Category: 2. Animal Stories

This is a short story to teach you that you can not please everyone. A man and his son were once going with their Donkey to market. As they were walking along by its side a countryman passed them and said : “You fool, what a Donkey for but to ride is upon?”

So the Man put the Boy on the Donkey and they went on their way. But soon they passed a group of men. One of whom said : “See that lazy youngster. He lets his father walk while he rides.”

So the Man ordered his Boy to get off and got on himself. But they hadn’t gone far when they passed two women. One of whom said to the other : “Shame on that lazy lout to let his poor little son trudge along.”

Well the Man did not know what to do. But at last he took his Boy up before him on the Donkey. By this time they had come to the town and the passers-by began to jeer and point at them. The Man stopped and asked what they were scoffing at. The men said :

“Aren’t you ashamed of yourself for overloading that poor Donkey of yours – you and your hulking son?”

The man and Boy got off and tried to think what to do. They thought and they thought, till at last they cut down a pole, tied the Donkey’s feet to it and raised the pole and the Donkey to their shoulders. They went along amid the laughter of all who met them till they came to Market Bridge when the Donkey, getting one of his feet loose, kicked out and caused the Boy to drop his end of the pole. In the struggle the Donkey fell over the bridge and his fore-feet being tied together, he was drowned.

“That will teach you,” said an old man who had followed them :

Moral : You Can Not Please Everyone.

A rat and its big family were living in a baker’s shop. They scraped the buns and cakes in the bakery.

The baker tried his best to put an end to the nuisance of the rats. But all were in vain. At last he brought their real enemy-the cat to solve the problem.

In the very next day the cat got some tiny rats for its breakfast. The rat family got worried of the loss of their dear ones.

They arranged a meeting soon. They looked for an idea to escape from the cat. In the end, they decided to bell the cat.

Then one of the elder rats asked them, who is ready to bell the cat? Nobody said yes.

Instead they kept quiet.

There was a large berry tree on the bank of a river. On this tree lived a monkey called Rhesa. He was a clever and good hearted monkey. He offered berries to all the animals and birds who came to the river to quench their thirst. In the river, there lived a crocodile named Magar. He lived with his wife in a cave at the bottom of the river.

One day Magar the crocodile came to the river bank to catch his prey. It was a hot and sunny day and Magar had not caught any thing the whole day. Tired and hot, he dragged himself to the shade of the berry tree for some rest. He had hardly closed his eyes when he heard somebody calling out to him. “Hello friend. I am up here.”

Magar looked up to find Rhesa the monkey smiling down at him. The monkey plucked a handful of juicy berries and threw them down to Magar.

“Eat these. They will quench your thirst.”

“Thank you,” said Magar and ate the delicious berries.

From then on, everyday, Magar would come to the river’s bank and eat the berries dropped by Rhesa. Both of them became good friends.

One day Magar took some berries home to his wife. She found them delicious. “Mmm… If the berries are so tasty, how delicious would the monkey’s heart be that ate these berries,” she said. “I want to eat the heart of this monkey.”

“How can I do that?” replied Magar.

“He is my friend. How can I kill him?” But his wife would not accept no for an answer. “If you don’t bring me his heart, I will starve myself to death,’’she cried.

So Magar went to meet Rhesa the monkey. “My wife liked the berries you sent her very much. She wants to meet you. She has invited you home for dinner,”said Magar to Rhesa.

“I would surely come,” said Rhesa, “but I cannot swim and you live in the river.”

“Do not worry,” said Magar, “I will carry you on my back.”

Rhesa readily jumped on to Magar’s back. Magar began to swim away from the bank. On reaching the middle of the river, the crocodile began to dive under water.

“Hey! What are you doing?” panicked Rhesa. “I told you I cannot swim.”

“Sorry my friend,” replied Magar. “My wife wants to eat your heart. So I have to kill you,” said Magar.

Rhesa realised that he was in grave danger. “Is it my heart you want?” he asked in an undisturbed voice. “Why did you not say so before? I would have gladly given it to you. We will have to go back because I usually leave my heart back at home when I go out.”

The foolish crocodile immediately turned around and swam back towards the bank.

Rhesa immediately jumped down from Magar’s back and bounced up the berry tree. “You are a fool Magar. How could I be alive if I left my heart behind? You have been an unfaithful friend. Our friendship is over,” said Rhesa.

There was a lake at the outskirts of a small village. Two swans and a turtle who were good friends lived in the lake. They would play with each other and pass time telling stories.

