Short stories

The Foolish Lion And The Clever Rabbit Once upon a time, in a forest, there lived a greedy lion. All the other animals were scared of him, because he hunted everyday and killed the animals in large numbers even when he was not hungry. They knew that soon, none of them would be left alive. The animals met and decided that they would offer one animal to the lion everyday. They went to the lion and said, “Your Majesty, please hear us out. We have a humble request. The rate at which you killing us, soon none of us will be left in the forest. We ask you to stay in your den always. Everyday, we will send you one animal as your food. This way you won’t have to hunt for your food and we, too, can survive.” The lion agreed and from that day onward, one animal chosen to be sent to the lion, to become his meal. One day it was the turn of an young rabbit. This rabbit was very clever. He did not want to be eaten by the lion. He also wanted to get rid of the lion ...

The Tiger, The Brahmin and The Jackal Once a Brahmin was passing through a forest when he came across a tiger caught in a trap. “Oh pious Brahmin. Please let me out of this cage”, called the tiger to the Brahmin. “Oh no, my friend!” replied the Brahmin. “If I did so, you would kill me and eat me.”  The tiger swore to not kill him, and promised he would be the Brahmin’s slave for his entire life. Listening to the tiger plead, the Brahmin’s heart softened and he released the tiger from the trap. The tiger immediately pounced on the man and cried, “What a fool you are! What is to prevent my eating you now.” The Brahmin pleaded for his life. The tiger granted that he would abide by the decision of the first three things the Brahmin chose to question as to the justice of the tiger’s action. The Brahmin first asked a tree. “I give shelter to all who pass by, yet humans tear down my brothers for firewood. You’re a fool to expect gratitud...

The Monkey And The Crocodile A long time ago, there was a monkey who lived in a rose-apple tree by the side of a river. He lived alone, but was very happy. One day, a crocodile came out of the river. He swam up to the tree and told the monkey that he had travelled a long distance and was in search of food as he was very hungry. The kind monkey offered him a few rose apples. The crocodile thanked him and asked him if he could visit the monkey again. “You are always welcome,” said the monkey. After that, the crocodile started visiting the monkey every day. They would share rose-apples and talk about everything they knew. The crocodile told the monkey that he had a wife and that they lived on the other side of the river. So the generous monkey plucked many rose-apples and gave them to the crocodile for his wife. The crocodile’s wife loved the rose-apples, but she grew jealous of her husband spending so much time away from her, in the company...

The ship A voyaging ship was wrecked during a storm at sea and only two of the men on it were able to swim to a small, desert like island. The two survivors, not knowing what else to do, agreed that they had no other recourse but to pray to God. However, to find out whose prayer was more powerful, they agreed to divide the territory between them and stay on opposite sides of the island. The first thing they prayed for was food. The next morning, the first man saw a fruit-bearing tree on his side of the land, and he was able to eat its fruit. The other man’s parcel of land remained barren. After a week, the first man was lonely and he decided to pray for a wife. The next day, another ship was wrecked, and the only survivor was a woman who swam to his side of the land. On the other side of the island, there was nothing. Soon the first man prayed for a house, clothes, more food. The next day, like magic, all of these were given to him. However, the second man sti...

A Glass of Milk Once, there was a poor boy who made a living by selling various objects from door to door. This was the way he earned money to pay for his school. One day, as he was walking from house to house as usual, he felt very hungry and weak. He felt that he couldn’t walk even a few steps. He decided to ask for food at a house. He knocked on the door and was stunned to see a beautiful young girl open the door. With much hesitation, he asked the girl for a glass of water. The young girl understood his condition and offered him a huge glass of milk. With an astonished look, the boy drank the milk very slowly. “How much do I owe you for this milk?” he asked her. The girl replied, “I do not want any money for this.” The boy thanked the girl from the bottom of his heart and left the place. Years passed by. The young girl grew up. In her youth, unfortunately, she fell ill and was diagnosed with the rarest kind of nervous disorder. Many experienced doctors were ba...

The Thirsty Crow One hot day, a thirsty crow flew all over the fields looking for water. For a long time, she could not find any. She felt very weak, almost giving up hope. Suddenly, she saw a water jug below her. She flew straight down to see if there was any water inside. Yes, she could see some water inside the jug! The crow tried to push her head into the jug. Sadly, she found that the neck of the jug was too narrow. Then she tried to push the jug down for the water to flow out. She found that the jug was too heavy. The crow thought hard for a while. Then looking around her, she saw some pebbles. She suddenly had a good idea. She started picking up the pebbles one by one, dropping each into the jug. As more and more pebbles filled the jug, the water level kept rising. Soon it was high enough for the crow to drink. Her plan had worked! If you try hard enough, you may soon find an answer to your problem.

