Way 2 Kidz

Long ago, people lived happily under the rule of a king. The people of the kingdom were very happy as they led a very prosperous life with an abundance of wealth and no misfortunes.

Once, the king decided to go visiting places of historical importance and pilgrim centres at distant places. He decided to travel by foot to interact with his people. People of distant places were very happy to have a conversation with their king. They were proud that their king had a kind heart.

After several weeks of travel, the king returned to the palace. He was quite happy that he had visited many pilgrim centres and witnessed his people leading a prosperous life. However, he had one regret.

He had intolerable pain in his feet as it was his first trip by foot covering a long distance. He complained to his ministers that the roads weren’t comfortable and that they were very stony. He could not tolerate the pain. He said that he was very much worried about the people who had to walk along those roads as it would be painful for them too!

Considering all this, he ordered his servants to cover the roads in the whole country with leather so that the people of his kingdom can walk comfortably.

The king’s ministers were stunned to hear his order as it would mean that thousands of cows would have to be slaughtered in order to get sufficient quantity of leather. And it would cost a huge amount of money also.

Finally, a wise man from the ministry came to the king and said that he had another idea. The king asked what the alternative was. The minister said, “Instead of covering the roads with leather, why don’t you just have a piece of leather cut in appropriate shape to cover your feet?”

The king was very much surprised by his suggestion and applauded the wisdom of the minister. He ordered a pair of leather shoes for himself and requested all his countrymen also to wear shoes.

Moral: Instead of trying to change the world, we should try to change ourselves.

Short-Story

Change Yourself and not The World

Rafique Mohammad Sunday, 23 October 2016

One beautiful spring morning, a merchant loaded his donkey with bags of salt to go to the market, in order to sell the salt. The merchant and his donkey were walking along together. They had not walked far when they reached a river on the way.

Unfortunately, the donkey slipped and fell into the river. As it scrambled up the bank of the river, it noticed that the bags of salt loaded on his back had become lighter.

There was nothing the merchant could do except return home, where he loaded his donkey with more bags of salt. As they reached the slippery riverbank again, the donkey fell into the river, this time deliberately. Thus the salt was wasted again.

By now the merchant knew the donkey’s trick. He wanted to teach the animal a lesson. As he returned home the second time with the donkey, the merchant loaded bags of sponges on its back.

The duo set out on their trip to the market a third time. On reaching the river, the donkey very cleverly fell into the water again. But now, instead of the load becoming lighter, it became heavier.

The merchant laughed at the donkey and said, “You foolish donkey, your trick has been discovered. You should know that you cannot fool anyone too many times.”

Short-Story

A Merchant and his Donkey

Rafique Mohammad

Nick was a 10 year old boy. He was the only son to his parents. Nick’s father was a very busy businessman who could not spend time with his son. He came home after Nick slept, and was off to office before Nick woke up in the morning. Nick yearned for his father’s attention. He wanted to go outdoors and play with his father just like his friends did.

One day, Nick was surprised to see his father at home in the evening.

“Dad, it is a big surprise to see you at home,” Nick said.

“Yes son, my meeting was cancelled. So I’m at home. But after two hours I have to catch a flight,” his father replied.

“When will you be back?”

“Tomorrow noon.”

Nick was in deep thought for a while. Then he asked, “Dad, how much do you earn in a year?”

Nick’s father was taken aback. He said, “My dear son, it’s a very big amount and you won’t be able to understand it.”

“Ok dad, are you happy with the amount you earn?”

“Yes my dear. I’m very happy, and in fact I’m planning to launch our new branch and a new business in a few months. Isn’t that great?”

“Yes, dad. I’m happy to hear that. Can I ask you one more question?”

“Yes, dear.”

“Dad, can you tell me how much you earn in a day or even half a day?”

“Nick, why are you asking this question?” Nick’s father was perplexed.

But Nick was persistent. “Please answer me. Can you please tell me how much you earn in an hour?”

Nick’s father gave in and replied, “It will be around $ 25/- per hour.”

Nick ran to his room upstairs, and came down with his piggy bank that contained his savings.

“Dad, I have $50 in my piggy bank. Can you spare two hours for me? I want to go to the beach and have dinner with you tomorrow evening. Can you please mark this in your schedule?”

Nick’s father was speechless!

