Once upon a time, in a village far away, there lived six blind men. One day the villagers were very excited, and when they asked what was happening they told them, "Hey, there is an elephant in the village today!" They had no idea what an elephant was, and so they decided, "Even though we will not be able to see it, we can feel it. Let's go." So, they all went to where the elephant was, and each of them touched it: "Hey, the elephant is a pillar," said the first man, touching its leg. "Oh, no! it is like a rope," said the second man, who was touching the tail. "Oh, no! it is ... read more

Three neighbors were having trouble with their crops. All three fields had crops that were wilting and infested with pests. Each day they would try different ideas to help their crops. The first one tried using a scarecrow, the second used pesticides, and the third built a fence on his field, all to no avail. One day, the village head came by and called all three farmers. He gave them each a stick and asked them to break the sticks. The farmers could break them easily. He then gave them a bundle of three sticks and asked them to break it. This time, the farmers struggled to break the sticks. T ... read more

Akbar once put a question to his court that left everyone puzzled. As they all tried to figure out the answer, Birbal walked and asked what the matter was. And so they told him the question. ‘How many crows are there in the city?’ Birbal immediately smiled, went up to Akbar and announced that the answer to his questions was twenty-one thousand five hundred and twenty-three. When asked how he knew the answer, Birbal replied, ‘Ask your men to count the number of crows. If there are more, then the crows’ relatives from outside the city are visiting them. If there are fewer, then the crows a ... read more

The Crystal Ball In the south of Spain, there was a small village whose people were very joyful. The children played under the shades of trees in the gardens of their homes. A shepherd boy named Nasir stayed near the village with his father, mother and grandmother. Each morning, he took his herd of goats up the hills to find a suitable place for them to graze. In the afternoon he would return with them to the village. Each night his grandmother would tell him a story - the story of stars. This story really interested Nasir. On one of those days, as Nasir was watching his herd and play ... read more

A Merchant and his Donkey One beautiful spring morning, a merchant loaded his donkey with bags of salt to go to the market, in order to sell the salt. The merchant and his donkey were walking along together. They had not walked far when they reached a river on the way. Unfortunately, the donkey slipped and fell into the river. As it scrambled up the bank of the river, it noticed that the bags of salt loaded on his back had become lighter. There was nothing the merchant could do except return home, where he loaded his donkey with more bags of salt. As they reached the slippery riverban ... read more