Beauty lies within

Daisy was kind-hearted and friendly. She lived in harmony with all the animals and birds. Everybody used to praise her beauty and her pleasant nature. On the other hand, Suzy was an arrogant bird. She was proud of the way she looked.

Daisy often used to tell Suzy that physical beauty was nature’s gift. It wouldn’t stay the same forever. She also said that living in harmony was more important than being beautiful, but all this had no effect on Suzy. Instead, she used to make fun of Daisy.

Suzy said, “You are a fool to live with these animals and birds. Look at me; I live alone on that tree. I am its queen.”

Daisy kept quiet after hearing Suzy’s words, but felt sad for her.

One day, a hunter came to the jungle. He saw Daisy. He had never seen such a beautiful bird in his life. He thought, “It’s a stunning bird, I will take it along with me. I will get lots of money if I sell it.”

He hid behind a tree and waited for a chance to throw his trap on the bird. However, he couldn’t hide from Chintu, the bear’s eyes. He saw the hunter prepare to trap Daisy. He immediately started shouting ‘help, help’. On hearing the alarm, all animals and birds gathered together. They beat the hunter until he ran away. Daisy thanked everyone for saving her life.

 

After a few days, another hunter visited the jungle. He spotted Suzy. He was surprised to see such a colourful bird with golden wings. He wanted to catch it by all means. He thought, “If I can take it home with me, my children will be very happy.”

After trying hard for quite a while he finally succeeded. Suzy was trapped

Suzy made a lot of noise by chirping helplessly, but nobody heard her voice. She used to live alone and had no friends to look out for her.

As the hunter was walking past the Champa tree, Daisy heard Suzy’s cries for help. She thought, “This is Suzy’s voice. She seems to be in danger.

She called out to all the animals and birds loudly. They collectively released Suzy from the hunter’s clutches.

Suzy finally learnt the benefits of living together. She apologised and thanked all the animals and bird and promised to live together with them.

 

THE POWER OF HARMONY

Alfred had two mobile phones. He had put a SIM card of a different network in each mobile phone. One day, while Alfred was browsing in a shop, he came across a mobile phone that had a unique feature.

“This mobile phone lets the owner insert two SIM cards in it simultaneously,” the shopkeeper told Alfred.

“It would be better if I buy this mobile phone,” Alfred thought. “It will simultaneously hold my two SIM cards and save me the trouble of carrying two mobile phones. My other phones have become quite old anyway.”

He bought the new mobile phone the next day itself. Alfred’s new mobile phone worked very well for a few days, but then something very strange happened.

The two SIM cards that Alfred had inserted in the new phone began fighting with each other.

“Alfred uses me more often to make calls,” one of the SIM cards boasted. “You are in here just for namesake. You are always lying in a corner.”

The other SIM card grew furious. It didn’t like being spoken to in such an insulting manner.

“Don’t act smart,” the other SIM card shouted. “All the incoming calls are made to me. I am far more useful to Alfred than you are!”

“You are cheap and everybody knows that cheap things are not durable,” the first SIM card said and sniggered.

“Why should one buy expensive things when the inexpensive ones can provide the same convenience for much less, huh?” the second SIM card said, not wanting to be left behind.

The battery inside the phone had been silently witnessing the SIM cards’ fight for a long time. It couldn’t hold itself back anymore.

“Calm down now,” it said. “You both are arguing pointlessly.”

POWER-OF-HARMONY

“You ugly, black battery…who asked you to interfere with us? Did anyone ask for your advice?” both the SIM cards said, forgetting about their fight and starting a new one with the battery.

“What do you think I am? You both can’t utter a word without me,” the battery said, blowing its own trumpet. “Don’t you know that the mobile phone won’t work unless it has battery power? So, technically speaking, I am your boss!”

The intensity of the fight increased, and soon the entire handset began trembling because of the commotion inside it. Before the handset could say anything, there was a phone call and Alfred picked up the mobile phone and answered it.

But he couldn’t hear the caller at the other end clearly, because there were too many odd sounds coming from the handset. “There is something wrong with this mobile phone,” Alfred said and immediately took the mobile phone back to the shop. He asked the shopkeeper to repair it but the shopkeeper returned it to Alfred saying that it seemed perfectly all right.

The fight hadn’t stopped as yet. The charger too joined the battle, and argued with the SIM cards and the battery. “Stop thinking of yourselves as superior,” the charger said proudly. “If I don’t charge the battery, none of you will have any existence at all. You should be thankful to me for keeping you in working condition!”

