HURTFUL TRUTH

Jupiter, he chief of Gods was to celebrate his marriage function in a grand manner. So he invited all the animals living on land and in water to participate in the grand feast.

 

When the day came all the animals assembled to attend the feast but the tortoise didn’t come. Jupiter was much worried and surprised at the absence of the tortoise.

 

After a few days, Jupiter came across the tortoise. He asked him, “How are you? Why were you not present at the feast held in honour of my marriage?”

“I am a stay-at-home type of animal and I never care to attend petty affairs. So why should I trouble myself when there is no place like home?” boasted the tortoise.

 

No doubt, what the tortoise said was true. But the way it said was very hurtful. It hurt the chief of Gods and so he uttered a curse on the tortoise.

 

“You will always have your home on your back. You will never unload it.”

 

That is why every tortoise is carrying its home on its back.

MORAL: SPEAK THE TRUTH WITHOUT HURTING OTHERS.

 

THE WOLF IN SHEEPSKIN

 

A wolf was in the countryside. He found a sheepskin spread on the ground. He thought, “I wear this skin and get mixed up in a flock. The shepherd will not suspect me. At night, I will kill a stout sheep and then take him away with me”.

The wolf covered himself with the sheepskin and gets mixed up with a flock of sheep. As he had expected, the shepherd took him for a sheep and shut him also in the pen. The wolf was waiting for night.

The shepherd had a feast that night. He sent a servant to fetch a fat sheep. The servant saw the sheepskin covered wolf by chance. That night, the quests had the wolf for supper.

MORAL: EVIL THOUGHTS HAVE EVIL ENDS

 

 

SHEBA AND THE MONKEY

 

 

Sheba, the queen of jungle, was very fond of babies. Once, she announced, “I order all animals to come to my palace with their babies. The animal who has the most beautiful baby will be awarded a prize.”

 

All animals came to sheba’s palace with their babies. Sheba was inspecting. She came to a monkey and said “What an ugly baby! You will not get the prize.

 

The baby monkey started to cry. The monkey said. “What a foolish queen she is! Who wants her prize! You are my jewel, my dear child. You are more precious than anything the sky”.

 

MORAL: MOTHER’S LOVE HAS NO EQUALS.

 

 

 

THE WISE JUDGE

 

 

Two women were brought before King Solomon. Both these women had a quarrel over a single baby. Each woman was saying that she was the baby’s mother.

One lady said, “Oh king! I am the baby’s mother”.

The other lady said, “Oh king! Believe her not. She is not the mother. I am the mother of the child”.

King Solomon was confused. After a deep thought he said, “Cut the baby into two and give one part to each mother”. One woman was silent. The other cried “Oh king! Let she have the baby. Let the baby live”. The king gave the child to the crying mother.

MORAL: TRUTH ALWAYS TRIUMPHS.

 

THE LAST WISH

 

 

The Brahmins of King Krishnadev Rai’s kingdom had grown quite greedy. One way or the other, they used to extract money from the King, who was very religious-minded and generous in nature. One day, the King asked one of the Brahmins, “My mother expressed a wish to eat mangoes before she died. However, her last wish could not be fulfilled. Can we do anything now, so that her soul may rest in peace.”

The Brahmin replied, “Sir, if you distribute one hundred and eight mangoes of pure gold to the Brahmins of your kingdom, your mother’s departed soul would definitely rest in peace.” Immediately, the King got one hundred mangoes made of gold and donated them to the Brahmins of Vijayanagar. All the Brahmins were very happy.

 

 

Tenalirama was very upset to hear this news. He knew the Brahmins had exploited the King’s love for his dead mother. He waited for the right opportunity to teach the greedy Brahmins a lesson.

After a few days, Tenalirama’s mother died of sudden illness. He invited the Brahmins to his house for a lunch, as part of the religious ceremonies for his dead mother. Expecting a grand feast, all the Brahmins arrived at Tenalirama’s house.

When all of them had settled down and the food was about to be served, Tenalirama asked his servant to close the door of the room. Quietly, he asked the servant, “Bring red-hat iron rods and place them on the Brahmins bodies.”

 

 

 

Seeing the servant with hot iron rods in his hand, all the Brahmins started screaming with fear. They tried to escape but couldn’t . Each of the Brahmins received severe burn injuries on their bodies.

