September 28, 2022

THE DOG AND THE WOLF | RETOLD BY LEO TOLSTOY | MASTER READING - LISTENING WITH GRAMMAR ANALYSIS | AESOP STORIES | EFL RESOURCES

THE DOG AND THE WOLF


A Dog fell asleep back of the yard. A Wolf ran up and wanted to eat him.

Said the Dog:

"Wolf, don't eat me yet: now I am lean and bony. Wait a little,—my master is going to celebrate a wedding; then I shall have plenty to eat; I shall grow fat. It will be better to eat me then."

The Wolf believed her, and went away. Then he came a second time, and saw the Dog lying on the roof. The Wolf said to her:

"Well, have they had the wedding?"

The Dog replied:

"Listen, Wolf! If you catch me again asleep in front of the yard, do not wait for the wedding."

THE STAG | RETOLD BY LEO TOLSTOY | MASTER READING - LISTENING WITH GRAMMAR ANALYSIS | AESOP STORIES | EFL RESOURCES

THE STAG

A Stag went to the brook to quench his thirst. He saw himself in the water, and began to admire his horns, seeing how large and branching they were; and he looked at his feet, and said: "But my feet are unseemly and thin."

Suddenly a Lion sprang out and made for the Stag. The Stag started to run over the open plain. He was getting away, but there came a forest, and his horns caught in the branches, and the lion caught him. As the Stag was dying, he said:

"How foolish I am! That which I thought to be unseemly and thin was saving me, and what I gloried in has been my ruin."

THE WILD ASS AND THE TAME ASS | RETOLD BY LEO TOLSTOY | MASTER READING - LISTENING WITH GRAMMAR ANALYSIS | AESOP STORIES | EFL RESOURCES

THE WILD ASS AND THE TAME ASS


A Wild Ass saw a Tame Ass. The Wild Ass went up to him and began to praise his life, saying how smooth his body was, and what sweet feed he received. Later, when the Tame Ass was loaded down, and a driver began to goad him with a stick, the Wild Ass said:

"No, brother, I do not envy you: I see that your life is going hard with you."

September 21, 2022

THE FATHER AND HIS SONS | RETOLD BY LEO TOLSTOY | MASTER READING - LISTENING WITH GRAMMAR ANALYSIS | AESOP STORIES | EFL RESOURCES

THE FATHER AND HIS SONS


A Father told his Sons to live in peace: they paid no attention to him. So he told them to bring the bath broom, and said:

"Break it!"

No matter how much they tried, they could not break it. Then the Father unclosed the broom, and told them to break the rods singly. They broke it.

The Father said:

"So it is with you: if you live in peace, no one will overcome you; but if you quarrel, and are divided, any one will easily ruin you."

THE WOLF AND THE CRANE | RETOLD BY LEO TOLSTOY | MASTER READING - LISTENING WITH GRAMMAR ANALYSIS | AESOP STORIES | EFL RESOURCES

THE WOLF AND THE CRANE


A Wolf had a bone stuck in his throat, and could not cough it up. He called the Crane, and said to him:

"Crane, you have a long neck. Thrust your head into my throat and draw out the bone! I will reward you."

The Crane stuck his head in, pulled out the bone, and said:

"Give me my reward!"

The Wolf gnashed his teeth and said:

"Is it not enough reward for you that I did not bite off your head when it was between my teeth?"

September 20, 2022

A CRY - PEACEFUL. A STORY | NARENDRA KUMAR

A CRY - PEACEFUL. A STORY


“WE NEED TO ACCEPT THIS WORLD, WHERE WE HAPPENED TO BE BORN.”

He wrote.

As of now, he was not really comfortable with this world. He had reached his sixties, and yet the years had passed by. Being metaphysical, he had been happy. And in a way, he still was. But basic, unfaced questions had caught up with him.

He was not comfortable with the world. He was opposed to it in every way. The things that interested him, did not interest people. There was no depth, no proper holistic enquiry even, just a mass of people, from top to bottom, living off their given natures and no proper ground too, and he saw all that.

The world bewildered him, on one level, but on another level, he did grasp the world for what it is.

It was a wish, a desire for the world to be different, and yet he knew the world was NOT like this, yet it was, and it was not right too, yet people did talk, rightly, that it should be better, and all that.

Why are people hardly knowledgeable ?

It was baffling.

Why and how could people at large still be so caught up with their identities of caste, nationalism, religionism, and all media and all writers even accepting it, they too having their “pet theories” ?

How can one accept it? While openly saying that it is absurd, and even knowing?

Barring a very few, who spoke and still speak the plain truth, what was so wrong with the world? How and when did it go so wrong?

It is ok for a world to have ignorance.

But ALL being ignorant?

But if a few were not speaking out, and even knowing and being sure of the obvious lies, then how can and could have the world change or changed?

It cannot be true, he protested. Yet, there it was, this world. He was sure and yet not sure. He was also sure, by this time, that nobody was sure and yet sure, even too sure, but alone and within their room.

It was like a spectrum, of degrees of being sure, and from lowest to highest, but all were human too, bio-centric too. That is always true he felt. So, he felt why cannot simply all accept we are bio-centric and be happy?

He remembered the song – IMAGINE, by John Lennon.

What had gotten to people? ALL people!!

YET…he knew…almost as if he had seen it for centuries, and he had read enough, and maybe it was inductive enough…and he knew in his heart, and simply, that it was nothing surprising. In fact, it was boringly familiar, banal, obvious and nothing could be done about it.

He laughed too…

So, he lived on, neither being able to accept the world, nor becoming cynical, and alone and terribly alone, yet with great moments of bliss, ever present, and with self sufficiency, and love and even harmony, with all, yet a feeling of incurable depressive feeling, of --what for?

Anyway, he knew ironically, too, that life was not serious, life being mortal. He had gone through a long process of angst about life being mortal too, and he had that deep “religious” conditioning too. But again, he had and he had not. It was just a kind of baggage. And he had simply managed his simple life.

And he knew…that he had known this even -what he was thinking right now -for centuries,(it felt to him) and he knew even this was part of his cry…and he stopped writing….

He switched off his lights, and he slept, and after getting up, he felt so nice, simply because he had cried out. Maybe that is it. This is the world, and it IS the world. What can I do? He had told himself this so many times… he thought.

And he looked at the pure and fresh morning sky and its stunning beauty with sun, clouds and light…with his familiar peace and his bliss.

And he knew he would continue simply to see and learn more and more, and would share with all, and that he loved it. And WITH all, in the whole spectrum, and he had to, as this WAS life, for him, and bio-centrically, for anybody.


THE FOX | RETOLD BY LEO TOLSTOY | MASTER READING - LISTENING WITH GRAMMAR ANALYSIS | AESOP STORIES | EFL RESOURCES

THE FOX

A Fox got caught in a trap. She tore off her tail, and got away. She began to contrive how to cover up her shame. She called together the Foxes, and begged them to cut off their tails.

"A tail," she said, "is a useless thing. In vain do we drag along a dead weight."

One of the Foxes said:

"You would not be speaking thus, if you were not tailless!"

The tailless Fox grew silent and went away.