Once upon a time a colony of frogs lived in a pond. One day one of the frogs said:

“I have heard that a few miles from here there is a much larger pond where there are many more insects to feed on. The water is also clearer in that pond. I am going to shift there.”

“Are you sure that the other pond is good ?” a young frog named Sheiko asked.

“I am not sure. But I am going to explore and if it is good I will live there permanently.”

“How will we know that you have reached there safely?”

“If I do not come back, rest assured that I have reached the other pond and am living there happily. If the new place is not good, I will definitely come back.”

So the frog left and the others waited for a few days to see if it will come back. When it did not, they decided that it has happily settled down in the other world.

The truth was that soon after the frog had waded out of the pond, a snake, which was basking in the sun on the shore, had eaten it. It did not even get the opportunity to try out the other pond.
After a few days another frog also decided to go in search of the new pond. Shieko asked the same questions, and that frog too said he will return if the other pond is not good.

Like that several frogs left. Since none of them came back, all remaining frogs thought that they were having a good time in the new pond. Meanwhile, the snake fattened on the frogs for every frog was eaten by the snake.

When the tenth frog started, Sheiko protested.

“How do we know whether those who have left are happy?” Sheiko asked.

“Otherwise why did they not come back?” the tenth frog asked.

“Somehow, I am not very sure that all of them are living happily in the other pond. I suggest that this time all of us should go together so that those who do not like the new pond can come back, while others can remain in the new place”.

That sounded a good idea to everyone. So the entire colony of frogs, young and old, slowly got out of the pond, and started moving in the direction where they believed there was a new pond.
The snake saw the army of frogs coming, and could not believe its luck. There were enough frogs for it to last a life time. But the fact remains that no one can eat a lifetim’s food in one sitting. So the snake decided to eat as many as it can.

The snake ran into the army of frogs. It opened its mouth as wide as it could, and started swallowing one frog after another. But because it swallowed so many, the snake could not even close its mouth. It got suffocated with all the frogs it had swallowed, and soon choked to death.

When the snake died, the remaining frogs pulled its mouth wide open and freed the frogs it had swallowed. And they understood that all their friends who had left earlier had ended up in the snake’s stomach and had not reached the other pond.

Everyone felt that there was no point in going in search of unknown places where there could be unforeseen enemies like the snake. Together, all the frogs returned to their good old pond.

A fox was once caught in a trap. It was only after a tough struggle that she got free. But, to her sorrow, her beautiful tail had been cut off and left in the trap.

“How ugly I shall look!” moaned the fox, “The other foxes will laugh at me!”

Thinking hard, the fox came up with a plan to save herself from being laughed at. She called a meeting of her friends and said, “Brothers! Have you ever wondered why we carry around these long tails?” Let us cut them off and be free from their nuisance.”

But the other foxes had noticed her cut-off tail. They laughed aloud and replied, “You used to say that tails looked very fine when your own was all right. Now that you have lost yours, you want us to lose ours too.”

MORAL: Dirty tricks seldom work

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.

Once upon a time there lived an old lady in a house. She had a beautiful bed of tulips in her garden.

One night she heard singing and laughing outside. She got up and listened. It seemed that the sounds are coming from the tulips bed. She looked out from the window but she couldn’t see a thing.

Next morning she examined her tulips but there were nothing strange about them. No signs of intruders.

On the next night she heard the singing and laughing again. She silently got up and sneaked out from the house and hid away in the busses to watch the tulips.
As she looked closely she noticed little faeries among the tulips. The faeries were singing and they was rocking the tulips like a cradle because the tulip bulbs contained fairy babies.

The old lady smiled and she sneaked back to the house. From that time she never touched the flowers and she prohibited the neighbours doing that too.

The tulips grew even larger and eventually they became the most beautiful flowers on the Earth.

But one day the good old woman died. The tulip bed was torn up by strangers who did not know about the secret. They planted wheat there but it withered and from that time nothing would grow there.

But the old woman’s grave grew colorful flowers as the fairies sang above it making it covered with tulips, violets and other lovely flowers.

Once upon a time, there was a boy named Peter. He was a boy who woke up very late in the morning, bathed late and was late in having breakfast. Eventually, he reached school very late and got scolded by his teachers.
One day, a picnic was organized from the school and all the students were asked to assemble at school on the picnic day at 8:00 am. Moreover, the sir had warned Peter personally to be punctual. However, as usual, Peter woke up late and reached school only around 8:30 am. Peter became very disappointed and returned home crying. His mother tried to console him and said that it was because of his unpunctuality that he had to face such a day. From that day onwards, Peter became a very obedient boy and got up at 5:30 am every morning

A group of monkeys decide to go on a fast one day.

Before we begin, I think we should keep the food with which we break the fast ready,” counseled the old monkey chief.

The monkeys nodded their heads in agreement. The youngsters were sent in search of food. They returned with huge hands of delicious-looking bananas.

“I think each of us should keep our share of the bananas with us before we begin our fast, so that we don’t spend time distributing them after we break our fast. You can imagine how hungry we all will be by then?” said the chief’s wife.

The monkeys liked the idea and they collected their share of the bananas.

“Why don’ we peel one banana and keep it ready to eat?” said one of the youngsters.

