The Owl and The Swan

Once there were two friends Kanakaksha the owl and

Sumitra the swan. Sumitra was the king of the swans. But
Kanakaksha was an ordinary owl. He was afraid to let Sumitra
know that he was a poor owl. So he told Sumitra that he was
also a king and also had subjects. Everyday the owl would fly to
the pond where the swan lived.
One day as usual, Kanakaksha flew to the pond to meet
his friend. “Good morning Sumitra, how are you today?" he
asked.
“Good morning my friend, I am fine. Just caught up with the
usual work of a king – solving disputes among my subjects,"
replied Sumitra.
Just then, one of Sumitra’s subjects came up to him and
whispered something in his ear.
“Oh!" exclaimed Sumitra. “Kanakaksha, please give me a
moment. I have to settle another dispute between two of my
subjects."
“Very well Sumitra," answered the owl. “I will wait right
here." After Sumitra left to find his subjects, Kanakaksha
thought to himself, “If Sumitra comes to know that I am just an
ordinary owl, he will stop being my friend. I have to impress
him."
As Kanakaksha was flying through the woods in search of
food, he saw a camp of soldiers and their commander. He
suddenly got an idea. He flew back to the pond and called
Sumitra. “I want you to visit my kingdom," invited the owl.
“One day I will surely visit your kingdom Kanakaksha,"
answered Sumitra the swan.
“Not someday," urged Kanakaksha. “You should come
today. I come to meet you everyday." Sumitra agreed and the
owl took the swan to the place where the soldiers had camped.
 “This is my kingdom and these are my subjects," said
Kanakaksha to Sumitra proudly. Sumitra knew that Kanakaksha
was no king. But he did not want to hurt his poor foolish friend’s
feelings.
“Wow!" exclaimed Sumitra.
“Are your soldiers getting ready to move?"
“No! How could they without my permission?" The Owl
flew over the camp hooting aloud “Ho - hoo!" The commander
heard the owl and said, “An owl is hooting. It’s a bad omen. We
will have to postpone our march."
The next day Kanakaksha and Sumitra came to the same
place. Just as the army got ready to move. Kanakaksha hooted
again. The army stopped again. On the third day again,
Kanakaksha hooted just as the commander mounted his horse.
“Oh this omen maker! Will someone take care of him?"
shouted the commander angrily.
"This time my poor friend has gone too far," thought
Sumitra the swan to himself.
A soldier stepped forward and shot an arrow at the owl
perched on a branch. But Kanakaksha spotted the arrow and
swiftly flew away. Sumitra who had been next to Kanakaksha
did not see the arrow coming. The arrow hit Sumitra and he
died.
“Oh my foolishness has caused the death of my good
friend," thought Kanakaksha bitterly to himself.
The Merchant and The Money Lender

In a small town, there lived a merchant. He ran a small

business. Unfortunately, he lost all his money in business. “I
can’t stay like this. I have to do something. I will go to the next
town and invest in another business," he thought to himself.
So he made arrangement for his departure. He took all he
had and prepared to leave. There was an iron weighing balance
which he could not take along with him. So he took it to his
friend the money lender. “Friend, I am going on business to the
next town. Will you please keep this iron balance for me till I
return?" requested the merchant.
“Surely. Why not? May you prosper more than before and
return," wished the money lender.
The merchant did very well in the next town and after a
while had earned a good amount of money. He decided to go
back to his home town. He returned home a rich man.
He went to his friend the money lender. “Hello friend, I am
back. Can you please return my iron weighing balance? I will
need it to resume my business here." It was a good weighing
balance and the money lender was a selfish man.
So he said, “I am very sorry my friend. I kept your iron
balance in my store room, but the rats ate it up."
The merchant knew that his friend the money lender was
lying. He pretended to believe him and then asked, “My friend,
I want to take a bath in the river. Will you send your little son
with me? I want him to keep an eye on my clothes and my
money bag."
The money lender readily agreed and sent his little son
along with the merchant. The merchant took the little boy and
locked him up in a place in the outskirts of the town and went
back to the money lender.
He said, “I am very sorry my friend, while I was walking
down to the river with your son, an eagle swooped down and
carried him away."
“You are lying," shouted the money lender angrily.
“Return my son or I will take you to the judge."
“Come, let us go," said the merchant.
Hearing the merchant’s story about the eagle, the judge
said, “Are you trying to fool me? How can an eagle fly away
with a boy?"
“If rats can eat an iron weighing balance, why can’t an
eagle fly away with a boy?" asked the merchant.
“Explain yourself," ordered the confused judge. After
listening to the whole story, the judge could not help smiling.
He turned to the dishonest money lender and said, “He paid
you back with the same coin. Return his weighing balance to
him and he will return your son to you."
The Lion and The Hare

Once in a forest there lived a lion who was very proud of

his strength. He would kill any animal which came in his way
just for fun. All the animals in the forest were worried about
their survival.
“If the lion keeps this up, none of us will be left in the
forest," said the bear.
“He kills much more than he really needs to," squeaked
the little hare.
“We have to come up with something to stop this
massacre," said the monkey. So they all joined together and
went to meet the lion.
“O king of the forest, we have come to make a small
request," they all said to the lion.
“Now what would that be?" asked the amused lion.
“You are the king of the forest, but soon there will be no
animals to rule over. So we beg you to stop this unreasonable
killing and we promise that one of us will come to you everyday
for your food," pleaded all the animals with the lion.
So from that day, the animals drew lots to decide on who
was to go to the lion as his prey.
One day, the lots fell on the hare to visit the lion. All the
animals consoled him and sent him on his way to meet his
doom. But the hare was a clever animal. He did not want to die
at the hands of the cruel lion. He saw an old well on the way. It
was very deep and was a danger for all the animals. He thought
of a plan.
The little hare went to sleep near the well all day. In the
evening, he made his way to the lion's den. The lion was
terribly hungry by then and when he saw a tiny hare coming
towards him, he became furious.
“You little thing, how dare you come so late? How dare
they send such a small animal? I will kill them all," the angry
lion roared.
“It is not my fault, O mighty lion. There were three other
hares with me. But on the way here, another lion attacked us. I
just managed to escape. The other three hares were eaten by
that lion,"said the hare.
“What? Another lion in my jungle? Take me to him
immediately," said the lion in a fit of rage.
The hare took the lion to the well and pointed it out to him
from a distance. The other lion jumped out at us from inside the
well when we tried to drink some water from the well. The lion
rushed angrily to the well and peeped in.
There inside the well he could see another lion glaring at
him. What the foolish lion did not realise in his anger was that
he was looking at his reflection. He roared angrily at the other
lion. He heard an answering roar.
It was only the echo of his own roar. But the lion thought
that the other lion was challenging him. He jumped in and
landed inside with a loud splash. And that was the end of the
wicked lion.