The Peacock and The Crane The peacock would often laugh at the crane which, according to the peacock, had very drab plumage indeed. ‘I am dressed in gold and purple,’ the vain bird would say to the crane, ‘while you have absolutely nothing of any beauty on your wings at all.’ ‘On the other hand;’ the crane replied, ‘I can sing to the stars while I fly high in the heavens,...

The Patched-Up Boot Castles, palaces, villas, houses, huts…. how many different types of buildings we live in. Yet! who have been all over the world, can assure you that I have never seen a strange dwelling-place than the patched-up boot, in which I found a mother living with her children. All conversion work to make the boot comfortable and homely had been done by a master builder who was a friend...

The Owl and The Seagull An owl and a Seagull went into business together. The owl did not have any money so he borrowed some. The seagull owned a precious jewel and he put that into the venture as well. The two of them went to board a ship, having decided to start their business in a far off land. But there was a storm and the ship sank. The owl...

The Owl and The Nightingale There was once a nightingale, in a cage by a window, who was in the habit of singing only at night. An owl was puzzled by this and went to ask the nightingale what the reason was. ‘When I was captured,” explained the nightingale, ‘it was day and I was singing. In this way I learnt to be more prudent to sing only at night.’ ‘Are...

The Old Woman and The Healer An old woman whose eyes were inflamed called in a healer and he told her that the eyesight would become faultless again, provided she would pay a very expensive fee for his services. She agreed and he insisted her to keep her eyes shut during the treatment at which time the healer stole all the old lady’s furniture. When he asked the woman for his...

The Notorious Animals Once, a fox and a wolf got into a petty argument. Soon the argument grew into a fierce fight. They decided to go to the law court for justice. Both the animals told their sides of the story to the monkey judge. After hearing their stories, the monkey judge grew thoughtful. So finally the monkey judge read out his judgement. It read, “We all know that foxes are...

The New Moon and The Old Moon We all know that when the moon shines, it brightens the darkness and the darkness retreats. Then the sun comes and chases the moon, cutting it away with its knife, little by little, until only the backbone remains for us to see. The moon then goes home in discomfort but, after only a few days, it recovers to become a new moon and feels...

The Mystery of The Sphinx Along long time ago, the city of Thebes was guarded by a sphinx, a creature with the head of a woman, the body of a lion and the wings of an eagle. She asked the same riddle to every passer-by and when they could not answer, she consumed them. ‘What being,’ the sphinx asked Oedipus, when he came upon her, ‘has four legs in the morning,...