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Friday 14 March 2014

The Magic Hen - Aesop Fables



Once there was a poor farmer in a village. He was a good man and for his good deeds, he was gifted a hen by God.

After a few days he then laid an egg. Surprisingly, the egg was golden in colour. The farmer and his wife realized that this hen was magical. The hen laid one golden egg everyday and this made the farmer and his wife rich and wealthy.
Soon the farmer got greedy and wanted to have more and more wealth. So he took a knife and cut open the magic hen hoping that he would get all the golden eggs at one time. But to his shock, there were no eggs in the hen’s stomach.

Hence the farmer lost the chance of getting any more golden eggs as he killed the magic hen for his greed. Soon the farmer lost his good fortune and lost all his wealth.

MORAL:  Never be greedy or impatient

The Ant & the Grasshopper - Aesop Fables



Once upon a time in a beautiful spring, a grasshopper danced and was swinging in the field and was singing his spring song. He saw an ant and asked him, “ What are you doing?”

“ I am gathering some food and building a shelter for myself.” The ant replied. The grasshopper laughed and teased her saying,” It is spring now, this is the time to enjoy, why are you wasting your time building a house and gathering food? Its foolish to work during spring season.” The ant ignored him and continued his work.

Few days later, it started raining heavily. The whole jungle became a swamp and damp. There was no food available anywhere. So the helpless grasshopper came to the ant’s shelter and pleaded,” Oh dear ant! Please give me shelter and something to eat. I do not have a house and I’m very hungry.”
“Now you understand why i was working hard during the spring when you were idling around?” the ant replied and then the ant kindly offered him food and shelter.

MORAL:   Hard work always pays

The Lazy Donkey - Aesop Fables




Once there lived a trader in a village. Mostly, he traded salt. He had a donkey who helped him carry sacks of salt from one village to the other. The donkey was very lazy and always avoided work.

One day, the donkey was crossing a river , he slipped and fell into the river. As he was carrying sacks of salt on his back, the salt got wet and dissolved in the water. So when the donkey got up, the sacks were lighter.

The donkey realized this and he purposely started slipping into the river everyday so that the sacks become lighter.
The trader noticed the donkey’s plan. So next day, instead of salt, the trader filled the sacks with cotton and tied them to the donkey’s back. As usual, the donkey purposely fell into the river. But this time, as the sacks were filled of cotton, the cotton soaked water and became heavier. The donkey learnt his lesson and never tried to avoid work henceforth.

MORAL:    Never try to avoid work.

The Cunning Fox - Aesop Fables



Once upon a time in a jungle, there lived a crow on a tree. One day he found a big piece of bread. He took the bread in his beak and flew back to his home on the tree. Just then a hungry fox came by. Looking at the huge piece of bread in the crow’s beak, his mouth started watering.
“Hello my friend” he said to the crow, “I too am hungry. Can i have a small piece of that bread?” The crow ignored his request and did not give anything to the fox.
Then the cunning fox got an idea. He said,” My friend, Every morning i wake up listening to your sweet voice, you sing so well. Please sing a song for me right now.”

The foolish crow felt happy listening to this compliment and started singing for the fox. Just as he opened his mouth, the piece of bread fell to the ground and the cunning fox grabbed it and ran away. The foolish crow remained hungry that day.

MORAL:  Never believe in any false praise.

The Ant & The Pigeon - Aesop Fables



A pigeon was sitting on branch of a tree. There was a river nearby. He noticed that an ant was flowing and drowning in the river. The pigeon quickly plucked a tree leaf and dropped it into the water near the ant.

The ant had to struggle for a while but finally it got onto the leaf. The leaf floated for sometime and finally reached the shore. The ant was safe and it thanked the pigeon for helping.

Some days later, a hunter came in the jungle. He spotted the pigeon and took aim with his bow and arrow on the pigeon. The pigeon was looking the other way. So he did not notice the hunter. But the and on the ground saw him, rushed towards him and bit him hard in the toe. The hunter cried out in pain and missed his target. By this time the pigeon realized he was being the target and flew away.
Thus the grateful ant returned the pigeon’s favor and she too saved her friend’s life.

MORAL: A noble deed never goes unrewarded.

The Clever Crow - Aesop Fables



It was a hot summer afternoon, and the sun was scorching all its heat on the earth. All ponds, rivers and lakes were dry, and there was no water to be found for miles.

A crow was very thirsty and was flying all over the forest to find any ounce of water. At one point he saw big pot which had very little water left. He landed on top of the pot and poked his beak into the pot to drink the water. Unfortunately the water was so less that his beak couldn’t reach till the water level.
Then he got an idea. He noticed that a lot of pebbles are scattered around the pot. So he picked up a pebble with his beak and dropped it into the pot. The water level rose a little in the pot. So he spent a lot of time picking up pebbles and dropping them in the pot.

After a long time and hard work, the water rose up to a level where his beak would easily reach. So he happily drank all the water and flew away.

