Strong or weak

Strong or Weak

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

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

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

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

During these times, the herb bowed low. The teak made fun of the herb.

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

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

He tried his best to stand upright, but in the end, he fell down. That was the end of the proud tree.

When everything was calm again, the herb stood straight. He looked around. He saw that the proud teak had fallen.

Moral: Pride goes before a fall.

Greedy Boy

Greedy Boy

Sam and Tom were identical twins. They were so identical that even their mother found it difficult to distinguish one from the other, at least during their initial days on earth.

However, they were very different from each other when it came to everything other than their appearance. Sam had no friends, while Tom was a great friendship maker. Sam loved sweets, but Tom loved spicy food and detested sweets. Sam was mommy's pet and Tom was daddy's pet. While Sam was generous and selfless, Tom was greedy and selfish!

As Sam and Tom grew up, their father wanted to share his fortune equally amongst them. However, Tom did not agree and he argued that whoever proved to be more intelligent and strong would have to get a bigger share of the wealth.

Sam agreed. Their father decided to organize a competition between the two. He asked the two sons to walk as long as they could, and return home before sunset. The wealth would be divided in proportion to the distance covered. As a rule of the competition, they were not permitted to carry a watch to keep track of the time.

The following day, Sam and Tom set out to walk. It was a rather sunny day. Sam walked slowly and steadily, while Tom broke into a sprint as he was bent on winning the race and also winning a greater portion of his father's wealth.

Sam knew that it would be ideal to walk as far as possible till noon and start for home at noon as it would take the same amount of time to walk back home. Knowing this, Sam decided to turn back for home at noon so as reach home on time.

However, Tom, with his greed to earn more wealth, did not attempt to return home even after mid-noon. He walked twice as long as Sam, and thought he would still be able to return home before sunset. He hurried back when he saw the sun turn orange. Unfortunately, he could not even make it half way home as the sun started to set. Slowly darkness engulfed his path and he had to drag his tired feet back home.

He had lost the race. Only because of his greed. Greed leads to loss.

Monkey is king

HIGH RANK NEEDS A HIGH SENSE

One day, all the animals of a forest gathered to choose their king. The monkey danced such gay abandon there that everyone felt delighted. So, his name was proposed for kingship. Everyone voted in his favour and he became the king.

But the fox couldn’t tolerate the monkey rising to a high position. He felt envy of him and decided to humiliate him. One day, the fox was roaming around searching for food and saw a trap laid by some hunter. It had a piece of meat in it as bait.

The fox was intelligent enough to stay away from the trap. But he was sure that monkey wouldn’t. So, he approached the king and brought him to the trap. The fox then said, “Here is a dainty piece of meat, sir! As a true subject of yours, I didn’t touch it. So, enjoy it Your Honour!”

The monkey extended his hand for the meat and got trapped. The fox then laughed and said, “Kingship needs a lot of wisdom, sir!” 

The End.. 

Unhelpful friends

Unhelpful Friends

Bunny rabbit lived in the forest. He had many friends. He was proud of his friends. One day Bunny rabbit heard the loud barking of wild dogs. He was very scared. He decided to ask for help. He quickly went to his friend deer. He said, "Dear friend, some wild dogs are chasing me. Can you chase them away with your sharp antlers?"

The deer said, "That is right, I can. But now I am busy. Why don't you ask bear for help?"

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

The bear replied, "I am sorry. I am hungry and tired. I need to find some food. Please ask the monkey for help."

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

He understood that he had to think of a way out by himself. He hid under a bush. He lay very still. The wild dogs did not find the bunny. They went chasing other animals.

Bunny rabbit learnt that he had to learn to survive by himself, not depending on his unhelpful friends.

Moral: It is better to rely on yourself than depend on others.

Heavy load

HEAVY LOAD

Heavy load

Once a rich merchant was walking along the road with his servant. Out of the blue, a labourer carrying a heavy sack, passed by him. The merchant was hit by the sack and his hat fell in a nearby drain.

The servant thought that the labourer would now get a good scolding, but to his amusement, the merchant instead of scolding the labourer asked the servant to help the labourer pick his sack.

When the labourer went ahead, the servant asked the merchant for such behaviour.

The merchant said, "It was my mistake, not his. He was already carrying a heavy load. I should have walked carefully."

Hearing this, the servant praised his master.

The moral of the story is that a person should never blame others for his fault.

The End.. 

He rulers best who rules least

HE RULES BEST WHO RULES LEAST

A pool was abounded with frogs. They always desired to have a king, as they felt unguarded without him. So, they held a meeting and decided to see Jupiter, the chief of gods, and ask him for a king. So, they went to him and placed their request before him.

Jupiter was surprised at the foolish request and tried to advise the frogs but all in vain. So, he cast a big log into the pool and said that it was their king. The splash of the falling log terrified the frogs and they ran hurriedly to save themselves. But after some time, they came back and sat on the log. Seeing it quite motionless, they began to hate it.

So, the frogs again came to Jupiter and requested him to replace their king with some active king. Jupiter sent a crane as their king who began to catch and eat them up daily.

Thus, they were taught a right lesson for their folly. 

The End..

Change yourself

Change Yourself and not The World

Long ago, people lived happily under the rule of a king. The people of the kingdom were very happy as they led a very prosperous life with an abundance of wealth and no misfortunes.

Once, the king decided to go visiting places of historical importance and pilgrim centres at distant places. He decided to travel by foot to interact with his people. People of distant places were very happy to have a conversation with their king. They were proud that their king had a kind heart.

After several weeks of travel, the king returned to the palace. He was quite happy that he had visited many pilgrim centres and witnessed his people leading a prosperous life. However, he had one regret.

He had intolerable pain in his feet as it was his first trip by foot covering a long distance. He complained to his ministers that the roads weren't comfortable and that they were very stony. He could not tolerate the pain. He said that he was very much worried about the people who had to walk along those roads as it would be painful for them too!

Considering all this, he ordered his servants to cover the roads in the whole country with leather so that the people of his kingdom can walk comfortably.

The king's ministers were stunned to hear his order as it would mean that thousands of cows would have to be slaughtered in order to get sufficient quantity of leather. And it would cost a huge amount of money also.

Finally, a wise man from the ministry came to the king and said that he had another idea. The king asked what the alternative was. The minister said, "Instead of covering the roads with leather, why don't you just have a piece of leather cut in appropriate shape to cover your feet?"

The king was very much surprised by his suggestion and applauded the wisdom of the minister. He ordered a pair of leather shoes for himself and requested all his countrymen also to wear shoes.

Moral: Instead of trying to change the world, we should try to change ourselves.