The battery had no answer to the charger’s claim. “Hey! Have you all have forgotten me?” the handset said, trying to prove how important he was too. “You all are fixed inside me. I am your true boss! You all are, after all, my parts.”

The squabble was escalating. And in the bargain, all the parts had completely forgotten that they needed to get back to work. Alfred was very disturbed. He found that his mobile phone wasn’t working, and he was missing out on making and receiving important calls.

He took the mobile phone and the charger back to the shopkeeper again and banged them on his counter angrily.

“Refund my money. This mobile phone is completely useless. There is definitely something wrong with it,” he shouted. “There are strange sounds coming from it.”

The shopkeeper took the mobile phone and charger back from Alfred and told him that he would check them. He then requested Alfred to come back after a day.

Just as Alfred walked out of the shop, a man entered with his mobile phone and charger.

Now, this man had accidentally overcharged the battery of his phone. It had damaged the mobile phone and made it irreparable.

“Your mobile phone and charger are of no use to anyone anymore,” the shopkeeper said loudly, after examining the faulty mobile phone. “They are only worth throwing in the dustbin now.”

The shopkeeper’s words gave the parts of Alfred’s mobile phone a big jolt. The SIM cards got worried. The battery was terrified. The handset and the charger felt quite nervous. “What if this happens to us?” one of the SIM cards said. “What if the shopkeeper tells Alfred we must be thrown away?”

“We won’t let that happen,” the other SIM card said.

“We will never let this kind of situation come upon us!” “We will forget about our fight and work together as a team!” the battery said.

“I agree!” added the charger.

“So do I,” said the handset.

And so, the SIM cards, the battery, the charger and the handset decided that they would forget about their petty squabble and live and work together in harmony.

“Your mobile phone is working now,” the shopkeeper told Alfred when he returned to the shop the next day. “Please pay me two hundred rupees for servicing the parts.”

The SIM cards, the battery, the handset and the charger knew that there was nothing wrong with them, and that the shopkeeper hadn’t serviced them at all. They felt very ashamed that their owner Alfred, who took such good care of them, had to pay the shopkeeper, just because they had quarrelled.

They apologised to each other and made a pact never to fight again.

“We will live and work in harmony from now on,” they promised.

The result of this pact was that the mobile phone worked very well. Alfred was very satisfied. “This mobile phone is better than the ones I owned before,” he told his friends “I am really happy with it!”

When the SIM card, the battery, the charger and the handset heard Alfred, they looked at each other and smiled. They were glad that they had decided to work and live together in harmony.

 

 

UNITY IS STRENGTH

Chinni was a hardworking ant. She used to work all day to look after her family.

One day, Chinni was carrying a grain of rice on her back. On her way home, she met Ricky the Mole. Ricky was a lazy mole. He never went to work. He believed in snatching food from smaller animals to satisfy his hunger.

Ricky saw Chinni and said, “Chinni, why have you lifted such a heavy grain? Do you want to get crushed under it?”

Ricky’s words annoyed Chinni. She said, “It would be better if you keep quiet. You may have no work, but I do. So please let me continue with my work.”

unity-is-strength

Ricky mockingly replied, “I am not stopping you from hard work. It is because of you that idle people like me get to eat two meals a day. If you don’t work hard, how will we get food?”

Then, he snatched the grain from Chinni. Before Chinni could say anything, Ricky ate it. He said, “Go, little Ant, go. Fetch another grain for your young ones, or else they shall starve. You are indeed a dedicated and hardworking ant.”

Chinni was very angry with Ricky. She was helpless. Ricky was stronger than her. She knew that she could not fight him alone. She searched high and low. She found another grain to feed her young ones.

Although Chinni couldn’t fight Ricky, she decided to teach him a lesson. The next evening, Chinni’s neighbour, Mini came home weeping. Chinni asked her what had happened.

Mini said, “I was carrying  a lump of jaggery on my back. On my way home, Ricky snatched the jaggery and ate it. Now it’s too late to go back and search for more food. My children will have to sleep without their dinner.”

Chinni felt sorry for Mini. She said, “Don’t worry. You and your kids can dine at my house tonight. After all, I am your neighbour. It is my duty to help you. Together, we will teach Ricky a lesson.”

Chinni extended a warm welcome to Mini and her kids. She served them a delicious dinner and took care that everyone ate well.

