The Lion and the Mouse

Once when a Lion was

asleep, a little Mouse began
running up and down upon
him. This soon wakened the
Lion, who placed his huge
paw upon him and opened
his big jaws to swallow
him.
"Pardon, O King!" cried the little Mouse, "Forgive me this
time. I shall never repeat it and I shall never forget your
kindness. And who knows, but I may be able to do you a
good turn one of these days?"
The Lion was so tickled at the
idea of the Mouse being able to
help him, that he lifted up his paw
and let him go
Sometime later a few hunters
captured the King and tied him to a tree while they went in
search of a wagon to carry him on.
Just then the little Mouse happened to pass by, and seeing
the sad plight in which the Lion was, ran up to him and
soon gnawed away the ropes that bound the King of the
Beasts. "Was I not right?" said the little Mouse, very happy
to help the Lion.
MORAL: Little friends may prove great friends.
The Goose with the Golden Eggs

Once when a Lion was asleep, a

little
Once upon a time, a man and his
wife had the good fortune to have
a goose which laid a golden egg
every day. Lucky though they
were, they soon began to think they were not getting rich
fast enough.
They imagined that if the bird must be able to lay golden
eggs, its insides must be made of gold. And they thought
that if they could get all that precious metal at once, they
would get mighty rich very soon. So the man and his wife
decided to kill the bird.
However, upon cutting the goose
open, they were shocked to find
that its innards were like that of
any other goose!
MORAL: THINK BEFORE YOU
ACT
The Fox and the Stork

A selfish fox once invited a stork

to dinner at his home and for a
joke put nothing before her but
some soup in a very shallow dish.
The fox could easily lap this up,
but the Stork could only wet the
end of her long bill in it, and
stayed hungry.
I am sorry that the soup is not to your liking," said the fox
with a sly smile.
"Oh, please do not apologise," said the Stork. "I hope you
will return this visit, and come and dine with me too
sometime." So a day was appointed when the Fox should
visit the Stork.
Finally, when they were seated at
the table, the Stork served them
both some soup in a very
long-necked jar with a narrow
mouth. The stork drank the soup
easily but the fox could not insert
his snout into the tall jar. This
time it was the Foxs turn to go hungry.
MORAL: ONE BAD TURN DESERVES ANOTHER.
The Hare and the Tortoise

There once was a speedy Hare

who bragged about how fast he
could run. Tired of hearing him
boast, the Tortoise challenged him
to a race. All the animals in the
forest gathered to watch.
The Hare ran down the road for a while and then and
paused to rest. He looked back at the tortoise and cried out,
"How do you expect to win this race when you are walking
along at your slow, slow pace?"

The Hare stretched himself out alongside the road and fell
asleep, thinking, "There is plenty of time to relax."
The Tortoise walked and walked; never ever stopping until
he came to the finish line.

The animals who were watching

cheered so loudly for Tortoise,
that they woke up Hare. The Hare
stretched and yawned and began
to run again, but it was too late.
Tortoise was already over the line.

MORAL: SLOW AND STEADY WINS THE RACE

The Wolf and the Lamb
A lamb was grazing with a flock of sheep one day. She
soon found some sweet grass at the edge of the field.
Farther and farther she went, away from the others.
She was enjoying herself so much that she did not notice a
wolf coming nearer to her. However, when it pounced on
her, she was quick to start pleading, Please, please dont
eat me yet. My stomach is full of grass. If you wait a while,
I will taste much better.
The wolf thought that was a good
idea, so he sat down and waited.
After a while, the lamb said, If
you allow me to dance, the grass
in my stomach will be digested
faster. Again the wolf agreed.
While the lamb was dancing, she
had a new idea. She said, Please
take the bell from around my neck.
If you ring it as hard as you can, I
will be able to dance even faster.
The wolf took the bell and rang it as hard as he could. The
shepherd heard the bell ringing nd quickly sent his dogs to
find the missing lamb. The barking dogs frightened the
wolf away and saved the lambs life.
The gentle and weak can sometimes be cleverer than fierce
and strong.
The Monkey and the Dolphin

One day long ago, some sailors set out

to sea in their sailing ship. One of
them brought his pet monkey along
for the long journey.
When they were far out at sea, a
terrible storm overturned their ship.
Everyone fell into the sea, and the
monkey was sure that he would
drown. Suddenly a dolphin appeared
and picked him up.
They soon reached the island and the monkey came down
from the dolphins back. The dolphin asked the monkey,
Do you know this place?
The monkey replied, Yes, I do. In fact, the king of the
island is my best friend. Do you know that I am actually a
prince?
Knowing that no one lived on the island, the dolphin said,
Well, well, so you are a prince! Now you can be a king!
The monkey asked, How can I be a king?
As the dolphin started swimming away, he answered, That
is easy. As you are the only creature on this island, you will
naturally be the king!
Those who lie and boast may end up in trouble.