Real solution to problems A group of employees was working in a software company. It was a team of 30 employees. This was a young, energetic and dynamic team with keen enthusiasm and desire to learn and grow. The management decided to teach the employees about finding real solution to the problems.   The team was called to play a game in a banquet hall. The group was quite surprised as they were called for playing game. All reached the venue holding various thoughts. As they entered the hall, they found the hall decorated beautifully with colourful decorative papers and balloons all over the place. It was more like a kid’s play area, than a corporate meeting hall.   Everyone was surprised and gazed at each other. Also, there was a huge box of balloons placed at the centre of the hall.   The team leader asked everyone to pick a balloon from the box and asked them to blow it. Every one happily picked a balloon and blew it.   ...

           The secret of Happyness Once upon a time, there were three brothers named Samuel, Timothy and Xander, who lived in a cottage by the woods. They were honest and hardworking. Every day, they would venture into the forest to fell wood. Later, they would sell it in the market where it would fetch a decent price. Thus, their life continued in this manner.  However, the brothers were always sad and morose. Even though they lived a good life, they were unhappy. Each one hankered for something or the other and would pine for it.  One day, while Samuel, Timothy and Xander were returning home from the woods carrying their bundle of logs, they saw an old haggard woman bent low with a sack on her back. As they were kind and compassionate, the brothers immediately approached the poor woman and offered to carry the sack all the way to her home. She smiled and expressed her gratefulness, while replying that the sack actually contain...

Health is Wealth Once upon a time, there lived a generous and kind-hearted king. But the people weren’t happy with their king because the king was very lazy and would not do anything other than eating and sleeping. He spent days and weeks and months in his bed either eating something or sleeping. The king became a potato couch and the people started to worry about the king. One day, the king realized that he couldn’t even move his body, not even his foot. He became very fat and his enemies made fun of him, calling him ‘fatty king’, ‘bulky king’ etc. The king invited expert doctors from various parts of his country and offered them generous rewards to make him fit. Unfortunately, none could help the king gain his health and fitness. The king spent enormous amounts of money but everything went in vain. One fine morning, a holy man visited the country. He heard about the ill-health of the king, and informed the minister at the palace that he could easily cure the king. H...

Sand and Stone John and James were best friends. They fought for many reasons, but never gave up their friendship. They went in search of a job and visited many places to earn some money. They passed through various places, villages, towns, forests, and beaches. They supported each other throughout their journey. One day, they reached a desert. They had a very little food and water. John said that they should save the food and water for later use. However, James disagreed. He wanted to drink water, as he was very thirsty. They quarrelled with each other for water. John slapped James, and they walked in silence. James wrote on the sand, “My best friend slapped me!” Finally, they reached an oasis. They were very happy, and had a lot of fun in the water. While they both were bathing, James was a bit careless and began to drown. John rushed to him and saved him. James hugged his friend and thanked him. They had a little nap and decided to leave the place. When they were abo...

Powerful Prayers Kim and Ray were very close companions. They were neighbours, classmates at school, and later, colleagues at work. One day, they decided to go on a sea voyage to explore strange lands. They began their voyage in a cruise ship, and travelled far and wide. However, in the course of their trip, the weather turned very destructive. The ship was wrecked in the middle of the ocean. Most of the passengers were killed, but Kim and Ray could swim to a nearby island. The island was deserted; not even a tree was there. Kim and Ray realized that they could not survive on the island without divine intervention. They decided to pray to God. They wanted to see whose prayer would be more powerful. Kim moved to the eastern tip of the island, knelt down and began to pray there. Ray went to the western tip of the island and prayed there. Kim prayed to God to give him food to survive. Surprisingly, he got a pile of food, fruits and vegetables on the sea shore. After two d...

A Unique Experience It was a cold and windy night. My friend and I had met after a long time, and were chatting for hours. We did not notice the time passing by, and soon it was close to ten in the night. We decided to take an auto rickshaw to go to our house. It started raining, and we hurried to get into an auto rickshaw and reach our place. None of the auto rickshaws stopped for us, except one. The driver asked us where we wanted to go and we told the place. Without saying anything about the fare, he said, “Please get in!” We thanked him and got in. Since it was very cold, I asked the driver to stop at any small restaurant or a tea shop. We wanted to have a cup of hot tea. The driver stopped near a small restaurant. We ordered tea, and asked the driver to join us and have a cup of tea. The driver refused. I insisted, but he refused again politely. My friend asked, “Will you not take tea from this shop or what?” The driver replied, “No Sir, I don’t feel like hav...

The Hidden Treasure Once, there was an old man who had four sons. All four of them were very lazy. One day, the old man fell sick and was counting his last days in bed. He worried a lot about his sons’ future as the young men hesitated a lot to work. The sons believed that luck would favour them. The old man’s health deteriorated every day and he decided to talk to his sons about their future. However, his sons did not listen to him. Finally, the old man decided to play a trick to let his sons realize the importance of work. He called all his sons and let them sit near him on his bed. He said that he had a treasure box with gold coins and expensive gems for them and wanted to share the treasure equally among the four of them. The young men were very happy and asked where his father had placed the treasure. The old man replied, “I cannot exactly remember the place where I have hidden the treasure. However, the treasure box is buried in our land. I’m really not sure abo...

