61. THE GULLIBLE CARPENTER
There was once a carpenter in a certain village. His wife was a whore, and reputed to be such. So he, desiring to test her, thought: “How can I put her to the test?
“Now I know from popular gossip that she is unfaithful. After these reflections, he said to his wife: “Tomorrow morning, my dear, I am going to another village, where I shall be detained several days. Please put me up a nice lunch.”
60. THE GREAT – HEARTED MONKEY
In a forest glade, by the side of River Ganges, high on the mountains there lived about eighty thousand monkeys along with their giant monkey king. And by the side of the clear gushing water stood a tall shady mango tree with juicy mangoes.
All the monkeys just loved these mangoes and ate them off almost as soon as they had ripened. Their wise king had warned them not to let a single juicy fruit fall into the river. Because if the current carried even one of these fruits down the river to the land where the men lived, they would surely come in search of this delicious fruit and destroy the peace in the land of the monkeys.
59. THE GOLDEN GOAT
There lived a golden goat in a deep forest. He was as big as a pony and as strong as a bull. He had two pointed horns. His golden hair shone like burning flames in the bright sunlight. Even lions and tigers were afraid of facing this goat.
on the outskirts of a village, Once a lion saw the goat eating vegetable leaves in the garden of a farmer. The farmer seeing the goat in his garden beat him with sticks. The lion thought to himself, “How can a grass eating animal be stronger than I.”
When the goat came out of the vegetable garden bleeding after being beaten by the farmer, the lion pounced upon him. He killed the goat and ate it.
❖ Keep your eating habits and personal traits a secret.
58. THE GOLDEN BIRDS AND THE GOLDEN SWANS
Once upon a time there lived a mighty king in the state of Rajasthan. He had a beautiful palace in the ‘city of lakes’. One such lake surrounded his palace with a beautiful garden around it. There were many golden swans living at this lake. These golden swans used to shed golden feathers everyday. The king collected all such feathers and kept them in his state treasury.
Once, a huge golden bird came flying to the lake. He perched on the branch of a tall tree standing near the lake. He liked the lake’s sweet water very much and decided to make the lake his home. But the other swans didn’t tolerate his presence there.
