Christmas surprise part 2

Early the next morning I saw Emily pulling Fritz toward the mailbox.

“I wrote a letter to Santa Claus,” she said, waving a large envelope, “and I asked him to come and bring me a present!”

“Good luck!” I said. “But don’t get your hopes up too high. I don’t want you to be disappointed if he doesn’t come.”

“He will – you’ll see!” Emily cried.

Poor Emily, I thought. Christmas Day was tomorrow. She was setting herself up for a big disappointment. I was sure.

Suddenly I had an idea. If Emily wanted to see Santa, she would, I decided.

I quickly went to town and bought a few things for a surprise. I was very pleased with my idea and could hardly wait to see Emily’s eyes on Christmas morning!

The next day, I got up very early to get ready. I put on the red Santa Claus suit that I had bought.

I looked at myself in the mirror. I was delighted! Even my own mother wouldn’t have recognized me.

I put on my boots and tried out a few Ho, Ho, Hos. Then off I went, carrying a present for Emily.

To be continued.............

Christmas suprise part 1

It was two days before Christmas. Harry, Cornelius, Monty and I were busy building a snowman when Fritz appeared with his little niece Emily and introduced her.

“Emily is from the South and has never seen snow before,” Fritz told us. “She doesn’t know much about our winters.”

It turned out that Emily didn’t know much about Christmas also. ”Who is Santa Claus, Waldo?” she asked me, shivering in the cold air.

“Santa Claus,” I explained, “brings presents and toys to human children at Christmas time.”

“Does he bring presents to animal children also?” Emily asked.

“Well,” I said, “he hasn’t been around this part of the forest for many years. I guess he is too busy visiting all the human children to have much time left for animals.”

“Do you think he will come if I write to him?” Emily asked.

“I don’t think so,” said Monty. “I’ve never seen him, myself.”

“Neither have I,” Harry added, shaking his head.

“You see. Santa Claus is only for human children,” Fritz said to Emily. “So forget about the whole idea. Let’s go home now before you catch a cold.”

To be continued...........

A hole in the fence

In a small village, a little boy lived with his father and mother. He was the only son.The parents of the little boy were very depressed due to his bad temper. The boy used to get angry very soon and taunt others with his words. His bad temper made him use words that hurt others. He scolded kids, neighbours and even his friends due to anger. His friends and neighbours avoided him, and his parents were really worried about him.

His mother and father advised him many times to control his anger and develop kindness. Unfortunately, all their attempts failed. Finally, the boy’s father came up with an idea.

One day, his father gave him a huge bag of nails. He asked his son to hammer one nail to the fence every time he became angry and lost his temper. The little boy found it amusing and accepted the task.

Every time he lost his temper, he ran to the fence and hammered a nail. His anger drove him to hammer nails on the fence 30 times on the first day! After the next few days, the number of nails hammered on the fence was reduced to half. The little boy found it very difficult to hammer the nails and decided to control his temper.

Gradually, the number of nails hammered to the fence was reduced and the day arrived when no nail was hammered! The boy did not lose his temper at all that day. For the next several days, he did not lose his temper, and so did not hammer any nail.

Now, his father told him to remove the nails each time the boy controlled his anger. Several days passed and the boy was able to pull out most of the nails from the fence. However, there remained a few nails that he could not pull out.

The boy told his father about it. The father appreciated him and asked him pointing to a hole, “What do you see there?”

The boy replied, “a hole in the fence!”

He told the boy, “The nails were your bad temper and they were hammered on people. You can remove the nails but the holes in the fence will remain. The fence will never look the same. It has scars all over. Some nails cannot even be pulled out. You can stab a man with a knife, and say sorry later, but the wound will remain there forever. Your bad temper and angry words were like that! Words are more painful than physical abuse! Use words for good purposes. Use them to grow relationships. Use them to show the love and kindness in your heart!”

THE END

Moral – Unkind words cause lasting damage: Let our words be kind and sweet.

The Hare and the Tortoise

There once was a speedy Hare who bragged about how fast he could run. Tired of hearing him boast, the Tortoise challenged him to a race. All the animals in the forest gathered to watch.

The Hare ran down the road for a while and then paused to rest. He looked back at the tortoise and cried out, "How do you expect to win this race when you are walking along at your slow, slow pace?"

The Hare stretched himself out alongside the road and fell asleep, thinking, "There is plenty of time to relax."

The Tortoise walked and walked, never ever stopping until he came to the finish line.

The animals who were watching cheered so loudly for Tortoise that they woke up the Hare. The Hare stretched, yawned and began to run again, but it was too late. Tortoise had already crossed the finish line.

THE END

Moral: Slow and steady wins the race.

This is the story that we have all grown up with. But recently, two additions have been proposed to the story.

Addition 1

After being defeated by the tortoise, the hare did some soul-searching. He knew that though he had tried hard in the beginning, he was not consistent, and had grown overconfident. He was determined to undo his mistakes, and invited tortoise for another race. This time, the rabbit was careful to run the whole distance, and of course, emerged the winner.

