The wise old Goose

                                  
               

          Once upon time, a flock of geese lived atop a large tree. The tree was very tall and thick with leafy branches. The geese very safe and comfortable there. It was their happy home.
                One of the geese was a wise old bird. His wisdom came from his long experience of life. One day this old bird noticed a tiny creeper growing at the foot of the tree. It worried him and so he called all the birds together and spoke to them.
                "Do you see that creeper?" he said to them. "We must get rid of  it at once. We must uproot it and destroy it."
                "Why? What harm has that little, weak creeper done to us? Why must we destroy it?" asked the other geese in surprise.
                  "My young friends," replied the wise old bird, "if you don't destroy it now, it will grow and encircle this tree one day. Gradually, it will become tough and strong. Then, with the help of this creeper, any hunter will be able to climb our tree and kill us."
                             However, the other geese did not heed the old bird's advice. They ignored the creeper. Months passed. The creeper grew stronger and thicker. It went on winding its way up the tree. Finally, it encircled the tree completely.
                             Meanwhile a hunter was observing the geese and studying their habits. He planned big haul. He wanted all the birds.
                             One day when the birds had flown away in search of food, the hunter climbed up the tree. He used the circling stem of the creeper as steps of a ladder. He spread his net care fully all over the branches, hiding it carefully amongst the leaves. He then got down and went to some nearby bushes to hide and wait for the geese.
                             In the evening, the geese returned to the tree. They did not suspect any foul play. They flew straight into the hunter's net. They were trapped. Not knowing what to do, they begged of the wise old bird to show them the way out.
                             The wise old goose said, "I had warned you long ago. But you took me to be a fool. You did not destroy the creeper. Now listen to me carefully. Tomorrow, when the hunter comes, we must all lie still. We must pretend to be dead. The hunter will then pick each one of us from the net and throw us to the ground. Even there, we must lie as if we were  dead. But when he throws down the last one of us, we must fly away at once."
                              This time, the geese heeded the wise advice of the old bird. They did exactly as they were told. When the hunter climbed up the tree in the morning, he found all the birds lying dead. Dead birds were of no use to him. He was very disappointed. "What could have killed all the birds?" he wondered. Sadly he picked them up and threw them out of the net one by one. The birds lay still on the ground. But as soon as the last one reached the ground, they all rose up and flew away. They never came back there again.
                           

David and Goliath

                                                                 

