The Lion and the Mouse

A small mouse crept up to a sleeping lion. The mouse admired the lion's ears,
his long whiskers and his great mane.

"Since he's sleeping," thought the mouse, "he'll never suspect I'm here!"

With that, the little mouse climbed up onto the lion's tail, ran across its back,
slid down its leg and jumped off of its paw. The lion awoke and quickly caught the mouse
between its claws.

"Please," said the mouse, "let me go and I'll come back and help you someday."

The lion laughed, "You are so small! How could ever help me?"

The lion laughed so hard he had to hold his belly! The mouse jumped to freedom and ran
until she was far, far away.

The next day, two hunters came to the jungle. They went to the lion's lair. They set a huge
rope snare. When the lion came home that night, he stepped into the trap.

He roared! He wept! But he couldn't pull himself free.

The mouse heard the lion's pitiful roar and came back to help him.

The mouse eyed the trap and noticed the one thick rope that held it together. She began
nibbling and nibbling until the rope broke. The lion was able to shake off the other ropes that
held him tight. He stood up free again!

The lion turned to the mouse and said, "Dear friend, I was foolish to ridicule you for being
small. You helped me by saving my life after all!"
 The Monkey and the Turtle
A Monkey, looking very sad and dejected, was walking along the bank of the river
one day when he met a turtle.

"How are you?" asked the turtle, noticing that he looked sad.
The monkey replied, "Oh, my friend, I am very hungry. The squash of Mr. Farmer
were all taken by the other monkeys, and now I am about to die from want of
food."

"Do not be discouraged," said the turtle; "take a bob and follow me and we will
steal some banana plants."

So they walked along together until they found some nice plants which they dug
up, and then they looked for a place to set them. Finally the monkey climbed a tree
and planted his in it, but as the turtle could not climb he dug a hole in the ground
and set his there.

When their work was finished they went away, planning what they should do with
their crop. The monkey said:

"When my tree bears fruit, I shall sell it and have a great deal of money."
And the turtle said: "When my tree bears fruit, I shall sell it and buy three varas of
cloth to wear in place of this cracked shell."
A few weeks later they went back to the place to see their plants and found that
that of the monkey was dead, for its roots had had no soil in the tree, but that of the
turtle was tall and bearing fruit.

"I will climb to the top so that we can get the fruit," said the monkey. And he
sprang up the tree, leaving the poor turtle on the ground alone.

"Please give me some to eat," called the turtle, but the monkey threw him only a
green one and ate all the the ripe ones himself.

When he had eaten all the good bananas, the monkey stretched his arms around
the tree and went to sleep. The turtle, seeing this, was very angry and considered
how he might punish the thief. Having decided on a scheme, he gathered some
sharp bamboo which he all around under the tree, and then he exclaimed:

Crocodile is coming! Crocodile is coming!"

The monkey was so startled at the cry that he fell upon the sharp bamboo and was
killed.

Then the turtle cut the dead monkey into pieces, put on it, and dried it in the sun.
The next day, he went to the mountains and sold his meat to other monkeys who
gladly gave him squash in return. As he was leaving them he called back:

"Lazy fellows, you are now eating your own body; you are now eating your own
body."

Then the monkeys ran and caught him and carried to their own home.
Let us take a hatchet," said one old monkey, "and cut him into very small pieces."
But the turtle laughed and said: "That is just what I like. I have been struck with a
hatchet many times. Do you not see the black scars on my shell?"

Then one of the other monkeys said: "Let us throw him into the water."
At this the turtle cried and begged them to spare his life, but they paid no heed to
his pleadings and threw him into the water. He sank to the bottom, but very soon
came up with a lobster. The monkeys were greatly surprised at this and begged him
to tell them how to catch lobsters.
"I tied one end of a string around my waist," said the turtle. "To the other end of
the string I tied a stone so that I would sink."

The monkeys immediately tied strings around themselves as the turtle said, and
when all was ready they plunged into the water never to come up again.

And to this day monkeys do not like to eat meat, because they remember the
ancient story.[1]
The Ant and the Elephant
The ant and the elephant were very good friends indeed and would play
together whenever they had the chance. The trouble was, the elephant’s
father was a very strict father and he did not like his son playing when there
was homework to be done, or if his mother needed chores doing. And he
did not like his son playing with his friend the ant when he should be
playing with the other elephants in the pride.
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The little elephant was very scared of his father and did not like it when he
was angry. But the ant was a very brave ant and was not scared of the
grumpy old father.
 THE DOG AND THE BONE

Once a stray dog while searching for food came to a butcher's shop.
There he got a bone with some meat on it. So, he lifted it and ran to a
safe place to enjoy it at ease.

He chewed the bone for a very long time and this made him quite thirsty.
So, he went to a river to quench his thirst. It took the bone along, as it
was worried that some other dog might not take it away.

As the dog stood on a bridge across the river, it looked around to see if it
could safely put the bone down while it quenched its thirst.

By chance, he saw his reflection in the water from over the bridge. He
could not follow that it was his shadow. Rather, he thought it to be
another dog with a bone in his mouth.

Being greedy by nature, he wanted that bone too. So, he barked at the
other dog, hoping to scare it into giving it that bone. But alas! The bone
that he held in its mouth fell into the river.

The End..
One day, the two friends were playing a game of mahabis* when they
heard the angry father approaching. The ground shook violently and the
trees swayed from side to side.

‘Oh no, it is my father!’ cried the young elephant, a scared look upon his
face. ‘What can I do?’

The little ant puffed out his chest and stood to his full height. ‘Don’t worry,
my friend, you can hide behind me and your father will not find you!’
Once there lived an ant and a grasshopper in a grassy meadow.
All day long the ant would work hard, collecting grains of wheat from
the farmer’s field far away. She would hurry to the field every
morning, as soon as it was light enough to see by, and toil back with
a heavy grain of wheat balanced on her head. She would put the
grain of wheat carefully away in her larder, and then hurry back to
the field for another one. All day long she would work, without stop or
rest, scurrying back and forth from the field, collecting the grains of wheat and
storing them carefully in her larder.
The grasshopper would look at her and laugh. ‘Why do you work so hard, dear ant?’
he would say. ‘Come, rest awhile, listen to my song. Summer is here, the days are
long and bright. Why waste the sunshine in labour and toil?’
The ant would ignore him, and head bent, would just hurry to the
field a little faster. This would make the grasshopper laugh even
louder. ‘What a silly little ant you are!’ he would call after her.
‘Come, come and dance with me! Forget about work! Enjoy the
summer! Live a little!’ And the grasshopper would hop away
across the meadow, singing and dancing merrily.
Summer faded into autumn, and autumn turned into winter. The sun was hardly seen,
and the days were short and grey, the nights long and dark. It became freezing cold,
and snow began to fall.
The grasshopper didn’t feel like singing any more. He was cold and hungry. He had
nowhere to shelter from the snow, and nothing to eat. The meadow and the farmer’s
field were covered in snow, and there was no food to be had. ‘Oh what shall I do?
Where shall I go?’ wailed the grasshopper. Suddenly he remembered the ant. ‘Ah – I
shall go to the ant and ask her for food and shelter!’ declared the grasshopper,
perking up. So off he went to the ant’s house and knocked at her door. ‘Hello ant!’ he
cried cheerfully. ‘Here I am, to sing for you, as I warm myself by your fire, while you
get me some food from that larder of yours!’
The ant looked at the grasshopper and said, ‘All summer long I worked hard while
you made fun of me, and sang and danced. You should have thought of winter then!
Find somewhere else to sing, grasshopper! There is no warmth or food for you here!’
And the ant shut the door in the grasshopper’s face.