The grasshopper and The ant

Long ago, there were a grasshopper and an ant. One summer’s day, in a field, the 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 his nest.

"Why don’t you come and chat with me," asked the Grasshopper, "instead of toiling your life away?"

"I am helping to store up food for the winter," said the Ant, "and I 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. The grasshopper kept on singing and having fun. He
was just eating what ever food he found on the ground.

When winter came, all of the ground was covered with snow. There were no food to be found. 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 summer. Then the Grasshopper knew, he should’ve listen to the ant and
store up food for the winter too.

Hungry Wolf
Once, a wolf was very hungry. It looked for food here and there. But it couldn't get any. At last it
found a loaf of bread and piece of meat in the hole of a tree.

The hungry wolf squeezed into the hole. It ate all the food. It was a woodcutter's lunch. He was
on his way back to the tree to have lunch. But he saw there was no food in the hole, instead, a
wolf.

On seeing the woodcutter, the wolf tried to get out of the hole. But it couldn't. Its tummy was
swollen.

The woodcutter caught the wolf and gave it nice beatings.

Elephant and Friends

One day an elephant wandered into a forest in search of friends.

He saw a monkey on a tree.

“Will you be my friend?" asked the elephant.

Replied the monkey, “You are too big. You can not swing from trees like me."

Next, the elephant met a rabbit. He asked him to be his friends.

But the rabbit said, “You are too big to play in my burrow!"

Then the elephant met a frog.

“Will you be my friend? He asked.

“How can I?" asked the frog.

“You are too big to leap about like me."

The elephant was upset. He met a fox next.

“Will you be my friend?" he asked the fox.

The fox said, “Sorry, sir, you are too big."

The next day, the elephant saw all the animals in the forest running for their lives.

The elephant asked them what the matter was.

The bear replied, “There is a tier in the forest. He’s trying to gobble us all up!"

The animals all ran away to hide.

The elephant wondered what he could do to solve everyone in the forest.

Meanwhile, the tiger kept eating up whoever he could find.

The elephant walked up to the tiger and said, “Please, Mr. Tiger, do not eat up these poor
animals."

“Mind your own business!" growled the tiger.

The elephant has a no choice but to give the tiger a hefty kick.

The frightened tiger ran for his life.

The elephant ambled back into the forest to announce the good news to everyone.

All the animals thanked the elephant.

They said, “You are just the right size to be our friend."
Four Friends

Once upon a time in a small village lived four friends named Sanda, Vino, Dana and Sinbi. They
had grown up together to become good friends. Sanda, Vino and Dana were very knowledgeable.
But Sinbi spent most of his time eating and sleeping. He was considered foolish by everyone.

Once famine struck the village. All the crops failed. Rivers and lakes started to dry up. The people
of the villages started moving to other villages to save their lives.

“We also need to move to another place soon or else we will also die like many others," said
Sanda. They all agreed with him.

“But what about Sinbi?" Asked Sanda

“Do we need him with us? He has no skills or learning. We cannot take him with us," replied
Dana. “He will be a burden on us."

“How can we leave him behind? He grew up with us," said Vino. “We will share what ever we earn
equally among the four of us."

They all agreed to take Sinbi along with them.

They packed all necessary things and set out for a nearby town. On the way, they had to cross a
forest.

As they were walking through the forest, they came across the bones of an animal. They became
curious and stopped to take a closer look at the bones.

“Those are the bones of a lion," said Vino.

The others agreed.

“This is a great opportunity to test our learning," said Sanda.

“I can put the bones together." So saying, he brought the bones together to form the skeleton of
a lion.

“Dana said, “I can put muscles and tissue on it." Soon a lifeless lion lay before them.

“I can breathe life into that body." said Vino.

But before he could continue, Sinbi jumped up to stop him. “No. Don't! If you put life into that
lion, it will kill us all," he cried.

“Oh you coward! You can’t stop me from testing my skills and learning," shouted an angry Vino.
“You are here with us only because I requested the others to let you come along."

