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Drake’s Grand Birthday Party

Drake, the deer was a prankster. The animals who knew him well kept their distance from him, but others fell for his pranks.

One morning, he paid a visit to Gina, the goat’s house.

“Good morning, Gina! Today is my birthday but there’s no one at home to celebrate this special day with,” said Drake sadly.

Gina felt bad for him. “Don’t worry, Drake. You can celebrate it with me,” she consoled him. “Tell me, what shall I make for you?” asked Gina.

“I feel like having carrot pudding today. When my elder sister was around, she would always make carrot pudding for me on my birthday,” replied Drake.

“I’ll make carrot pudding for you. You just rest here in my house while I go to the market to buy some carrots,” said Gina and left immediately.

On her way to the market, Gina met Toby, the cat.

“Hey Gina, you seem to be in a hurry. What is the matter?”asked Toby.

“Today is Drake’s birthday and he has no one to celebrate it with. So I offered to celebrate it with him by making the carrot pudding that he was craving for. So I am off to the market to buy some carrots,” replied Gina.

“So, you are Drake’s target today!” said Toby with a knowing smile.

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“What do you mean?” asked Gina puzzled.

“Gina, just last month he made Danny, the donkey throw a party for him citing the same reason,” explained Toby.

“I had no idea that he was such a fraud! What should I do now?” asked Gina.

Toby whispered something into Gina’s ear, and they both laughed. Gina then called Drake on his mobile phone.

“Hello Drake! I was thinking that since today is your birthday, why have just a pudding? I want i to throw a grand feast for you,” she told him.

Drake was doubly excited at the thought of more delicious food.

“I am here with Tippy, the squirrel who owns the best restaurant in the forest. I am going to hand over the phone to him; just give him a list of dishes you want to eat,” she said handing over the phone to Tippy.

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“Tippy, please send over one box each of all you best dishes,” he said greedily, dreaming of the sumptuous spread.

After Drake got off the phone, he was about to lie down on the sofa to rest when the doorbell rang.

“Who could it be?” he wondered as he opened the door.

As soon as he opened the door, Drake was greeted by several animals—“Happy Birthday, Drake!” they all chorused.

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“We didn’t know that today is your birthday!” said Mini, the sparrow. “Who told you?” asked Drake surprised and a bit nervous.

“Gina did. Now don’t think you can get away without treating us,” said Mini flying into the house, followed by all the other animals.

After a little while,Tippy and Gina also reached the house with packets of food. The two were setting up the table in the garden that was big enough to accommodate all the animals.

Drake took Gina aside and asked her “Gina! What is all this?”

“Since you felt bad about not having anyone to celebrate your birthday with, I thought it would be nice to invite all our friends. Now we can celebrate your birthday together,” said Gina.

“But why do you want to spend so much money?” asked Drake.

“I am not spending. You are!” she said and left to make arrangements, leaving Drake shocked.

Just then, Tippy invited everybody over to the table for the lunch.

Drake was feeling miserable knowing that he would have to pay for all the food. But he could not take it any longer.

“Friends, before you begin to eat, I need to tell you all something,” announced Drake.

“Today is not my birthday. I felt like having some carrot pudding this morning, so I lied to Gina,” he confessed.

“He lied to me as well,” said Danny. “Just last month, he made me throw a party for him.”

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Drake hung his head in shame. “I didn’t know that I would have to pay such a heavy price for my habit of tricking people. Please forgive me. I will not trick people anymore,” apologised Drake.

“It is wrong to lie and cheat. We only played a prank on you to teach you a lesson,” said Toby.

“And don’t worry, Drake. You don’t have to fully bear the expense of the party. We’ll all be pooling in. It is after all April 1, so this is a Fool’s Day party!” said Gina.

Drake heaved a big sigh of relief and everyone continued to have fun.

THE BIG FAT KING

Once there lived a big fat king who used to eat throughout the day. He was always followed by a maid who would carry a tray loaded with snacks. He would have biscuits in the evening, crisps in the night time, bread and butter in the morning and a large bowl of cereals and rice in the afternoon. He was a man who never got tired of eating. He would eat while he talked, walked, sang, felt bored and even when he ordered his troops. The only time his mouth remained still was when he was asleep.

He was also a very greedy man and would never share anything that was his with anyone. Not even with his wife. The queen was a very frail and elegant woman who was kind-hearted and intelligent. She was fed up of watching her husband eat all day long. Many a time she would request her husband “Please stop eating for a while? At least when you are discussing matters with the ministers?”

He always replied “How do you expect me to live if I stop eating?”

“Well, you will not die if you do not eat for five minutes!” She retorted.

He was always very angry when he was asked by others to do something. He always thought that he was right. He was a very proud king and thought nobody could be like him.. Therefore he did many silly things in his life and took everyone for granted.

“There is no man in this world who can eat like me! No one can beat me at eating! And I am proud of it!” He said with pride.

The queen knew that there was no point in arguing with him any more on this issue. Hence, she stopped talking to him about eating.

A few months passed by, but the king did not stop eating! Everybody in the kingdom started making fun of the king and the queen was embarrassed. She wanted to put a stop to her husband’s habit of eating constantly. So she decided to plan a trick that would make her husband to stop eating.

That night, she told him “You know, there is a man who eats more than you do!”

“What! Who?” He asked shocked and dropped a hand full of crisps.