               
                  Long time ago in a country called Israel, there lived a young boy called David. He was the youngest son of Jesse, a shepherd of Bethlehem.
                 David was golden haired, and handsome. Thought very young, he was strong and brave. He wanted to be soldier in the king's army like his three older brothers. But his father wanted him to stay at home and look after his sheep.
                     Every morning David took the sheep to the hill nearby. While the sheep were grazing, he called flat, round stones from the place. If a wild beast ever came to attack  the sheep, he would use his sling to hit the beast with a stone. Indeed he hit his targets so accurately and hard that several bears and wolves were among the wild beasts he had either killed or injured.
                     The Israelites were then at war with the Philistines. David's brothers, who were soldiers, had followed their king to the battle. The army of the Philistines stood on a mountain on one side. A valley lay between the two armies.
                     One day jesse called David and asked him to go to  the camp of the Israelites. "Go and find your brothers in the camp. Meet them and inquire about their well-being. Tell them to have faith in God; God will grant them victory," he said.
                      The next day, David woke up early in the morning. He left his sheep with his friend and proceeded towards the Israelite camp. He met his brothers just as Israelite army was getting ready to march forth to the battlefield. His brother were annoyed when saw they David there.
                     "Why have you come down here? With whom have you left the sheep? You are naughty, irresponsible boy. You have come here only see the battle, nothing else," they admonished him in a stern voice.
                     Just then everyone's attention was drawn to a huge Philistine champion called Goliath. He was gigantic man, tall, stout and fierce-looking. He strode out of the Philistine camp. He had brass helmet upon his head and was armed with a heavy coat of mail also made of brass.
                      He roared in a loud challenging voice, "Israelites, send one of your strongest men to fight me. If he kills me, the Philistines shall be your servants. If I win against him, then you become our slaves and serve us."
                        "Who is that?" asked David.
                        "That is Goliath, the curse of the Israelites," said a soldier. "Everyday, for the last forty days, he has been challenging us thus."
                        "Why doesn't someone take up his challenge?" asked David.
                        "Who would dare to do so? Look at him! What a monster he is!" said the soldier.
                        "I will fight him," said David. "I have once killed a bear and pulled a living lamp out of a lion's mouth.  I have stoned several wild animal to death with the help of my sling. I shall finish this Philistine too. Gods who saved me from the paws of the lion and bear will help me against this brute."
                         Now Saul, the king of  the Israel, had made a promise to his soldiers. "The man who kills Goliath will marry my daughter. I will enrich him with gold and jewels. Thus he will be one of the richest men in Israel, " he had said
                           However, David did not get permission from the army officers to fight Goliath; so he went straight to King Saul to ask if he might fight the giant.
                    The king was surprised because David was only a boy. But since nobody else had volunteered to fight Goliath, he agreed to let David fight him. "Go, and may God be with you," he said to David.
                      The king offered his own sword , helmet and armour to David. But David politely refused. "I cannot go with these. I am only a shepherd. I have never used them," he told the king.
                            David was overjoyed. He ran quickly down to a nearby stream. He picked up five smooth stones from the brook. He put them in shepherd's bag which he carried. Then standing in front of the king's army, he challenged Goliath to a fight.
                            Goliath saw this unarmed youth come towards him. He began to laugh in a booming voice. But soon he grew angry. "Am I a dog, that you come to me with a sling? But come, and I will give your flesh to the birds of the air and the beasts of the field," he roared.
                            David retorted,"You come to fight me with your sword, your spear, and your shield. I come to you in the name of God."
                            So saying, David ran towards the Philistine army to meet Goliath. When he was at  the right distance, David took a stone from his bag and fitted it into his sling. Then he whirled the sling above his head.
                             The stone flew through the air and struck Goliath right on his forehead. The mighty warrior fell upon his face to the ground with a thunderous cry of anguish. He instantly became unconscious. David ran and grabbed the sword from the giant's hand and cut off his head with it.
                              When the Philistines saw their champion lying dead, they became panicky and fled helter-skelter. The king's army pursued them and drove them away across the mountain.
                               David took the giant's head and brought it to king Saul. The king was overjoyed because David had saved Israel. The happiness of the people of Israel knew no bounds. They hailed David as their hero and liberator. The women came out of all cities of Israel, singing and dancing in honour of the giant-killer.
                                  The king, too kept his promise and got his daughter married to David.

                           
                         
                       
                     
            

The monkey and the crocodile

                  

                  Once upon a time there lived a monkey on a rose-apple tree. The tree stood on the bank of a river.
                  One day a crocodile come out of the river. He went near the tree and looked up. He saw the monkey on the tree and said, "Friend, I am a crocodile. I have swum a long distance to came to this place. I am very hungry. Will you please drop down same food for me? "
                    "Most willingly," said the monkey. "Here! Take these." So saying, he plucked a few rose-apples and threw them down.

                     The crocodile ate the rose -apples. He liked them very much. He asked the monkey if he could come there everyday to eat the fruit.
                    "You are most welcome," said the monkey. "From today onwards, you are my guest. You can have as many rose-apple as you like."
                     So the crocodile came the next day and the next. Everyday the monkey gave him some rose-apples to eat. Soon they became close friends.
                      One day the monkey said to the crocodile, "Friend, why don't you take home some fruit for your wife?"
                       "Certainly," replied the crocodile, "If you can spare some for her."
                     So the monkey gave him some rose-apples for his wife. The crocodile went home that dat with the monkey's gift. The crocodile's wife was delighted with the fruit and told her husband to bring her some more everyday.
                   

