The topiwalla was exhausted. After a long and hard day walking through the long, winding streets of the village in the heat trying to sell his many beautiful hats to people wherever he went.  He was exhausted and very thirsty.

Fortunately he spotted a group of large mature trees offering some welcome shade and decided to take a rest under its cooling branches.

He took off the large basket of hats from his head and placed it under the tree next to him. He took a seat next to it with his back against the trunk of the largest tree and took out some water he kept in his basket in a small matlo (clay pot) and took a sip in great appreciation and joy.

Slowly his eyelids closed and he peacefully drifted off in to a blissful sleep.

Some hours later he woke refreshed and feeling great and to the loud sound of cheeky chatter.  His eyes traced the chatter and found the route back to a group of excited monkeys in the trees.

The monkeys were always inquisitive and cheeky so it was always wise to be weary of their antics. Because of this the topiwalla decided to be on his way off to sell his lovely hats through the village.

He reached out to pick up his basket of hats but was shocked to see the basket was completely empty. He searched with his eyes all over to find his hats but could not see them anywhere… until he looked up into the trees. Prancing around the branches above him were the monkeys dancing and playing with the topiwallas hats which made them look surprisingly smart. But he had to get them back!

In surprise and amazement the topiwalla shouted out to the cheeky monkeys “ Hey bring back my hats you brats” whilst waving his hands.

In reaction the monkeys turned to him and waved back continuing their cheeky and very loud chatter.

This upset the topiwalla even more and he shook his fist at them screaming “I will get you silly monkeys”

Again the monkeys all mirrored him by shaking their fists back at him.

In a rage the topiwalla picked up a small pebble and threw it at the biggest and cheekiest monkey. “I will ring your naughty neck silly monkey, give me back my hats”

Instantly the monkeys all retaliated by throwing down fruits from the trees, just as the topiwalla had thrown the small pebble.

In that moment the topiwalla had an amazing realization. The monkeys had copied everything he had done exactly, which gave him a great idea.

The topiwalla grabbed his own hat of the top off his head, raised his hand and shook it at all the monkeys and in one swift move he through it to the ground.

Following him the monkeys copied exactly what he did – grabbed their hats, raised their arms, shook the hats into the air and then threw all of the hats to the ground.

Like a flash the topiwalla ran around below the tree and picked up all the hats, dusted them off, put them all in his basket and ran off back to the village.

“Hahaha silly monkey see, monkey do – I have all my hats now!” the topiwalla said as he skipped promptly back to the village.

A toad and a grasshopper were the best of friends. Though they were together all the time, they never ate at each other’s places. One day, the toad invited the grasshopper over to his place. “I would like you to come to my place for dinner tomorrow night. My wife and I will cook a special meal for you,” the toad said.

So, the following day, the grasshopper arrived at the toad’s place in the evening. It was dinner time and before they sat for dinner, the toad requested the grasshopper to wash his forelegs as he did. The grasshopper too rubbed his forelegs together to wash them but it made a very loud noise.

“Your legs are making too much noise. I cannot eat in such noise,” the toad said. The grasshopper tried his best to eat without making any noise, but he failed. Every time he took a bite, it made some noise. Throughout the dinner, the toad asked the grasshopper several times to stop chirping. The grasshopper eventually got offended. He had an idea and invited the toad for dinner very next day.

Next day, the toad arrived for dinner at the grasshopper’s place on time. The grasshopper washed his forelegs and asked the toad to do the same. The toad washed his forelegs and hopped towards the food.

“Dear friend, please wash your forelegs again. They became dirty again as you hopped towards the food.”

The toad was a little offended but he followed the order of his friend. This time he came back after washing his forelegs and was about to take some food from the platter when the grasshopper stopped him rudely.

“Please do not touch the food with your dirty hands. You must clean your forelegs first,” the grasshopper said.

The frog lost his temper. He said, “Why are you behaving like this? If you don’t want me to eat with you, you might as well tell me that. It’s understood that I have to reach the food table by hopping with my forearms. They will get a little dirty. I cannot help it. You are making me feel terrible.”