“Then please let me climb that tree first,’ said a frightened Sinbi running towards the nearest
tree. Just as Sinbi pulled himself on to the tallest branch of the tree Vino brought life into the
lion. Getting up with a deafening roar, the lion attacked and killed the three friends.

Dear friends, please think carefully before you do something. If not, you will end up like the three
friends.

The Clever Crab

There lived a heron by a big lake. He used to catch fish and eat them. But he had become old and
could not catch fish like before. He went without food for many days together.

“I have to think of a plan. Otherwise I won't live for long," thought the heron. Soon he came out
with a clever plan. The heron sat at the water’s edge looking depressed and thoughtful. In the
same lake lived a crab who was friendly and thoughtful. As he went past, he noticed how the
heron looked and asked him, “Why are you looking depressed my friend?"

“What can I say," said the heron in a sad voice. “Something terrible is going to happen."

“What is that?" asked the crab anxiously.

“When I was on my way here this morning, I heard an astrologer say that there will be no rains
in these parts for the next twelve years. The lake will dry up and we will all die. I am quite old. It
does not matter if I die. But you all are so young. There is so much for you to see and enjoy,"
said the heron.

The crab went to the fishes in the lake and told them what the heron had told him. They were all
filled with fear. “O no! What do we do? We will all die." they cried.

“There is a very big lake some distance from here. I can take you all there one by one." offered
the heron. All the fishes were comforted and they agreed to be carried to the bigger lake one by
one.

Every day, the heron would fly the fishes one by one. He would hold one gingerly between his
long beak and fly away. But instead of taking them to any lake, he would land on a rock some
distance away and eat them. Then he would rest till evening and return to the lake.

After some days, the crab went up to the heron. “You have been taking the fishes to the other
lake. When will you take me?" he asked.

The heron thought to himself, “I am tired of eating fish. Crab meat should be a pleasant change."

The heron agreed to take the crab to the other lake.

But the crab was too large for the heron to carry in his beak. So the crab climbed on to the
heron’s back and they started the journey. After a while, the crab grew impatient.

“How far is the lake?" he asked the heron.

“You fool," laughed the heron. “I am not taking you to any lake. I am going to dash you against
those rocks and eat you like I ate all those fishes."

“I am not a fool to allow you to kill me," said the crab.

He held the heron’s neck in his powerful claws and strangled the wicked heron to death.

The mice and a cat

There was a grocery shop in a town. Plenty of mice lived in that grocery shop. Food was in plenty
for them. They ate everything and spoiled all the bags. They also wasted the bread, biscuits and
fruits of the shop.

The grocer got really worried. So, he thought "I should buy a cat and let it stay at the grocery.
Only then I can save my things."

He bought a nice, big fat cat and let him stay there. The cat had a nice time hunting the mice and
killing them. The mice could not move freely now. They were afraid that anytime the cat would
eat them up.

The mice wanted to do something. They held a meeting and all of them tweeted "We must get rid
of the cat. Can someone give a suggestion"?

All the mice sat and brooded. A smart looking mouse stood up and said, "The cat moves softly.
That is the problem. If we can tie a bell around her neck, then things will be fine. We can know
the movements of the cat".

“Yes, that is answer," stated all the mice. An old mouse slowly stood up and asked, "Who would
tie the bell?" After some moments there was no one there to answer this question.

My friends, empty words are no solutions.

The clever thief

Devan was a clever thief. He robbed the rich and gave all to the sick and the needy. The other
thieves were jealous of him. They planned to get rid of him. They challenged to steal the King’s
Pyjamas.

Deven accepted the challenge. After that he prepared to execute the new challenge. He charted
out a plan to steal the King. He prepared himself mentally to carry out a plan.

He went to the King’s Palace. He found the King sleeping. He opened a bottle of red ants on the
bed. The King was badly bitten. He cried for help. The servants rushed in. They pretended to look
for ants. Deven removed the King’s Pyjamas and escaped. Other thieves were dump founded.

Soon, They accepted Deven their leader.

The clever mouse

Once a cat was caught in a hunter's net. A mouse used to live in a nearby hole. The mouse
seeing the cat in the net started playing around the cat.

