Once upon a time, a clever monkey lived in a tree that bore juicy, red rose apples. He was very happy. One fine day, a crocodile swam up to that tree and told the monkey that he had traveled a long distance and was in search of food as he was very hungry. The kind monkey offered him a few rose apples. The crocodile enjoyed them very much and asked the monkey whether he could come again for some more fruit. The generous monkey happily agreed.
The crocodile returned the next day. And the next. And the next one after that. Soon the two became very good friends. They discussed their lives, their friends and family, like all friends do. The crocodile told the monkey that he had a wife and that they lived on the other side of the river. So the kind monkey offered him some extra rose apples to take home to his wife. The crocodile’s wife loved the rose apples and made her husband promise to get her some every day.
Meanwhile, the friendship between the monkey and the crocodile deepened as they spent more and more time together. The crocodile’s wife started getting jealous. She wanted to put an end to this friendship. So she pretended that she could not believe that her husband could be friends with a monkey. Her husband tried to convince her that he and the monkey shared a true friendship. The crocodile’s wife thought to herself that if the monkey lived on a diet of rose monkeys, his flesh would be very sweet. So she asked the crocodile to invite the monkey to their house.
The crocodile was not happy about this. He tried to make the excuse that it would be difficult to get the monkey across the river. But his wife was determined to eat the monkey’s flesh. So she thought of a plan. One day, she pretended to be very ill and told the crocodile that the doctor said that she would only recover if she ate a monkey’s heart. If her husband wanted to save her life, he must bring her his friend’s heart.
The crocodile was aghast. He was in a dilemma. On the one hand, he loved his friend. On the other, he could not possibly let his wife die. The crocodile’s wife threatened him saying that if he did not get her the monkey’s heart, she would surely die.
So the crocodile went to the rose apple tree and invited the monkey to come home to meet his wife. He told the monkey that he could ride across the river on the crocodile’s back. The monkey happily agreed. As they reached the middle of the river, the crocodile began to sink. The frightened monkey asked him why he was doing that. The crocodile explained that he would have to kill the monkey to save his wife’s life. The clever monkey told him that he would gladly give up his heart to save the life of the crocodile’s wife, but he had left his heart behind in the rose apple tree. He asked the crocodile to make haste and turn back so that the monkey could go get his heart from the apple tree.
The silly crocodile quickly swam back to the rose apple tree. The monkey scampered up the tree to safety. He told the crocodile to tell his wicked wife that she had married the biggest fool in the world.
Moral: Don’t underestimate yourself. There are bigger fools in this world.
Once upon a time, there was a flock of doves that flew in search of food led by their king. One day, they had flown a long distance and were very tired. The dove king encouraged them to fly a little further. The smallest dove picked up speed and found some rice scattered beneath a banyan tree. So all the doves landed and began to eat.
Suddenly a net fell over them and they were all trapped. They saw a hunter approaching carrying a huge club. The doves desperately fluttered their wings trying to get out, but to no avail. The king had an idea. He advised all the doves to fly up together carrying the net with them. He said that there was strength in unity.
Each dove picked up a portion of the net and together they flew off carrying the net with them. The hunter looked up in astonishment. He tried to follow them, but they were flying high over hills and valleys. They flew to a hill near a city of temples where there lived a mouse who could help them. He was a faithful friend of the dove king.
When the mouse heard the loud noise of their approach, he went into hiding. The dove king gently called out to him and then the mouse was happy to see him. The dove king explained that they had been caught in a trap and needed the mouse’s help to gnaw at the net with his teeth and set them free.
The mouse agreed saying that he would set the king free first. The king insisted that he first free his subjects and the king last. The mouse understood the king’s feelings and complied with his wishes. He began to cut the net and one by one all the doves were freed including the dove king.
They all thanked the mouse and flew away together, united in their strength.
Moral: When you work together, you are stronger.
King Akbar was very fond of Birbal. This made a certain courtier very jealous. Now this courtier always wanted to be chief minister, but this was not possible as Birbal filled that position. One day Akbar praised Birbal in front of the courtier. This made the courtier very angry and he said that the king praised Birbal unjustly and if Birbal could answer three of his questions, he would accept the fact that Birbal was intelligent. Akbar always wanting to test Birbals wit readily agreed.
The three questions were
1. How many stars are there in the sky
2. Where is the centre of the Earth and
3. How many men and how many women are there in the world.
Immediately Akbar asked Birbal the three questions and informed him that if he could not answer them, he would have to resign as chief minister.