     The next day, the crocodile told the monkey of his wife's wish. The monkey gladly agreed to help. He started giving the best of rose-apples for the crocodile's wife.
                         But the crocodile's wife had a wicked idea. She said to her husband , "Your friend, the monkey, feeds on these sweet rose-apples. So his heart must also be as sweet as the fruit he eats. I must taste the monkey's heart. If you love me, you will bring me his heart to eat. I shall never be satisfied till eat that monkey's heart. If you don't get it for me, I promise you, I will die."
                         On hearing his wife's words, the crocodile felt very sad. He did not want to kill his dear friends, the monkey. At the same time, he could not displease his wife and let her die. He did not know what to do.

                       
                    At last crocodile went to the monkey, shedding tears all the way. The monkey asked him why he was looking so sad and ill. "Oh! It is nothing, " replied the crocodile. "I am quite all right. But my wife is angry with me for not inviting you home. She says that you have been so good to us. Now it is our turn to invite you to our house. Will you come with me today and have dinner with us?"

                             "That is very kind of you," said the monkey. "I would have been very happy to come. But how is it possible? I live in a tree. You live in a water. I cannot swim. I shall drown if i try to cross the river."
                                    "Don't worry about that," said the crocodile. "I'll take you across the river quite safely on my broad back."
                                    So the monkey jumped on the  crocodile's back and they set out.In the middle of the river. the crocodile stopped. He wanted to tell the monkey why he was taking him to his house. "My wife is very sick," he told his friend. "She desires to eat your heart. If she doesn't she says she will die."
                                      The monkey was shocked hear this. He realised that his life was danger. But he was has clever as he was brave. He thought for a while and said, "My dear friend, I wish you had told me this before i left my dwelling place; I never carry my heart with me when i go out. I leave my heart in a hole in the trunk of the rose-apple tree. Now we will have to go all the way back to get it."
                                       The foolish crocodile believed him and swiftly turned back and swam in the direction of the rose-apple tree.The moment they reached the river bank, the monkey jumped off quickly. Then he climbed up to the safety of a high branch of the tree. Once there, he called out to the crocodile and said, "You idiot, how could you ever believe that my heart is in the tree? How can I live without my heart? Now go back and tell your wife that she is married to greatest fool on earth! Ungrateful and deceitful as you are, you are unworthy to be my friend. Go away, and never show me your face again."
                    

The Shepherd and the Lion

                one day shepherd was walking through a thick forest. Suddenly he heard the roar of a lion. It was a cry of pain. When the lion roared again, the shepherd decided to approach the lion. He wanted to see if he could help the animal who seemed to be in trouble.
                                 At first, the shepherd looked at the lion from a safe distance. The lion was limping and groaning in severe pain. Feeling more confident, the shepherd went closer still. He saw that the lion had a thorn in his paw. The paw was swollen, causing him great pain.
                                 The lion was very happy to see the shepherd approaching him. He raised the swollen paw toward the shepherd, as if to say "I beg of you. Please help  me and relieve me from this terrible pain."
                                 The kind shepherd felt pity for the lion in distress. Coming up to the lion, he held the swollen paw in his hands and examined it closely. He saw a big thorn  stuck deep into the flesh. Using all his strength, he pulled the thorn strength, he pulled the thorn out.
                                  The lion felt immediate relief from pain. He licked the shepherd's hand in gratitude and returned quietly to his home in the forest. Happy that he had performed a good deed, the shepherd also continued his journey.
                                  Some days later, the shepherd was arrested and put into prison by the king on a false charge. He was condemned to an arena. A fierce-looking lion was then released from a cage to devour him.
                                  When the shepherd saw the lion approach, he closed his eyes in terror. But to his great surprise, the lion did not attack him. Instead, he came close to the shepherd and stood in front of him, looking fixedly at him. Next he crouched at the shepherd's feet and started licking the shepherd's hand affectionately. The shepherd opened his eyes and saw, to his great relief, that it was the same lion whom he had treated in the forest some days ago. The lion was now showing his gratitude to the man who had pulled out the thorn from his paw.
                                  The king and his courtiers were a  witness to this incident. They wondered how such a thing could actually happen. The king then asked the shepherd to explain how he had managed to tame the lion. When he heard the full story, he set both the shepherd and the lion free.