There was a young student-Tinto who reached such proficiency in his art that he could shoot an arrow into a tree and then cleave that arrow into two with the next shot. He began to boast that he was a greater Tinto than his guru.

One day his guru, a venerable old man in his 70’s, asked the youth to accompany
him on a trip across the hills. The journey was uneventful until they came to a deep chasm.

A single log spanned the chasm. The guru walked down to the centre of the log, shouldered his bow and taking an arrow shot it into a tree on the other side. His next shot cleaved the first arrow into two.
“Now it’s your turn,” he said, walking back to where his student was standing.

The youth stepped gingerly on the log and very slowly and carefully made his way to the middle. But his heart was in his mouth. He knew that if he lost his footing, he would plunge to his death. His hands trembled as he strung an arrow into his bow. Preoccupied with the danger he was in, he found it hard to focus on the target. Consequently when he let go of the arrow, it missed the tree altogether. Whimpering, he turned around.
“Help me!” he shouted to his guru. “I’ll fall!”

The old man walked up to him, took his hand and stepping backwards led him to safety. Neither of them said a word on the return journey but the boy had much to think about. He had realised that to be a master of his art it was not enough to know how to control the bow, he had to learn how to control his mind too.

Once upon a time, there lived a king. He was very anxious to know what his future would be like. Thus, an astrologer was summoned and the astrologer said, “Your majesty, I am very sorry for you and I do not intend to disappoint you, but it seems to me that you will not live very long.”

On hearing this, the king lost his temper and ordered the guards to kill the astrologer.

The astrologer said, “I shall obey the king’s command, but there is a fact I want to disclose before I die. The king will survive for only three days after my death.”

 This made the king change his decision, and the rest of his life he prayed that the astrologer would live for a long while.

A bat fell to the ground and was caught by a weasel. He pled to be spared his life. The weasel refused, saying that he was by nature the enemy of all birds. The bat assured him that he was not a bird, but a mouse, and thus was set free.

Shortly afterwards, the bat again fell to the ground and was caught by another weasel, whom he likewise entreated not to eat him. The weasel said that he had a special hostility to mice and the bat assured him that he was not a mouse, but a bat, and thus a second time escaped.

It is wise to turn circumstances to one’s favor.

A very wealthy old man, imagining that he was on the point of death, sent for his sons and divided his property among them. However, he did not die for several years afterwards; and miserable years many of them were. Besides the weariness of old age, the old fellow had to bear with much abuse and cruelty from his sons. Wretched, selfish ingrates! Previously they vied with one another in trying to please their father, hoping thus to receive more money, but now they had received their patrimony, they cared not how soon he left them–nay, the sooner the better, because he was only a needless trouble and expense. And they let the poor old man know what they felt.

One day he met a friend and related to him all his troubles. The friend sympathized very much with him, and promised to think over the matter, and call in a little while and tell him what to do. He did so; in a few days he visited the old man and put down four bags full of stones and gravel before him.

“Look here, friend,” said he. “Your sons will get to know of my coming here to-day, and will inquire about it. You must pretend that I came to discharge a long-standing debt with you, and that you are several thousands of rupees richer than you thought you were. Keep these bags in your own hands, and on no account let your sons get to them as long as you are alive. You will soon find them change their conduct towards you. Salaam. I will come again soon to see how you are getting on.”

When the young men got to hear of this further increase of wealth they began to be more attentive and pleasing to their father than ever before. And thus they continued to the day of the, old man’s demise, when the bags were greedily opened, and found to contain only stones and gravel!

A man made a serious sin against the sultan. When the case was reported to the sultan he wanted to see the man.

“I’ll forgive you if you make an animal read. If you fail, you’ll be executed”

The man got very sad but he got an idea. He captured a bear and then gathered a lot of pear. He put the pears between the pages of the book and gave the book to the bear. The bear of course turned the pages to get the pears. When the time has come they went to the sultan.

“Please, show us what you have done…” asked the sultan.

The man gave the book to the bear, but now without pears. The bear turned the book pages hoping to find the pears.

“What?” asked the sultan as he didn’t understand.

“He is reading my lord” answered the man.

With this the man’s life was spared.

Tommy was a three-month-old puppy. He was as normal as such a puppy can be, with a slight tendency towards lunacy at times. 

Tommy disliked being in one place for even a single minute. Never could you hope to find him sitting or lying down during the day. His missus remarked, “Even a twister would get dizzy looking at him running about.”

 And as usual, Tommy was romping about the house. He was wrestling with the rugs on the floor, occasionally running into doors and table legs, and leaping up and down chairs like a frog. Tommy religiously avoided the kitchen, which he regarded with utmost respect. One smack from the missus of the house was enough to drill into him that it was a place to be left alone at all costs.

The spice of Tomy’s life was his bubbling rivalry with the cat next door. There were several violent clashes between them, and in the last one, Tommy had been soundly scratched and bitten. He was sure didn’t want another trouncing like that! It was his greatest despair that he couldn’t climb trees, while his arch enemy could. “It’s not fair!” was all he could mutter. He failed to understand why God gave cats the ability to climb trees, while the dog, the more clever, more honest, and ’sensibler’ of the two (according to him) should be left on the ground. He had already made up his mind to ask God about that when he went up to dog-heaven, wherever that was!

 ”Oh! There you are Benjee darling! Come to mamma!” a voice called.

Tommy’s heart sank right down to the bottom of his well padded feet. “Blow! The missus’ daughter,” he thought, ”Why can’t she leave me alone.” Tommy tried slipping away through the window, but was promptly captured and smothered in hugs and kisses.

“Why did Tommy run away from mamma?” asked the girl, Pam, with a pout on her face. “Doesn’t he like mamma dear?”

