THE HARE AND THE TORTOISE

THE HARE AND THE TORTOISE

Once upon a time in a jungle there were a hare and a tortoise along with other animals. The hare always teased the tortoise for his slowness in moving. One day the tortoise could not take it anymore. He challenged the hare for a race. Hearing this, the hare laughed. He said, “Oh! My dear tortoise! You are hardly a competitor to me.” The tortoise said calmly and quietly, “Let us race first.” The hare agreed to the race.

The next day, both of them started from the same point. It was agreed upon that the person who reached the lake around 2 kms away would be the winner. The race started. The hare obviously moved swiftly and went far ahead. The tortoise grimly and with determination slowly moved on. The hare had reached very far. When he looked back he could not see the tortoise anywhere. He thought that this race was too easy. He decided to relax under a tree. It was a huge tree. A light wind blew and it was afternoon. The hare lay down under the tree and he felt so peaceful and happy under the tree that he drifted off to sleep.

Meanwhile, the tortoise was moving on slowly and steadily. He took time but finally he reached the hare. He was happy to see the hare sleeping. With the same slow and determined steps he moved on. His legs ached but he didn’t give up. The tortoise believed in giving his best. At last, he reached the lake. When the hare woke up he was shocked to find that a lot of time had passed. He ran towards the lake and there he found the tortoise waiting for him. The tortoise looked at him and said, “You lost the race not because I am faster but because your ability got into your head. Indeed you are faster but don’t boast about it. Each of us has his own unique ability.”

THE FOOLISH LION - TALES FOR KIDS

THE FOOLISH LION

Once upon a time, there was a lion who lived in a large forest. The forest was filled with all kinds of animals and there were large numbers of them.

The lion was the king of the forest. He had the nature of a lion but in his particular case, he was unusually ferocious, more than usual lions. His instinct to devour animals was extremely strong and his hunger was insatiable.

Every day he killed and ate many animals, more than the usual number. All the animals lived in constant fear of him and all of them were extremely unhappy.

One day, all the animals gathered in one place to discuss this problem. Was there something they could do? This was the question in everybody’s mind.

In that large meeting, the wise owl spoke out. His voice was deeply sad and pained. “Dear friends,” he said, “the rate at which our king is killing us pains me deeply and I cannot think of any solution except one.” Saying this, he fell silent.

The monkey asked, ‘Why are you silent? Please tell us what is on your mind. We will do whatever is necessary to stop the lion. “

The owl replied and now his voice had a tone of infinite sadness and resignation. “Dear friends, it makes me very sad o give you this solution, but the laws of the jungle are such that there cannot be any other solution. What I propose is that each offer itself during lunch and dinner time to the lion each day. This way the lion would be stopped to an extent and at least our children would be safe for a long time and one day the lion would die. “

A silence fell on the gathering, a silence filled with pain, resignation and the decision was agreed upon by all shaking their heads silently. It was a great moment of brotherhood and being together.

The next day, a group of animals went to the lion and gave him their proposal. The owl spoke again on everyone’s behalf. The owl begged the lion and reasoned that the lion would not have the trouble of hunting. He could relax and enjoy his lunch and dinner at his doorstep.

Now, the lion was secretly pleased at the proposal. Not only was he happy at the prospect of getting his daily meal with no effort, he also felt like a lord. He was a very vain lion. He agreed to the proposal.

From that day on the lion’s life became easy. At lunch true and dinner time, an animal arrived at his doorstep and the lion had his meal.

One day it was the turn of the rabbit. As he walked the long distance, he felt that his life was coming to an end. There would be no playing with his friends, no enjoyment of anything in the jungle, no family, nothing. He was extremely sad.

As he walked he thought, could there be a way he could there be a way he could prevent his death? He stayed on with that thought and bending his head walked on. As he walked, he noticed a well. And suddenly an idea flashed across his mind.

He slowed down his steps and began to walk slowly. “Would my idea work?”, he thought. He hoped for the best and summed up his courage.

He reached the lion’s den late, on purpose. The lion was pacing back and forth. He was furious. When he spotted the rabbit, he roared, “How dare you come late, you miserable little creature! I will kill every single animal today!”

