THE GRAPES ARE SOUR

Once upon a time, a hungry fox was roaming around here and
there searching for food. Because of hunger, he was feeling
weak and tired. Fortunately, he came to a garden where he
saw a grape-vine laden with bunches of grapes they looked
quite ripe and juicy.
The fox looked at the grapes with longing eyes and licked his
chops. But the bunches were too high for him and he was
feeling weak. So he sat down for a while to take some rest. On
feeling refreshed, he jumped as high as he could, to get at
the grapes. But he failed to reach them.
Then he again rested for some time and made another bold
attempt, but was unlucky for the second time.
Forced to give up trying anymore, he just walked away and
instead of accepting his failure, he remarked "the grapes
appeared to be ripe and juicy, but now I see them to be quite
sour."
This story, thus, proves that, people generally hate what they
can't get.

THE FOX AND THE LAMB

Once a wolf was drinking water at the head of the stream. All
of a sudden, he saw a little lamb drinking water at a distance
downstream.
On seeing the lamb, the wolf licked his chops and decided to
eat it up. So, he walked towards the lamb. While going, he
kept thinking of some excuse for his action. Getting near the
lamb, he looked at it with blood-shot eyes and thundered,
"How dare you spoil the water for me?"
Trembling in fear, the lamb replied, "How can I do that, sir?
The water is flowing from you to me."
The wolf had no words to say. Then he again thought of
something and suddenly burst out, "Why did you abuse me last
year?"
Meekly, the lamb retorted, "How is it possible, sir? I was not
even born at that time."
"Well if it wasn't you, it must have been your mother." Saying
this, he attacked the lamb and tore it into pieces.
The wolf already decided to eat the lamb and he was just
giving excuses to kill it.

EXAMPLE IS BETTER THAN PRECEPT

If you ever see a crab walking on land, you will find that, it
walks tilted to one side. Its body is such that it cannot walk
straight. This fact is true for all the crabs on earth.
One day a mother-crab was sitting on the bank of a river. Her
young son was playing nearby. Suddenly, the mother noticed
that, her son was not walking straight rather, he was walking
tilting his body sideways.
She got worried and advised her son, "You ought to walk
straight, not sideways."
The young crab retorted, "Mother! Show me, how to walk
straight. I will follow your example."
The mother crab tried her level best to walk straight but
could not make it and realized her folly.

KEEP YOUR EYES OPEN

Once upon a time there was a lion that grew so old that he was
unable to kill any prey for his food. So, he said to himself, "I
must do something to stay my stomach else I will die of
starvation."
He kept thinking and thinking and at last an idea clicked him.
He decided to lie down in the cave pretending to be ill and
then who-so-ever will come to enquire about his health, will
become his prey. The old lion put his wicked plan into practice
and it started working. Many of his well-wishers got killed. But
evil is short lived.
One day, a fox came to visit the ailing lion. As foxes are
clever by nature, the fox stood at the mouth of the cave and
looked about. His sixth sense worked and he came to know the
reality. So, he called out to the lion from outside and said,
"How are you, sir?"
The lion replied, "I am not feeling well at all. But why don't
you come inside?"
Then the fox replied, "I would love to come in, sir! But on
seeing, all foot prints going to your cave and none coming out,
I would be foolish enough to come in."
Saying so, the fox went to alert the other animals.

SAY THE TRUTH BUT DON'T HURT ANYONE'S

FEELINGS
Jupiter, the chief of gods, was getting married. He decided to
celebrate the event by hosting a reception. He invited all the
animals living on land and in water to attend the banquet.
All the animals came to attend the feast but the tortoise
didn't come. Jupiter was surprised at his absence.
After few days, Jupiter came across the tortoise and asked
him, "Why didn't you attend the banquet held in honour of my
marriage? Were you all right?"
The tortoise retorted, "I am a stay-at-home type of an animal
and never care to attend petty affairs. Why should I trouble
myself when there is no place like home?"
Though, the tortoise said something very true, but the way he
said it was very hurting. Jupiter felt pinched and cursed the
tortoise, "Now, you will always carry your home on your back
and never be able to unload it."
Till today, every tortoise carries his home with him.

NEVER PRETEND WHAT YOU ARE NOT

Once there was a crow that lived near a farm-house. The
owner of the farm had kept some pigeons and he fed them
with grains regularly. The crow looked at the pigeons and
envied them everyday.
Deciding to share the feed, the crow painted his body like
that of pigeons and joined the pigeons as one of them. Thus,
he was able to enjoy the feed daily. The pigeons never
suspected anything foul.
But one day, after the feed, the crow couldnt control himself
and started crying. The pigeons came to know that he was not
one of them. They pecked at his body so mercilessly that he
started bleeding.
The crow flew away to save his life and went straight to his
own brethren- the crows. But because of his painted body,
they refused to accept him. So, he was forced to flee in order
to save himself and became a homeless wanderer.
So, don't pose what you are not because affectation seldom
works.