Tomy wanted to growl and bark and hold his breath like he saw Pam do in front of her mother, but his inborn politeness made him refrain from expressing his true feelings.

He was carried up the stairs to his room, where a bow was tied around his neck, and some perfume sprayed on him. He was then tucked in into a baby cot that Pam had used when she was a baby! Tommy had a great loathing for dressing up, as indeed did all self-respecting dogs. In fact, he had a greater dread due to his frequent encounters with Pam. Tommy failed to understand why Pam wanted to substitute him for a doll when she already had plenty in the cupboard. Dressing up was a great indignity to… to his dogliness!

His heart sank again, in fact lower than before, as the next-door cat came up on the window sill. “Having fun, Tommy?” she mouthed, the usual feline smirk on her face.

“Blow that cat!,” Tommy thought. He must stop her from spreading this juicy bit of news in the neighborhood. His reputation was at stake! With no regard whatsoever for Pam, he leapt at the cat. In one bound, he reached the window, and with his left paw, he gave her a sharp smack in her face.

Too surprised to react, she just sat still, while our friend Tommy raced out of the door. Gathering her wits at last, she followed suit, following him down the stairs. Around table legs and lamps they went, she after him, he after her, she after him again.

“I must outwit her,” gasped Tommy. For him, this was as easy said as done for his opinion of her mental capacity was rock bottom. “The missus! She will be in the kitchen,” he thought in a flash. “If only I can get that stupid cat in there…”

He raced towards the kitchen in the hope of tricking her into entering the kitchen. In the last second, just near the door, he swerved to the left. His feline pursuer, caught off guard stumbled through the door, right into the arms of the missus! “A cat!” Tommy heard her screech. “In my kitchen?”

Tommy’s adversary was picked up by the scruff off her neck and given a sharp whack on her bottom and thrust out the window.

Gathering all her remaining dignity in a lady-like manner, the cat retired to a corner of the garden, sulking. But the looks she cast Tommy, were anything but friendly. As the saying goes, “If looks could kill…”

The Red Fox is well known throughout North America. He is a sly fellow and he loves to catch chickens and eat their eggs. He has a great sense of hearing and his pointed ears are quick to pick up the sound of a hen house. Equally sharp is the fox’s sense of smell and he can tell when a rabbit is close by for a chase. Foxes are very keen hunters.

However, a group of foxes started to wander further north when the food became scarce. They travelled into what is now called Canada. Further north still into the Arctic the red foxes travelled but they got colder and they needed some warmth. So they headed into a cave where some bears were hibernating. The warmth of the cave reminded them of their dens back home and they snuggled in for a good long sleep.

The next spring they woke up and their bear friends had already wandered out into the fields and rivers to fish and gather berries. The foxes stopped to ask the bears what sort of weather they would encounter further north on the ice and snowy terrain.

The bears answered, “Oh no. You can’t go any further north unless you want to be eaten by our polar cousins the Polar Bear. He is completely white and he will see you before you see him. You will be easy prey for the Polar Bear.”

So the red foxes had to find a way to become white and not be so easily spotted. They decided to go into the the cold, cold river and swim to become icy cold and maybe that would change their coats.
Well the idea worked. The red foxes stayed in the icy, cold water long enough that they almost froze to death and their fir lost all of its colour.

The Red Fox was now called the Arctic Fox and he could hunt for the Arctic hare or the seals with the Polar Bear without becoming the prey itself. What a wonderful idea!

Do you know the origin of the famous rhyme “Peas porridge hot, peas porridge cold, Peas porridge in the pot nine days old”? Well it all started back in Europe, supposedly in England during the medieval times. People were not very well off then and money for food was scarce.

People had large families to feed and not enough food to go around. They were not aware of good nutrition or hygiene either and many people died as a result of different diseases and plagues.

However, the big stone fireplaces in most homes would heat the home as well as serve as the stove for the family. A large pot was kept warm over the fire. All the vegetables and grains and bits of meat would be thrown into this pot. The first day it tasted good and the leftovers were kept in the pot.

Everyday, bits of this and that, leftovers and even mice would be kept warm in the big pot hung over the stove. But by the ninth day, everything got thrown out or given to the homeless. The pot was washed out as best could be done. The pot was then hung over the fire again and fresh vegies and grains would be started up.

Thus the saying “Peas porridge hot, peas porridge cold, peas porridge in the pot nine days old” became a famous old saying.

One day a beggar knocked at the door of a house, and when a woman opened the door, asked her for alms.
“I’ve nothing to give you,” said the woman. “Please go!”
The woman, who was newly married, lived with her mother-in-law. When her mother-in-law heard her refusing alms to the beggar she was furious.
“Who are you to refuse alms to this man!” she demanded.”I’m the mistress of the house!!”
Thus chastened, the daughter-in-law fled to her room.
“Thank you, kind lady,” said the beggar, ingratiatingly.
“All I asked for was a coin to buy food. I did not know she was not the mistress of the house.”
“She’s not!” snapped the woman.”She had no right to refuse you alms. I’m in charge here, and let me tell you something: you’re not getting a paisa from me!!”
And with that, she slammed the door in the beggar’s face.

The Wind and the Sun were disputing which was the stronger. Suddenly they saw a traveler coming down the road, and the Sun said: “I see a way to decide our dispute. Whichever of us can cause that traveler to take off his cloak shall be regarded as the stronger. You begin.”

So the Sun retired behind a cloud, and the Wind began to blow as hard as it could upon the traveler. But the harder he blew the more closely did the traveler wrap his cloak round him, till at last the Wind had to give in despair.

Then the Sun came out and shone in all his glory upon the traveler, who soon found it too hot to walk with his cloak on.

Kindness affects more than severity.