Change yourself and not the world

Long ago, people happily lived under the rule of a king. The people of the kingdom were very happy as they had a very prosperous life with abundance of wealth and no misfortunes.

The king decided to go on a travel to visit places of historical importance and pilgrim centres at distant places. He decided to travel by foot to interact with his people and accompany them. People of distant places were so happy to have a conversation with their king and they were proud that their king was so kind with a good heart!

After several weeks, he returned to the palace. He was quite happy that he visited many pilgrim centres and could see his fellow people leading a propitious life. However, he had regret.

He had intolerable pain in his feet as it was his first trip by foot to longer distance. He complained to his ministers that the roads weren’t comfortable and were very stony. He could not tolerate the pain as he walked all the way through the rough path.

He said he was very much worried about the people who used to walk along those roads as it would be painful for them too!

He made an order to cover the road of the whole country with leather so that people might feel comfortable, immediately.

The king thought that he had to change this for the betterment and happiness of the people.

His ministers were stunned to hear his order as it would destroy the life of thousands of cows to get the sufficient quantity of leather and it would cost a huge amount of money also.

A wise man from the ministry came to the king and said that he had another idea.

The king asked - what was his alternative idea. The minister told, ‘Why do you want to kill the holy animal cow to cover the road with leather? Rather, you can just have a piece of leather cut in appropriate shape to cover your feet?’

The king was very much surprised by his suggestion and applauded the minister. He ordered for a pair of leather shoes for him and requested the countrymen to wear shoes.

Many of us criticize the world for many things. We curse and blame the things in our surroundings and never understand that we need a change in us. Changes are inevitable in the world, and the changes should be from us. We cannot or should not force others to make a change.

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 them. The merchant and his donkey were walking along together. They had not walked far when they reached a river on the road.

Unfortunately, the donkey slipped and fell into the river and noticed that the bags of salt loaded on his back became 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 riverbank, now deliberately, the donkey fell into the river and wasted all the bags of salt on its back again.

The merchant quickly discovered the donkey’s trick. He then returned home again but re-loaded his donkey with bags of sponges.

The foolish, tricky donkey again set on its way. On reaching the river he again fell into the water. But instead of the load becoming lighter, it became heavier.

The merchant laughed at him and said: “You foolish donkey, your trick had been discovered, you should know that, those who are too clever sometimes over reach themselves.”

The Goose with the Golden Eggs

Once upon a time, a man and his wife had the good fortune to have a goose which laid a golden egg every day. Lucky though they were, they soon began to think they were not getting rich fast enough.

They imagined that if the bird must be able to lay golden eggs, its insides must be made of gold. And they thought that if they could get all that precious metal at once, they would get mighty rich very soon. So the man and his wife decided to kill the bird.

However, upon cutting the goose open, they were shocked to find that its innards were like that of any other goose!

MORAL: 

THINK BEFORE YOU ACT

The cunning fox and the clever stork

Once upon a time, there lived a very cunning and mischievous fox. He used to speak to other animals sweetly and gain their trust, before playing tricks on them.

One day the fox met a stork. He befriended the stork and acted like a very good friend. Soon, he invited the stork to have a feast with him. The stork happily accepted the invitation.

The day of the feast came, and the stork went to the fox’s house. To her surprise and disappointment, the fox said that he could not make a big feast as promised, and just offered some soup. When he brought the soup out of the kitchen, the stork saw that it was in a shallow bowl!

The poor stork could not have any soup with its long bill, but the fox easily licked the soup from the plate. As the stork just touched the soup with the tip of its bill, the fox asked her, “How is the soup? Don’t you like it?”

The hungry stork replied, “Oh it is good, but my stomach is upset, and I can’t take any more soup!”

“I’m sorry for troubling you,” said the fox.

The stork replied, “Oh dear, please don’t say sorry. I have some health problem and cannot enjoy what you offer.”

She left the place after thanking the fox, and inviting him to her house for dinner.

The day arrived and the fox reached the stork’s place. After exchanging pleasantries, the stork served soup for both of them, in a narrow jar with a long neck. She was able to have the soup very easily with her long bill, but the fox obviously could not.

After finishing hers, the stork asked the fox if he was enjoying the soup. The fox remembered the feast he himself had given the stork, and felt very ashamed. He stammered, “I…I’d better leave now. I have a tummy ache.”

Humiliated, he left the place running.

Moral: 

One bad turn begets another.

The Hare and the Tortoise

There once was a speedy Hare who bragged about how fast he could run. Tired of hearing him boast, the Tortoise challenged him to a race. All the animals in the forest gathered to watch.

The Hare ran down the road for a while and then paused to rest. He looked back at the tortoise and cried out, "How do you expect to win this race when you are walking along at your slow, slow pace?"

