andengaged in trade.

Unfortunately though, they did notbecome as rich as they had thought theywould. Worse, they had spent more moneyon their travels than they had earned in thecourse of their trade - and that was galling.All this made them very impatient.

One day, when they were in a seasidetown, their eyes fell on a large ship at a dis-

tance. "When we

become rich, weshall buy a shipjust like thatone," they saidexcitedly. Theywaited to see it enterthe harbor. As the ship neared it lost itsgrand dimensions and started looking morelike a small boat.

They were crestfallen. But they waited. When the boat reached the shore the mer-

chants discovered that it was only a bunch oflogs tied together to make a raft. They wereterribly disappointed.

Finally they understood. Just as they hadwasted a lot of time on fruitless speculationabout the "ship", their expectations of get-ting rich also had been without any realbasis. Crestfallen they decided to returnhome.



The Lion Cub

The mama animals and birds of the junglewere having an argument of sorts. Actually,it was a game of showmanship, regardingtheir little ones. They were trying to find outwhich one of them had the largest litter.

"I do," said Mama Deer, and proudly dis-played her brood of four sweet little deer.

"No, no...look at mine. See how sharptheir teeth are!" exclaimed Mama Jackalwhose six cubs bared their fangs. Allthe animals who had assembledbacked off a little, butMama Jackal assuredeveryone they wereonly grinning.

"See how many I'vegot," chirped MamaSparrow, sitting highup on the branch of apretty tree. "One, two,three, four, five, six,seven,eight, nine...heehee." And the little birdies put out theirheads and tweeted.

"Your record is no patch on mine," purredMama Cat, whose litter of kittens was solarge, it looked like a little army. "No one'sis," she added.

"Sure, but your babies are too insignifi-cant to count," drawled someone else. Thenext second everyone joined in and therewas complete chaos as everyone shoutedlouder to get heard.

"Let's go to Mama Lion," said someoneand everyone agreed. So the animalstrooped into the den of the Queen of theForest. She was basking in the sun andlooked very majestic as the mama animalsapproached her. They told her about their

dispute and requested her help."We all have so many offspring, but

we can't be sure about who has thelargest brood," they said to MamaLion. "What about you?" theyasked.

"Me?" she laughed. "Ihave just one," and shepointed to the frisky little cubrunning about her.

"Only one! That's all?"exclaimed the animals.

"Yes," said the proudmother "...and he's going to be King of theForest some day. So tell me friends, what useis a large brood to me?"

The mama animals were forced to agreethat in the long run the lion cub would mat-ter more than all of their little ones puttogether.

Abdullah's Gold

Abdullah was one of the richestmen in town, but you could easily mis-take him for a beggar. It was his theorythat since there were so many people outto rob a rich man, it was safe to pre-tend to be poor. And so he did.

But he really didn't have to pre-tend. Stingy to the core he foundit very easy to be poor. So whatif people sniggered and childrencalled out, "Kanjoos! Kanjoos!"(miser, miser), whenever hepassed by in his worn-out clothes. Abdullahbecame more and more content with hisgrowing pile of money as the years went by.

One day, he bought a huge lump of goldwith all the money he had amassed. He duga hole in the ground near an unused well andburied the gold there. He was sure that nothief would be able to find that place. Withthis happy thought, Abdullah checked on histreasure daily.

But can you really keep a hiding place hid-den if you looked at it every day? Before

long, the town was whispering aboutAbdullah's mysterious visits to theunused well in the dead of the night. Itwasn't long before a curious soul discov-ered the gold, let out a yell of joy andran away with the miser's treasure.

Naturally, on his next visit,Abdullah found the hole empty. Hebegan howling with grief and soon a

crowd had assembled. Theywatched him grieve the waypeople mourn the loss of a dearone.

Finally, a neighbor came for-ward and asked him to stop it. "You

want your gold? Just pick up a heavy stoneand drop it in the hole. Pretend it is the goldyou lost."

"How can you make fun of me at a timelike this," wailed the stricken man.

"I'm not making fun of you, friend!" saidthe wise neighbor. "How did you use the goldwhile it was here, except gaze at it everyday? You could do the same with a stone."

Abdullah was silenced.

Tail-cut!

