Once upon a time, in a lush green meadow, a mouse and a frog became friends. They often talked about their lives and shared food, but the frog lived in the pond while the mouse lived on dry land. One day, the frog said to the mouse, “Why don’t you come and visit me in the pond? It’s wonderful underwater.”  

The mouse, hesitant, replied, “I cannot swim like you.” The clever frog suggested, “Let me tie your leg to mine with a piece of grass. I will guide you safely.”  Excited and trusting his friend, the mouse agreed. The frog tied their legs together and jumped into the water, pulling the mouse along.  

As they swam deeper, the poor mouse struggled, gasping for air. “Frog, please take me back! I cannot breathe!” cried the mouse. But the frog, enjoying himself, ignored the mouse’s cries and swam deeper into the pond. Suddenly, a hawk flying overhead spotted the struggling mouse.  

The hawk swooped down, grabbing the mouse in its sharp claws. Because their legs were tied together, the frog was dragged out of the water too. The hawk carried them both high into the sky. The frog realized his mistake but it was too late.

Moral of the Story: Never take advantage of others, as it may lead to your own downfall.

Once upon a time, in a dense jungle, a mighty elephant lived among the other animals. He was strong but arrogant, often trampling over smaller creatures without care. Near the elephant’s home, a clever little hare lived peacefully.  

One day, the elephant stomped through the forest, crushing bushes, trees, and even the hare’s burrow. The hare was upset but knew that challenging the elephant directly wouldn't work. So, he came up with a clever plan.  

The hare approached the elephant and said, “Oh mighty elephant, I heard you are the strongest in the jungle. But have you ever faced the King of the River?”  

The elephant laughed and said, “Who dares to challenge me?”  

The hare pointed to the river and said, “Come with me tomorrow morning, and I will show you.”  

The next day, the elephant arrived at the riverbank. The hare told him to look into the water. When the elephant peered into the river, he saw his own reflection staring back at him.  

The hare whispered, “That is the King of the River, and he is stronger than you. If you challenge him, he will pull you in!”  

The elephant, seeing his own reflection mimicking his every move, grew nervous. He trumpeted loudly, but the reflection did the same. Thinking it was a powerful rival, the elephant panicked and ran away.  

The hare laughed quietly and said, “Even the mightiest can be fooled by their own pride.”  

From that day on, the elephant never disturbed the hare or his home again.  

Moral of the Story: Intelligence and wit can overcome brute strength.

There was a big banyan tree, where two crows - husband and wife, had prepared a nice nest and made it their home. In the hollow of the same tree, lived a black cobra.

The crows had a problem because the black cobra would climb up the tree and eat the newborns, whenever the female crow hatched her eggs. They could do nothing to save them. 

The crows went to a jackal, who lived in a nearby banyan tree, to seek his advice. They narrated everything to him and requested his advice for them to get rid of their problem. 

They said, "O Friend, It has become dangerous to live here. Please tell us how we can protect our children from being eaten up by the wicked black cobra." 

The jackal replied, "Please don't give up. Even powerful enemies can be overcome with the use of wit." 

On hearing this, the crows requested, "O Friend, please tell us how we can overcome and destroy this wicked cobra." 

The jackal told them a plan, "Fly into the capital of the kingdom, not far from here. Visit the house of someone who is wealthy and careless at the same time. Notice if something of value is lying around. If you find so, pick it up when the servants are watching you." 

He continued, "You will need to fly slowly so that the servants can follow you. Return back to your tree and drop it in the hollow of the tree where the cobra lives. When the servants reach, they will kill the cobra when they see it."

The crows decided to follow the jackal's advice and flew off immediately according to his plan. 

As they flew above the capital, the female crow noticed wealthy women swimming in a lake. They had left gold and pearl necklaces on the banks of the lake, which were guarded by royal servants. 

At once the female crow swooped down, and picked up a big necklace in her beak, and started flying slowly. 

When the royal servants noticed her, they picked up sticks and stones, and started throwing at her, and ran to chase her. 

As planned, she dropped the necklace in front of the hollow of the tree, where the black cobra was asleep. She sat on one of the branches for the royal servants to notice. 

