An Hour with the Aged AT a time when I had a nice Sunday-school class, of which I was very fond, there was an aged and very eccentric old lady who was quite particular in the selection of her acquaintances. For some reason of her own, she favored me with her friendship, and it became my custom to start so early to Sunday-school that I could spend an hour with her. Her room was very odd to look at ; she had a fancy for putting almost everything into a separate little bag. The hair-brush, coarse and fine combs, were each suspended in a bag just exactly large enough. Even the penholder stuck o ... read more

The Monkey and the Crocodile It was a beautiful lake surrounded by lush green grasses, beautiful trees, mountains and sweetest, tastiest jamun trees. There lived a monkey on one of the jamun trees located near the lake. The lake also had a few crocodiles. There was one crocodile that used to collect the jamun fruits from the lake that fall from the tree. As the crocodile visits the jamun trees every day, it became friends with Monkey. Crocodile and monkey met every day. The monkey helped crocodile by providing more and fresh jamun fruits from the tree. Their relationship continued and ... read more

Nasreddin Hodja is the name of the wise fool in so many Turkish tales, and tales beyond Turkey through the Middle East and North Africa and far into the Balkans, into Russia, as far as India and China… Hodja Nasreddin had a lamb that was now fully grown. His neighbours came. ‘Nasreddin Hodja, your sheep is fat. Let us go and slaughter it by the river. The sun is shining. We will have a feast!’ ‘I don’t think so,’ said Nasreddin. ‘But, Nasreddin, haven’t you heard? The world is going to end tomorrow!’ ‘The world is going to end…? Very well.’ And they led the sheep down to the ... read more

A Cap Seller and the Monkeys There was a cap seller in a city. He used to go from village to village to sell the caps. His way lay through a forest. It was a hot summer day and it was very hot. He got tired. To get some rest he sat under a shaded tree. Soon he fell asleep under the shadow of the tree. Many monkeys were living on that tree. When they saw the caps they climbed down the tree and each one of them put a cap on their head. Then they climbed up the tree again. The cap seller woke up after some time. He found that his caps were missing. By chance he looked up and saw the ... read more

THE BOOT IN THE JUNGLE Once there lived many wild beasts in a jungle. One day they came across a very strange object. It was a man's boot. They had never seen such a thing before. "I am sure it's the shell of a fruit", said the bear. The monkey, pointing to the long laces said, "Look here, these are roots. So, it is a plant." The wolf said, "Can't you see it's a nest? Here is the hollow in which the bird lays its eggs." A bird, sitting on a nearby tree, was listening to their argument. It said, "It's not a nest. I've been to a land where men live and this thing you see is called ... read more