Every morning thefox strutted throughthe forest pretendingto be king of the jun-gle. He would bully ananimal here, chase

another there and showa third one his fangs. Hewas an utter nuisance.

One morning whilechasing a hare, he gotcaught in a trap.Actually, it was his tail

that got trapped. He pulled and pulled andhuffed and puffed, but couldn't get free. Thetail stayed in the trap.

Now the fox was very proud of his bushytail, which he always kept in a good condi-tion. So he avoided pulling too hard lestsomething happened to it.

"Why did it have to be my tail?" hegroaned and pulled a little again.

Suddenly he heard voices - human voices.The trappers were coming to claim their vic-tim. The fox made one great effort to free histail. A searing pain followed and then he wasfree. He ran all the way to his lair, withoutlooking back even once.

Only then did he realize the truth. His tailwas missing. Most of it at any rate. Thebushiest, glossiest part of it.

The fox felt terribly depressed. Then he

felt a deep sense of shame. What would hetell the other foxes? He could already seetheir sly knowing smiles. Oh, the misery of it!

Then his calculating mind took over. Hewould persuade them that being tail-less wasa good thing.

That evening, at the foxes' meeting by theriverside, everyone watched astonished asthe tail-less one sauntered in nonchalantlyand proceeded to lecture everyone on thevirtues of moving around without a tail.

"Friends, being tail-less is so much morefun," he exclaimed and twirled once foreffect. "And advantageous. Look at theweight of the thing - wears one down all thetime. Prevents us from running like themare."

"Err...the mare has a tail too," someone inthe crowd pointed out.

"Hardly the same," said the tail-less fox,carried away by the force of his own argu-ment. "The mare's tail is thin, not weightylike ours. Think how heavy our tails get aftera swim. That's why I got rid of it. It's soooouseless. Now I feel free. Really, all of youshould go in for a tail-cut too," he added.

"Shut up, will you!" growled another fox."We know you lost your tail in the trap. I hadthe honor of seeing you flee from thehunters. And I've brought along a memento."Saying so he dangled the vain creature's sev-ered tail before everyone.

The assembly howled with laughter as thetail-less fox slunk away.

The Eagle and the Arrow

Eagle was a strange crea-ture. He got his fun out ofteasing and frighteningthe little birds. Evenwhen he was not hungry, hewould soar through the skyand swoop down on someunsuspecting birds and pre-tend to prey on them. Thepoor little birds would cowerwith fear and try to fly away.

Eagle would then burst into anear-piercing laugh and flap hiswings disdainfully. "I am the King ofthe sky! How scared you all are of me,"he would exclaim.

The birds did not like Eagle and they allthought he was very mean, for the othereagles swooped down on the smaller birdsonly when they were hungry.

Once it so happened that a

flock of pigeons wasflying in the sky andEagle decided to

scare them. He cameswooping down on them

from out of the blue. The pigeonsshrieked and scattered in different

directions. Just then Eagle's sharp ears caught a

whizzing sound. He turned around and sawits source: an arrow! Sure that the arrow wasnot meant for him but for the pigeons, Eaglejust turned away. But the pigeons had flownout of the way!

"Swick!" The arrow struck Eagle right inthe heart and he started fluttering to theground. "Oh no, I don't want to die," said

Eagle, "I have so many years more to live..."But he was losing his blood very fast. He fellto the ground with a thud and with dyingeyes looked at the killer arrow.

It was decorated with one of his ownfeathers! "Oh God, no!" said Eagle, as hedied.



The Favour

There lived a wolf called Lalu in the Himalayanforests. Lalu was very mean and selfish. Hethought only about himself and none of the otheranimals liked him.

The rest of the wolf pack also avoided meet-ing him. At most, they would say a polite 'Hello'and then go their own way. After all, when theywere hungry, Lalu never offered to share hismeal. So the wolves avoided him, as they did notwant to be impolite.

One day, Lalu was very hungry and went outhunting. After roaming around for nearly anhour, he found a wild hen and greedily tore it topieces. Suddenly, a small bone got stuck in histhroat.

Lalu coughed and coughed and his face wentred with all that coughing. He tried to get thebone out, but in vain. He ran up and downgroaning and moaning, seeking something torelieve his pain.

