Category Archives: INDIA
72. THE KING AND THE FOOLISH MONKEY
A certain king had a pet monkey. He was allowed to enter the king’s palace, even when other confidential servants were forbidden to. One day the king was fast asleep and the monkey was fanning him. Suddenly, a fly came and sat on the king’s chest.
The monkey drove her away with the fan, but the fly kept coming back to the same place. The foolish monkey got excited, picked up a sword and hit at the fly with it. The fly flew away but the king was severely wounded in the chest and died as a result.
❖ Beware of a foolish friend. He can cause you more harm than your enemy.
❖ It is better to have a clever enemy than a foolish friend.
71. THE JEALOUS DONKEY
Once upon a time, there lived a dhobi in a village. He had a donkey and a dog as his pets. The dog guarded his master’s house and accompanied him wherever he went. The donkey used to carry the load of clothes. The dhobi loved his dog very much. And the dog, whenever, he saw his master, would bark a little and wag his tail. He would raise his front legs and put them on the chest of his master. And the dhobi would pat his dog in return, for his loving gesture.
70. WHO WILL BELL THE CAT
Once upon a time, there lived many mice in a grocers shop. There in the shop, they ate delicious wheat and rice, pulses and nuts, bread and butter and biscuits. They grew fat day by day.
One day, the grocer thought about the heavy losses that he had to suffer because of the menace of the mice. This angered him so much, that the next day, he brought a big fat cat to his shop.
The big fat cat began to catch and kill the fat mice everyday.
The mice became worried. They called a meeting to discuss the problem.
“Let’s get rid of this cruel fat cat,” the leader of the mice said.
“But how?” the other mice asked.
All of them began to think. Then one mouse said, “We should tie a bell round the neck of the fat cat. So, whenever she would move towards us, the bell would ring and we will run into our holes immediately.”
All the mice became very happy to hear this. They began dancing with joy. But their joy was short-lived. An old and experienced mouse interrupted their merry-making and shouted, Fools, stop it and tell me, who will bell the cat?
No mouse had the answer to this big question.
❖ Making a plan is one thing, but executing it is something entirely different.
69. THE JACKAL AND THE DRUM
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.
❖ Greed is always harmful.
❖ Only the brave succeed in life.