When the royal servants arrived, the black cobra came out of the hollow of the tree to see what all the noise was about. The black cobra confronted the king's servants with swelling hood, but the servants attacked the cobra with sticks and stones to recover the necklace. 

They killed the wicked cobra, and returned with the necklace. And the crows, having gotten rid of the cobra, lived happily. 

MORAL OF THE STORY : Even a very powerful enemy can be destroyed through deceit.

Once upon a time there lived a crow with his family on a big banyan tree in a forest. There was a kingdom nearby the forest. In the same tree, a cobra was staying under a hole. When the nest was unguarded, the ate the crows’ eggs. This happened whenever the crows left the nest in search of food. The crows went to his friend jackal for advice. 

The crows decided to follow the jackal’s advice and as per the advice, one of the crows went to the royal kingdom and stole the necklace belonging to the princess which was very precious. The guards followed the crow as he flew slowly towards the banyan tree.

The crow then dropped the necklace in the cobra’s hole. On finding the necklace kept in the cobra’s hole, the guards quickly killed the cobra and took back the necklace. The crows lived happily thereafter.

Moral: One should not give up. Even the most powerful enemies can be defeated with the use of wit.

Long ago, people lived happily under the rule of a king. The people of the kingdom were very happy as they led a very prosperous life with an abundance of wealth and no misfortunes.

Once, the king decided to go visiting places of historical importance and pilgrim centres at distant places. He decided to travel by foot to interact with his people. People of distant places were very happy to have a conversation with their king. They were proud that their king had a kind heart.

After several weeks of travel, the king returned to the palace. He was quite happy that he had visited many pilgrim centres and witnessed his people leading a prosperous life. However, he had one regret.

He had intolerable pain in his feet as it was his first trip by foot covering a long distance. He complained to his ministers that the roads weren't comfortable and that they were very stony. He could not tolerate the pain. He said that he was very much worried about the people who had to walk along those roads as it would be painful for them too!

Considering all this, he ordered his servants to cover the roads in the whole country with leather so that the people of his kingdom can walk comfortably.

The king's ministers were stunned to hear his order as it would mean that thousands of cows would have to be slaughtered in order to get sufficient quantity of leather. And it would cost a huge amount of money also.

Finally, a wise man from the ministry came to the king and said that he had another idea. The king asked what the alternative was. The minister said, "Instead of covering the roads with leather, why don't you just have a piece of leather cut in appropriate shape to cover your feet?"

The king was very much surprised by his suggestion and applauded the wisdom of the minister. He ordered a pair of leather shoes for himself and requested all his countrymen also to wear shoes.

Moral: Instead of trying to change the world, we should try to change ourselves.

Long ago, there lived an old man with his three sons in a deserted village, located in the vicinity of a desert. He had 17 camels, and they were the main source of his income. He used to rent out camels as a means of shipping in the desert. One day, he passed away. He had left a will, leaving his assets for his three sons.

After the funeral and the other obligations were over, the three sons read the will. While their father had divided all the property he had into three equal parts, he had divided the 17 camels in a different way. They were not shared equally among the three as 17 is an odd number and a prime number, which cannot be divided.

The old man had stated that the eldest son will own half of the 17 camels, the middle one will get one third of the 17 camels, and the youngest one will get his share of camels as one ninth!

All of them were stunned to read the will and questioned each other how to divide the 17 camels as mentioned in the will. It is not possible to divide 17 camels and give half of the 17 camels to the eldest one. It is not possible also to divide the camels for the other two sons.

They spent several days thinking of ways to divide the camels as mentioned in the will, but none could find the answer.

They finally took the issue to the wise man in their village. The wise man heard the problem and instantly found a solution. He asked them to bring all the 17 camels to him.

The sons brought the camels to the wise man's place. The wise man added a camel owned by him and made the total number of camels 18.

Now, he asked the first son to read the will. As per the will, the eldest son got half the camels, which now counted to 18 / 2 = 9 camels! The eldest one got 9 camels as his share.

The remaining camels were 9.

The wise man asked the second son to read the will. He was assigned 1 / 3 of the total camels.

