A Man and his Ass

        A man dealt in salt. He had an ass to carry loads of salt from a distant town. There was a stream on the way. The ass had to cross that river every day. One day the ass fell in to the river. Some of the salt melted in the water. The load became lighter. The ass felt relieved to some extent. It became clever. It began to let it feet slip every day. The dealer suffered a great loss. He became very angry. He wanted to teach the ass a good lesson. He kept it without food for two days. The ass could realize its fault. It never did such a thing again.

Don’t Try a Thing You Don’t Know

         A fisherman was fishing in a river. He fished for a long time and was tired. He went to a house nearby to have a smoke. He left the net by the riverside. There was a big tree beside the river. A monkey lived in that tree sitting by a distance the monkey watched carefully how the fisherman threw his net and caught the fish. The monkey wished to throw the net into the river. So it went to the net. It picked up the net and tried to throw it. But it was not an easy thing for the monkey to do. In trying to do so it got entangled in to the net. It tried hard but could not get free. The fisherman came in the meantime he was very angry. He beat the monkey to death.

Look Before You Leap

            A fox was once passing by a well after sunset. It had been dark. She he did not notice the well. He slipped in to the well. He remained there all the night and suffered much. Somehow he saved himself from drowning. Near that well there lived a villager. The villager had a goat. The goat was quite foolish. In the morning while grazing about, she went near the well. The fox on seeing the goat said, “Come friend, you have not tasted such clear and sweet water in your life as you may find in this well. I have drunk and drunk and yet want to drink.” The foolish goat was a bit thirsty. She could not check herself. She at once jumped into the well. The fox got upon the head of the goat and got out of the well.

NEVER BELIEVE THE WICKED

           There was a tiger. He was very cruel in his youth. He was a man eater. In his old age he became very weak. He could no longer hunt down any animal. So he suffered much in want of food. He had a gold bangle in his possession. He sat in an open place in the forest with bangle. There was a road along that open place. When the tiger saw any man passing by he said to him’ “Brother here is a good bangle. I wish to give it to you. Don’t fear. I am old and infirm now. I now pray to God five times a day and do other religious acts. The bangle is useless to me. It will be useful to you. Don’t fear, come to me and take this.”        
A man was passing by the way. He was simple and religious minded. He believed the tiger. He thought he would help a poor man with that gold. He went near the tiger and was about to receive that bangle. The wicked tiger caught him by the neck and killed him.

A HOUSE ON FIRE

               It was a holiday. I was busy reading for my coming examination. Suddenly I heard a cry. It came from the neighboring house. I looked outside through the. To my horror, I saw that smoke was billowing out of the house next to our one. I suspected that it was on fire. It was a thatched house. To make things worse a strong wind was blowing. In no time flames of the fire lepta out and spread on all sides of the cottage. Volumes of thick smoke filled the air. I at once left my books and ran to the house. Other people had also arrived there in the meantime. We went forward to fight the fire with buckets of water. We were able to bring the fire under control after an hour’s hard struggle. Though there was no loss of life, the house was burnt to ashes with all its contents. The residents of the burnt house were poor people and this terrible accident virtually made beggars. The neighbors raise a fund to help them tide over the difficult time.

DO NOT TRUST A FALSE FRIEND

           There were two friends. One day they were passing through a forest. By chance a bear came up there. The friends got frightened. One of them climbed up a tree. He did not think for a moment what would happen to his friend. The second friend did not know how to climb up a tree. He had presence of mind. He lay on the ground as if he were dead. He knew that a bear does not touch a dead man. T he bear came to him and sniffed at his mouth, nose and ears. It took him for a dead man and went away. Then the other friend got down from the tree. He came to his friend and said, “What did the bear say to you? It had put its mouth beside your ears.” His friend said, “The bear whispered into my ears not to keep company with a friend who runs away at the time of danger.”

THE GREAT MAN I LIKE THE MOST

          We all adore great man because they always help us to improve our life. They inspire us with their selfless devotion of duty, kindness, justice and morality. Many great men were born in this world, but the great man I like most is Ishwarchandra Vidyasagar.
Iswarchandra was one of the most prominent persons of Bengal. Born in 1820 A.D., he had his early education in the village pathsala. He then came to Calcutta and got himself admitted to the Sanskrit College. Although he was the son of a poor man, he became a great Sanskrit Scholar by dint of his merit and hard labour. He also learnt English, Hindi and Parsi. It was his great scholarship that earned him the great fame of Vidyasagar.
As a man he was versatile genius. He fought against the evils of the society, against the child-marriage and for the favor of re-marriage of child-widow. In this sense, he was a great social reformer.
He was also a famous writer. He translated books in Bengali from Hindi and English, and also wrote original books for the students. His primer for lessons in Bengali and the Sanskrit Grammar was much appreciated. He is rightly called the father of Bengali Literature.
But above all, he had a heart of gold. He used to spend much of his income for the poor and the wretched. That is why he is called “Karunasagar”. He himself lived a very simple life of Brahmin pundit though he used to earn a lot. Plain living and high thinking was his motto in life. He had a very high spirit, and nobody could make him do anything which he thought to be wrong. Lastly, he had high respect for his mother. Such a strong and charming personality is seldom found in any countr4y. Bengal is proud of Iswarchandra.