To answer the first question, Birbal brought a hairy sheep and said, “There are as many stars in the sky as there is hair on the sheep’s body. My friend the courtier is welcome to count them if he likes.”
To answer the second question, Birbal drew a couple of lines on the floor and bore an iron rod in it and said, “this is the center of the Earth, the courtier may measure it himself if he has any doubts.”
In answer to the third question, Birbal said, “Counting the exact number of men and women in the world would be a problem as there are some specimens like our courtier friend here who cannot easily be classified as either. Therefore if all people like him are killed, then and only then can one count the exact number.”
Moral: There is Always a Way.
Once two friends were walking through the forest. They knew that anything dangerous can happen to them at any time in the forest. So they promised each other that they would remain united in any case of danger.
Suddenly, they saw a large bear approaching them. One of the friends at once climbed a nearby tree. But the other one did not know how to climb. So being led by his common sense, he lay down on the ground breathless, pretending to be a dead man.
The bear came near the man lying on the ground. It smelt in his ears, and slowly left the place. Because the bears do not touch the dead creatures.Now the friend on the tree came down and asked his friend on the ground, “Friend, what did the bear tell you into your ears?” The other friend replied, “The bear advised me not to believe a false friend.”
Moral: True Friend is the one who always supports and stands by you in any situation.
Once upon a time there lived a cloth merchant in a village with his wife and two children. They were indeed quite well-off. They had a beautiful hen which laid an egg everyday. It was not an ordinary egg, rather, a golden egg. But the man was not satisfied with what he used to get daily. He was a get rich-trice kind of a person.
The man wanted to get all the golden eggs from his hen at one single go. So, one day he thought hard and at last clicked upon a plan. He decided to kill the hen and get all the eggs together.
So, the next day when the hen laid a golden egg, the man caught hold of it, took a sharp knife, chopped off its neck and cut its body open. There was nothing but blood all around & no trace of any egg at all. He was highly grieved because now he would not get even one single egg.
His life was going on smoothly with one egg a day but now, he himself made his life miserable. The outcome of his greed was that he started becoming poorer & poorer day by day and ultimately became a pauper. How jinxed and how much foolish he was.
Moral: One who desires more, loses all. One should remain satisfied with what one gets.
Once a fox was roaming around in the dark. Unfortunately, he fell into a well. He tried his level best to come out but all in vain. So, he had no other alternative but to remain there till the next morning. The next day, a goat came that way. She peeped into the well and saw the fox there. The goat asked “what are you doing there, Mr. Fox?”
The sly fox replied, “I came here to drink water. It is the best I have ever tasted. Come and see for yourself.” Without thinking even for a while, the goat jumped into the well, quenched her thirst and looked for a way to get out. But just like the fox, she also found herself helpless to come out.
Then the fox said, “I have an idea. You stand on your hind legs. I’ll climb on your head and get out. Then I shall help you come out too.” The goat was innocent enough to understand the shrewdness of the fox and did as the fox said and helped him get out of the well.
While walking away, the fox said, “Had you been intelligent enough, you would never have got in without seeing how to get out.”
Moral: Look before you leap. Do not just blindly walk in to anything without thinking.
Tenali Rama and the Brinjal Curry
Sri Krishna Devaraya was the emperor of Vizayanagra. He had eight advisors. Tenali Rama was one among them. He was very clever and spontaneous. Sri Krishna Devaraya had some special kind of brinjal plants in his garden. The brinjal was very rare kind and curry made out of it was very tasty which was loved by the emperor. As it was a rare kind, the garden was very guarded and no one was allowed to view the plants without the emperor’s permission.
Once the emperor had arranged dinner for his advisors and the brinjal curry was served. Tenali Rama had enjoyed the brinjal curry very much and went home. But he was unable to forget the taste. He told his wife about the taste of curry. Tenali Rama’s wife also liked brinjal curry, she asked Tenali Rama to bring few brinjals so that she can prepare a curry. But Tenali Rama knew that the emperor was taking extreme care about the Brinjal plants and he can easily detect a missing of even one brinjal from his garden. And, the emperor will punish such thief if caught stealing a brinjal from his garden.