The Hare stretched himself out alongside the road and fell asleep, thinking, "There is plenty of time to relax."

The Tortoise walked and walked; never ever stopping until he came to the finish line.

The animals who were watching cheered so loudly for Tortoise that they woke up Hare. The Hare stretched, yawned and began to run again, but it was too late. Tortoise had already crossed the finish line.

MORAL: 

SLOW AND STEADY WINS THE RACE

The Fox and the Grapes

One afternoon a fox was walking through the forest and spotted a bunch of grapes hanging from over a lofty branch. "Just the thing to quench my thirst," quoted the fox.

Taking a few steps back, the fox jumped and just missed the hanging grapes. Again the fox took a few paces back and tried to reach them but still failed.

Finally, giving up, the fox turned up his nose and said, "They're probably sour anyway," and proceeded to walk away.

MORAL: 

IT'S EASY TO DESPISE WHAT YOU CANNOT HAVE.

The Ant and the Grasshopper

      In a field one summer's day a Grasshopper was hopping about, chirping and singing to its heart's content. An Ant passed by, bearing along with great effort an ear of corn he was taking to the nest.

"Why not come and chat with me," said the Grasshopper, "instead of toiling and moiling away?" "I am helping to lay up food for the winter," said the Ant, "and recommend you to do the same." "Why bother about winter?" said the Grasshopper; "we have got plenty of food at present."

But the Ant went on its way and continued its toil. When the winter came the Grasshopper found itself dying of hunger, while it saw the ants distributing, every day, corn and grain from the stores they had collected in the summer.

Then the Grasshopper knew...

MORAL: 

WORK TODAY AND YOU CAN REAP THE BENEFITS TOMORROW!

The lion and the mouse

        Once when a lion, the king of the jungle, was asleep, a little mouse began running up and down on him. This soon awakened the lion, who placed his huge paw on the mouse, and opened his big jaws to swallow him.

"Pardon, O King!" cried the little Mouse, "Forgive me this time. I shall never repeat it and I shall never forget your kindness. And who knows, I may be able to do you a good turn one of these days!”

The Lion was so tickled by the idea of the mouse being able to help him that he lifted his paw and let him go.

Sometime later, a few hunters captured the lion, and tied him to a tree. After that they went in search of a wagon, to take him to the zoo.

Just then the little mouse happened to pass by. On seeing the lion’s plight, he ran up to him and gnawed away the ropes that bound him, the king of the jungle.

"Was I not right?" said the little mouse, very happy to help the lion.

MORAL: 

Small acts of kindness will be rewarded greatly.

The dangerous helper

In a dense forest, there was lake. All the animals used to drink water from the lake. The water of this lake was so sweet that many fish lived there for long time. In this lake there lived a crab. The crab’s best friend was a swan. That swan was in the same lake. They were happy in the company of each other. Their happiness lasted until one day a snake made its home near the lake. 

Every day the swan laid an egg. The snake would come and eat it up. “I have to find a way to save my eggs," thought the swan. 

One day, he went to the crab and said, “Please help me, dear friend. My eggs are under threat. That cruel snake eats all the eggs in the nest. What can I do?" 

The crab decided to help its best friend. The crab thought for a while. Then he said, “I have an idea. Let us catch some fish from this lake and scatter them from the snake’s house till the mongoose house." That mongoose lived in the nearby tree. 

Then, the crab and the swan caught some fish and dropped them from the mongoose’s house all the way to the snake’s house. Then both of them hid behind a tree and watched. They waited for some time. After a long time, the mongoose came out. He saw the fish and was overjoyed. “Mymm! Fish right outside my own house!" he said, smacking his lips. He happily ate all of them one by one. As he ate he kept following the fish trail to the snake’s house. Finally, the mongoose reached the house of the snake. Both the crab and the swan were watching all these events, waiting behind the tree. 

When the snake saw the mongoose, he thought, “That mongoose is here to attack me. I had better fight with it." After some time, the snake started to fight with the mongoose. They fought for some time. After a fierce battle, the mongoose killed the snake. 

Watching this behind the tree, the swan and the crab heaved a sigh of relief. But her joy was short-lived. The next day, the mongoose, looking for more fish, came upon the swan’s nest. There the mongoose found more eggs of the swan. He immediately ate all of them. The swan and the crab now felt helpless. They had brought this new threat upon themselves. They did not know that the mongoose was the dangerous helper. “Our thoughtlessness has got us a new enemy. Even more dangerous than the previous enemy," cried the two friends. 

After few days, they decided to form one more plan to get rid of the dangerous helper - mongoose. It is must to be careful while fighting with an enemy.