The Dog and the Crow

         Once a dog found a piece of bone. He was eating it sitting under a tree. There sat a crow on the tree. It wished to take away the bone for itself.

The crow was very cunning. It fled away. After sometime it returned there with another crow. Both the crows went to the dog. One of them with the beak pulled the dog by his tail. The dog felt disturbed and annoyed. Again the crow bites the dog in its tail. The dog got very angry. He dropped the piece of bone on the ground and looked back to see what the matter was. In the meantime the second crow picked up the bone and flew away with it.

The moral of the story is ‘the power of cunning’.

Panini and the Well

              Panini was a great scholar of ancient India. He lived in Punjab. But as a boy he was very dull. He could not understand anything. He had read in primary schools but was driven out from all of them because of his dullness. He was sixteen years old yet he learnt nothing. His father grew angry and drove him. Panini became sad and roamed about. One day he came near a well. Village women had come there for water. Their pitchers had made deep hollows on the hard stones around. Being impressed Panini thought, “These stones are hard. But the pitchers have rubbed them daily and made these hollows on them. My brain surely not harder than a stone? Can I also make my dull brain sharp if I try harder?” He thought thus and went to a village. One kind teacher admitted him in his school. There Panini worked hard. Eventually his dullness was gone. He learnt quickly and became a very learned man. He wrote many books.

So the moral of the story we all learn from here “always see where you are going”.

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.