King Canute and his Courtier

           King Canute was a great king who had great power and vast knowledge. One of his courtiers always flatters him. One day the man said, “You are the most powerful king. All the other kings obey you. Even nature recognizes your greatness. If you wish you can command the sea to stop and the wind to cease to blow.” On hearing his flattery the king only smiled.

One day he wished to teach the flatterer a good lesson. He took him to the sea side and sat a chair. It was a high tide. He then raised his arm and commanded the sea to stop. But the waves rolled on and wetted the clothes of every one including the king’s. “How is it, my courtier, that the sea does not obey me? It seems that you say about my power is nothing but flattery”, said the king, “It is only God who can say to the sea thus far you can go and no farther.” The courtier hung down his head in shame.

The moral of the story is “a wise man is never flattered”.

Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves

              Once there was a wood cutter. His name was Ali Baba. He lived in Arabia. One day he went to cut wood in a dense forest. It was at the foot of a mountain. Suddenly he heard a fearful sound. He saw some men on horseback approaching. He had himself behind a tree and watched them. They were the forty thieves. They stopped near a cave. It was closed with a stone door. One of them said, “Open Sesame”. Immediately the door opened. All the thieves went in. After sometime they came out. One of them told, “Close Sesame”. The door immediately closed. Then the robbers rode away. Ali Baba wanted to see what there was in the cave. He came near the cave and said, “Open Sesame”. The door opened and Ali Baba went in. He was surprised to see gold and jewels lying heaped there. He took as much as he could. He came out and closed the door saying, “Close Sesame”. Ali Baba then became very reach.

The Honest Wood Cutter

            Once a poor wood-cutter was cutting down a tree by the side of the river. Accidentally his axe slipped in to the water. Losing his axe, the poor man sat down and wept. A God heard him cry and came out of the water to help him. He heard the poor man’s story, dived in to the stream and soon came out holding in his hand a golden axe. “Is this the axe you lost” He asked. “No, my axe was not so beautiful as this,” replied the poor wood cutter. The God dived into the river again and brought up a silver axe. The poor man would not take this either and said that it was not his. So the God went in to the river for the third time and brought up the iron axe the man had lost. This the man received with great joy. The God was pleased that the wood cutter was honest. He gave him the silver and gold axe as a reward in addition to the one made of iron.

The moral of the story is "Honesty is always rewarded".

The Honest Candidate

         A Sultan wanted to find an honest man who would look after the revenue (income) of his kingdom. An experienced and wise friend of Sultan advised him to announce publicly his intention and then to invite all the applicants to his palace.

“I shall show you the honest person among them when you will ask all of them to dance.” The wise man said.

The candidates for the post arrived. They were invited to meet the Sultan at his palace once after another through a corridor dark and solitary. As soon as they gathered in front of his throne, the Sultan declared, “Gentleman, I want all of you to dance joyously.”

But all of them refused, became red in face in embarrassment, except one who danced well and with much gaiety. The wise philosopher declared, “Here is the honest man.”

As the wise counselor of the Sultan had arranged bags full of gold along the dark and lonely corridor, all the dishonest candidates had filled their pockets with gold before appearing before the Sultan, If they had danced the gold in their pockets would have jingled and that is why they had refused to dance.

The moral of the story is ‘honesty has nothing to fear’.

The Fox and the Grapes

One hot day a fox was passing along by a vineyard. Ripe grapes hung in the vines. The fox was very hungry and thirsty. The sight of ripe grapes was a joy to him. He wanted to get some of the grapes. But they were beyond his reach. He jumped again and again but he failed. He could not reach the grapes in any way. He was very sorry at this.
The fox said to himself, “The grapes are sour. I don’t want to have the grapes.”

Never follow the Blind

        Once there was a snake that had two heads at its ends. One of the head had eyes while the other head had no eyes.

The snake followed the head that had eyes. The blind head also wished that the snake also follow it. But the snake did not agree to do so. This made the blind head angry.

Once the snake was passing by a tree. The blind head coiled round the trunk of the tree. So the snake could not proceed any further. At last, finding no other alternative the snake agreed to follow the blind head.

Now the blind head began to lead the snake. On the way there was a very deep pit. But the blind head could not see it. So the snake fell into it and died.

The moral of the story is “always see where you are wrong”.

The Wolf and The Lamb

          There was a wolf in a jungle. He was very wicked and cruel. He killed smaller animals for nothing. One day he was very hungry and moved about in the forest for a prey but found none. They made him thirsty. He went to a stream to drink water.
To his great joy, he found a lamb drinking water. He wanted to kill the lamb and eat her up. He went to the lamb and said, “Why do you muddle my water?”
The lamb said “What do you say Sir? The water runs from you to me. How can I muddle your water?”
The wolf angrily said, “Do you argue with me? You scolded me a year ago.”
The lamb said, “fine indeed. I was not born a year ago.” The wolf said, “Then it was your father who scolded me. I will not let you go.”
Saying this, the wolf fell upon the poor lamb and ate her up.
The moral of the story is “a bad fellow has always an excuse for its misdeed”.