It came to 18 / 3 = 6 camels. The second son got 6 camels as his share.

Total number of camels shared by the elder sons - 9 + 6 = 15 camels.

The third son read out his share of camels: 1 / 9th of the total number of camels - 18 / 9 = 2 camels.

The youngest one got 2 camels as his share.

Totally there were 9 + 6 + 2 camels shared by the brothers, which counted to 17 camels.

Now, the one camel added by the wise man was taken back. The wise man solved this problem smartly with his intelligence.

Intelligence is nothing but finding a common ground to solve an issue. In short, every problem has a solution. 

Once there was a fox lived in a deep forest. One fine morning it was feeling hungry. It saw a goat was grazing at the top of the paddy grass field. It situated top of the field with a pointed rock, where the fox could not possibly get at her.

The fox said to the goat my dear that is a very dangerous place for you. Please come out of that place. He called out, pretending to be very anxious about the goat’s safety. What will happen if you should fall? Please listen to me and come down! Here you can get all you want of the finest, tenderness green grass in the corner. You can drink water in the stream. I will give you company to come down and I will protect you from the wild animals.

The goat looked over the edge of the cliff. The goat said that, Oh my dear fox how worried you are about me. I am very happy to know that you are very kind about me. If you feel thirsty please go and drink from the stream. But I know you! It’s your own appetite you are thinking of, not mine! 

It’s ok thank you. I have enough food here and I could not come there. My owner is coming with his big dog so I am waiting for him. The fox went away from that place with fear of dogs. 

Moral: An invitation prompted by selfishness is not to be accepted.

Once upon a time there was a big festival was going on in a village. Two cats were prowling together. One of the cats saw a big cake and mooed. The other jumped up and picked it. The first cat said, Give me the cake. I am the one who saw this. The other cat said “Keep away from it. Because I picked it up. 

They were fighting and fighting. But there was no solution. They just took the cake to end of the village. There was a monkey sitting on the tree. He asked both of them. What happens? I will solve your problem. Don’t fight. Let me share the cake among you both. The cake was handed over the monkey.

The monkey split the cake into two parts. He shook his head and said, “Oho! One is bigger. One is smaller”. He had a bit of the bigger and now said “Oho! This has become smaller now”. He ate from the other part. And thus, he went on eating from part to part and finally finished the whole cake.

The poor cats were disappointed.

Moral: When you quarrel third person gains the profit.

Once there once lived an old crane on the banks of a pond. It found difficulties to catch the fishes because of his old age. In this pond there lived a lot of water creature like fish, frogs, crabs, jelly fish and snail too. 

One day a crab came out of the water and asked the crane, “Why are you looking so sad?" 

“I am sad because this pond is going dry and to fill up with mud." He replied. All the fishes are soon going to die. The crab was scared. He soon told his friends in the pond. They all decided to ask the crane for help. 

“I will take a few fish everyday in my beak to another pond and save all of you by this way," said the old crane. All the fish agreed to his idea. The wicked crane took a few every day to a nearby hill. There he ate them up. One day it was time for the crab to go. 

He sat on the crane’s back. When he saw all the dead fish he caught hold of the crane’s neck tight until it fell down. He then returned joyfully to the pond and told the remaining fish about the cunning works of the crane. There after the fish avoided the crane. 

After some time, the crane remained without food and at last died. 

Moral: Don't believe the wicked words.

Once upon a time there lived a milkmaid in a small village. She used to go market everyday to sell her milk. One day morning she was on her way to the market to sell some milk from her cow. As she carried the large pot of milk on top of her head. She began to dream of all the things she could do after selling the milk. She thought with that money, I will buy hundred chicks. When they are fully grown. I can sell them at a good price at the market.

As she walked on, she continued dreaming, “Then I’ll buy two young goats and rear them on the grass close by backyard. When they are fully grown, I can sell them at an even better price!” Still dreaming, she said to herself, “Soon, I’ll be able to buy another cow, and I will have more milk to sell. Then I shall have even more money.” I will get rich soon and then I will buy some necklace for me. I will looks like the queen. With these happy thoughts, she began to skip and jump.

