Children Story

Thursday 29 September 2011

The Jackal Thought

Once upon a time, in a jungle there lived a jackal by the name of Gomaya. One day, he was very hungry and was wandering in search of food. While wandering, he came across a battle field. There he saw a big drum lying under a tree. When the wind blew, a tender branch grown at the root of the tree struck the drum producing sound of a drum beat. The jackal examined the drum from all sides and then beat the drum with his front paws. The drum made a sound. Now the jackal thought that there might be some other small animal inside the drum and that would make a very tasty meal for him. But he found the top of the drum too tough to tear off.
The jackal thought of a plan and began to beat the drum with both his front paws. The sound of drumbeat filled the whole jungle. A leopard who was attracted towards the sound of the drum, came near it. The jackal said to the leopard, “Your Majesty, there is some animal hiding inside the drum. Since you have sharp claws and strong teeth, you can tear off the top of the drum and catch your prey inside the drum.’’
The leopard was himself hungry. So he hit the top of the drum with his heavy paws. The drum burst with a sound, but there was no animal inside. The drum was empty.
Seeing the empty drum, the leopard became very angry and said to the jackal, “You have wasted my time. There is no food inside the drum. So I will kill and eat you.”
The leopard pounced upon the jackal and killed and ate him.

Wednesday 28 September 2011

Beware of Selfish Friends

There in a deep jungle, lived a lion by the name of Madotkata. He had three selfish friends—a jackal, a crow and a wolf. They had become friendly with the lion, because he was the king of the forest. They were always at the service of the lion and obeyed him to meet their selfish ends.
Once, a camel got disorientated in the jungle while grazing and went astray. He tried hard to find his way out, but could not succeed.
In the meantime, these three friends of the lion saw the camel, wandering in a confused manner.
“He doesn’t seem to come from our forest”, said the jackal to his friends. “Let’s kill and eat him.”
“No”, said the wolf. “It’s a big animal. Let’s go and inform our king, the lion.”
“Yes, this is a good idea”, said the crow. “We can have our share of flesh after the king kills the camel.”
Having decided upon this the three went to meet the lion.
“Your Majesty”, said the jackal, “a camel from some other forest has entered into your kingdom without your permission. His body is full of delicious flesh. He may prove to be our best meal. Let’s kill him’’.
Hearing the advice of his friends, the lion roared in anger and said, “What’re you talking about? The camel has walked into my kingdom for the sake of his safety. We should give him shelter and not kill him. Go and bring him to me.”
The three became very disheartened to hear the lion’s words. But they were helpless. So having no alternative, they went to the camel and told him about the wishes of the lion who wanted to meet him and have dinner with him.
The camel was terribly frightened to learn the awkward proposal. Thinking that his last moment had arrived and soon he would be killed by the king of the forest, he resigned himself to the mercy of his fate and went to see the lion in his den.
However, the lion was very happy to see him. He talked to him sweetly and assured him of all the safety in the forest, so long as he stayed there. The camel was simply astonished and was very happy to hear the lion’s words. He began living with the jackal, the wolf and the crow.
But once, bad luck struck the lion. One day, while he was hunting for food with his friends, he had a fight with a huge elephant. The fight was so fierce that all his three friends fled the spot in panic. The lion was badly wounded in the fight. Although, he killed the elephant, but he himself became incapable of hunting for his food. Day after day, he had to go without food. His friends too had to starve for days together as they depended entirely on the lion’s prey for their food. But the camel grazed around happily.
One day the three friends—the jackal, the wolf and the crow approached the lion and said, “Your Majesty, you’re becoming weak day after day. We can’t see you in this pitiable condition. Why don’t you kill the camel and eat him?”
“No”, roared the lion, “he is our guest. We can’t kill him. Don't make such suggestions to me in future.”
But the jackal, the wolf and the crow had set their evil eyes on the camel. They met together once again and hatched a plan to kill the camel.
They went to the camel and said, “My dear friend, you know our king has had nothing to eat for the last so many days. He cannot go hunting due to his wounds and physical infirmity. Under these circumstances, it becomes our duty to sacrifice ourselves to save the life of our king. Come, let us go to our king and offer our bodies for his food.”
Innocent camel didn’t understand their plot. He nodded and consented in favour of their proposal.
All the four reached the den of the lion. The jackal said to the lion, “Your Majesty, despite our best of efforts, we couldn’t find a prey.”
First, the crow came forward and offered himself for the noble cause.
“So, you can eat me and assuage your hunger”, said the crow to the lion.
“Your body is too small”, said the jackal. “How can the king assuage his hunger by eating you?”
The jackal offered his own body to the lion for food. He said, “Your Majesty, I offer myself. It’s my solemn duty to save your life.”
 “No”, said the wolf, “you too are too small to assuage the hunger of our King. I offer myself for this noble task. Kill me and eat me, Your Majesty,” he said lying prostrate before the lion.
But the lion didn’t kill any of them.
The camel was standing nearby and watching all that was going on there. He also decided to go forward and fulfil the formality.
He stepped forward and said, “Your Majesty, why not me! You’re my friend. A friend in need is a friend indeed. Please kill me and eat my flesh to assuage your hunger.”
The lion liked the camel’s idea. Since, the camel himself had offered his body for food, his conscience won’t prick and the jackal had already told the lion about the intense desire of the camel to sacrifice himself for the welfare of the king. He immediately pounced upon the camel and tore him into pieces. The lion and his friends had a good and sumptuous meal for days together.