Then it became difficult for him to breathe. Hepleaded with all the other animals to help himget the bone out. "Help! Someone please helpme get this bone out…" said Lalu. But no onestepped forward.

He even offeredthem a reward forremoving the bone."Oh Pleeeease. Ican't breathe. I

would give any-thing if you wouldtake it out!" hesaid. But still noone helped him -because he wasso mean.

Then at lastmother crane,Rani, took pity

on the wolf andoffered to help him. But she was unsure - wouldLalu really give her anything? All Rani wanted toask him was to be a better wolf.

But she decided that she should just do it. SoRani told Lalu to lie on his side and open his jawsas wide as he could. She put her long neck downhis throat and "Pluck!!", her beak had loosenedthe bone. And slowly, she pulled the bone out.

"Ah, ah!! That's better," said Lalu, taking longdeep breaths. "Will you kindly give me thereward you promised?" asked Rani.

Lalu grinned wide, showing all his teeth. Hesaid, "Be content. You have put your head insidea wolf's mouth and taken it out again safely; thatought to be reward enough for you."

Poor Rani was very disappointed, while theother animals looked at Lalu angrily.

But did Lalu understand or care?

The Boy and the Wolf

A boy was standing on the roof ofhis house, looking down at the valleybelow. His house was the last of a rowof houses. Beyond it stretched a darkand menacing jungle. Although hehad been living in the valley all hislife, the boy had never stepped insidethe jungle. He had heard that it wasfull of wild animals that ate up anyhuman they came across.

He could see the forest from hiswindow. At night he heard all sorts ofnoises coming from it -- noises thatpenetrated the closed window andreached the boy's frightened ears. Hewas scared of the jungle, and of allthe creatures that roamed in it.

But that was at night. In the morn-ing, the boy felt differently. Standingon the roof of his house, he surveyedthe jungle majestically. All he couldsee were the tops of green trees andthey were hardly scary. I could gothere anytime, the boy thought tohimself.

Suddenly, he caught sight of a graywolf passing by right under his nose.He looked at it fearfully. Actually, itdidn't look that big, from where theboy was standing. It looked like theblack dog that his neighbors had. Hefelt very brave knowing fully well thatthe wolf could not reach him.

"You ugly beast, how dare youcome near my house? Get away or Iwill set my dogs on you," hescreamed.

"I was just passing by," said thewolf in quiet tones. He knew he was inenemy territory and he didn't wantany trouble.

"Passing by, huh?" thundered theboy. "How dare you use my area as athoroughfare, you evil animal? Get offright now," and he waved a stick thatwas lying around.

"Curse away," said the wolf to theboy. "It is easy to be brave from asafe distance." And he growled soloud that the boy ran cowering inside.

Dream Palace

Once upon a time, Krishnadeva Rai, whoruled over the Vijayanagar kingdom, dreamtof a beautiful palace. It was made of glitter-ing stones and floated in the air. The palacehad everything that one could ever wish for.And it could be lit up with a thousand lightsor made to disappear into the darkness bymerely wishing so.

The king woke up with a start. But hecould not forget the dream palace. So, oneday, he summoned all his courtiers and toldthem about it. The courtiers made all theright noises and sang praises of the king andhis beautiful dream.

Then the king made a public announce-ment: "If someone can make such a palacefor me, I will give him a hundred thousandgold coins!"

That stopped the courtier's mid-sentence.Their mouths fell open. "Is the king mad?Whoever heard of a palace floating in air,"they thought.

But no one had the courage to say so.Many of king's well-wishers told him thatsuch a palace can only exist in one's mind.But he would not listen, of course. He insist-ed that it could be built. He also threatenedhis courtiers with dire consequences if theydid not produce someone who could makethe dream come true.

The courtiers were worried. And the sen-ior counsel of the state requested TenaliRama to do something.

A few days later, a very old man totteredinto the king's court. He was crying for jus-tice.

Krishnadeva Rai asked: "Old man, what'sthe problem? Tell me without fear and I shallsee that justice is done."

"I've been looted, Your Majesty," wailedthe old man. "All my savings are gone. I havenothing left."

"Who looted you?", thundered the king."You name him and I'll have him hangedimmediately!"

"Your Majesty! If you don't take it as apersonal affront, I will tell you. But you mustassure that you won't punish me," mumbledthe old man.