“A man named Ben. He is a shopkeeper in the town nearby and people call him Ben, the eater!” She said in a very casual tone.

“It cannot be true.” He replied harshly. His face turned red with anger. He got down from his bed and started walking around his room as though he was thinking something very serious.

“It is! You did not hear? They call him Ben, the eater! And I have seen him. I have heard he eats more than you.” She replied very coolly.

“He cannot!” He bellowed.

She was terrified. But before she spoke anything more, he spoke “All right! I can challenge him.” He sounded very confident.

The queen smiled broadly. She knew her husband would say this and she was happy that things were going according to her plan.

“Fine!” She said. “I will arrange for it. I will talk to Ben and you can compete with him.”

“Great!” he said. “Arrange for the challenge and watch your husband win!” He was full of pride.

She did not want to talk about it anymore. She bid him good night and fell asleep.

The next day, everything was ready. It was nearly sunset when the competition began. Ben sat in the middle of the hall and the king was seated on his huge throne.

People gathered in the hall to watch the outcome. A group of young boys were there to cheer the king. The queen thought that they were the kids of the ministers. It was decided that Ben would starve for a week if he lost the bet and if the king lost he would stop eating lavishly.

Once the bet began, maids brought roasted beef, huge loaves of bread and butter, a pot full of porridge and water and served it to them. Both the men started eating. The king stuffed his mouth with roasted beef. He looked very funny with his cheeks bulging out on both sides.

Ben ate very fast and finished the roasted beef in no time. He was served more roasts. Seeing this, the king started eating like a barbarian. He started using both his hands holding a loaf of bread in one hand and beef in the other.

They ate for hours continuously. After a while, the king needed a break badly. Therefore there was a five minutes break.

During the break, he fell asleep and the queen knew that he was tired of eating. Ben left the hall and returned after a few minutes.

Five minutes later the king woke up and the competition resumed. They were served with chicken and turkey this time. The kind started breathing heavily and the queen knew that it was because of the effort he had to make to eat. But she felt that he was still determined to continue. He was a man who would not give up easily.

They ate all night. The maids were tired walking up and down the hall and serving them. The crowd too dispersed gradually. But there were a few people who were ready to sacrifice their night’s sleep for this competition.

It went on and on and they continued devouring the food. However by sun rise, the speed of the king had reduced remarkably. The queen knew that he could not eat any more. But Ben seemed to be eating without the slightest bit of exhaustion. After a while, the king gave up.

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“I give up.” He said. He sounded weary.

There was applause all around the hall. The queen too applauded but only until the king spoke. “In order to win the bet, you must eat another five loaves of bread.” He ordered. There was complete silence in the hall.

After much argument, Ben accepted to eat five more loaves of bread and was given bread and butter. He continued eating for an hour. The king kept watching him and finally Ben finished. He did as he was ordered. There was a thunder of claps around the hall and it was declared that Ben had won the bet. So the King sadly accepted that he would not eat throughout the day but only at meal times.

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The queen was very happy and satisfied. She was satisfied by the plan she had laid. The morning before the bet, she had met Ben to persuade him to accept the offer for the bet. Ben had a twin named Bob and the three of them had planned to trick the king. So Bob switched place with Ben during the five minutes break. They were given a bag full of gold coins by the queen for helping her execute the plan.

She had achieved what she wanted. Her plan had worked out too well and nobody ever knew. Ben and Bob left the town after the bet and promised never to return. The king was left with nothing but a limited amount of food at meal times.

 

Roshni’s Greedy Lesson

Roshni, the rabbit saw some jars outside a house on her way back from school. She opened one and saw mango pickle in it. “Mango pickle is kept in the sun to dry,” she said to herself. Seeing that no one was around, she picked one piece and went home sucking it.

The next day Roshni did the same too. On the third day when she got up in the morning she had a sore throat. She did not listen to her mother and went to school. She had severe pain in her throat. When her teacher asked her a question, she could not answer. Roshni went to the blackboard and wrote the answer. “I am unable to speak,” she explained to the teacher.

The teacher sent Roshni back to her seat. Roshni’s throat was dry because she had eaten sour pickles. When she went home, her mother saw that Roshni had high fever.

Roshni’s mother took her to the doctor. With great effort Roshni told the doctor the truth. She took the perscribed medicines and lay on bed. She had to take three days leave from school. She stayed in bed the whole day.

That night Roshni remembered that there was a competition in school. She could not take part in it because of the fever. The next day Roshni’s fever was less. Some of her school friends visited her to enquire about her health.

“Do you know there is a race in school tomorrow?” asked her friends.

“My body is weak. I will not be able to take part in it,” Roshni replied tearfully.

“It is my fault. I could have taken part if I had not been greedy.”

She told her friends the whole story. At that moment her mother came in. She touched her lovingly and said, “That is why they say children should not eat pickle. The spices in pickles are bad for their tender throats.”

“You should have told me. I would have made sweet mango chutney for you,” Ma said, as she stroked her lovingly.

“It would have been shameful if someone had seen you stealing the pickle. You would have got into trouble.”

“It is truly said that greed is bad. It always creates problems.” All her friends agreed with her mother.

Roshni’s eyes became moist with tears. “Last year I won a prize in the 100 metres race. Now I have to miss out because of my mistake.”

Roshni promised her mom that she will never steal and eat. Her mother explained to all the children, “Always ask grown ups before eating anything, whether it should be eaten or not. This will keep you away from trouble.”