Spoken English: Short Stories

TIME IS VALUABLE

Anthony was a very lazy boy and always used to postpone things. One day his father called
him and made him understand the value of time that one should always do things on time.
Anthony promised his father that he would never postpone things.

One day, he came to know that he had won the first prize in a singing competition that was
held the previous month. He was asked to collect the prize the same day. He didn't care and
went to collect the prize the next day. But the prize became useless for him, as it was a
ticket to a circus show, which was held the previous day.

Anthony learnt a lesson from this incident.

HAVE FAITH IN GOD

Once a teacher had a disciple who used to live in a hermitage. One day, the disciple was
going somewhere. He hadn't gone too far when suddenly it started raining cats and dogs. He
returned and told this problem to his teacher. The teacher said, "You should have faith in
god. He will save you from all problems."

The disciple obeyed and resumed his journey. He kept reciting the name of god and cleared
all the hurdles.

Next day, the teacher had to go on the same route. When he reached a deep drain, he
doubted whether god would save him or not. The teacher got drowned.

Thus, doubt drowns you and faith saves you.

BLIND IMITATION IS BAD

One day, a saint while going somewhere with his disciples saw a pond full of fishes, on the
way. He stopped there and started filling his mouth with fish. The disciples followed their
guru. The saint said nothing to them and after some time moved ahead.

Then they reached another pond, where there were no fishes. The saint stood at its shore
and started taking out the fishes he had swallowed. When the disciples saw this, they were

11
 Spoken English: Short Stories

amazed and also tried to vomit out the fishes, but after many attempts, they could only take
out some dead fishes.

At this, the saint said, "Fools, when you didn't know how to keep the fishes alive in the
stomach, then why did you imitate me?"

Its truly said that never imitate anyone.

A FOX AND A CRANE

Once a fox and a crane became friends. So, the fox invited the crane to dinner. The crane
accepted the invitation and reached the fox's place at sunset.

The fox had prepared soup for his mate. But as we all know that foxes are cunning by
nature, he served the soup in flat dishes. So, he himself lapped the crane's share with his
tongue enjoying its relish a lot. But the crane could not enjoy it at all with his long beak and
had to get back home hungry. The shrewd fox felt extremely amused.

After few days, the crane invited the fox to dine in with him. The fox reached his place well
in time. The crane gave him a warm welcome and served the soup in a jug with a long and
narrow neck.

So, the crane enjoyed the soup with great relish using his long beak. The fox's mouth
couldn't reach the soup through the narrow neck of the jug. He had to return home hungry.
Now he realized that he had been repaid for his behaviour with the crane.

12
 Spoken English: Short Stories

LAUGHTER IS THE BEST MEDICINE

Once there lived a grumpy king. He never used to laugh nor allow anyone in the kingdom to
laugh.

One day, a small boy couldn't control his laughter. Later, scared of the punishment, he
thought of a plan. He wrote a funny story and converted it into a drama.

Then he went to the palace and asked the king, "May I present my drama to you?" the king
let him do it. Then the boy started the play. In the end, he came to the funniest part of the
story which made the king laugh.

All people present in the court were amazed. The king then allowed everybody to laugh.
Everyone then lived happily thereafter.

THE STORY OF LORD GANESHA

One day, Goddess Parvathi, the wife of Lord Shiva, was getting ready for her bath and
needed someone to guard her chamber. Therefore she made a beautiful, young boy from
the sandalwood from her body. She gave him life by sprinkling the Holy Ganges water on
him and entrusted him with guarding the door.

While she was away, Lord Shiva returned and was surprised to find a little boy standing at
the entrance to his wife’s chamber. When he tried to enter, the boy blocked his path. “Who
are you and why are you blocking my path?” demanded Lord Shiva. “No one enters my
mother’s chamber”, declared the boy boldly. Taken aback, Lord Shiva replied, “Step away; I
have the right to enter my wife’s chamber.” But the young and courageous boy did not
move but stood his ground. Not knowing that this was his own son, Lord Shiva who was
quick to anger grew enraged. Not used to be disobeyed he cut off the boy’s head.

Goddess Parvathi on returning from her bath saw her son lying dead and was overcome
with grief. She was filled with both anger and sorrow. Seeing this Lord Shiva sent his soldiers
to fetch the head of the first beast that they saw. The men rushed and finally came upon an
elephant. They immediately took the head to Lord Shiva, who quickly attached it onto the
body of the slain boy and gave him life once again.