Day by day, Ricky continued to give the ants a hard time. He had now started coming near the anthill for food. He stood there and kept a watch over the ants. He snatched all the food that they brought home. He devoured jaggery, rice, sugar lumps, etc from the anthill.

However, the ants couldn’t do anything. Chinni took all of them to Queen Madhulika. The Queen heard their problems. She understood that the ants wanted to get rid of Ricky.

She said, “However mighty our enemy may be, we can defeat him only if we fight together. All of you will have to help the royal army to face the mole and defeat him. Are you ready to help?”

Chinni said, “Your Highness, we understand that we will have to unite together and face our enemy. We will die of hunger if we do not destroy him. Our unity will become our biggest strength. We are prepared to fight until death!”

The Queen was inspired and impressed by Chinni’s brave attitude. She said, “You are indeed brave, Chinni. I promise all of you that if any ant dies during the battle, the royal kingdom will take care of her kids. I will personally see to it that they get proper food, shelter and education.”

The ants started preparing themselves for the battle.

The very next day, the ants got ready to attack. As soon as they saw Ricky coming near their anthill, they marched towards him with swords and spears. Ricky was astonished to see thousands of ants approaching him with tiny swords and spears.

The moment the ants tried to attack Ricky; he hit them with his claws. He flung a part of the royal army in the air. Meanwhile, some of the soldier ants tightly gripped his claw. They started biting him fiercely.

Some ants attacked his tail; others attacked his face whereas a few of them targeted his body. Ricky’s body was badly injured with bruises and cuts.

Ricky tried to free himself. He failed. He realised that it was difficult to fight the huge number of ants. As the number of ants kept increasing, he decided to run away. He felt helpless and weak in front of the huge army of ants.

unity is strength

Ricky ran away from the anthill. A few ants held on to his body. They kept biting him continuously. They did not spare even an inch of his body. Ricky could not bear the pain anymore. He jumped into a puddle of water and he then rolled over the sand to get rid of the ants.

However, the ants were determined not to leave his body.

Ricky felt a lot of pain due to the bites. He sat on a stone and started picking each ant out of his body. His body was swollen due to the ant-bites.

Ricky somehow managed to survive. He was grateful to be alive. He felt the collective power of the ants. He realised that their unity had become their strength.

He never came to the anthill again. He decided that he would never trouble any ant in future.

Smart Mice

Sonu was staring at the piece of cake fallen on the floor for quite some time. Two tiny mice quietly came to gobbleup the cake. Before they could do that, Sonu clapped once and scared them away. He was really amused by this and started laughing.

“What happened, brother? Why are you laughing?” asked Sonu’s younger brother, Monu.

“Just before, two mice had come to eat this piece of cake that is lying on the floor. I clapped loudly and they both got petrified and thus fled,” replied Sonu.

“Wow!” exclaimed Monu. “It would be so much fun to scare away the mice. Where are they?”

Sonu replied, “They are hiding somewhere. You come and sit next to me on this cot. They will come again after a while.”

Sonu suddenly recalled something and said, “Wait, let me do something else, it would be more fun.”

“Do what?” asked Monu.

“You just wait and watch,” said Sonu. He then tied the piece of cake to a string and suspended it a few inches above the floor.

Monu asked, “Why did you do that, brother?”

“Don’t ask anything now. Just wait and see what happens,” said Sonu and both of them sat patiently waiting for the mice.

After a few minutes, one of the mice came, stood on its hind legs, and tried to reach the piece of cake in vain. Upon trying further, the mouse lost its balance and tumbled down.

Sonu and Monu burst out laughing and the mouse ran away from there. Sonu and Monu burst out laughing and the mouse ran away from there.

A few minutes later, another mouse came and tried to grab the cake. Some other mice too came there but none of them succeeded in reaching the piece. They tried desperately but had to return empty handed.

smart-mice

Sonu and Monu enjoyed the desperation of the mice and kept laughing at them.

Sonu yawned and said, “Monu, let us go to sleep now.”

“What about the cake?” asked Monu.

Sonu grinned and said, “Let it be hung and let the mice keep trying.”

“It was fun seeing the mice desperate and irritated,” said Monu.

“See how I troubled the mice who generally trouble people. Am I not great and intelligent?” asked Sonu with pride.

“Yes I totally agree that you are indeed intelligent and great,” replied Monu and went to sleep.

The next morning when they woke up, they were astonished to see that the piece of cake was missing from the string

“Where has the cake gone?” asked Monu.

