The value of a copper coin Mahatma Gandhi, honoured as the father of India, was a very special person. The following story illustrates one of the reasons for him to be called 'Mahatma' (great soul). Once, Gandhi was on an expedition to collect funds from various cities and villages for an organization to help the poor. He went to several places and finally reached Orissa. He organized a meeting in Orissa. There, he gave a speech to the public, requesting them to give him funds for the organization. At the end of his speech, a very old woman with bent back, tattered clothing, white hai ... read more

The Goose with the Golden Eggs 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 is 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. Goose with the Golden Eggs StoryHowever, upon cutting the goose open, they were shocked to find that its inn ... read more

Helping Others Once there was a small boy named Shankar. He belonged to a poor family. One day, he was crossing through the forest carrying some woods. He saw an old man who was very hungry. Shankar wanted to give him some food, but he did not have food for his own. So he continued on his way. On his way he saw a deer who was very thirsty. He wanted to give him some water, but he did not have water for himself. So he went on his way ahead. Then he saw a man who wanted to make a camp but he did not have woods. Shankar asked his problem and gave some woods to him. In return, he gave him so ... read more

The Ship A voyaging ship was wrecked during a storm at sea and only two of the men on it were able to swim to a small, desert like island. The two survivors, not knowing what else to do, agreed that they had no other recourse but to pray to God. However, to find out whose prayer was more powerful, they agreed to divide the territory between them and stay on opposite sides of the island. The first thing they prayed for was food. The next morning, the first man saw a fruit-bearing tree on his side of the land, and he was able to eat its fruit. The other man's parcel of land remained bar ... read more

The Ant and the Dove One hot day, an ant was searching for some water. After walking around for some time, she came to a spring. To reach the spring, she had to climb up a blade of grass. While making her way up, she slipped and fell into the water. She could have drowned if a dove up a nearby tree had not seen her. Seeing that the ant was in trouble, the dove quickly plucked a leaf and dropped it into the water near the struggling ant. The ant moved towards the leaf and climbed up onto it. Soon, the leaf drifted to dry ground, and the ant jumped out. She was safe at last. Just at tha ... read more