HE HORSE RIDING
Jimmy was a very fat boy. He always used to be sad because
of his obesity. So, he decided to consult a doctor. He said to
the doctor, "How can I reduce my weight? Everybody teases
me at the school."
The doctor advised him to exercise daily. After few days, he
again went to the doctor and complained that despite of
exercising, he couldn't reduce his weight rather, putting on
weight.
The doctor asked him what exercise he was doing. Jimmy
replied, "I go for horse riding everyday. The result is that I
gained weight while the horse lost weight."
The doctor laughed and showed him how to exercise.

NAUGHTY JOHN
John was a very notorious boy. He was very fond of
chocolates. One day he went to his neighbour who gave him
some chocolates to eat. He felt very happy, quickly ate up all
of them and asked for more.
The aunty got angry and said that she had no more chocolates
left. Then John pointed out to a box in the cupboard and
asked, "Then what is there in that box?" "That box is filled
with insects", replied the aunty. Later that day, on getting an
opportunity, he ate up all the chocolates in the box and filled
it with many insects.
When aunty came to know about it, she got very angry and
scolded him.

THE EGG PLOY

Once in a city there were two neighbours Harry and Danny.
Harry would always remain tense as the hens of his neighbour
daily used to enter his garden and ruin it.
One day Harry came to know that Danny was away. So, he
placed some eggs in the garden. When Danny returned home
and saw Harry picking up the eggs, he asked him, "Harry, you
have no hens. Then where did you get these hens from?"
Harry innocently replied, "Some hens come in my garden and
lay eggs. I am lucky to get free eggs daily." Since that day,
the hens of Danny never entered the garden of Harry.

FRIENDSHIP IS A STRONG WEAPON

It was hot summer. A lion went to a pool to drink water. Just
then a pig also came there to quench his thirst. Both of them
wanted to drink first.
They looked at each other with blood-shot eyes and attacked
each other with so much anger that soon they started
bleeding.
Feeling tired, both stopped for a while to be fresh. Suddenly,
they heard the screams of vultures. They saw that a large
number of vultures were looking at them with longing eyes.
In no time, both the beasts understood that the vultures
were waiting for one of them to be killed by the other so that
they might feed on his dead body.
So both of them became friends, quenched their thirst and
went away.
Thus, their friendship saved their lives.

ELL THE CAT

At a grocer's shop there were a mice everywhere. People
didn't want to come to his shop anymore.
So, the grocer kept a cat. She chased the mice and ate some
each day. The mice had no chance to feed on anything more.
Troubled by the cat, mice held a meeting to get rid of the
cruel animal as she killed them ruthlessly and their number
was falling down. Each mouse suggested his idea but all ideas
were rejected, as they were not practicable.
At last, a young mouse suggested to tie a bell round the cat's
neck when she was fast asleep so that when she would move,
the bell shall ring and warn them of the danger. So, they will
run to safety.
Everybody approved the idea but the question was- who will
bell the cat?

All the mice looked at each other in despair and the meeting
got over.

THE DOG AND THE BONE

Once a stray dog while searching for food came to a butcher's
shop. There he got a bone with some meat on it. So, he lifted
it and ran to a safe place to enjoy it at ease.
He chewed the bone for a very long time and this made him
quite thirsty. So, he went to a river to quench his thirst. It
took the bone along, as it was worried that some other dog
might not take it away.
As the dog stood on a bridge across the river, it looked
around to see if it could safely put the bone down while it
quenched its thirst.
By chance, he saw his reflection in the water from over the
bridge. He could not follow that it was his shadow. Rather, he
thought it to be another dog with a bone in his mouth.

Being greedy by nature, he wanted that bone too. So, he

barked at the other dog, hoping to scare it into giving it that
bone. But alas! The bone that he held in its mouth fell into the
river.

IN THE ZOO
One day Danny went with his father to a zoo. He was very
excited to see different types of birds and animals.
After a while, they came in front of the cage of a lion.
Danny's father told him how ferocious and strong lions are.
Danny was listening very attentively.
Finally, he spoke up, "Dad, if somehow the lion comes out of
the cage and eats you up, then how will I get back home? At
least tell me the route to reach home.
Danny's father laughed at the innocent question of the son.

A LION AND A RABBIT

Once a lion said to all the animals in the forest that if one of
them will come to him as his meal for the day, he would not kill
anyone else among them. All the animals agreed to this.
One day, it was a rabbit's turn and it took quite long reaching
the lion. The lion asked it the reason for being late. It acted
wisely and said, "Sir! I was stopped by another lion, who was
claiming to be the king of the jungle and he wants to meet
you."
"So do I", said the furious lion.
The rabbit took the lion to a well and showed him his
reflection in the water of the well. The lion jumped into the
well to catch his opponent and drowned.

How intelligently, the rabbit got rid of the wild beast.

THE DOG AND THE THIEF

On a Sunday afternoon Sunny's parents were not at home. He
was feeling bored. So, he decided to go and watch a cricket
match. He left his dog, Snoopy in the house.
Just after Sunny had left, a thief forced open the window. He
entered the house and started searching the rooms. He took
all the valuables but when he was about to leave, he saw
Snoopy standing in front of him, growling.
The dog was about to pounce on him when Sunny returned
home. He asked Snoopy to calm down and handed over the
thief to the police.