The Wise Old Man A wealthy man requested an old scholar to wean his son away from his bad habits. The scholar took the youth for a stroll through a garden. Stopping suddenly he asked the boy to pull out a tiny plant growing there. The youth held the plant between his thumb and forefinger and pulled it out. The old man then asked him to pull out a slightly bigger plant. The youth pulled hard and the plant came out, roots and all. “Now pull out that one,” said the old man pointing to a bush. The boy had to use all his strength to pull it out. “Now take this one out,” said the old man, i ... read more

The Wooden Bowl A frail old man went to live with his son, daughter-in-law, and four-year old grandson. The old man’s hands trembled, his eyesight was blurred, and his step faltered. The family ate together at the table. But the elderly grandfather’s shaky hands and failing sight made eating difficult. Peas rolled off his spoon onto the floor. When he grasped the glass, milk spilled on the tablecloth. The son and daughter-in-law became irritated with the mess. “We must do something about father,” said the son. “I’ve had enough of his spilled milk, noisy eating, and food on the floor.” S ... read more

There lived a black sheep in a nearby village. Every spring, he shaved his black wool and sold it to the villagers. The villagers made sweaters and socks from his black wool. One day, the black sheep noticed that he had some more wool left. He thought, ‘It would be such a waste if nobody wants to buy the wool.’ That afternoon, an old man came over to his wooden shed to see him. He wanted one bag full of the black sheep’s wool. Then an old woman came over. She also wanted a bag full of wool. A short while later, a little boy arrived. He also wanted one bag full of wool. Therefore, t ... read more

The Lion and the Mouse Once when a lion, the king of the jungle, was asleep, a little mouse began running up and down on him. This soon awakened the lion, who placed his huge paw on the mouse, 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, I may be able to do you a good turn one of these days!" The lion was so tickled by the idea of the mouse being able to help him that he lifted his paw and let him go. Sometime later, a few hunters captured the l ... read more

Think Before You Speak It was a sunny day, but the climate was enjoyable. Everyone in the railway station was waiting for the train to arrive. Among the crowd, there was a group of friends, youngsters who were on board for vacation. It was a busy station with juice shop, mobile restaurants, coffee and tea stalls, newspaper shop, restaurants, etc. The announcement regarding the arrival of the train was made and everyone prepared to get into the train to their appropriate places. The group of friends made loud noise to welcome the train as it entered the station. They ran to get their r ... read more