The grasshopper replied, “I felt the same way yesterday. You asked me to not make any noise with my forelegs when you know that it will make some noise if I rub my forelegs together. Even I cannot help it.”

Since then, their friendship was destroyed and they never became friends again.

Moral of the story : We must accept both the good and the bad things about people we are friends with.

Once upon a time, there lived a man called Bholu, in a small village. Bholu was illiterate and also belonged to a low caste. However, he was blessed with a power to perform a miracle. Whenever he would stand below a mango tree and utter a charm, the tree would get filled with sweet and ripe mangoes. When the mangoes fell on the ground, Bholu would pick them up and eat some of them and the rest he would distribute to the poor people in the village.

One day, a young boy called Keshav met Bholu and came to know about his charm. Although Keshav belonged to a higher caste, he fell on Bholu’s feet and asked him to teach him the charm. Initially Bholu was reluctant, but later he agreed to teach Keshav the charm on the condition that he would never use the charm to satisfy his greed. He also told Keshav that the charm would only work as long as he does not tell a lie.

Keshav used the charm every day to get large quantities of fresh and juicy mangoes. Soon he became extremely rich by selling those mangoes.

The news of this charm spread very fast and reached the ears of the king. The king called Keshav to his palace and asked him, “From where did you learn the charm?”

The young boy was embarrassed to confess to the king that he has learnt the charm from a lower caste man. So he replied, “I have gained my knowledge by studying very hard in a famous university, under extremely educated scholars.”

The king ordered Keshav to perform the miracle. “Let me see the power of your charm,” said the king.

Keshav was taken to the beautiful royal orchard by the king and his ministers. There was a big mango tree in the orchard. Keshav recited the charm below the mango tree, but to his dismay, not a single mango grew on the tree. Keshav remembered what Bholu had told him and realized that his power was taken away as he had told a lie. Sad and humiliated, Keshav told the truth to the king.

The king became extremely angry and told him, “Go and apologise to your master immediately, for you have been ungrateful to him because of your pride, and perhaps you might get back your power.”
Keshav apologised to Bholu, but he never got back his power as he had misused it by becoming greedy and telling a lie.

Two little mice were the best of friends. They were also first cousins. One of them lived in a town, whereas the other mouse lived in the country. Naturally, because of their place of residence their gestures and mannerisms were very different from each other. Nevertheless, they were very fond of each other.

The country mouse was slow and formal in her mannerisms and dressed soberly, while the town mouse walked hurriedly and dressed in scruffy clothes. However, their friendship was unaffected by any such difference. The town mouse was a frequent visitor to the country mouse’s house. She lived in a tiny house next to a school kitchen.

The country mouse was always more than happy to accommodate her favorite cousin. And the town mouse would often say, “I love the way the country air feels.”

One day, the town mouse visited the country mouse. The country mouse was overjoyed to see her cousin and welcomed her happily. She offered her all of the leftover food that she had from the school kitchen which included cheese, bread, bacon and beans. The town mouse ate the food, and felt that it was a little too rough and dry.

“Dear cousin, I do not mean to be rude, but this food is so dry and of such poor quality! How on earth do you manage to eat such tasteless food every single day? I request you to come to the town once and I will show you what great food we have.” The country mouse was a little confused initially, but finally agreed to the proposal of the town mouse after a bit of persuasion.

Both the cousins set out for the town happily. After a long and tiring journey, both the cousins finally reached the house of the town mouse. The country mouse was surprised to see the house. It was a palatial house with beautiful interiors, much unlike the school rooms that the country mouse has always seen. Exhausted and hungry, the town mouse asked the country mouse, “Cousin, would you like to have some refreshments?” The country mouse nodded her head and both of them headed towards the dining room.

On reaching the dinning place, the town mouse was simply awestruck. Never in her life had she seen such an amazing variety of food. There were leftover cakes, juices, meat balls, cheese, cookies and ice cream all over the table.

Both the cousins started gorging on the luxurious spread. Suddenly, their feast was interrupted by a loud sound of barking and growling.