“Yes, let’s do that,”shouted a fat monkey in agreement. Just looking at the bananas was making him hungry.

“All right,” said the monkey chief. “We shall peel the bananas, but under no condition should we eat them.”

So the monkeys peeled their bananas and carefully kept them ready for eating in the evening.

“Can I keep the banana in my mouth? I promise not to eat it till evening. Please!” a little monkey asked his father.

“Why don’t we all put a banana in our mouth? That way we can chew it immediately when we break the fast,” said his father, who had agreed to go on the fast only because his wife had not given him a choice. “As long as we don’t eat it, it should be fine,” he added.

So, the monkeys put the bananas in their mouths. One by one they eyed each other uncomfortably as they began their fast  and as you can imagine, within no time at all, the bananas disappeared down their gullets. And that was the end of their fast!

Lila was indifferent to any type of serious study or work, and forever wanted to play. So, her parents put her in a boarding school where discipline was better. Lila hated the place.

So one day when she noticed some girls playing on the streets outside the school, she offered to exchange clothes with one of the girls, named Runa, who was her same size. She made Runa live in her place in the school and said she would live instead in Runa’s home so that she could play on the streets every day.

But within two days Lila became tired of the life she opted for. There were no picture books or toys in Runa’s home and she had to do a lot of rough work as well. After two days she returned to school and requested Runa to give her clothes back.

But Runa refused. She said that since she has now got an opportunity to study, she was never going to give back her seat in school. Lila then understood that the life she had was a better one than that of Runa’s and that she had not realized its value then. She did eventually get back to school with the help of her parents, but she had to learn her lesson the hard way.

And Lila’s father was so kind hearted that he allowed Runa also to continue in the school.

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.

A young and successful executive was traveling down a neighborhood street, going a bit too fast in his new Jaguar. He was watching for kids darting out from between parked cars and slowed down when he thought he saw something. As his car passed, no children appeared. Instead, a brick smashed into the Jag’s side door! He slammed on the brakes and drove the Jag back to the spot where the brick had been thrown. The angry driver then jumped out of the car, grabbed the nearest kid and pushed him up against a parked car, shouting, “What was that all about and who are you?
Just what the heck are you doing?
That’s a new car and that brick you threw is going to cost a lot of money.
Why did you do it?”
The young boy was apologetic. “Please mister … please, I’m sorry… I didn’t know what else to do,” he pleaded.
“I threw the brick because no one else would stop…”
With tears dripping down his face and off his chin, the youth pointed to a spot just around a parked car.
“It’s my brother,” he said.
“He rolled off the curb and fell out of his wheelchair and I can’t lift him up.”
Now sobbing, the boy asked the stunned executive, “Would you please help me get him back into his wheelchair? He’s hurt and he’s too heavy for me.”
Moved beyond words, the driver tried to swallow the rapidly swelling lump in his throat. He hurriedly lifted the handicapped boy back into the wheelchair, then took out his fancy handkerchief and dabbed at the fresh scrapes and cuts. A quick look told him everything was going to be okay.
“Thank you and may God bless you,” the grateful child told the stranger.
Too shook up for words, the man simply watched the little boy push his wheelchair-bound brother down the sidewalk toward their home. It was a long, slow walk back to the Jaguar. The damage was very noticeable, but the driver never bothered to repair the dented side door. He kept the dent there to remind him of this message: Don’t go through life so fast that someone has to throw a brick at you to get your attention!

God whispers in our souls and speaks to our hearts. Sometimes when we don’t have time to listen, He has to throw a brick at us.

Many years ago, during the Great Ice Age, as the world was being formed and land was flowing in all different directions, there were many animals roaming the earth. They had thick coats of fur to keep them warm and they were meat-eaters, known as carnivores.
The land was frozen over and the vegetation was gone. All animals who were alive depended on their skills of hunting and chasing their prey in order to survive. No animal, no matter how small or large, was free from a predator. All animals of the Great Ice Age were in danger.
One of those animals who lived in the area we now call the United States, was particularly in danger as he was of medium build and he was dark brown. He was called Bear. Some animals whispered to each other that he was Grizzled and angry. All the creatures could see him and chased him and teased him until he was run ragged. He tried to hide but all the caves and hollows were frozen over.
So he headed closer to the colder areas where all the animals were afraid to go. Why would any animal want to go where it was even colder and where the sun did not rise at all during some months of the year? But this Bear, known as Grizzled, ambled further north into the area where no other large animals lived and he was the largest. At last he was free to live a happy life.
The only trouble was there was no food. He had left all the food in the other land. So he went hungry for a few days and when he went to sleep on the ice and snow, his body heat made a small hole. He woke up and found a hole in the ice and he peered into the hole and saw animals. He was not sure what to do but he used his massive paw and scooped out the hole and tried to catch fish and the seals which swam below the surface.
Another problem arose, because the fish and the seals could see his big brown body on the ice and they would stay away from the hole when he came to fish. So slowly Grizzled turned beige, then over the years he became a yellowy-white color. He could finally creep up and fish for these animals and fish without being spotted. And finally, the native people who travelled over the frozen water called him Polar Bear, the Great White Creature, who was the greatest hunter in the Arctic. And that is why the Polar Bear became White.