One year, there were no rains and the lake started drying up.

“The lake is almost dry. We have to find some other place to live,” said the turtle to the swans. “We will fly around and look for a suitable place,” said the swans. Both the swans flew in different directions in search of a better place to live. A little distance away, one of the swans spotted a large lake. It had plenty of water and there were many fishes in it. He flew back to tell the others.

The three of them were very excited with the find. “Wow! Now we won’t have any problem,” said the turtle.

“There is only one problem,” replied one swan. “The two of us can fly there in no time. But you crawl very slowly. And it is some distance away. You will never reach there.”

The turtle thought for some time. Suddenly his face lit up. “I have an idea,” he said. “You bring me a stick. I will hold the center of the stick in my mouth. Both of you can hold the stick on either side. That way you can fly me with you to our new home.”

“It is a very good idea, but you have to make sure you do not open your mouth for any reason. If you do, you will fall to your death,” warned one of the swans.

The turtle agreed.

“Remember what we told you,” reminded the swans as they got ready to fly. Soon they were flying high in the sky. They had to fly over the village to get to the lake. As they flew over the village, people ran out into the streets to look at this amazing sight.

“What clever birds. They are carrying a turtle on a stick!” exclaimed one man. Every one was excited to see such an amazing sight.

“It was my idea. I am the clever one. I need to let them know,” thought the turtle. He opened his mouth to explain, but before the foolish turtle could say anything, he fell with a thud and died.

The swans looked down at their dead friend and shook their heads bitterly at his foolishness. “If he had kept his mouth shut, he would be alive and happy with us,” said one swan to the other as they landed at the big lake which would be their home from then on.

Once a snake who had grown weak with old age came across a pond where many frogs lived with their king, queen and little prince. The snake had not eaten for many days. He tried to catch some of the frogs, but was too weak to catch any of them. “I will have to think of some solution or I will soon die,” the snake thought.

Just then he saw the frog prince and his friends. They were busy in their game and did not notice the snake. When they came very close, one of them saw the snake and jumped up, “Oh, a snake,” he shouted in fear. All of them ran for their lives. But when the snake did not move, the frog prince went up to it. The snake still did not move. “Let me see if he is dead?” said the frog prince and knocked on the snake’s head and jumped away quickly.

The snake slowly opened its eyes and said, “Do not worry. I will not get angry no matter what you do.”

The frogs were very surprised. “I once bit a sage’s son,” explained the snake. “The sage got angry and cursed me that I would carry frogs on my back for the rest of my life.”

Hearing this, the frog prince jumped up with joy. “Then I will ride on your back,” he said. So the frog prince jumped on top of the snake and commanded, “Take me to my parents.”

The king and the queen were amazed at the sight. “Father, look, I am riding a snake,” shouted the prince. “Let us also ride the snake,” the queen urged the frog king. So they all sat on the snake.

“You are moving very slowly,” complained the prince. “What can I do,” answered the snake sadly. “I have not eaten for several days.”

“Why have you not eaten? The royal mount should be fast and strong,” said the king.

“I can eat only with your permission,” answered the snake.

“Your subjects are my food.”

“How can I permit you to eat us?” asked the king.

“Not the royal frogs,” explained the snake. “I cannot permit you to eat my subjects,” said the frog king.

The prince was upset and cried. “Father, please permit him. I don’t want to loose him.”

Even the queen spoke up. “Do permit the snake. How many frogs can he eat anyway? We have many subjects.”

At last the king had to grant permission. The snake began to eat many frogs every day. Soon he was very strong and healthy. Now, he moved very quickly. The prince was thrilled to ride a snake that moved so fast.

One day the snake went to the frog king. “I am hungry O king. There are no more frogs left in the pond. So now I am going to cat you all.”

And the wicked snake pounced on all the three royal frogs and ate them up.

One day a peacock met a crane and said, “So sorry for you. You have so dull feathers. Look at the fine colours of my feathers.”

“Well!’ replied the crane, “your look are brighter then mine. But whereas I can fly high up into the sky. All you can do is to strut about on the ground.”

Moral : Never Find Fault With Others.

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 Oak tree always thought that he was far stronger than the reeds.

He said to himself “I stand upright in storm. I don’t bend my head in fear every time the wind blows. But these reeds are really so weak.”

That very night blew a storm and the mighty oak tree was uprooted.

“Thank god!” sighed the reeds, “Our way is better. We bend but we don’t break.”

