The proud red rose

One beautiful spring day a red rose blossomed in a forest. As the rose looked around, a pine tree nearby said, “What a beautiful flower! I wish I was that lovely.” Another tree said, “Dear pine, do not be sad. We cannot have everything.”

The rose turned and remarked, “It seems that I am the most beautiful flower in this forest.”

A sunflower raised its yellow head and asked, “Why do you say that? In this forest there are many beautiful flowers. You are just one of them.”

The red rose replied, “I see everyone looking at me and admiring me.” Then the rose looked at a cactus and said, “Look at that ugly plant full of thorns!”

The pine tree said, “Red rose, what kind of talk is this? Who can say what beauty is? You have thorns too.”

The proud red rose looked angrily at the pine and said, “I thought you had good taste! You do not know what beauty is at all. You cannot compare my thorns to that of the cactus.”

“What a proud flower,” thought the trees.

The rose tried to move its roots away from the cactus, but it could not move. As the days passed, the red rose would look at the cactus and say insulting things, like ‘this plant is useless. How sorry I am to be his neighbor.’

The cactus never got upset and even tried to advise the rose, saying, “God did not create any form of life without a purpose.”

Spring passed, and the weather became very warm. Life became difficult in the forest, as there was no rain. The red rose began to wilt.

One day the rose saw sparrows stick their beaks into the cactus and then fly away, refreshed. This was puzzling, and the red rose asked the pine tree what the birds were doing. The pine tree explained that the birds were getting water from the cactus.

“Does it not hurt when they make holes?” asked the rose.

“Yes, but the cactus does not like to see the birds suffer,” replied the pine.

The rose opened its eyes in wonder and exclaimed, “The cactus has water?”

“Yes, you can also drink from it. The sparrow can bring water to you if you ask the cactus for help.”

The red rose felt too ashamed to ask for water from the cactus, but finally it did ask for help. The cactus kindly agreed. The birds filled their beaks with water and watered the rose’s roots.

Then the rose learned a lesson and never judged anyone by their appearance again.

The hungry fox who got caught in the tree trunk

The hungry fox who got caught in the tree trunk

Once upon a time, there was a hungry fox that was looking for something to eat. He was very hungry. No matter how hard he tried, the fox could not find food. Finally he went to the edge of the forest and searched there for food. Suddenly he caught sight of a big tree with a hole in it.

Inside the hole was a package. The hungry fox immediately thought that there might be food in it, and became very happy. He jumped into the hole. When he opened the package, he saw slices of bread, meat and fruit in it!

An old woodcutter had placed the food in the tree trunk before he began to cut down trees in the forest. He was going to eat it for his lunch.

The fox happily began to eat. After he finished eating, he felt thirsty and decided to leave the hole and drink some water from a nearby spring. However, no matter how hard he tried, he could not get out of the hole. Do you know why? Yes, the fox had eaten so much food that he became too big to fit through the hole!

The fox was very sad and upset. He told himself, “I wish I had thought a little before jumping into the hole.”

MORAL:

Yes children, this is the result of doing something without thinking about it first.

Christmas surprise part 4

Soon Emily opened all her presents. There was a beautiful jacket from Fritz, a pair of warm winter pants from Monty, a woolen cap from Harry, and mittens from Cornelius.

Then Emily opened my gift. “Oh, red boots – my favorite color!” she said happily. “Let’s all go outside and play in the snow. I won’t be cold now!” she added.

Suddenly there was a loud knock at the door.

“Who could that be?” asked Fritz. “Everybody is here already.”

We cautiously went to the door.

But by the time Fritz opened the door, the visitor had already left. We could see the back of his sleigh disappearing behind the snow-covered tops of the fir trees.

“Santa Claus!” called Emily as loud as she could. But all we heard was a faint “Ho, ho, ho!”

“Look, he brought me a present!” Emily said. She pointed to a beautiful red sled. Hanging from it was a label that read FOR EMILY FROM SANTA CLAUS.

“I knew he would come! I knew it!” cried Emily as she danced around her new sled.

This was certainly one of the best Christmas Days we had ever had! And Emily enjoyed riding on her special sled – pulled by five Santa Clauses!

THE END

Christmas surprise part 3

When I was near Fritz’s house, I noticed many other tracks in the snow leading to his front door.

I guessed Fritz was having a big Christmas party. It’s strange that I didn’t get an invitation, I thought. But it was Christmas, and Santa was always welcome on a day like that!

Then I knocked.

I could hear little Emily’s footsteps coming to the door.

“Hi, Waldo!” Emily cried as she opened the door. “I’m so happy you could come too. We were expecting you. Please come in.”

Expecting me? Waldo? How did she know it was me? Didn’t I look like Santa Claus?

I didn’t even have the time to try out any of my Ho, Ho, Hos but followed her into the living room.

There were Fritz, Monty, Cornelius, and Harry, sitting on the sofa and having tea. And each one was dressed up as Santa Claus!

“We didn’t want Emily to be disappointed!” Monty explained.

“I know, I know!” I said. “I thought of the same surprise. Merry Christmas to all of you!”

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

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.