A Tailor and the Elephant

Once there lived a tailor in a village. An elephant also lived in the same village. The elephant visited the tailor's shop every day. The tailor fed him with something or the other.

They lived like good friends. One day the tailor was not in a good mood. When the elephant came to his shop he pricked its trunk with a needle. The elephant went to the river and filled his trunk with plenty of mud and dirt.

He came running to the tailor's shop. He emptied his trunk all over the tailor and his shop. The tailor was splashed with dirt.

Next day, the tailor asked forgiveness from the elephant and fed him with fresh fruit and vegetables.

Moral: Do not expect any good in return of bad.

Lion and the Mouse

Part of a story is given below: you have to complete it. Once a lion was sleeping in a jungle. He was woken up by a mouse. The lion became angry. The mouse pleaded for his life. He promised to help the lion. The lion let it go. Once the lion got caught in a trap.

Once there lived a lion. He was sleeping under a shady tree. A mouse lived in a hole nearby. It came out of its hole. It began to move up and down on the body of the lion. The lion woke up from his sleep. He was very angry. He wanted to kill the mouse. The mouse prayed for its life. It said, "Please spare my life. I will pay back your kindness". The lion took pity and set the mouse free.

One day, the lion was caught in a net. He began to roar. The little mouse heard his roar and came there. It saw the lion caught in a net. It cut the net with its sharp teeth. The lion was free. He thanked the little mouse for its timely help.

Moral: Do well and have well.

Fox and the grapes

Once a hungry fox went about in search of food and reached a vineyard. He stopped near one of the trees that bore beautiful ripe grapes which were hang­ing in bunches. His mouth watered. He thought that he would eat the ripe grapes to satisfy his hunger.

So he tried to catch hold of the grapes. He jumped as high as possible to hold at least one of the bunches which was not so high. But still it was beyond his reach. When his repeated efforts failed to get even a single grape, he was upset.

So he consoled himself by thinking that these grapes must be sour, which he should not taste. And it is better to leave the vineyard and look for food somewhere else. So the fox went away.

A Monkey and Two Cats

Once a cake was stolen by two cats from a house. But they did not want to share it.

Each of the cats claimed that it was his earning and that he was not prepared to give a share to the other. When their quarrel reached the climax, a monkey appeared on the scene. He offered himself to solve the dispute. He heard the case and opined that as they were good friends, they should share the cake equally. And he offered himself to divide the cake into two equal parts for them.

Somehow the cats agreed to his suggestion. Then the monkey took and 'divided the cake into two parts. He weighed each of the parts separately, and found that one was heavier than the other. So he gave a good bite to the heavier piece to make it of lesser weight, and weighed it again. Now he found the other part heavier. So again, he gave a good bite to the heavier piece and put it one the scale. Now it appeared to be of lesser weight. Again, he gave a good bite to the presently heavier piece to make it equal in weight to the other. But none of the two pieces appeared to be perfectly equal in weight.

Now the cake was almost eaten up by the clever monkey this Way. So the cats wanted the remaining parts back from the monkey. At this, the monkey said that they cannot get them back, because he claims them as remuneration for his service to them. So saying, the monkey swallowed the tuning two small pieces of the cake and jumped high to of a tree, beyond the reach of the cats.

A Thirsty Crow

There was a crow. At a very hot summer day he was feeling very thirsty. He flew from place to place in search of water, but he could not find it anywhere. He was very sad and disappointed at not getting a drop of it.

At last he saw a jug of water. He flew down to the jug and sat on its edge. When he craned his beak to quench his thirst, he, saw to his great discouragement, that the water was just at the bottom.

His beak could not reach such a low level of water. He even tried to overturn the jug but could not. It was too heavy for him to move.

When he was just about to fly in despair, he thought of a plan. Suddenly his eyes fell upon some pebbles lying near the jug. He flew to them, picked up the pebbles one by one and dropped them into the jug.

Slowly and slowly the level of water rose and came up to the neck. The crow was overjoyed to see this. He dipped his beak, quenched his thirst and flew away.

Moral :

Where there is a will there is a way.

The Fox and Crow

Once a fox was feeling very hungry. He roamed here and there in search of food but could not find anything to eat.

To take rest it sat under a tree. When the fox looked up, he saw, to his great joy, a crow sitting on one of the branches of the tree. He was holding a piece of meat in his beak.

On seeing this, his mouth began to water and started thinking about the piece of meat. At last he hit upon a plan to get the piece of meat from the crow.

He got up and said to crow, "Good morn­ing. I am glad to meet you. How handsome you look! What a nice beak you have! But if you could sing so sweet as you are beautiful, you could win for yourself the title of the 'Queen of the birds'."

The foolish crow was taken in by the oily talk of the fox. He felt happy. He at once opened his beak to sing. As he gave out a loud caw in his cracked voice, the piece of meat fell down on the ground.

The fox picked it up and ate it up at once. The poor crow had to repent on his foolishness.

Moral:

Do not give way to flattery.

Dishonesty meets dishonesty

It was a stormy night. A traveler reached an inn. As the hour was very late, he found the door locked from within. He knocked at the door.

The gate-keeper responded to the knock, saying, "I have lost the key and the door cannot be opened unless you have a silver key with you."

The traveler understood what he meant by the silver key. He immediately slipped a silver coin through the hole, and the door opened.

As soon as he got in, he said to the gate keeper, "I have left my box outside, please bring it." As the gate-keeper went out to bring the box, the traveller closed the door behind him.

The keeper asked him to open the door so that he may come in. Now the traveller replied from within, "I have lost the key and a silver key is needed to open the door." Soon the coin was pushed again through the hole and the dishonest man was let in.

Moral:

Dishonesty meets dishonesty.

Bad habits

A rich man had only one son. The son fell into the bad company. He developed many bad habits.

The man was much worried about the habits of his son. He tried his best to mend his habits but he could not succeed. One day he thought of a plan to teach his son a lesson.

He went to market and purchased some fresh apples and a rotten one. He came back to his home and called his son. He asked his son to put all the apples along with the rotten one in the almirah.

The son did the same. After some days father asked his son to bring the apples. As he opened the door of almirah he was surprised to note that all the apples had become rotten. He felt sad.

At this his father told him to see how one rotten apple had spoiled all the rest. In the same way one bad companion could spoil all others. The father's advice had the desired effect. The boy gave up bad com­pany and became good again

Half profit

A rich man wanted to give a great feast to his friends. He got all kinds of dishes prepared but he could not get fish. He offered a reward to the man who would bring it.

After some time a fisherman brought a big fish. But the gate keeper would not let him in till he had promised to give him half the reward.

The fisherman agreed. The rich man was highly pleased and wanted to give him a lot of money, but the fisherman refused to take it. Instead, he demanded a hundred lashes on his back. All were surprised.

At last the rich man ordered a servant to give him a hundred lashes. When the fisherman had received fifty, he asked them to stop as he had a partner in the business.

It was the gate keeper. The rich man understood the whole thing. He was given the remaining fifty lashes dismissed from the service. The rich man gave the fisherman a handsome reward.