Suddenly she tripped and fell in the road. The pot broke and all the milk split onto the ground. No more dreaming now, she sat down and cried.

Moral of the Story: Do not count your chickens before they are hatched.

Once upon a time there was a small Iceland in the nether land. One day 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 dolphin’s 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!”

Moral: Those who lie and boast may end up in trouble.

Once there lived a wolf in the dense forest. One fine morning it was thirsty. The wolf went to a stream to quench his thirst. While he was drinking water, he saw a cute lamb that was also drinking water over there. When he saw the lamb his mouth began to water. He turned to the lamb and said, "How dare you make the water muddy? Can't you see that I am drinking water from the same stream?"

The lamb got so much frightened that it could not speak for a while. Then it replied, "Sir, I beg your pardon. The water is running down from you to me. How can I make it muddy?"

The wolf said, "But you bleated me and called me with my names last year" The lamb replied, "Oh Majesty, I was not even born then. How could I abuse you last year?"

The wolf, who was determined to eat the poor lamb, said to it, "Then it must have been your father or mother or brother. You must suffer for your race." Saying so, the wolf caught him, tore him to pieces and ate him up.

Moral: Any excuse is good enough to serve an evil-doer.

There lived a tailor in a small village. There was an elephant near by the jungle. While going to river to take a bath regularly he passed the tailor's shop. Tailor always gave him something to eat. They were became friends.

As usual one day he put his trunk inside the shop. The tailor was not in a good mood as he had a quarrel with a customer. So he didn't gave anything to the elephant.

The tailor instead of giving him something to eat pricked a needle into his trunk. The elephant silently went away.

The elephant reached the river and took his bath. After that he filled muddy water in his trunk. On his way back he stopped at the tailor's shop and threw all the muddy water on the clothes in the shop. All the clothes were destroyed. Tailor had to bear heavy loss.

Moral: As you sow, so shall you reap?

Once upon a time there lived a merchant in a small village. He was a salt merchant. He had a donkey to carry the salt load to the market. He sell his salt in the market. He had to cross a stream in the usual way to the market.

Once his donkey fell into the stream and much of the salt was dissolved in water. The donkey easily crossed the stream due to the light weight of salt on his back. The donkey was so happy happy.

The donkey on his next trip knowingly fell into the stream. The merchant suspected the animal's intention. His master was now sure about the animal's evil intention.

The merchant next day loaded the donkey with a lot of cotton. The donkey once again repeated the same trick. He fell into the stream. This time his load became very heavy.

The donkey carried the heavy load. It was very tiring for him to move on. The donkey now realized his mistake. He stopped falling down into the stream any more. He thought that it was not good to play tricks. The merchant had taught the donkey a good lesson.

Moral: You can be fool a person a few times but not always.

The moral of the story of the donkey and the dog is “Don’t try to be what you are not”. Once a man had a little dog. He was very fond of it. He would often take it into his lap and pat his back. 

The man had a donkey. It wanted to be a pet of his master. One day the man was sitting on his chair. He had the dog on his knees. He was giving it bits of food to eat. The donkey said to himself, ‘If I do as the dog, then my master will make a pet of me. The dog wags its tail and barks. It also jumps on his knees. Let me wag my tail and bray. I’ll then jump on his knees.'

Thus thinking, the donkey began to bray. It also wagged its tail. It then tried to jump on his master’s knees.

The master got afraid. He cried aloud. His servant came out of the house. He began to beat the donkey with a stick. The donkey ran away into the field.

Moral: Don’t try to be what you are not.

Once upon a time there lived a cat in a small village. One day it drank some milk from a house. So the house owner beat her mercilessly. So that day inwards she didn’t enter in that village. One day she was very hungry. She kept searching for something good to eat. She has to take some food because her stomach is making noises.

She enters the village carefully.  Suddenly the cat saw a rooster passing by the road. The rooster was eating some grains. The cat thought, “Ah! That is a good rooster. I wish I could eat his flesh. She thought how can I eat him and feed my stomach?  After thinking for some time, the cat got an idea. He went to the rooster and accused him, “You are an irritation bird to the mankind. You start boast in the night time. You don’t let them sleep.”