But Tenali’s wife pleaded him to bring a brinjal from the garden without telling anybody. Tenali Rama had no choice other than stealing a brinjal from the emperor’s garden. One night he went to the garden, jumped the wall and plucked few brinjals from the garden. By the god’s grace, no one had seen him. His wife cooked the brinjals and the curry was very tasty. Like all the mothers, she too loved her son very much and wanted to serve a brinjal curry him. But Tenali Rama asked her not to do such thing because if their son reveals to anybody that he had a rare brinjal curry, then they may get caught and get punished for stealing a brinjal from the garden.
But his wife did not agree. She wanted to serve the curry to her son. She was unable to eat the curry alone without serving her little kid who was sleeping after doing his homework on the roof of their house. She asked Tenali Rama to find a way so that their son can also taste the brinjal curry. Tenali Rama also loved his son, so he thought of an idea and with a lot of hesitation went on to the roof to wake up his child with a bucket of water and poured the water on the child. When the child woke up he said “It is raining. Let’s go inside the house and have a dinner”. After going inside the room he changed the clothes of his son and gave him the rice and brinjal curry for the dinner. Tenali Rama told his wife loudly that “it was raining outside, and let the boy sleep in the room”.
And the next day, the emperor came to know that few brinjals were missing in his garden. The Gardener who kept the count of each vegetable and flower found that the three brinjals were missing. It became a challenging issue for the emperor and took it very seriously. He declared a reward for the person who can catch the thief. Chief advisor Appaji suspected that only Tenali Rama was capable of doing such things. And they told the emperor about it. The emperor sent his courtiers and asked Tenali Rama to come immediately. Once Tenali Rama came he asked him about the missing brinjals. Then Tenali Rama told, “I was not aware of the missing brinjals”. Then the chief advisor told “Tenali Rama was lying. Let’s enquire his son”.
The king sent his courtiers to bring Tenali Rama’s son. Once his son came, He was asked what vegetable he had in the dinner last night. The child replied, “The brinjal curry and it was very tasty”. Then the advisor told Tenali Rama that He needs to accept his crime. But Tenali Rama said his son had slept very early and he might be saying something which he got in his dream.
So the emperor asked the little kid that “can you please explain clearly what had you done yesterday after coming from the school?”
Tenali Rama’s son replied that “yesterday after coming from the school, I played for some time and after that, I went on to the roof, did my homework, and slept on the roof. But when the rain started, my father came and woke me up. By that time my dress was fully wet, then we went inside, had the dinner and slept again”.
The chief advisor Appaji was shocked because there was no rain at all yesterday. And the atmosphere was fully dry. So they thought the kid had a dream and freed Tenali Rama without any punishment. However, later Tenali Raman told the truth to the emperor and was pardoned by the emperor for his clever witty idea.
Moral: To start with – Stealing is not a good thing! You can always use your brain and ease out of the difficult situations.
Once a man sold his well to a farmer. Next day when a farmer went to draw the water from that well, the man did not allow him to draw the water from it. He said, “I have sold you the well, not the water, so you cannot draw the water from the well.”
The farmer became very sad and came to the Emperor’s court. He described everything to the Emperor and asked for the justice.
The Emperor called Birbal and handed over this case to him. Birbal called the man who sold the well to the farmer. Birbal asked, “Why don’t you let him use the water of the well. You have sold the well to the farmer.” The man replied, “Birbal, I have sold the well to the farmer, not the water. He has no right to draw the water from the well.”
Then Birbal smiled and said to him, “Good, but look, since you have sold the well to this farmer, and you claim that water is yours, then you have no right to keep your water in the farmer’s well. Either you pay rent to the farmer to keep your water in his well, or you take that out of his well immediately.”
The man understood, that his trick has failed. Birbal has outwitted him.
Moral: Don’t Try to Cheat. You will end up paying for it regardless of how smart you think you are.
One fine day, Akbar lost his ring. When Birbal arrived in the court, Akbar told him “I have lost my ring. My father had given it to me as a gift. Please help me find it.” Birbal said, ”do not worry your Majesty, I will find your ring right now.”
He said, ”Your Majesty the ring is here in this court itself, it is with one of the courtier. The courtier who has a straw in his beard has your ring.” The courtier who had the emperors ring was shocked and immediately moved his hand over his beard. Birbal noticed this act of the courtier. He immediately pointed towards the courtier and said, ”Please search this man. He has the emperors ring.”
Akbar could not understand how Birbal had Managed to find the ring. Birbal then told Akbar that a guilty person is always scared.
Moral: A Guilty Conscience need No Accuser.