"Yes, yes, I promise," replied the kingimpatiently.

"It's you sir," said the old man. "How dare you…", began the king, but

then he remembered his promise and satback.

"Your Majesty! Last night, I'd dreamt thatyou'd come with your entourage of ministersand commanders and looted my entire life'ssavings - five thousand gold coins!", said theold man.

"You are a fool!" roared the king. "Howcan you pretend that your dream is reality?Dreams are not true!"

"But they are, Your Majesty! If your dreamof a palace hanging in air can come true, whycan't my dream come true?"

And before the king could fully compre-hend what the old man was driving at, theman tore off his beard and hair and stoodbefore the king. It was none other thanTenali Rama!

Bowing low before the amazed king, TenaliRama said: "Your Majesty! This was the onlyway of convincing you about the absurdity ofyour wish."

"You're right," agreed the king and burstinto laughter "Tenali! You are really veryshrewd!", he added.



The Instructor

A young man wanted to learn the art ofsword fighting. He went to the greatestinstructor in the land and said, "Please giveme admission and teach me sword fighting."

The instructor gladly accepted him a stu-dent and said, "Young man you can stay withme and learn this art."

In the days that followed the instructorgave him many odd chores to perform. Thechores were sweeping the floors, cuttingvegetables, cooking and the like. But therewas no mention of the sword or the art offighting with it.

The young man got desperate,approached the instructor and said,"Great teacher kindly begin my les-sons." The instructor agreed.

The next day when the youngman was cooking, the instructorcame from behind and hit him witha wooden sword and vanished. The

young man was taken by surprise.The next day too the same thing hap-pened. The young man now startedpreparing himself mentally to counter

any such surprise attack. Next time when the instructor came to

attack him, the young man was able tododge the blow of the sword. He was veryhappy with his performance. He asked theinstructor, "Now have I learnt the art ofdefending myself?" The instructor did notrespond to his question and walked away.

Such surprise attacks became commonand the young man got more and more skill-ful in countering the attacks well.

One day the young man saw the instruc-tor engaged seriously in a task and a suddendesire crept into his head. He thought, "Nowlet me catch the instructor unawares andattack him."

He took the wooden sword and attackedthe instructor without a sound from behind.

But lo! The instructor was fully preparedfor it. He took a shield lying near, turnedaround and defended himself most skillfully.

Realization struck the young man thatmoment. He thought, "How great is thisinstructor. Today I have learnt the real secretof sword fighting. He has taught me thatswinging the sword and learning the oppo-nent's moves are not the essentials of swordfighting. What is important is to read whatgoes on in the opponent's mind and to count-er his movement and his thoughts too."

The young man continued to take instruc-tions in all humbleness and with newerinsights trained well to become a great swordfighter of his country.

What's for Dinner!

A little hen lived at the edge of a forestcolony. She lived all by herself and did all herwork on her own. Early in the morning shehunted around for worms in the forest; in theday she cleaned up the house; then shecooked, ate and spent the rest of her time inpeace. In short, hers was a happy life.

Close by lived a middle-aged fox with hisold mother. And, as you can imagine, if thefox was a little elderly, mother fox was quitedefinitely ancient.

One day the fox and his mother had noth-ing to eat at home. He had been too lazy togo hunting for food for a few days and nowhe wondered how best to get hold of somefood without too much exertion. All of a sud-den he remembered the hen.

Now the neighborhood in which the foxand the hen lived, most of the animalsadhered to the rule that neighbors should nothunt each other for food. If you belonged toanother colony, it was okay. But not if youwere part of the same neighborhood. It wasbelieved to upset neighborly equations. Sofar, the fox had not much need for disobey-ing the injunction, either.

But lately, with more and more cutting oftrees, the forest had begun to recede, andwith it the animals too, had begun to disap-pear. It was much harder to hunt and the foxwas a lazy fellow.

So he announced to his mother "I have aplan to catch that irritating hen. I will catchher and put her inside this sack. Place a poton fire and add water. We will boil her for din-ner tonight".

Saying so, he crept up to the house of thehen.

The hen came out to pick up sticks for thefire and left the door open while doing so.The fox slipped in while her back was turned.She did not see him. He hid behind the door.As soon as the hen came in with her wood,she shut the door with a bang.

