When Adversity Knocks Mary was a young girl. She used to get annoyed with everything. She had a negative attitude towards life. Once, when she felt that life was unbearable, she asked her father what to do. She told him that if she was able to manage and solve one problem, another one followed quickly. Her father consoled her and took her to the kitchen. He asked Mary to take a potato, an egg and two spoons of tea leaves. Mary was surprised, and asked her father, "Do you want me to cook?" "No," her father said. He then took three vessels and poured one cup of water in each vessel. ... read more

Once upon a time there was a rose who was very proud of her beautiful looks. Her only disappointment was that she grew next to an ugly cactus. Every day, the rose would insult the cactus on his looks while the cactus stayed quiet. All the other plants in the garden tried to make the rose see sense, but she was too swayed by her own good looks. One summer, the well present in the garden grew dry and there was no water for the plants. The rose began to wilt. She saw a sparrow dip her beak into the cactus for some water. Though ashamed, she asked the cactus if she too could have some water. 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

Greedy Boy Sam and Tom were identical twins. They were so identical that even their mother found it difficult to distinguish one from the other, at least during their initial days on earth. However, they were very different from each other when it came to everything other than their appearance. Sam had no friends, while Tom was a great friendship maker. Sam loved sweets, but Tom loved spicy food and detested sweets. Sam was mommy's pet and Tom was daddy's pet. While Sam was generous and selfless, Tom was greedy and selfish! As Sam and Tom grew up, their father wanted to share his fort ... read more

Raj was upset because he had done poorly in his English test. His grandmother sat with him and gave him a pencil. A puzzled Raj looked at his grandma and said he didn’t deserve a pencil after his performance in the test. His grandma explained, ‘You can learn a great many things from this pencil because it is just like you. It experiences a painful sharpening, just the way you have experienced the pain of not doing well on your test. However, it will help you be a better student. Just as all the good that comes from the pencil is from within itself, you will also find the strength to overcome t ... read more