13
 Spoken English: Short Stories

To further appease his grief-stricken wife he promised that her son would be worshipped
first, before all other Gods.

Even today at the entrance of all temples one would find the idol of the elephant-headed
God, Lord Ganesha.

EAGLES IN A STORM

Did you know that an eagle knows when a storm is approaching long before it breaks? The
eagle will fly to some high spot and wait for the winds to come. When the storm hits, it sets
its wings so that the wind will pick it up and lift it above the storm. While the storm rages
below, the eagle is soaring above it.The eagle does not escape the storm. It simply uses the
storm to lift it higher. It rises on the winds that bring the storm.When the storms of life
come upon us – and all of us will experience them – we can rise above them by setting our
minds and our belief toward God. The storms do not have to overcome us. We can allow
God’s power to lift us above them.God enables us to ride the winds of the storm that bring
sickness, tragedy, failure and disappointment in our lives. We can soar above the storm.

THE ANT AND THE GRASSHOPPER

One summer's day, a merry Grasshopper was dancing, singing and playing his violin with all
his heart. He saw an Ant passing by, bearing along with great toil a wheatear to store for the
winter.
“Come and sing with me instead of working so hard”, said the Grasshopper “Let’s have fun
together.”
“I must store food for the winter”, said the Ant, “and I advise you to do the same.”
“Don’t worry about winter, it’s still very far away”, said the Grasshopper, laughing at him.
But the Ant wouldn’t listen and continued his toil.
When the winter came, the starving Grasshopper went to the Ant’s house and humbly
begged for something to eat.
“If you had listened to my advice in the summer you would not now be in need,” said the
Ant. “I’m afraid you will have to go supperless to bed,” and he closed the door.
It is best to prepare for the days of necessity.

14
 Spoken English: Short Stories

MOTHER’S DAY

A man stopped at a flower shop to order some flowers to be wired to his mother who lived
two hundred miles away.As he got out of his car he noticed a young girl sitting on the curb
sobbing.He asked her what was wrong and she replied, “I wanted to buy a red rose for my
mother.But I only have seventy-five cents, and a rose costs two dollars.”The man smiled and
said, “Come on in with me. I’ll buy you a rose.”He bought the little girl her rose and ordered
his own mother’s flowers.As they were leaving he offered the girl a ride home.She said,
“Yes, please! You can take me to my mother.”She directed him to a cemetery, where she
placed the rose on a freshly dug grave.The man returned to the flower shop, canceled the
wire order, picked up a bouquet and drove the two hundred miles to his mother’s house.

MOUNTAIN

"A son and his father were walking on the mountains.

Suddenly, his son falls, hurts himself and screams: "AAAhhhhhhhhhhh!!!"
To his surprise, he hears the voice repeating, somewhere in the mountain:
"AAAhhhhhhhhhhh!!!"
Curious, he yells: "Who are you?"
He receives the answer: "Who are you?"
And then he screams to the mountain: "I admire you!"
The voice answers: "I admire you!"
Angered at the response, he screams: "Coward!"
He receives the answer: "Coward!"
He looks to his father and asks: "What's going on?"
The father smiles and says: "My son, pay attention."
Again the man screams: "You are a champion!"
The voice answers: "You are a champion!"
The boy is surprised, but does not understand.
Then the father explains: "People call this ECHO, but really this is LIFE.
It gives you back everything you say or do.
Our life is simply a reflection of our actions.
If you want more love in the world, create more love in your heart.
If you want more competence in your team, improve your competence.
This relationship applies to everything, in all aspects of life;
Life will give you back everything you have given to it."

YOUR LIFE IS NOT A COINCIDENCE. IT'S A REFLECTION OF YOU!"

15
 Spoken English: Short Stories

THE MISER

A miser sold all that he had and bought a lump of gold, which he buried in a hole in the
ground by the side of an old wall and went to look at daily. One of his workmen observed his
frequent visits to the spot and decided to watch his movements. He soon discovered the
secret of the hidden treasure, and digging down, came to the lump of gold, and stole it. The
Miser, on his next visit, found the hole empty and began to tear his hair and to make loud
lamentations. A neighbor, seeing him overcome with grief and learning the cause, said,
"Pray do not grieve so; but go and take a stone, and place it in the hole, and fancy that the
gold is still lying there. It will do you quite the same service; for when the gold was there,
you had it not, as you did not make the slightest use of it."