She didn't see the fox sitting with his bigfluffy tail on the floor. Imagine her shockwhen the fox crept up from behind her, thensuddenly caught her. He forced her into thesack and tied up its mouth.

With a happy smile on his face, he beganto walk to his den.

So happy was he at the prospect of eatingthe hen that he paid no heed to the move-ments inside the sack. The hen had mean-while taken out her sharp little knife from herpocket. She cut a hole in the bag and jumpedout promptly.

But immediately she picked up a great bigstone and dropped it in the bag.

When the fox reached his den, he was lit-erally salivating in anticipation. "Mother,mother, is the water boiling on the pot? For Ihave got a whole hen to boil in it."

"Yes it is boiling hot. Just right for thehen," replied the mother.

Then the fox held the bag over the boilingwater. Pl….lllopppp fell the stone. Its heavi-ness made the water jump out of the pot.Splashing straight into the bodies of the foxand his mother. And killing them both in theprocess.

After that the little hen did not find anyonebothering her in her little house in the forest.


Qui Jun and theArrogant Monk

There once lived a monkcalled Shan, in a village inChina. He had earned a greatname for himself. But he wasvery arrogant.

Qui Jun heard of his arro-gance and wanted to teach themonk a lesson. He went tomeet Shan who neither greeted him noracknowledged his presence.

Just then a servant of the monk came witha message: "The son of an army officer ishere to see you."

The monk said, "I will go and greet him." Shan welcomed the son of the army offi-

cer with respect. After the army officer's son had departed

Qui Jun asked Shan the reason for his dou-

ble-faced behavior. "Why is itthat you greeted the armyofficer's son so respectfully,yet behaved so arrogantlytowards me?"

Shan the Monk had a quickreply: "Please don't get mewrong. For me greetingmeans not greeting and notgreeting means greeting."

Qui Jun understood themonk's mischief and hit him

hard on his head with his stick. "According to your logic, beating you

means not beating and not beating youmeans beating. Therefore, I have to give youa beating," said Qui Jun.

Shan immediately realized the folly of hisactions and started showing respect toeveryone he met, irrespective of their status.

Modesty Pays

There once lived a proud driver in Qi, astate in China. He was the driver of the PrimeMinister of the state. One day the PrimeMinister happened to drive through the streetwhere the driver lived with his wife. Someneighbor's saw him drive the Prime Ministerand were excited.

One of the neighbors ran to the driver'shome and said to driver's wife-"Quick! Seewho is driving the Prime Minister? Your hus-band."

The wife ran out to see her husband drivethe chariot of the Prime Minister. She saw herhusband drive past her with his head heldhigh up in the air, arrogant and proud.

When the driver returned home thatevening, his wife did not speak to him.

He asked her, "Why are you unhappy." She said, "I want to divorce you." The driver got the shock of his life. He

said," Why, Why do you want to divorce me?" She replied, "Look at the Prime Minister,

he sat with great modesty in the chariot. Youare but his driver, yet you are so arrogant,that is why I want to leave you."

The driver realized his mistake. He under-stood that the better a person get, morehumble should he be to gain respect. From

that day onwards, he became more humble. The Prime minister noticed the change in

him. He asked the driver, "Why have you

changed your manner of behavior?" The driver replied, "My wife admonished

me, and I think she is right." The Prime Minister admired his change in

attitude, took him to the king and said, "YourHonor, my driver is a man of virtue, he hasthe courage to correct his own mistakes."

Recognizing it, the king said, "Good! Heshould be given an official post."

The driver was made an officer. He dis-charged his duties with great modesty, andlived happily ever after.


A Tale of Two Sons

A businessman had two sons.While he showered the youngerson with affection and gifts,he neglected the older sonshamelessly. It was com-pletely baffling and no oneknew why he did it. While theolder son could do nothingright, the younger onecould do nothing wrong.

When the boys grew up,they were asked to managethe father's business. Butthere was a world of differ-ence in the managementpractices the father expect-ed his boys to follow. Theelder son was initiated intothe nitty-gritty of the busi-ness.

