Poverty Without Care is Better Than Riches Full of Anxiety A fir-tree stood on a hill-side. Several shrubs had grown around it. It always looked down upon these plants saying that they were of no use to anyone. He was very proud of his tall and impressive personality as compared to their stunted growth and prickly structure. One day, the tree filled with pride said to a bramble, “You poor fellows!...

Self Importance Always Lets You Down     It was summer time and sun was very hot. A bull was sitting in the cool shade of a tree and chewing cud with his eyes half-shut. All of a sudden a goat came there and looked out for a place to sit under the shade. Silently, it sat on one of the horns of the bull and kept sitting there till it...

Better Bent Than Broken Once a huge oak tree stood on the bank of a river. It was well nourished by the water of the river. Naturally, it was very strong and had a thick stem. Just nearby, grew some reeds with thin but flexible stems. They stood almost half in water and had flourished well too. One day, strong winds blew. The tree, though huge and strong, broke from the...

One Good Turn Deserves Another   Once a swarm of bees had put up their hive in a tree that stood on the bank of a river. They remained busy collecting honey all the day. One day a bee felt thirsty and went to the river. As it tried to drink water, the water carried it away. So, it was about to drown. Fortunately, a dove was sitting on the branch...

Unused Riches are Useless Once there was a miser having a lot of gold. He melted it down in a lump and buried it in a pit. He was very happy that he had hidden his gold safely. So, he kept gloating over his treasure almost all the time. He used to visit the spot regularly where he had hidden the gold. One of his friend’s was keeping an eye on...

Beauty is Not Eternal Once there was a gardener having a beautiful garden of flower-plants-mostly rose plants. By chance a lily plant blossomed near a rose-bush. Lily is believed to yield flowers that never fade and have an everlasting beauty. But the rose flowers have a short life. The lily said to the rose, “How beautiful you are! What an aroma you possess! No wonder, you are universally a favourite flower....

Spot Your Foe Before You Hit Once there was a bee-keeper who had developed a good apiary. He used to take good care of the bees and they gathered a lot of honey in the hives. Once the bee-keeper went to the market for some urgent work. The bees had also gone to collect honey and the apiary was left unguarded. Unfortunately, a thief came there and broke into the apiary....

Appearances are Often Deceiving It was a very cold day in the winter season. A crow was flying here and there searching for food. Suddenly, he saw a snake lying curled up in a sunny spot. It was sun bathing because of extreme cold. It lay quite motionless indeed. So, the crow thought it to be dead. The crow swooped down and carried it away in his claws. He decided to...