The news of this incident reached the king. He was very angry and went to Tenalirama’s house to rescue the Brahmins. “What’s this?” the king shouted at Tenalirama. “Your Highness! Please pardon me. My mother suffered from severe joint-pains. Before she died, she had expressed the wish that-hot iron rods should be placed on her aching joints, to give her relief from pain. I couldn’t fulfil her last wish then. So I thought, like you, let me also fulfil my mother’s soul would definitely rest in peace.”

The king understood what Tenalirama was trying to convey. He had a hearty laugh at Tenalirama’s clever logic and sarcastic remarks. And heads of all the Brahmis fell in shame.

THE DOG’S TAIL

 

 

Once in the court of King Krishnadev Rai, a debate was going on, if  a man’s nature could be changed or not. Some of the courtiers were of the view that it was possible, while others thought that just as a dog’s tail cannot be made straight, in the same way, it is impossible to change a man’s nature.

One of the courtiers who was speaking in favour of the topic was of the opinion, “I feel if one tries, the dog’s tail can be straightened.” The King said jokingly, “All right, you are welcome to make an attempt.” The King selected ten people and Tenalirama was one of them. Each of them was given one pup. And to do this task, they were also given ten gold coins each month for a period of six months.

 

 

Each of them put in their best to straighten the tails of their puppies. One of them kept the tail pressed under a heavy weight to straighten it. Another one, pushed the tail into a straight brass pipe for six months.

The third person massaged his pup’s tail everyday to set it straight. The fourth one gave some medicine to his puppy to make its tail straight. The fifth person engaged a Brahmin to perform ‘puja’ everyday to achieve the purpose. The sixth one bought a Tantrik, who with the help of some magic charm tried to straighten the puppy’s tail. The seventh person got his puppy’s tail operated by a doctor. The eighth person made his pup sit straight daily for six months, giving him the advise, “Keep your tail straight, Brother, Keep it erect.” The ninth person kept on feeling sweets to his puppy, thinking that it might straighten its tail.

But Tenalirama fed the puppy with only as much food as was essential to keep it alive. Being starved for six months, his puppy became very weak. Its tail almost dropped down , looking absolutely lifeless. In this condition, it almost looked straight.

 

 

 

 

When six months were over, the king ordered for ten puppies to be produced in the court. Nine of the puppies, looked very strong and healthy. When the weight kept on the first puppy’s tail was removed, it swung back to its curved position. As soon as the second puppy’s tail was pulled out of the pipe, it got back to its original form. Similarly, tails of  other seven puppies remained curved as before. No remedy had worked.

 

 

 

 

 

 
Now the King asked Tenalirama, “Where is your puppy?” Tenalirama presented his puppy. It was looking very weak and lifeless. Its tail was limping down.

Tenalirama said, My Lord! See, I have straightened its tail. “You rascal!” the King shouted at him, “You have almost starved it to death. He can’t even wag his tail.”

Tenalirama replied politely, “Your Highness! If you had said, he should be fed properly, I would have obeyed your order. But your command was to straighten its tail, which is against nature. This could only be done, by keeping it hungry.”

“My Lord! A man’s nature cannot be changed forcibly. One should not do anything against Nature. this can be very dangerous.”

All the courtiers had got the suitable answer to their question. The King praised Tenalirama for his intelligence and wit.

 

THE MEDITATING PARROT

 

 

Once, King Krishnadev Rai of Vijayanagar was presented a speaking parrot, as a gift from one of his admirers. The parrot was intelligent and could talk in any human language. The king was very delighted this wonderful gift.

The King called one of his personal attendants and gave him the responsibility of looking after the parrot. He was given the instruction, “Look after this parrot well. It is very much dear to me. If anything happens to it, I’II get your head cut off as punishment.”

 

 

The servant brought the caged parrot to his room. He started taking care of him with all his attention. However, one fine morning, to his horror, he found the parrot lying dead in the cage. He remembered the king’s warning and didn’t have the courage to go and inform the king about the sudden death of his dear parrot.

He was very disturbed. Suddenly, he was reminded of Tenalirama who was known for his intelligence. Immediately, he rushed to his house. Telling him the whole story about the dead parrot, he requested him to save his life. Tenalirama assured him of all his help.