“I have no idea,” replied Sonu.

Monu said, “Mom or Dad must have thrown away the cake.”

“That is not possible. Had they thrown the cake, they would have thrown away the string too. Since the string is untouched, they have not done it,” said Sonu.

“Then how did the cake vanish?” asked Monu.

“I think the mice have devoured the piece of cake,” replied Sonu.

Monu asked, “But they could barely reach the cake, then how can they eat it up?”

Sonu said, “If we want to find out, we will have to hang another piece of cake in a similar manner and keep a watch.” Sonu got another piece and suspended it in the same manner.

Sonu and Monu quietly sat on the cot observing the mice. One of the mice came there and tried to reach the cake but failed.

“This happened yesterday too,” whispered Monu.

Sonu signaled him to be quiet and watch on

smart-mice

Just then, another mouse came there and stood on its hind legs. The mouse that was already present there climbed on the other mouse’s back and quickly cut the string. The mice then took the piece of cake and fled.

Sonu was shocked to see this. He said, “I never thought mice could be so clever.”

“That is true,” said Monu, “The mice have also proven two things.”

“What are they?” asked Sonu.

“They proved Unity is Strength’. If we work together, then we can even accomplish difficult tasks with ease. The second thing that they proved is that one should never underestimate anyone. Others can be more clever than you are,” said Monu.

Sonu smiled and nodded his head in agreement.

 

We Won’t Fight

That little garden had something special about it. Various kinds of flowers were always smiling on the branches of plants.

Their fragrance always pervaded the garden. People would be astounded on coming over there. Everyone would lavishly praise the beauty of the flowers.

Queen Honeybee, Beauty Butterfly and Gungun Bumblebee were friends with each other. All three would work together in the garden.

Queen Honeybee would collect nectar from the flowers and make honey.

When Beauty Butterfly would flap her beautiful wings and talk to the flowers, they would start swaying joyfully. Gungun Bumblebee was different than everybody.

When he would sing, the garden’s flowers would forget everything.

One day they all had an argument on who was the best among them. The argument turned into a fight and each started claiming to be the best.

“You both don’t do any work, just roam around. I am better than both of you because I work hard and make delicious honey,” Queen Honeybee said, praising herself.

“So what if you make honey? You only eat it. Have you ever given us honey to eat? Selfish bee,” Beauty Butterfly said angrily to Queen.

“In my opinion, I am better than both of you. Neither do I sting like Queen nor do I become discoloured like Beauty even when she is gently touched,” Gungun opined, “I am the best.”

“Leave it, leave it. Your heart is as dark as your colour. You just act as if you are singing. In reality, you are jealous of our beauty and spread negativity about us,” Queen and Beauty both scolded Gungun.

The fight increased and reached a point where they were ready to beat each other. When the breeze saw this, it felt very sad. Seeing the situation, it turned into a gust of wind and flew all of them in different directions.

The wisdom of breeze stopped the fight that day but their attitude didn’t change.

Next day they were fighting again. The king of flowers Rose was hearing them intently.

“Friend, you decide who is the best amongst us. We will go by your decision,” they went to Rose and said.

Rose was very intelligent. He had sensed that they were in anger, so explaining anything to them would be a waste.

“You all come tomorrow. You will get an answer to your question,” Rose asked them to wait for a day.

They returned back on hearing Rose. As time passed, their anger reduced. They were eagerly waiting for the next morning.

When they reached the garden the next day, the sight of the place made them astonished.

Not even one flower had blossomed. The garden was looking appalling without the flowers blooming.

The flowers didn’t blossom even when it was evening. Without the flowers, how could Queen collect nectar for making honey? She became very sad.

Where would Beauty linger if not on flowers? She too began crying.

Gungun forgot singing and went and sat on a branch dejectedly. They all realized their mistake. They requested the flowers to blossom.

“Now you must have got your answer,” Rose told them.

“Friend, forgive us. You answered our question without saying anything. How incomplete we are without the flowers, we know this truth now,” All three of them said.

“Everyone has importance in this world. So thinking about being big or small or best is foolishness. You all are the best,” As soon as Rose said this, all the flowers of the garden bloomed together.

The garden was looking picturesque again. Queen, Beauty and Gungun’s happiness knew no bounds.

We-won't-fight  They promised Rose that they won’t fight ever again. Together they would increase the splendour of the garden.

Rose smiled at their assurance. It congratulated them for showing sensibility and wisdom.