There once lived a lion, the king of the forest. He was always accompanied by a jackal and a crow. They followed him every where and lived on the remains of his food.

In a village close to the forest there lived a woodcutter. Everyday, he would go into the forest with his axe to chop wood.

One day as the woodcutter was busy chopping a tree, he heard a noise behind him. Turning around, he saw the lion looking straight at him, ready to pounce. The woodcutter was a clever man. He quickly said, “Greetings… King of this forest. It is a pleasure to meet you.”

The lion was surprised. “A pleasure to meet me? Are you not afraid of me?”

“I respect you a lot…lion. I was hoping to meet you. You see, my wife is an excellent cook. I wanted you to taste her dal and vegetables.”

“Dal? Vegetables? Don’t you know that I eat only flesh?” asked the lion in surprise.

“If you taste my wife’s cooking, you will stop eating flesh,” said the woodcutter proudly.

The lion was very hungry and he accepted the woodcutter’s food.

“Good that the Jackal and the crow are not with me today,” thought the lion. “They would laugh at me.”

The lion was surprised to find that the food was indeed very tasty. “I have never eaten such good food,” he said.

“You are welcome to share my food everyday, O king. But no one should ever know about our friendship. You must come alone.”

The lion promised. Everyday, the lion would eat lunch brought by the woodcutter and their unusual friendship grew to be stronger day by day.

The crow and the jackal were anxious to know why the lion had stopped hunting. “We are going to starve to death if the lion does not hunt anymore,” whined the jackal.

“You are right,” said the crow. “Let us try to find out what has happened to the lion.” The next day they followed the lion from a safe distance and saw him eating the lunch the woodcutter brought for him.

“So this is why the lion does not hunt anymore,” said the jackal to the crow. “We have to get the lion to share his food with us. Then may be we can break his friendship with the woodcutter and the lion will start hunting his prey again.”

When the lion came back to his den that evening, the crow and the jackal were waiting for him. “My lord, why have you forgotten us? Please let us all go hunting like we used to,” pleaded the crow and the jackal.

“No! I have given up eating flesh, ever since I met a friend who changed me from my old ways,” said the lion.

“We would also like to meet your friend,” said the crow.

On the following day, the wood cutter was as usual waiting for his friend the lion. Suddenly, he heard voices. The woodcutter was a very careful and clever man. He immediately climbed a tall tree. In the distance, he could see the lion approaching. With him were a crow and a jackal. “With those two around, my friendship with the lion will not last very long,” he said to himself.

The lion came over to the tree and called out to the woodcutter, “Come down and join us. It is me your friend.”

“That may be so,” called out the woodcutter. “But you have broken your promise to me. If those two can make you break a promise, then they can make you kill me also. You can forget our friendship.”

In a forest there lived a lion. He had grown old and could not run fast anymore. As days went by it became more and more difficult for him to hunt.

One day while he was wandering through the forest in search of food, he came across a cave. He peeped in and smelt the air inside the cave. “Some animal must be staying here,” he said to himself. He crept inside the cave only to find it empty. “I will hide inside and wait for the animal to return,” he thought.

The cave was the home of a jackal. Everyday, the jackal would go out in search of food and return to the cave in the evening to rest. That evening, the jackal after having his meal started towards home. But as he came closer, he felt something wrong. Everything around him very quiet. “Something is wrong,” the jackal said to himself. “Why are all the birds and insects so silent?”

Very slowly and cautiously, he walked towards his cave. He looked around him, watching for any signs of danger. As he got closer to the mouth of the cave, all his instincts alerted him of danger. “I have to make sure that everything is alright,” thought the jackal. Suddenly, he thought of a plan.

The clever jackal called out to the cave. “Hello my good cave, what happened to you today? Why are you so quiet?”

The jackal’s voice echoed deep inside the cave. The lion, who by now could control his hunger no longer, thought to himself, “I think it is because I am here that the cave is silent. Before the jackal realises that something is wrong, I should do something.”

The jackal continued to call out, “Have you forgotten our agreement cave? You are supposed to greet me when I return home.” The lion tried to make his voice sound hollow and called out from within the cave, “Welcome home my friend.”

The birds chirped loudly and flew away on hearing the lion’s roar. As for the jackal, he shook with fear. Before the hungry lion could pounce on him and eat him up, the jackal ran for his dear life as fast as his legs could carry him.

The lion waited for a long while for the jackal to enter the cave. But when the jackal did not come in, the lion realised that he had been fooled. He cursed himself for his foolishness that made him lose a prey.