The rooster was a little surprised. He defended himself by saying, “I boast only to help peoples. I do it for the benefit of mankind. I boast so that they might rise in time for their work. What is your problem?” But the Cat was very hungry. So she replied in anger, “You have given me enough apologies. But I will kill you and eat your flesh.”

The Rooster started to fly but the cat pounced on the rooster and eats his flesh.

Moral: Unnecessary talk with the enemy does not help.

Once upon a time there was a hunter lived in a village. Who was hunting in a forest. He saw a deer in little distance. He killed the deer. He carried it with his shoulder and going towards his home. After sometime, he saw a wild boar coming towards him. He shot an arrow at the boar. The arrow pierced the boar's neck and protruded at its back. The boar got angry killed the hunter with his pointed tusks and died. Soon the hunter and the boar both were lying dead at the same spot.

At the same time, a jackal passing through that that place. He saw a man, deer and boar dies. I could eat all of them withing few days, thought the jackal to himself.  He decided to eat some now and keep some for tomorrow. 

The jackal decided first to lick the arrow and eat that little flesh stuck on the boar. But, as soon as he licks the arrow it stuck inside his mouth. He tried but he didn't get rid of it. At last the jackal died on the spot.

Once there was an able king ruled in a kingdom. He loves animals so that he had a pet monkey. This monkey was a fool, but was treated royally and moved freely in the king's palace. King was given all the freedom to the monkeys. He was also allowed to enter the king's personal rooms that were forbidden even for the servants. It was happy with the treat given by the King.

One afternoon, the king was asleep, while the monkey kept watching to him. All of a sudden, a fly came in the room and sat on the king's chest.  The monkey influenced him away, but the fly would only go away for some time and return on the king's chest again. 

The monkey got very angry and excited with this fly's activity. The foolish monkey started chasing the fly with a sharp weapon. 

As the fly sat on the king's chest again, the monkey hit the fly with all his strength. The fly flew away unharmed, but the king was severely wounded in the chest and at last he died. 

Moral:

Beware of a foolish friend. He can cause you more harm than your enemy.

There lived a group of monkeys in deep forest. During one winter, there were so cold. They were feeling cold. They needs some fire to be little hot. In the mean time, one of the youngest monkey found one fire fly, which appeared to him as embers of fire. Ho told everybody see I found some fire. Some other monkeys join with him. Hoping to make some fire for themselves, they began to blow at them. 

One sparrow was watching the monkeys from above the tree. Considering the vain attempts the monkeys were busy with, it thought of advising them against it, "What big fools you are. You are blowing at some firefly and it can't help you to give warms. You will never be able to make any fire out of this. The monkeys did not listen to the sparrow. They continued to blow at poor firefly. 

What you are doing is a waste of time. These firefly will not help you to protect yourself against the cold. Go and find some shelter nearby cave. You may find a cave or a tunnel where you will be protected from the cold winds. The monkeys did not like his advice. One of the old monkeys said, "Go fool yourself. Why are you interfering in our task?" But the sparrow disagreed with him. 

In his continues effort to convince the monkeys, the bird came close to explain that their efforts were useless. The monkeys were frustrated by their efforts, the monkeys became angry. One of the monkeys caught the sparrow and smashed him against a stone in anger. It was dead within a minute.

Moral:

Never give advice unless you are asked for it.

There was a cap seller in a small village. He used to go from village to village to sell the caps. He always used a basket for over the head to carry the caps. He always used to go to the town using by a short cut road throughout the forest.

It was a hot summer day and it was very hot. He got tired by walking. To get some rest he sat under a shaded tree.

Soon he fell asleep under the shadow of the tree. Many monkeys were living on that tree. When they saw the caps they climbed down the tree and each one of them put a cap on their head. Then they climbed up the tree again.

The cap seller woke up after some time. He found that his caps were missing. By chance he looked up and saw the monkeys wearing his caps. He tried his best to get his caps back but all his efforts were in vain.

Suddenly an idea struck his mind. He took off his own cap and threw it on the ground. Monkeys did the same as they are imitators. The cap seller collected all his caps and went away happily.

Moral:

Intelligence works wonders.