TWO FROGS

A group of frogs were traveling through the woods, and two of them fell into a deep pit.
When the other frogs saw how deep the pit was, they told the two frogs that they were as
good as dead. The two frogs ignored the comments and tried to jump up out of the pit with
all their might. The other frogs kept telling them to stop, that they were as good as dead.
Finally, one of the frogs took heed to what the other frogs were saying and gave up. He fell
down and died.The other frog continued to jump as hard as he could. Once again, the crowd
of frogs yelled at him to stop the pain and just die. He jumped even harder and finally made
it out. When he got out, the other frogs said, “Did you not hear us?” The frog explained to
them that he was deaf. He thought they were encouraging him the entire time.

This story teaches two lessons:

1. There is power of life and death in the tongue. An encouraging word to someone who is
down can lift them up and help them make it through the day.

2. A destructive word to someone who is down can be what it takes to kill them.

Be careful of what you say. Speak life to those who cross your path. The power of words… it
is sometimes hard to understand that an encouraging word can go such a long way. Anyone
can speak words that tend to rob another of the spirit to continue in difficult times. Special
is the individual who will take the time to encourage another.

16
 Spoken English: Short Stories

SAND AND STONE

A story tells that two friends were walking through the desert. During some point of the
journey they had an argument, and one friend slapped the other one in the face. The one
who got slapped was hurt, but without saying anything, wrote in the sand: “TODAY MY BEST
FRIEND SLAPPED ME IN THE FACE.”They kept on walking until they found an oasis, where
they decided to take a bath. The one, who had been slapped, got stuck in the mire and
started drowning, but the friend saved him. After the friend recovered from the near
drowning, he wrote on a stone: “TODAY MY BEST FRIEND SAVED MY LIFE.”The friend who
had slapped and saved his best friend asked him, “After I hurt you, you wrote in the sand
and now, you write on a stone, why?”

The other friend replied: “When someone hurts us, we should write it down in sand where
winds of forgiveness can erase it away. But, when someone does something good for us, we
must engrave it in stone where no wind can ever erase it.”

LEARN TO WRITE YOUR HURTS IN THE SAND, AND TO CARVE YOUR BENEFITS IN STONE

17
 Spoken English: Short Stories

LEVEL 2: STORIES FOR SECONDARY SCHOOL CHILDREN

A BOX FULL OF KISSES

The story goes that some time ago, a man punished his 3-year-old daughter for wasting a
roll of gold wrapping paper. Money was tight and he became infuriated when the child tried
to decorate a box to put under the Christmas tree. Nevertheless, the little girl brought the
gift to her father the next morning and said, “This is for you, Daddy.”The man was
embarrassed by his earlier overreaction, but his anger flared again when he found out the
box was empty. He yelled at her, stating, “Don’t you know, when you give someone a
present, there is supposed to be something inside? The little girl looked up at him with tears
in her eyes and cried, “Oh, Daddy, it’s not empty at all. I blew kisses into the box. They’re all
for you, Daddy.”The father was crushed. He put his arms around his little girl, and he begged
for her forgiveness.Only a short time later, an accident took the life of the child. It is also
told that her father kept that gold box by his bed for many years and, whenever he was
discouraged, he would take out an imaginary kiss and remember the love of the child who
had put it there.In a very real sense, each one of us, as humans beings have been given a
gold container filled with unconditional love and kisses… from our children, family members,
friends, and God. There is simply no other possession, anyone could hold, more precious
than this.

THE PRAYING HANDS

Back in the fifteenth century, in a tiny village near Nuremberg, lived a family with eighteen
children. Eighteen! In order merely to keep food on the table for this mob, the father and
head of the household, a goldsmith by profession, worked almost eighteen hours a day at
his trade and any other paying chore he could find in the neighborhood. Despite their
seemingly hopeless condition, two of Albrecht Durer the Elder’s children had a dream. They
both wanted to pursue their talent for art, but they knew full well that their father would
never be financially able to send either of them to Nuremberg to study at the
Academy.After many long discussions at night in their crowded bed, the two boys finally
worked out a pact. They would toss a coin. The loser would go down into the nearby mines
and, with his earnings, support his brother while he attended the academy. Then, when that
brother who won the toss completed his studies, in four years, he would support the other

