The hare and the tortoise
There lived a hare and a tortoise in a jungle. The hare was proud of his speed. He always laughed at the tortoise due to his creeping movement. One day the hare said, “How can you walk with such a heavy shell.” “Don’t worry, friend,” replied the tortoise. “You may compete a race with me if you like.” The hare accepted the challenge. The race started. The hare ran a long distance in a short moment whereas the tortoise was creeping slowly far behind the hare. The hare laughed, “Ha! Ha! I am at half the way but you’re far behind me.” The tortoise said nothing and continued the race. The hare thought, “I may easily take a short nap and then overtake him.” The hare did as he thought. The tortoise went on with his creeping pace with no pause. When the tortoise went just before the end the hare woke up and saw the tortoise near the goal. He started to run with long leaping pace.But in the mean time the tortoise reached the goal and won the race.
Moral: Slow and steady wins the race.
King Midas
Once upon a time there was a king called Midas. He was very rich. He had a lot of gold. He was very greedy. He always wanted more though he had a lot of it. His thirst for gold got supernatural. He wished if he had the golden touch he would be the happiest. At once a wise god granted his pray. He got the power of golden touch and could turn things to gold when he touched. Becoming very happy he went back to his house. He had a nice daughter. She came up to him. The king caressed her but the child turned to gold immediately at his touch. The king loved her daughter much more than anything else in the world. He could not sustain that. He again prayed to the god to withdraw the power. The god took pity on him and took away the power of golden touch.
Moral: The more one gets, the more one wants.
The Frogs and the Children
Once some children were playing near a pond. The pond was full of frogs. Suddenly one of the children saw the frog’s heads floating above the water. He threw stones at the frogs. As the stones are thrown to them, they sank to save themselves. Again they floated their head. The boy did the same. He felt pleasure at this. Following the boy, all other boys started to throw the pieces of stone to the frogs. Some frogs got injured and some died. The king of the frog then said, “O boys, please stop the cruel mischief to us. Don’t throw stones.” The boys didn’t pay heed to the King. On the contrary they said, “It’s just a fun. We enjoy it much.” “What is fun to you is the death for us,” said the frogs’ King. Then the boys felt ashamed and went away.
Moral: What is fun to one may be the death for another.
Issa Khan’s Greatness
Issa Khan was one of the twelve independent land lords of Bengal. He had been working as a landlord in Bengal. He declared the freedom of Bengal from the Mughal rules (a dynasty of Muslim rulers of India) and Sonargaon (a city not so far from Dhaka) was his capital. Akbar, the third Mughal Emperor of Delhi,who was then on the power sent his general Shahbaz Khan to punish Issa Khan. The battle turned in favor of Khan and Shahbas was defeated. At this Emperor Akbar became very furious and sent his greatest general Maan Singh. A violent battle against Issa Khan took place between two armies. In the fight Maan Sing’s son-in-law was killed, which made Maan angrier. Maan Singh invited Issa Khan to fight a duel between them two. The proposal was gladly accepted by Issa Khan. The duel started but no one got the success. In the mean time when the sun was about to set, suddenly the sword of Maan Singh broke. Issa Khan could easily kill him. But he did not take revenge over an unarmed enemy. He offered Maan his own sword and he took another for himself. Maan Singh was struck wondered at the noble conduct. Maan Singh threw the sword down on the ground and bowed him with admiration. Issa Khan also came forward and embraced Maan. Thus deadly enemies became friend.
Ghosts live in graveyards.
Nilkanta, a brave boy, never believed in ghosts. On the other hand his friend Sukanta bore an idea that there were many ghosts living in the earth. They didn’t appear in sunlight. When it was dark they came out of their houses and found their livelihood. Most of the time they had rest in the graveyards. So nobody should have gone there alone at night. If one went there at midnight without any companions, the ghosts caught one and ate one’s flesh and blood. Nilkanta always took a dim view of it. One day Nilkanta said to his friend, “Today I shall go to the graveyard. I shall see what happens to me.” “Are you?” asked Sukanta. “You bet” said Nilkanta. They made a plan. At midnight they came out of their houses. Sukanta said, “I shall be standing near our temple. You will go there. But how shall I prove your mark there? I shall give you a stick. You will mount this near our grandfather’s grave.” Nilkanta agreed and was going to the graveyard with the stick. As he proceeded, fear seized him. He could not but go and again became frightened at the midnight’s ghostly silence. However he managed to go there and began to mount the stick on the ground, but forgot to tuck the hem of his dhoti with the waistband. The stick was mounted through the hem. He did hurry in fear to be back. But his dhoti was stuck with the ground. He thought that was the ghost. He cried out loudly and fell flat senselessly on the ground. Then the villagers came to rescue him. (Here Nilkanta and Sukanta are fake names.)
Moral: There are no ghosts around.