“What’s that scary noise?” asked the country mouse.

“Oh it’s just the dogs,” said the town mouse, looking quite accustomed to the noise.

“But I do not feel good hearing such noise at dinner,” the country mouse said.

Right then, the door of the dining room opened with a bang and two ferocious dogs came running towards the table and leaped on it in no time.

The terrified mice ran for their lives and never turned back. Later that night, the country mouse told the town mouse, “Cousin, I shall take your leave now.”

“But why so early?” asked the town mouse.

The country mouse replied, “I would rather live peacefully and eat dry food than live in luxury with the fear of losing my life.”

The country mouse left and never thought of returning to the town again.

Once upon a time lived a Chucklo (Male Black bird) and a Chuckli (Female Black Bird). They had been happily married for a very long time and their children had flown the nest many years ago.

It was a beautiful sunny morning as Chucklo and chuckli ate thier breakfast across the table from each other. “What shall we have for dinner this evening? ” said chucklo to chuckli.

“I would love some delicious kicheri but there is no rice or dal” chuckli replied “Why don’t you go and get the dal and rice and i will cook up a sumptuous dinner for us this evening”. “That sounds like a great idea” said chucklo as he finished his breakfast and dashed to fetch the rice and dal.

On his return laded with the rice and dal he handed it to chuckli “here you go. I cant wait to have some delicious kicheri after work this evening”

Chuckli took the rice and dal but just then remembered “there is no ghee. We need lots of ghee for the kicheri” so chucklo went back out to get the ghee and rushed back to give it to Chuckli . “Make sure you have it when I get back from work, i cant wait!” said Chucklo and flew off to work.

Chuckli began to make the kicheri and it smelled amazing. The smell of fresh kicheri cooking made Chuckli very hungry and decided to taste the kicheri . It was nice but needed a bit more ghee. After adding the ghee she tried some more . It was better but needed some more ghee so she added a little more. She tried it again and yet it needed more ghee.  This happened for some time until finally there was no more kicheri left. 

Tired and with a bursting stomach chuckli needed to rest so she filled the pot with water and rested her eyes after putting a cloth over them to stop the light getting in.

Soon after Chucklo came home, looking forward to a sumptuous Kicheri dinner.

“Come quick, let’s have our lovely dinner” Chucklo said to Chuckli.

“No I am tired and feeling unwell you go ahead and eat” replied Chuckli.

“No you spent all day making such a lovely dinner let us eat together” said Chucklo in anticipation of a hearty dinner.

But Chuckli insisted she was too tired. “You go ahead and I will come later”

Chucklo was tired and starving so went excitedly to the pot of kicheri to dig in.

He opened the pot and was shocked that there was only water inside.

“Where is all the kicheri?” He asked Chuckli 

“It’s in the pot” she said.

“There is only water in the pot no kicheri!” replied Chucklo in an upset voice.

Chuckli quickly blurted out “Oh no! I know what happened the neighbours dog saw me cooking all day I bet he came and ate it all!”

Chucklo was very upset after looking forward to some fresh hot kicheri all day he flew over to the Neighbor’s house to talk to the dog.

“Why did you eat all of our kicheri?” the demanded from the neighbours dog

“What? That wasnt me” said the dog.

“I have been watching your nest all day from here and saw Chuckli cook the lovely kicheri . But I also saw her eat all the kicheri too. You should be asking Chuckli about your kicheri” the dog said in a clear and certain manner.

Shocked and embarrassed Chucklo flew Back to his nest and asked Chuckli again noting the dog had been watching her all day and saw her eat the entire pot on kicheri all by herself.

Still feeling tired and sick for eating too much and now extremely embarrassed, Chuckli finally confessed, apologies and promised not to lie ever again. “Being selfish and eating all the food and lying about it has left me feeling very unwell and I shall never do it again” she promised.

In Orissa, in the eastern region of India resides a small tribal community called the Saoras. They believe that there was a time long ago when human beings had long tails which they swished along, sweeping the floor.