18
 Spoken English: Short Stories

brother at the academy, either with sales of his artwork or, if necessary, also by laboring in
the mines.They tossed a coin on a Sunday morning after church. Albrecht Durer won the
toss and went off to Nuremberg. Albert went down into the dangerous mines and, for the
next four years, financed his brother, whose work at the academy was almost an immediate
sensation. Albrecht’s etchings, his woodcuts, and his oils were far better than those of most
of his professors, and by the time he graduated, he was beginning to earn considerable fees
for his commissioned works.When the young artist returned to his village, the Durer family
held a festive dinner on their lawn to celebrate Albrecht’s triumphant homecoming. After a
long and memorable meal, punctuated with music and laughter, Albrecht rose from his
honored position at the head of the table to drink a toast to his beloved brother for the
years of sacrifice that had enabled Albrecht to fulfill his ambition. His closing words were,
“And now, Albert, blessed brother of mine, now it is your turn. Now you can go to
Nuremberg to pursue your dream, and I will take care of you.”All heads turned in eager
expectation to the far end of the table where Albert sat, tears streaming down his pale face,
shaking his lowered head from side to side while he sobbed and repeated, over and over,
“No …no …no …no.”

Finally, Albert rose and wiped the tears from his cheeks. He glanced down the long table at
the faces he loved, and then, holding his hands close to his right cheek, he said softly, “No,
brother. I cannot go to Nuremberg. It is too late for me. Look … looks what four years in the
mines have done to my hands! The bones in every finger have been smashed at least once,
and lately I have been suffering from arthritis so badly in my right hand that I cannot even
hold a glass to return your toast, much less make delicate lines on parchment or canvas with
a pen or a brush. No, brother … for me it is too late.”

More than 450 years have passed. By now, Albrecht Durer’s hundreds of masterful portraits,
pen and silver-point sketches, watercolors, charcoals, woodcuts, and copper engravings
hang in every great museum in the world, but the odds are great that you, like most people,
are familiar with only one of Albrecht Durer’s works. More than merely being familiar with
it, you very well may have a reproduction hanging in your home or office.

One day, to pay homage to Albert for all that he had sacrificed, Albrecht Durer painstakingly
drew his brother’s abused hands with palms together and thin fingers stretched skyward. He
called his powerful drawing simply “Hands,” but the entire world almost immediately
opened their hearts to his great masterpiece and renamed his tribute of love “The Praying
Hands.”

19
 Spoken English: Short Stories

The next time you see a copy of that touching creation, take a second look. Let it be your
reminder, if you still need one, that no one – no one – - ever makes it alone!

Remember, it is not the burdens of life that weigh us down; it is how we handle them.

THE FOUR WIVES

There was a rich merchant who had 4 wives. He loved the 4th wife the most and adorned
her with rich robes and treated her to delicacies. He took great care of her and gave her
nothing but the best.

He also loved the 3rd wife very much. He’s very proud of her and always wanted to show off
her to his friends. However, the merchant is always in great fear that she might run away
with some other men.

He too, loved his 2nd wife. She is a very considerate person, always patient and in fact is the
merchant’s confidante. Whenever the merchant faced some problems, he always turned to
his 2nd wife and she would always help him out and tide him through difficult times.

Now, the merchant’s 1st wife is a very loyal partner and has made great contributions in
maintaining his wealth and business as well as taking care of the household. However, the
merchant did not love the first wife and although she loved him deeply, he hardly took
notice of her.

One day, the merchant fell ill. Before long, he knew that he was going to die soon. He
thought of his luxurious life and told himself, “Now I have 4 wives with me. But when I die,
I’ll be alone. How lonely I’ll be!”

Thus, he asked the 4th wife, “I loved you most, endowed you with the finest clothing and
showered great care over you. Now that I’m dying, will you follow me and keep me
company?” “No way!” replied the 4th wife and she walked away without another word.

The answer cut like a sharp knife right into the merchant’s heart. The sad merchant then
asked the 3rd wife, “I have loved you so much for all my life. Now that I’m dying, will you
follow me and keep me company?” “No!” replied the 3rd wife. “Life is so good over here!
I’m going to remarry when you die!” The merchant’s heart sank and turned cold.

20