 

 

After the servant had gone, Tenalirama went running to the King. He said hesitatingly, “Your Majesty! Your parrot…….”

“What has happened to my parrot? Why are you so nervous?” asked the king.

“Sir……! The parrot is neither speaking nor moving. It seems to have gone into deep meditation.”

“What? The king was shocked. Along with Tenalirama, he went running to the cage, only to find that the parrot was not in meditation but was actually dead. The King was very upset and angry. He told Tenalirama, “Why didn’t you tell me earlier that the parrot was dead. Unnecessarily, you made me run to the cage.”

 

 

“Your Honour!” replied Tenaliraman. “Had I told you about the parrot’s death before, you would have beheaded the poor servant. I wanted you to understand that no one can take guarantee of anyone’s life. Death and life is totally in God’s hands.”

The King realized his mistake and didn’t punish the servant. The servant thanked Tenalirama. His life was saved because of Tenalirama’s cleverness.

 

FOOLISH MAN

 

 

One day a man was going to market with his son and his ass. They met a couple on the way.

“Why walk when you have an ass to ride?” called out the husband, “seat the  boy on the ass.”

“I would like that,” said the boy, “help me up father.” And the father did that willingly.

Soon they met another couple. “How shameful of you!” cried the woman, “let your father ride, won’t he be tired?”

 

 

So, the boy got down and the father rode the ass. Again they marched on.

“Poor boy”, said the next person they met, “Why should the lazy father ride while his son is walking?”

So, the boy got onto the ass too. As they went on, they met some travelers.

“How cruel of them!” They are up to kill the poor ass.” Cried one of the travelers.

 

 

Hearing this, the father and the son got down. Now they decided to carry the ass on their shoulders. As they did so, the travelers broke into laughter.

The laughter frightened the ass. It broke free and galloped away.

 

MORAL: YOU CAN NOT PLEASE EVERYONE

 

A MISER

 

 

There was once a miser. He melted all hi money into a block of gold and buried it in a pit. Every day he would dig it up and smile to see it.

One night the gold-block was stolen. So, the miser was in tears. A friend of his saw him weeping and said, “You should bury a stone in the pit and look at it every day. You never spent money when you had it was it better then a stone anyway?”

 

MORAL: IT IS A CAUSE TO BE A MISER

 

PEACOCK AND CRANE

 

 

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

 

THE WIND AND THE SUN
 

 

Once the wind and the sun came to have a quarrel. Either of them claimed to be a stronger. At last they agreed to have a trial of strength.

“Here comes a traveler. Let us see who can strip him of his clock,” said the Sun.

The Wind agreed and chose to have the first turn. He blew in the hardest possible way. As a result, the traveler wrapped his cloak even more tightly around him.

 

 
Then it was the turn of the Sun. At first he shown every gently. So, the traveler loosened his cloak from his neck.

The sun went on shinning brighter and brighter. The traveler felt hot. Before long he took off his cloak and put it in his bag. The Wind had to accept his defeat.

MORAL: FURY OR FORCE CUTS NO ICE WHERE GENTLENESS DOES THE JOB.

THE FISHERMAN

 

 

The fisherman had been fishing for along time but without luck. At last he tugged at his net and saw a small fish caught in it.

“Please let me go,” begged the fish, “I will grow bigger in a few days and then you can catch me again.”

The fisherman said, Now that I have caught you I won’t let you go. If I have caught you I won’t let you go. If I leave you, I may never see you again.”

MORAL: A BIRD IN HAND IS WOTH TWO IN BUSH.

 

 

LARK AND THE FARMER

 

 

 

Once a Lark made her nest in a corn-field. Soon she laid eggs in it. After a few days small babies hatched out of them.

One day the baby-larks overheard the farmer say, “I will call my neighbors to reap this field.”

The Baby-larks got alarmed to hear this and told their mother about it. “Don’t worry,” said the mother.

Some days later, the farmer came again and said, I will call my relatives to reap this field.” The baby-larks afraid again.

“Fear not,” said their mother

But the next day the farmer came there with his little son and said, “I will reap this field tomorrow.”

“Now is the time to go. When a man says he will do the work himself, he will certainly do it,” said the mother-lark.

MORAL: DON’T FEAR HOLLOW THREATS.