Patty the milkmaid had just finished milking her cow and had two full pails of fresh creamy milk. She put both pails on a stick and set off to the market to sell her pails of milk. Along the way she started to think of all the milk in her pails and all the money she would get for them. ‘Once I get the money, I’ll buy a chicken’, she thought. ‘The chicken will lay eggs and I will get more chickens. They’ll all lay eggs and I can sell them for more money. Then I’ll buy the house on the hill and be the envy of everyone in the village. They’ll ask me to sell the chicken farm, but I’ll toss my h ... read more

One afternoon, a little boy had lost his kitten. He looked under his bed. He looked all over his house. But still there was no puppy. Finally, he looked for his puppy in the garden. After a few hours, he still could not find the puppy. The little boy was tired and was about to give up. Then he saw his neighbour, Mrs Hardin. “I beg your pardon, Mrs Hardin. Is my puppy in your garden?" asked the little boy. “Oh yes, she is. She is chewing on a mutton bone," replied Mrs Hardin. The little boy climbed the fence and saw his puppy chewing on a mutton bone. He was so happy that his pu ... read more

Mothers Sacrifice My mom only had one eye. I hated her… she was such an embarrassment. My mom ran a small shop at a flea market. She collected little weeds and such to sell… anything for the money we needed she was such an embarrassment. There was this one day during elementary school. I remember that it was field day, and my mom came. I was so embarrassed. How could she do this to me? I threw her a hateful look and ran out. The next day at school… “Your mom only has one eye?!” and they taunted me. I wished that my mom would just disappear from this world so I said to my mom, “Mom, wh ... read more

Controlling Temper There once was a little boy who had a bad temper. His father gave him a bag of nails and told him that every time he lost his temper, he must hammer a nail into the fence. The first day the boy had driven 37 nails into the fence. Over the next few weeks as he learned to control his anger, the number of nails hammered daily, gradually dwindled down. He discovered it was easier to hold his temper than to drive those nails into the fence. Finally the day came when the boy didn’t lose his temper at all. He told his father about it and the father suggested that the boy now ... read more

Father and Sons A father had a family of sons who were perpetually quarreling among themselves. When he failed to heal their disputes by his exhortations, he determined to give them a practical illustration of the evils of disunion. One day he told his sons to bring him a bundle of sticks. When they had done so, he placed the fagot into the hands of each of them in succession, and ordered them to break it in pieces. They tried with all their strength, and were not able to do it. He next opened the fagot, took the sticks separately, one by one, and again put them into his sons’ hands, up ... read more