From morning till late in the evening, hewas on his toes, trying to figure out how thebusiness ran. His father was a hard taskmas-ter, who pushed him relentlessly so that hewould give the business all he got. Within afew years, he was able to master the ropesof the business and even expand it.

What about the younger son? He had hadthe luxury of a higher education. He didn'thave much to do except have a good time athis father's expense. After some years hisfather felt obliged to hand the younger sonhis share of business. He was confident thathis favorite son would be a brilliant success.If the elder son could be a successful busi-nessman without the benefit of higher edu-

cation, surely the younger one, who wasmore gifted, would do much better.

Within a few years, theresults of his decision becameevident. Uninterested in busi-ness, the younger son keptup his spending spree andthus went bankrupt.

But, the elder son's farsmaller share of business hadexpanded and he had

proved himself to be agood decision maker.

Ashamed at the turnof events the fathermet the elder son andranted against theyounger one.

"What a scoundrelthat boy has turned outto be. I gave himeverything he wanted,and he ruined it all !

How could I have possibly known that hewould turn out like this? A pleasure-loving,incompetent wastrel," he wailed.

The elder son, who was listening to all thisquietly, suddenly announced his plan to setup an independent venture. "I want to strikeout on my own," he said.

"Why?", asked the dumbfounded fatherwho was hoping to start afresh with the elderson at the helm of affairs.

"I blame one person for the way mybrother has turned out, and it's not him. Youcan't blame children for the faults of theirparents, can you?", asked the elder son. Andthen he left his father's house.

The Elephant's Nose

There was a time, when the elephant'snose was no bigger than a boot that he couldwriggle from side to side. But an elephant'schild changed all that.

He was a curious fellow who asked ever somany questions.

He asked the ostrich why her tail feathersgrew just so.

He asked the giraffe what made his skinspotty.

He asked the hippo why his eyes were red,and the baboon why melons tasted as theydid.

"What does a crocodile have for dinner?"he asked one day.

"Shushh" said all the animals in a scaredvoice.

But he would not shushh.

By and by he met the Kolokolo bird. Shetold him where he could find an answer.

"Go to the grey, green, greasy Limpoporiver," said she.

So off he went, carrying a load of bananasand sugarcane and melons. He'd be hungryon the way, you see.

After a week of trudging and budging hereached where he had to reach.

At the edge of the river he stepped onwhat he thought was a log of wood. It winkedone eye.

"Excuse me, but have you seen a crocodilein these parts?" asked the elephant's childpolitely.

The creature winked the other eye andhalf lifted his tail out of the mud.

"I am the crocodile," he said. The elephant's child grew excited and

kneeled down. "I have been looking for you all these



Forgive and Forget?

Amar and Alok , two friends, set up a busi-ness venture together. Both invested a lot ofmoney in the business and spent all theirtime trying to promote it.

For a few years everything seemed to beworking out fine. Then Alok wanted to diver-sify. He persuaded Amar to invest their prof-its in another venture. Amar wasn't so sure -what if the venture failed? - butagreed after much persuasionby his friend.

The two went ahead with theventure. Unfortunately, the newbusiness did fail. They incurredvery heavy losses. So theypoured in all the money theyhad made till then to keep thebusiness from sinking. But itwas no use. Their venture wasstill destined to doom.

Within the space of a few years the twofriends had gone from riches to rags.

Amar, who had been persuaded to throwin his money, could never forget that the ideato invest came from Alok. He couldn't forgivehis friend's lack of judgment, for he hadnever doubted it once. He was deeplyshocked.

After a few days, the shock turned to fury.He was sure his friend had betrayed him. Sohe was determined to take revenge. One day,he went quietly to Alok's house and set itafire. There was nobody inside the house sono deaths occurred. But everything wasburnt to a cinder. Alok was left with nothing.

While running out of the house after set-ting it on fire, Amar had been spotted by Alokwho was returning home. But he could neverprove the fact. He too, burned with rage. Anddecided to take revenge his way.

He set up a business on his own and madesome money with it. And then he began sys-tematically to destroy the business of theman who was his friend once. There were somany ways to do it - a few calls to the clientshis friend had, a few nasty rumors.

Because he was in a betterposition than Amar, he could doa lot of damage too. The othertried to follow his example butcouldn't - he was in too weak aposition.

