THE WIND AND THE SUN

Once the Wind and the Sun had an argument. “I am stronger than you,” said the Wind. “No, you are not,” said the Sun. Just at that moment, they saw a traveller walking across the road. He was wrapped in a shawl. The Sun and the Wind agreed that whoever could separate the traveller from his shawl was stronger. The Wind took the first turn. He blew with all his might to tear the traveller’s shawl from his shoulders. But the harder he blew, the tighter the traveller gripped the shawl to his body. The struggle went on till the Wind’s turn was over. Now it was the Sun’s turn. The Sun smiled warmly. The traveller felt the warmth of the smiling Sun. Soon he let the shawl fall open. The Sun’s smile grew warmer and warmer… hotter and hotter. Now the traveller no longer needed his shawl. He took it off and dropped it on the ground. The Sun was declared stronger than the Wind.

Moral: Brute force can’t achieve what a gentle smile can.

– – – – – – –

THE VILLAGER AND THE SPECTACLES

There was a villager. He was illiterate. He did not know how to read and write. He often saw people wearing spectacles for reading books or papers. He thought, “If I have spectacles, I can also read like these people. I must go to town and buy a pair of spectacles for myself.” So one day he went to a town. He entered a spectacles shop He asked the shopkeeper for a pair of spectacles for reading. The shopkeeper gave him various pairs of spectacles and a book. The villager tried all the spectacles one by one. But he could not read anything. He told the shopkeeper that all those spectacles were useless for him. The shopkeeper gave him a doubtful look. Then he looked at the book. It was upside down! The shopkeeper said, “Perhaps you don’t know how to read.” The villager said, “No, I don’t. I want to buy spectacles so that I can read like others. But I can’t read with any of these spectacles.” The shopkeeper controlled his laughter with great difficulty when he learnt the real problem of his illiterate customer. He explained to the villager, “My dear friend, you are very ignorant. Spectacles don’t help to read or write. They only help you to see better. First of all you must learn to read and write.”

Moral: Ignorance is blindness.

– – – – – – –

AS YOU SOW, SO SHALL YOU REAP

One night, three thieves stole a lot of money from a rich man’s house. They put the money in a bag and went to the forest. They felt very hungry. So, one of them went to a nearby village to buy food. The other two remained in the forest to take care of the bag of money. The thief that went for food had an evil idea. He ate his food at a hotel. Then he bought food for his two mates in the forest. He mixed a strong poison with the food. He thought, “Those two will eat this poisoned food and die. Then I will get all the money for myself.” Meanwhile, the two wicked men in the forest decided to kill their mate on return. They thought that they would divide the money between the two of them. All the three wicked men carried out their cruel plans. The thief who wanted all the money for himself came to the forest with the poisoned food. The two men in the forest hit him and killed him. Then they ate the poisoned food and died. Thus, these evil people met with an evil end.

Moral: Evil begets evil

– – – – – – –

THE FARMER AND HIS SONS

A farmer had five sons. They were strong and hardworking. But they always quarrelled with one another. Sometimes, they even fought. The farmer wanted his sons to stop quarrelling and fighting. He wanted them to live in peace. Plain words of advice or scolding did not have much effect on these young people. The farmer always thought what to do to keep his sons united. One day he found an answer to the problem. So he called all his sons together. He showed them a bundle of sticks and said, “I want any of you to break these sticks without separating them from the bundle.” Each of the five sons tried one by one. They used their full strength and skill. But none of them could break the sticks. Then the old man separated the sticks and gave each of them just a single stick to break. They broke the sticks easily. The farmer said, “A single stick by itself is weak. It is strong as long as it is tied up in a bundle. Likewise, you will be strong if you are united. You will be weak if you are divided.”

Moral: United we stand, Divided we fall.

– – – – – – –

NOBODY BELIEVES A LIAR

Once a mischievous boy lived in a village that stood in the feet of a hill. One day he thought of having fun at the cost of his fellow-villagers.

Standing on a high rock, he shouted at the top of his voice, “Lion! Lion! Come, save me.”

The villagers heard the shout and ran to help him. But when they reached there, they could see no lion and the boy was perfectly all right. The boy laughed at the villagers saying, “No Lion ; I did it only for fun.”

The villagers got highly annoyed and came back with an air of anger.

Few days later the boy repeated the whole act. Again the villagers went to his rescue but were duped again. Now they decided not to be fooled by him anymore.

Unfortunately, one day, the lion really came there. Now the boy shouted, “Lion! Lion! as loud as he could”. But nobody came to help him out.

The lion attacked the boy. The boy struggled hard to save himself but within few minutes, the beast killed him.

So, once a liar, always a liar.

– – – – – – –

WORK IS WORSHIP

One fine sunny day in winter, a grasshopper was basking in the warm sun. But he was very hungry, as he had not eaten anything since last night.

So, he looked about to find something to soothe his hunger. Suddenly, he saw few ants carrying grains into their hole.

He went up to the ants and asked humbly, “Can you, please, spare few grains for me. I haven’t eaten anything since yesterday. So, I am almost starving to death.”

One of the ants asked the grasshopper, “What were you doing the whole summer? Why didn’t you store up the food for the winter season?”

The grasshopper replied, “Truly speaking, I spent all the summer singing songs and that’s why I couldn’t store anything.”

The ant chucked out a smile and remarked, “Then dance the winter away.” The grasshopper pulled a long face and walked away.

So we say “Work is real worship”.

– – – – – – –

NEVER BE UNGRATEFUL

It was high summer. The sun was extremely hot. Two travelers were going along a dusty road that had no trees along its sides. Looking for some shelter from the hot sun, they saw a tree with big leaves and branches spread like an umbrella.

They placed their belongings on the ground and sat in the cool thick shade of the tree. After taking some rest, one traveler said to the other, “What a useless tree it is! It bears no fruits at all.”

Hearing this, the tree felt pinched and burst out, “You ungrateful soul! On one hand, you are taking shelter in my cool shade from the burning heat of the sun and on the other hand, you are calling me useless. Get up and leave the place immediately to be scorched again.”