There was once a boy whose father one day told him that he is old enough to look after the sheep. Every day he had to take the sheep over the grass fields and watch them as they grazed to become strong sheep with thick wool. The boy was unhappy though. He wanted to run and play, not watch the boring sheep. So, he decided to have some fun instead. He cried ‘Wolf! Wolf!’ until the entire village came running with stones to chase away the wolf before it could eat any of the sheep. Once they saw that there was no wolf, they left muttering under their breath about how the boy was wasting their time ... read more

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

This is a story explaining how adversity is met differently by different people. Asha’s father placed an egg, a potato, and some tea leaves in three separate vessels with boiling water. He asked Asha to keep an eye on the vessels for ten minutes. Once these ten minutes were over , he asked Asha to peel the potato, peel the egg and strain the tea leaves. Asha was left puzzled. Her father explained , ‘Each of these items was but in the same circumstance of being in a pot of boiling water. See how they’ve responded differently. The potato is now soft, the egg is now hard, and the tea has chang ... read more

Nasir found a crystal ball behind a banyan tree in his garden. When the tree old him it would grant him a wish, he thought and thought but could not think of anything he wanted. So he kept the crystal ball in his bag and waited to decide on his wish. Days went by without him making a wish but his best friend saw him looking at the crystal ball. He stole it from Nasir and showed it to everyone in the village. They all asked for palaces and gold but could not ask for more than one wish. In the end, everyone was angry because no one could have everything. They became very unhappy and decided to a ... read more

Written by Guy de Maupassant With the first day of spring, when the awakening earth puts on its garment of green, and the warm, fragrant air fans our faces and fills our lungs and appears even to penetrate to our hearts, we experience a vague, undefined longing for freedom, for happiness, a desire to run, to wander aimlessly, to breathe in the spring. The previous winter having been unusually severe, this spring feeling was like a form of intoxication in May, as if there were an overabundant supply of sap. One morning on waking I saw from my window the blue sky glowing in the sun above t ... read more