Moral: Fast and consistent may be better than slow and steady.

Addition 2

Well, after emerging the loser in the second race, the tortoise thought long and hard. He knew that in any traditional terrain, the hare would win, if he was fast and consistent. Therefore, he thought of a non-traditional terrain for the race. Then he invited the rabbit for another race. This time the rabbit laughed out loud, thinking that the tortoise was out of his head. But the tortoise insisted that there should be another race and the terrain would be decided by the tortoise. The rabbit agreed to the idea.

The race began. The rabbit was leading in front, with the tortoise far back trundling along. Around half way through the race, they came across a river. The rabbit halted on the bank of the river, wondering how to cross the river. Meanwhile, the tortoise approached the river slowly, got in to the water, swam across, climbed up on the other bank, ran the last few kilometers, and won the race.

Moral: when your capabilities are below par, choose a playing ground that gives you a natural advantage.

The Cunning Fox and the Clever Stork

Once upon a time, there lived a very cunning and mischievous fox. He used to speak to other animals sweetly and gain their trust, before playing tricks on them.

One day the fox met a stork. He befriended the stork and acted like a very good friend. Soon, he invited the stork to have a feast with him. The stork happily accepted the invitation.

The day of the feast came, and the stork went to the fox’s house. To her surprise and disappointment, the fox said that he could not make a big feast as promised, and just offered some soup. When he brought the soup out of the kitchen, the stork saw that it was in a shallow bowl!

The poor stork could not have any soup with its long bill, but the fox easily licked the soup from the plate. As the stork just touched the soup with the tip of its bill, the fox asked her, “How is the soup? Don’t you like it?”

The hungry stork replied, “Oh it is good, but my stomach is upset, and I can’t take any more soup!”

“I’m sorry for troubling you,” said the fox.

The stork replied, “Oh dear, please don’t say sorry. I have some health problem and cannot enjoy what you offer.”

She left the place after thanking the fox, and inviting him to her house for dinner.The day arrived and the fox reached the stork’s place. After exchanging pleasantries, the stork served soup for both of them, in a narrow jar with a long neck. She was able to have the soup very easily with her long bill, but the fox obviously could not.

After finishing hers, the stork asked the fox if he was enjoying the soup. The fox remembered the feast he himself had given the stork, and felt very ashamed. He stammered, “I…I’d better leave now. I have a tummy ache.”

Humiliated, he left the place running.

THE END

Moral: One bad turn begets another.

The Goose with the golden eggs

Once upon a time, a man and his wife had the good fortune to have a goose which laid a golden egg every day. Lucky though they were, they soon began to think they were not getting rich fast enough.

They imagined that if the bird is able to lay golden eggs, its insides must be made of gold. And they thought that if they could get all that precious metal at once, they would get mighty rich very soon. So the man and his wife decided to kill the bird.However, upon cutting the goose open, they were shocked to find that its innards were like that of any other goose!

THE END

MORAL: THINK BEFORE YOU ACT

Kill not the goose that lays golden eggs is a popular proverb in English that is rooted in this story.

When we use this proverb, we mean that anyone who feels entitled to, and tries to get more than he is already receiving, is most likely to get nothing at all in the future.

Read the following example:

Young Johnny had a very kind and generous uncle. Every time Johnny visited him with his parents, he was given five cents. One day, Johnny thought of buying a bike. The next time he met his uncle, he asked him for 50 dollars. “50 dollars?” exclaimed his uncle. “That is a lot of money!”

“Well, you can afford it, and I want to buy a bike,” said Johnny. “You don’t have any children, so you should have a lot of money.”

Johnny’s uncle was very angry. He did not like Johnny’s attitude.

Johnny did not get 50 dollars. He did not get his five cents also any more.

He had killed the goose that laid golden eggs. If he had been wiser, he would have at least got his five cents.

Sometimes, we are not content with what we have, and wish for more. Such discontentment always results in unhappiness, and regret.

The Lion and Mouse

Once when a lion, the king of the jungle, was asleep, a little mouse began running up and down on him. This soon awakened the lion, who placed his huge paw on the mouse, and opened his big jaws to swallow him.

"Pardon, O King!" cried the little mouse. "Forgive me this time. I shall never repeat it and I shall never forget your kindness. And who knows, I may be able to do you a good turn one of these days!”

The lion was so tickled by the idea of the mouse being able to help him that he lifted his paw and let him go.

Sometime later, a few hunters captured the lion, and tied him to a tree. After that they went in search of a wagon, to take him to the zoo.Just then the little mouse happened to pass by. On seeing the lion’s plight, he ran up to him and gnawed away the ropes that bound him, the king of the jungle.

"Was I not right?" said the little mouse, very happy to help the lion.

THE END

MORAL: Small acts of kindness will be rewarded greatly.