MORAL:  Try and try until you succeed


The Thoughtless Hunter - Aesop Fables



One day and hunter and his dog went out to hunt in the jungle. They looked for animals to hunt but couldn’t find any.

Then they saw a mongoose. The dog got ready to leap on him but the hunter stopped him. Slowly the hunted stepped towards the mongoose. He realized that something was odd. Generally animals sense when someone is nearby and they run immediately. But this mongoose was absolutely still.
The hunted moved closer to the mongoose. He saw that the mongoose was facing a danger. A poisonous cobra was in front of him and both the snake and the mongoose were ready to strike each other.

The cobra was long and black and was hissing on the mongoose. Both the animals were in a crouched position. Suddenly with a loud hiss the cobra stuck at the mongoose. But the mongoose quickly jumped aside and tried to counter the cobra. The hunter stood there and watched the two animals fight while the dog was getting restless. This made the hunter realize that he too had to hunt his prey. He took aim with his gun and fired. Instantly the mongoose fell down and died. The faithful dog rushed to the dead mongoose in excitement. The dog wanted to show that he was also part of the hunt so he sniffed the mongoose’s body and danced around it.

But suddenly, the dog cried out in pain. “Oh my god!!” the hunter shouted. “ I had totally forgotten about the cobra!” But it was too late now. Because the cobra couldn’t fight with the mongoose, he had bitten then dog’s leg. The dog fell down next to the mongoose and died. The cobra then slithered away into the bushes.

“Oh no! What have i done!” the hunter repented. “ If only I hadn’t killed the mongoose in such a hurry, it would have killed the cobra. There would be one less cobra in the jungle and my dog would have been alive.”

MORAL: Haste makes waste.

The Foolish Mouse - Aesop Fables



Once upon a time there was a mouse who wanted to see the outside world as he had never seen anything apart from his house. So he decided to explore the world outside.

He set out from his house and kept walking on and on. He saw many things which he had never seen before. After a while he reached a farm which had many different animals.

Apart from the other animals, two animals caught his attention. One was a scary looking, terrible animal which had colourful feathers and a big beak. “ If he sees me, he would surely eat me up right here” The mouse thought and quickly hid behind a bush.

From there he saw the other animal.  He saw that it was beautiful and fluffy with soft hair. “This animal looks friendly, i should talk to him.” He said to himself. Just as he was about to move towards it, someone called the animals from the farm and the animals went away.

The mouse also returned. After reaching home, he told the tales of his adventure to his friends and family about the two interesting animals he had seen.

“You’re a fool!! “ an old mouse said, “ The animal you thought was scary was a rooster and would have never harmed you, but on the other hand, the one you wanted to talk to was a cat, and he would have gobbled you up in a minute.”

That day the young mouse realized that he was lucky to be alive after what he was about to do.

MORAL : Appearances can fool anyone. 

The Lion and His Army - Aesop Fables



The animals of two neighbouring forests used to fight with each other always. So one day, the King lion decided to declare war on the other forest. He called all the animals of his forest for a meeting so that he and his ministers can assign duties to them.

The elephant was given the duty of fighting in the war as well as carrying guns and food. The clever fox was given the duty to make battle plans and give ideas to the king. The monkey was asked to jump ahead of the army and keep a lookout from the top of the trees. Similarly all the animals were given duties according to the skills and abilities.
The hare and the donkey reached late in the meeting. The ministers told the king, “They are useless my king, donkeys are stupid and the hare gets scared very easily. So its better to send them away.” But the King lion said, “The donkey can bray louder than any animal, he can be used as a signal to call everyone. The hare is very fast, he can take my messages and orders from one place to another quickly.” The king was wise to recognize each one’s ability.

MORAL : No one is useless. Everyone has his own ability.

The Lion & The Mouse - Aesop Fables



One day a lion was sleeping in the forest. A tiny mouse passed by and saw the lion. He liked the lion’s mane and started playing with it. The lion got up and got very angry.

He caught the mouse in his paws and roared loudly. The scared mouse begged saying,” Please don’t kill me. I shall help you, whenever you need me.” The lion started laughing.” How can a tiny mouse ever help me.”
He allowed the mouse to go away. Some days later, the lion got caught in a hunter’s net. He roared loudly and tried to break free. But he couldn’t.

The mouse heard the lion’s roar and came running to help him. He bit and tore off the hunter’s net with his sharp teeth. The lion was free and happy. 

MORAL:    Even the small and weak can be helpful.


The Fox And the Crane - Aesop Fables



A fox and a crane were very good friends. One day the fox invited the crane for dinner. The fox prepared a lovely dinner and served it in two flat plates. The fox quickly ate all that was in his plate but the crane, due to his long beak couldn’t eat through the plate, so he remained hungry.

After a few days, the crane now invited the fox for dinner to his house. When the fox reached his home, the crane served dinner inside a long and narrow jar. The crane easily dipped his long beak inside the jar and emptied the jar quickly. On the other hand the fox couldn’t reach inside the jar at all so he did not eat anything.

The fox then realized his mistake and apologized to the crane for playing such a trick on him.

MORAL: Tit for Tat

 

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