But soon it led to a lot of trouble. The human population kept on increasing and managing the tails became really tough. In the market place, at marriage parties and even inside their own homes, people were constantly stepping on one another’s tails. They starting tripping on each other and hurt themselves badly. Life became really difficult and painful.

One day Kittung god visited a very tiny market. While he was buying something, someone stepped on his tail. He tumbled and fell on the ground. His face hit against a stone and a couple of his teeth broke and fell out. The people who were watching this incident, burst out in laughter.

Kittung felt very angry and humiliated. He pulled off his tail and threw it way. All the other tails saw this and,out of fear, fell off on their own; they ran away from there and never returned.

Gradually, the chopped off tail of Kittung god, turned into a palm tree and the tails of the rest of the humans turned into blades of grass. This grass was then used to make brooms.

Just the way human tails once swept the ground, now it was the brooms that were used to sweep the ground.

King Bali was an asura (demon) king. He had conquered heaven. He was a kind ruler but also very ambitious.To appease the gods he performed a yagna (fire sacrifice). His yagna was so successful that even the gods were scared to appear before him and grant him a boon in the fear that he might ask something which is beyond their capacity. Some gods asked Vishnu to check King Bali’s power.

At Indra’s request,Vishnu took birth as a Brahmin boy and went to the place where Bali was performing the sacrifice.This was the Vamana (dwarf) Avatar of Lord Vishnu.

Lord Vishnu reached King Bali’s court dressed as a priest. Despite being warned by his guru Shukra that this was Vishnu in disguise, Bali told him to ask for anything he wanted.

The priest said, “You are the ruler of the three worlds: the Earth,the world above the skies and the underworld. Would you give me the space that I could cover with three steps?” King Bali laughed as the priest’s request seemed strange to him and all the courtiers, but King Bali granted it thinking that a dwarf could not cover much ground in three strides.

In order to fulfill the bequest, Bali would have to pour water from a container with a spout. Shukra make one last attempt by blocking the spout of the container disguised as an insect but the priest pushed the insect away with a blade of grass, blinding it in one eye.

Once the request was granted to him, the priest,who was none but Vishnu in disguise, transformed himself into Vishwaroopa (the universal form) and submerged the entire world (Mrityu-loka) with one step and heaven(Swarga-loka) with the second step. But for the third step,there was no respectable place to put his foot down and so he asked Bali for some place to put down his foot so that the boon could be fulfilled. King Bali offered his head for the purpose.Thereupon Vishnu resumed his Vamana form and granted salvation to Bali by placing his tiny foot on Bali’s head.

After this, Vishnu restored the rule of the gods on the heaven and earth and sent Bali to rule the nether-world.

Once, there was a little girl named Satya. She belonged to a poor but honest family living in a small hut in the forest. One day, while Satya was out for a walk with her father, the goddess Indu appeared before them and spoke to Satya’s father, “I would like to bring up Satya in heaven. Will you give your daughter to me?” Satya’s father was very pleased at the thought of Satya being brought up in heaven. He immediately allowed the goddess take Satya with her.

Godess Indu took Satya to her palace in heaven. She took good care of Satya, taught her many things and gave her everything she desired but also maintained discipline.

Time passed by slowly and joyfully and after fourteen years one day, Goddess Indu had to decend to earth as a matter of urgency. Before leaving, she gave Satya fourteen keys and said, “These are keys to fourteen rooms. You may go to any room except room number one. You must not open room number one at any cost.” Satya agreed.

When the goddess was gone, Satya began exploring the rooms. The goddess’s servants were keeping an eye on Satya. She went to all rooms except number one. Time passed and she maintained her discipline and did not enter room one. As she sat her mind wondered.. “What could be in room one that was so important she was not allowed to go into it?” She eventually gave in, her curiosity had consumed her. The servants tried to stop her but she did not listen to them and went towards the door of room number one. The servants ran away in fear. When Satya opened the door of room number one, she was terrified to see the god of fire inside. She closed the door at once but one of her fingers had turned golden.