The rabbit bowed low and sad in a low, respectful voice, “Dear king, I would have come on time, but as I was coming, another lion met me and he said he was the king of the jungle. When I told him that we already have a king, he laughed and told me to bring you to him.”

This piece of news deeply infuriated the lion. As mentioned earlier, the lion was very deeply vain and another lion claiming to be king and mocking him hurt him deeply.

This turned into an extreme anger and the foolish lion lost all sense. He roared, “Where is that lion? Take me to him and he will know who I am and who the real king is!”

The rabbit bowed and said, “Please follow me and I will take you to the other lion”.

The rabbit took the lion to the well and said, “The lion is in there.”

The foolish lion rushed and leaped up to the well and looked inside roaring angrily. The water in the well was still and a dear reflection could be seen. The foolish lion saw his own angry face and what is more, he heard the echo of his own roaring. He lost his mind a deep fury filled him and he jumped into the well. There was not much water in the deep well. The lion tell and crashed onto the rocks below the water. He let out a last scream of pain and died.

The rabbit heard that and a huge relief and an indescribable happiness filled his heart. “At last we all are free! I am alive! “, he shouted aloud.

He rushed to his brothers to share the good news. That night there was a great celebration in the jungle. All the animals gathered in one place and rejoiced. All of them were filled with praise and gratitude for the clever rabbit.

THE MISERLY OLD WOMAN

THE MISERLY OLD WOMAN

TALES FOR KIDS

An Indian folk tale retold 

Once in a village in India lived an old woman. She was extremely miserly. Nothing in the world counted at all except money for her. She was made like that and nobody could change her. She did not trust anyone. If anyone was friendly with her, she would immediately think that he or she was after her money. So slowly, people avoided her and she lived all alone. Did she spend anything for herself? Actually she was so miserly and so fond of her money, almost mad about it , that she ate little. She hated to spend her money . She wore her tattered dresses and kept her money intact. She did not even have a decent house to live in spite of the fortune that she had.

People often wondered what would happen to her money, when she passed away and to whom she would give that money. She had no children. She had never given them anything and they had left her one after the other and she saw to it that they never visited her.

She was alone and always with her money in her hut and with her meager belongings.

One day, a crook and cunning young fellow came to the village in search of some loot. When he heard of the old woman, he decided that to charm her would be easy money and she had to give her money to somebody after all, why not he?

He went up to her house and knocked the door. A harsh voice answered , “ Go away!”

But the young crook was not to be discouraged. He was confident of himself and he had a plan. He stayed put and from that day, he did all the house hold chores- getting the water, washing her clothes, fanning her, even cooking her meager meals. Initially she resisted but slowly she gave in. The crook tried hard to guess where she had hidden her fortune but she was always extremely careful and always around. The young man was not worried. He had only to wait and later he could enjoy.

One day, the old woman was seriously taken ill. The young man got her medicines but her condition worsened. One evening she called him and said to him, “ Dear son, I know I am going to die this life is over. You can take all that is here but I have a pillow and I have had that pillow since my childhood. Please put that pillow on the funeral pyre and she took a promise from him that he would do so.

That night the old woman breathed her last. The young man felt sorry for her, after all she had called him her son and left everything to him. He performed the funeral rites and as he had promised put the tattered pillow too in the fire. He watched till the last bit of the fire was extinguished. Then with a sad feeling went to his house, the house that the old woman had given him. Actually the crook had a good heart deep within him.

That day he searched for the money in the house- in the vessels she never allowed him to touch, in the attic he had never probed, under the bed he had never peeked , among her few clothes, in the cupboard she always kept locked and to his amazement, he found no money anywhere. He intensified his search , searching in the oddest of places- in the thatched roofs, in old pots, in the dried up well outside. There was no money anywhere. But it had to be somewhere and why wold she hide it? Had she not called him her son? And suddenly in a flash he understood what had happened, the old woman had indeed taken the money with her, she had sewn all the money in the pillow. The pillow was her fortune.

The young man was numb with shock for days at the extreme miserliness of the woman.