Soon a mongoose came there. He wanted to kill the mouse. As he lifted his head, he saw an owl
sitting on a tree trying to catch him. The mongoose went very near the cat's net to save himself.
The mouse thought "When the hunter takes away the cat, the mongoose will not spare me and
the owl is there to enjoy both of us."

The Mouse went to the cat and said,

"I can cut the net if you promise to save my life from the mongoose and the owl." The cat
agreed. The mouse started cutting the net slowly and freed the cat only when the hunter was just
near the cat. The cat took to heels and so ran the mongoose too. The owl was very much
disappointed to see even the mouse running away to safety.

A few days later, the cat being hungry, went to the hole of the mouse and requested him to come
out for a game. The mouse replied,

"I sought friendship and saved you to save my life." Now you can go home.

Mariam
There lived a little girl Mariam who was very silly and lazy. Once, as she went wandering she felt
very thirsty. She went to a pond nearby and quenched her thirst. She felt very tired and drowsy.
She slept right there on the banks of the pond.

When she woke up it was night already. She peeped into the pond but could not see her
reflection. She got a big doubt, “Am I really here or not? Well! Let me ask at my home".

She went home and found the door closed. She called out "Is Mariam in there?" A sleepy voice
replied, “Oh! She must be in bed". Mariam thought, “If Mariam is at home, I am not Mariam".
Saying this, she went away. Then, she went back to the pond. The next day, a farmer found her.
“Mariam, where have you been? Your mother was so worried about you” Mariam was surprise to
realised that she is indeed Mariam! She quickly went back home. She found out that her mother
had fall sick looking for her. Mariam was so sad because she didn’t try to knock on the door last
night to know the truth.

The fox

A fox was stealthily crossing a field. But alas, he got trapped. He tried hard to come out of the
trap. At last he made it. But his tail got cut off. He was ashamed of his loss.

Back in the Jungle a few of his friends saw him without his tail and asked "What happened?"

The fox did not want to accept his ill fate. He said, "The tail is just an extra weight. I cut it off ".
But his clever friends could guess the reality and they asked, "If that is the case, why are you
sad".

The fox did not know what to say now. He went away without giving an answer.

Friends, always telling the truth no matter what.

The peacock
There was a peacock who often boasted about his beauty. Everyday he walked to the banks of a
large lake and looked his own reflections and said "Oh! What a beautiful bird I am! Look at my
colourful tail".

Once the peacock saw a crane on the banks of the lake. He said with a sneer to the crane, "What
a colourless bird you are! You have no beautiful and colourful feathers like mine".

The crane replied, "Of course! I don't have beautiful feathers. But, my feathers can make me fly
across the lake. Can your feathers make you fly?" There was no reply from the peacock.

My friends, It is better to be useful than to be beautiful.

The wind and the sun

It was an autumn day. The wind and the sun had an argument.

The wind boasted "I am stronger than you."

The sun mildly said "No. you are not".

Just then, they saw a traveller wrapped in a blanket was passing by. The wind said, "Whoever
separates the blanket from traveller is the stronger. Do you agree?"

The sun replied, "OK. First you try."

The wind started blowing. The traveller wrapped his blanket around him. He blew harder. The
traveller held his blanket firmer. He blew still harder. The traveller held his blanket still tighter.
The harder the wind blew the tighter and firmer did the traveller hold his blanket. The wind failed.

It was the Sun's turn. The sun smiled gently at the traveller. The traveller loosened his grip on
the blanket. The sun smiled warmly. The traveller felt the warmth and soon took off the blanket.

The sun was declared stronger.

There lived two silly goats in a village.

There was a narrow bridge over a river in the village.

One day, the goats wanted to cross the bridge.

One silly goat was on one side.

The other one was on the other side.

One of them said, “I shall go first. Allow me to pass."

The other goat said, “No. I must cross first. You move aside."

Neither of them yielded.

At last, they came to the middle of the bridge.

They began to fight terribly.

As they were fighting, both of them fell into the river and were drowned.