The Ant and the Dove One hot day, an ant was searching for some water. After walking around for some time, she came to a spring. To reach the spring, she had to climb up a blade of grass. While making her way up, she slipped and fell into the water. She could have drowned if a dove up a nearby tree had not seen her. Seeing that the ant was in trouble, the dove quickly plucked a leaf and dropped it into the water near the struggling ant. The ant moved towards the leaf and climbed up onto it. Soon, the leaf drifted to dry ground, and the ant jumped out. She was safe at last. Just at that time, a hunter nearby was about to throw his net over the dove, hoping to trap it. Guessing what he was about to do, the ant quickly bit him on the heel. Feeling the pain, the hunter dropped his net. The dove was quick to fly away to safety. One good turn begets another.

The Cave That Talked A hungry lion wandered along the jungle it ruled in search of food. It was almost evening but the lion could not find a single animal to prey upon. Dejected, it decided to go back home, when it found a cave. The lion waited there for the resident animal to come back after sunset. He quickly went into the cave and hid. The cave belonged to a jackal, which noticed the lion’s paw prints as it entered. He stepped back immediately and wanted to know if the lion was really inside its cave. The jackal made a plan to trick the lion. He started talking to the cave, asking if it was safe for it to enter. He kept asking the same thing again and again and refused to enter the cave until he got a reply. The lion, fearing that his prey would walk away, replied like the cave. As soon the lion replied, the jackal ran away from the cave never to come back. Moral:  Presence of mind can save you from being destroyed by foolish enemies.

The Foolish Brahmin And The Crooks A brahmin once performed sacred ceremonies for a rich merchant and got a goat in return. He was on his way back carrying the goat on his shoulders when three crooks saw him and decided to trick him into giving the goat to them. One after the other, the three crooks crossed the brahmin’s path and asked him the same question – “O Brahmin, why do you carry a dog on your back?” The foolish Brahmin thought that he must indeed be carrying a dog if three people have told him so. Without even bothering to look at the animal, he let the goat go. Moral:   If a lie is repeated several times, it becomes the truth for a fool.

The Bird With Two Heads There was once a strange bird with two heads. Each head had a mind of its own. The bird had a very normal life, with the heads cooperating with each other for the bird’s survival. One day, the heads started fighting for a fruit they saw on a tree. There was only one fruit, and each head wanted the fruit for itself. The second head suggested that they stop fighting and give the fruit to the wife instead. Although the first head agreed, he was not happy and vowed to teach the first head a lesson. On finding a poisonous fruit, the first head offered it to the second head, which consumed it happily. Within minutes, the bird died leaving both the minds useless. Moral:   This story has two morals: Having a conflicting state of mind is dangerous. And, every part of the body is important – loss of even one could be fatal.

The King And The Foolish Monkey There was once a king who had a pet monkey. The monkey always accompanied the king and even did little chores for him. One afternoon, as the king took a nap, the monkey sat next to the king and fanned him. Meanwhile, a fly came and sat on the king’s nose. The monkey tried to shoo it away, buy it kept coming back. Frustrated with the fly, the monkey took the king’s dagger to kill it. He attacked the fly as it sat on the king’s neck, killing the king instantly. Moral:   A fool can never assist you to glory.

The Crows And The Cobra Two crows, husband and wife, and a cobra lived on a banyan tree in a forest near a small kingdom. The cobra was wicked and ate the crows’ eggs when the crows left the nest in search of food. The crows went to a wise jackal and ask for advice. As per the advice of the jackal, one of the crows went to the royal palace and stole a very precious necklace belonging to the queen as the guards watched. The crow flew slowly to its nest, so that the guards can follow it. On reaching the banyan tree, the crow dropped the necklace in the tree’s hollow cove, where the snake lived. On finding a cobra in the hollow, the guards killed it and retrieved the necklace. The crows thanked the jackal and lived happily. Moral:   Even the most powerful enemies can be defeated with intelligence.

The Foolish Weaver A weaver and his wife lived in a village. He went to the forest to get wood that he needed to repair his loom. As he began to chop the tree, a djinn appeared and asked him not to cut his abode. In return, the genie offered to give anything that the weaver wanted. The weaver left the forest to discuss this with his wife. The greedy and dimwitted wife told the weaver to ask the genie for an extra head and two extra hands so he can think more and work more. The stupid weaver agreed and went back to the djinn, which immediately granted the wish. The weaver happily walked back to the village, where people thought him to be a monster and beat him to death. Moral:  Lack of proper judgment can lead to several missed opportunities.