Saturday 24 September 2011

Religious Elephant

Long, long ago, there lived a big elephant in a small town. The elephant was of a religious nature and used to perform puja in front of a temple. Despite his enormous physique, he was a very loving creature. People loved him and offered him delicious fruits to eat.
While going to temple, the elephant had to pass through a busy market place. There a florist would give him a marigold garland everyday, while a fruit seller would offer him fruits. The elephant was very grateful to both of them for these presents. The people in the market place would gather around the elephant and show their affections by patting him gently. They had a lot of respect in their hearts for him.
One day, the florist thought of playing a little joke on the elephant. When the elephant arrived at his shop the next day, as usual, he, instead of offering him a garland, pricked his trunk with a needle, which he used for making garlands.
The elephant writhed in pain and sat on the ground. Some people gathered around him and began to laugh.
This made the elephant very angry with the florist. That day he didn’t visit the temple, but instead, went to a nearby dirty pond. At the pond he collected some dirty water in his long trunk and came back to the florist’s shop. There he emptied his trunk by spewing dirty water upon the florist and the garlands and flowers kept in the shop. The flowers and garlands became dirty and could not be sold in the market. Thus the florist had to suffer a heavy loss for his mischief.

Friday 23 September 2011

The Sage and The Mouse

There lived a famous sage in a dense forest. Everyday, the animals of the forest came to him to listen to his spiritual preachings. They would gather around the meditating sage and the sage would tell them the good things of life.
There was also a little mouse living in the same forest. He too used to go to the sage daily to listen to his preachings.
One day, while he was roaming in the forest to collect berries for the sage, he was attacked by a big cat, who was watching him from behind the thick bushes.
The mouse was scared. He ran straight to the ashram of the sage. There he lay prostrate before the sage and narrated to him the whole story in a trembling voice. In the meantime, the cat also arrived there and requested the sage to allow him to take his prey.
The sage was in a fix. He thought for a moment and then with his divine powers transformed the mouse into a bigger cat.
Seeing a huge cat before him the other cat ran away.
Now the mouse was carefree. He began to roam about in the forest like a big cat. He meowed loudly to frighten other animals. He fought with other cats to take revenge on them and in this way killed many of them.
The mouse had hardly enjoyed a few carefree days of his life, when one day, a fox pounced upon him. This was a new problem. He had never taken into account that there were yet bigger animals who could easily maul him and tear him into pieces. He ran for his life. He, somehow, saved himself from the fox and ran straight to the sage for help. The fox too was in his hot persuit. Soon both of them stood before the sage.
The sage seeing the plight of the mouse this time, transformed the mouse into a bigger fox. Seeing a big fox before him the other fox ran away.
The mouse became more carefree and began roaming about in the forest more freely with his newly acquired status of a big fox. But, his happiness was short-lived.
One day, while he was moving around in the forest freely, a tiger pounced upon him. The mouse, somehow, managed to save his life and as usual ran to take shelter in the ashram of the sage.
The sage, once again, took pity on the mouse and transformed him into a tiger.
Now, the mouse, after acquiring the status of a tiger, roamed fearlessly in the forest. He killed many animals in the forest unnecessarily.
After having been transformed into a tiger, the mouse had become all-powerful for the forest animals. He behaved like a king and commanded his subjects.
But one thing always bothered his mind and kept him worried; and that was, the divine powers of the sage. “What, if, one day for some reason or the other, the sage becomes angry with me and brings me back to my original status,” he would think worriedly. Ultimately, he decided something and one day, he came to the sage roaring loudly. He said to the sage, “I’m hungry. I want to eat you, so that I could enjoy all those divine powers, which you do. Allow me to kill you.”
Hearing these words the sage became very angry. Sensing tiger’s evil designs, he immediately transformed the tiger back into the mouse.
The worst had happened. Now the mouse realised his folly. He apologised to the saint for his evil actions and requested him to change him again into a tiger. But the sage drove the mouse away by beating him with a stick.

The Talkative Tortoise

Once upon a time, two geese by the names of Sankata and Vikata and a tortoise by the name of Kambugriva lived near a river. They were good friends. Once, due to drought in the region, all the rivers, lakes and ponds went dry. There was not a drop of water to drink for the birds and animals. They began to die of thirst.
The three friends talked among themselves to find a solution to this problem and go out in search of water. But despite their best efforts they could not find water anywhere around.
Having no alternative the three friends decided to go to some distant lake, full of water, to settle down there forever. But there was a problem in shifting to so distant a place. While it was easy for the geese to fly, it was difficult for the tortoise to cover that distance on foot.
So the tortoise put up a bright idea. He said, “Why not bring a strong stick? I will hold the stick in the middle with my teeth and you two hold both the ends of the stick in your beaks. In this manner, I can also travel with you.”
Hearing the suggestion of the tortoise, the geese cautioned him, “It’s a very good idea. We will do as you say. But you will have to be very careful. The problem with you is that you are very talkative. And if you open your mouth to say something, while we are flying, it will definitely prove to be detrimental to you. So, don’t talk while you are dangling by the stick, otherwise you will lose your hold and go crashing down on the ground and die.”
The tortoise understood the logic and promised not to open his mouth during the entire journey. So the geese held the stick ends in their beaks and the tortoise held the stick in the middle with his teeth and thus, they began their long journey.
They flew over hills, valleys, villages, forests and finally came over a town. While they were flying over the town, men, women and children came out of their houses to see this strange sight. The children began shouting and clapping. The foolish tortoise forgot that he was hanging precariously. He became so curious to know the reason behind these clappings that he opened his mouth to ask his friends—“Friends, what is this all about?” But as soon as he opened his mouth to utter these words, he loosened his hold on the stick and fell down on the ground and died instantaneously.