When Goddess Indu came back, she saw Satya’s golden finger and asked, “Did you open the door to room number one?” Satya replied, “No.” adamantly in shame. The goddess asked more sternly, “Did you open the door to room number one without my permission?” But Satya replied defiantly, “No, I did not.”

Goddess Indu became very angry. She said, “You have lied to me twice. You may no longer reside in Heaven. In expelling Satya from heaven, Godess Indu further made Satya a mute so she would no longer be able to speak further lies. Satya returned to earth in the middle of a dense forest. Satya was scared and started crying. She kept trying to find her way out of the forest but did not succeed. She stayed there in the forest, eating the fruits and reluctantly settled in the dense forest.

Years passed and Satya grew into a very beautiful woman. One day, the king of the neighbouring kingdom, King Dharma, came to the forest for hunting. He heard the crying of a woman. His men followed the sound and found Satya. The king liked her a lot. He found out that she was dumb but that did not matter to him and he married her.

After a year, a baby boy was born to Satya. That night, Goddess Indu appeared in front of Satya and said, “I’m giving you a chance to tell me the truth. If you don’t, I will take your son away with me.” But Satya still refused to admit that she had opened the door. So, the goddess took Satya’s baby away.

The next morning, when the king came into the room, he found the baby missing. He thought that his queen must be a devil in disguise and ordered for her to be hanged. Queen Satya started sobbing miserably. Then, Goddess Indu appeared again in front of Satya and asked, “Well, this is your last chance. Are you willing to tell me the truth now?” Satya replied, “Forgive me, Goddess. I have been lying to you. I am very sorry. I accept now that I opened room number one in your absence.”

The goddess was pleased that at last Satya had told the truth. She accepted Satya’s apology. She gave her son back to her and also returned her the ability to speak.

In the distant past, many moons ago the elephant’s nose was not as long as it is now. It was merely the size of a boot, which the elephant could twist from side to side. But one special elephant’s baby changed things forever.

The baby elephant was extremely inquisitive and curious and always had a question for everyone.

He asked the giraffe, “Why do you have spots all over your body?”

He asked the tiger ” Why are there so many stripes n your fur?”

And to the ostrich he said, “Why do your tail feathers grow like that?”

He also asked the hippo why its eyes were so red and to the baboon he asked why melons tasted the way they did.

One day, he was getting very curious and asked what the crocodile eats for dinner.

“Hushhhh,be quiet,” said all the animals with fear .But the baby elephant was not going to keep quiet. He kept asking the very same question to everyone he met.

One day, he came across the Kolokolo bird and she told him where he could find an answer.

“You will find your answer in the green, grey and greasy River,” she said.

The baby elephant started his journey, with his back laden with a lot of sugarcane, melons, mango’s and bananas.

After a very long and tiring journey, he finally reached the river.

He was walking along the edge of the river, when he suddenly stepped on something that looked like a log of wood. But that something started moving its tail and the baby elephant stepped down hurriedly. Suddenly it blinked and opened its mouth.

The elephant looked at the creature and asked him innocently, “Have you ever seen a crocodile here?I have been searching for one for a very long time.”

“Then I must say you are lucky, I am the one you were looking for,” said the crocodile.

The baby elephant jumped with excitement! “Then can you tell me what do you have for dinner?” asked the elephant excitedly.

The crocodile splashed its tail in the mud filled water and said, “I will definitely tell you, but only if you come closer.” The baby elephant was excited and brought his ears closer to the crocodile.

At once the crocodile leaped and caught the nose of the elephant with a strong grip.

The baby elephant was scared. He tried pulling his nose back, but the crocodile wouldn’t let go.They both started pulling from both sides, and the elephant’s nose kept stretching and stretching.

Finally the crocodile gave up and swiftly went into the water.

The baby elephant fell back with a jerk. He was tired and sat down on the bank. Suddenly, he noticed that his nose was longer than before. He realised that it had kept growing longer as the crocodile was pulling it.

The elephant was in pain. He waited for his nose to shrink by wrapping it up in banana leaves.

However, it never shrank. Since that day, the elephant’s nose remained very, very long!