It happened that in a fewmonths Amar lost everythingelse too. He went to Alok's houseone day. "Let's stop this mad-ness." he said. "We've hurt eachother enough."

"I don't particularly enjoy taking revengeeither," agreed the other. "But you asked forit".

"I was only reacting to what you did. Yourjudgment cost me my entire life's saving. Butmaybe it's possible to put all of this behindand become friends again?"

"No", said Alok, who had lost his house."You'll never forget what happened to yourmoney and I'll never forget what happenedto my house. There's really no way we couldbecome friends again. For while people mightlearn to forgive after a while, they can neverforget the wrongs done to them."

days," he said. "Will youplease tell me what you havefor dinner."

SPLATH! Went the croco-dile's tail back into the oozymud.

"Come nearer little one,come nearer and I'll whis-per," said the crocodile.

The elephant's child puthis head down close to thecrocodile's musky tuskymouth.

And the crocodile caught him by his littlenose.

The elephant's child knew he was in BIGtrouble. He sat back on his haunches. And hepulled and pulled.

The crocodile splashed in the water andpulled and pulled.

They both pulled and pulled. And the ele-

phant's nose kept stretch-ing and stretching. At lastthe crocodile let go.

Bfuddudd!! Fell the ele-phant, right on his bigbroad back.

He looked at his nose.He could not see where itended! It was loooong! Solong, he could swish itaround. But it hurt himawfully.

So he wrapped the nosein cool banana leaves and waited for it toshrink.

He waited and waited. But nothing hap-pened. He could still swish it all around.

And so it remains to this day. LooooooonG!


Preparing for Winter

Autumn was coming to an end. All theinsects and animals were working very hardto stock their larders with enough food to lastthem the winter. They all knew that wintertime would be tough - it would be cold andfood would be scarce. As it would get darkreally soon, it would be difficult to go lookingfor food.

Therefore, everyone was working hard, allexcept Mr. Grasshopper. He loved autumn.Autumn was a time when the leaves changedcolour. It was all so so pretty. The treesseemed to be on fire with red, yellow andorange leaves, which then fell off and cov-ered the ground. There was a pleasantbreeze too.

Mr Grasshopper spent his days playing. Hejumped from leaf to leaf and from one fallentwig to another. What he liked best was theway the leaves bounced when he jumped offthem, and how the leaf he landedon swayed with his weight."Yooo eeeeee. Life is lovely, theworld is beautiful, I want toplay forever..." he sang.

Just then little Miss Ant hap-pened to pass by. She was drag-ging a heavy grain of rice behindher. "Oowf. This is so heavy. I wish I couldget some help with this. I should have askedmy brother to come along to help me," shewas muttering. "Oh, do you need help?"asked Mr Grasshopper.

"Yes, sir. Would you give me a hand? Myant hill is just a few trees away, but this is soheavy," replied the ant happily. "Now. First

you come and play with me for some time,then I shall gladly help you. What are youtoiling for anyway? Autumn is so beautiful,you too should enjoy the weather while youcan," the grasshopper said.

"No, Mr. Grasshopper. You too must startcollecting your food for the winter. Otherwiseit will be tough as there won't be anything toeat," said the concerned ant.

"Nothing doing. I will go out and find allthe food I want when I am hungry. Right nowit is time to play and have a party," the sillygrasshopper replied. So Miss Ant just shookher head and went on - "Huff, puff, huff,puff."

Then winter came. It was so cold that theants didn't dare to come out. But their tum-mies were full and they were warm andhappy. Actually, everyone was warm andhappy, except for Mr. Grasshopper. He wascold and hungry. As he went hunting for foodonly when it was less cold than usual, he gotvery little to eat and soon became weak with

hunger. "Oh, why did I spend my days

playing? I should have listened tothe ant..." he thought with regret.

Silence is Golden

A Chinese student once went to his teacher andasked him a question: "Sir, is there any good intalking a lot?"

The teacher replied: "Toads and frogs croaknight and day, but no one pays any attention tothem. But the cock crows at a certain time of nightand wakes up everyone."

"This proves that no good is achieved by talkinga lot. What is important is to say the right thing atthe right time."

the shepherd's mistake:40 an unpleasant smell:41 the eagle ... · but the wolf did not do...

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