The greatest gift a parent can give his child is time. Money can’t buy everything!

Moral-Story

Money Can’t Buy Everything

Rafique Mohammad

Once upon a time, there lived a strange bird with two heads; one facing the left and the other facing the right. The two heads used to fight and argue with each other, even for very simple reasons. Though they shared the same body, the two heads behaved like rivals!

The strange bird lived in a big banyan tree, along the bank of a river.

One day, while flying over the river, the left head of the bird saw a beautiful tree that had a bright red fruit. The left head of the bird wanted to eat the fruit and the bird flew down to pick the fruit from the tree.

The bird plucked the sweet smelling fruit, and sat by the banks of the river and started eating it. The fruit was eaten by the left head. While it was eating, the right head asked, “Can you give me a piece to taste?”

The left head said, “See, we have only one stomach. So even if I eat in my mouth, it will go only into our stomach.”

“But I want to taste the fruit, so you should give me.”

The left head replied in anger, “I saw the fruit and hence, I have the right to eat it without sharing with anyone.”

The right head felt sad and became silent.

A few days later, while the bird was flying over the river again, the right head saw a beautiful pink fruit in a tree. The bird flew down near the tree and tried to pick the fruit and eat it.

The other birds living in the tree said, “Don’t eat it. It is a poisonous fruit. It will kill you.”

The left head shouted, “Don’t eat it. Don’t eat it.”

However the right head did not listen to the left head. The right head said, “I will eat it, because I saw it. You have no right to stop me.”

The left head shouted, “Please don’t eat it. We will all die.”

The right head said, “Since I saw it, I have the right to eat it.” Clearly, the right head was trying to take revenge on the left head for not sharing the red fruit with it earlier.

Finally, the pink fruit was eaten by the right head, and in a few minutes, the strange bird with the two heads dropped down dead!

Moral: A quarrel by the individuals in a family will affect the whole family badly.

The Strange Bird with Two Heads

Rafique Mohammad

Once, a little lamb was grazing on a meadow, along with a flock of sheep. Being very mischievous, the little lamb wandered some distance away from the sheep. It began to enjoy the fresh and delicious grass that it found there. It had come a long way from its group, but was unaware of that.

The lamb was also unaware of another fact: a wolf was closely following it!

When the lamb realized that it had lost its way and was far away from the flock, it decided to return and join them. However, the lamb was stunned to see a hungry and cunning wolf standing behind it.

The lamb realized that there was no option except to surrender itself to the wolf.

The lamb asked the wolf, “Are you going to eat me?”

The wolf said, “Yes, at any cost!”

The lamb said again, “But can you please wait for some more time? I have eaten a lot of grass now and my stomach is filled with grass. If you eat me now, you will feel as though you are eating grass! So please wait until the grass is digested.”

The wolf agreed, “Oh yes, I will wait. You are here before me and I can wait for some more time!”

The lamb thanked the wolf.

After some time, the wolf got ready to kill lamb, but the lamb stopped him again.

“Dear wolf, please wait for some more time. The grass is yet to be digested. If you eat me now, you will see a lot of grass in my stomach! Let me dance and then it will be digested easily.”

The wolf agreed.

The little lamb danced crazily for a while, and then suddenly stopped.

The wolf enquired what had happened.

The lamb said, “I cannot dance properly because there is no music. You see this bell around my neck? Can you untie this bell and ring it loudly? Then I can dance fast and the grass in my stomach also will get digested fast.”

The wolf, overcome with the desire to eat the lamb, was ready to do anything. He removed the bell tied to the lamb’s neck and rang it with all his might.

Meanwhile, the shepherd was searching for the little lamb and heard the bell ringing. He saw the wolf and the lamb. He ran towards the wolf with a stick. Seeing the shepherd with a stick, the wolf ran away, and the lamb was saved!

Physical strength is not sufficient. Sometimes, weaker people with smart minds can overcome the physically strong ones!

Moral-Story

The Wolf and the Lamb

Rafique Mohammad

Once upon a time, there lived a very rich and wealthy man in a big town. He led a luxurious life. He always boasted about his wealth to his friends and relatives.

His son was studying in a distant city and he returned home for vacation. The rich man wanted to show off to his son how rich he was. But his son wasn’t fond of any luxurious lifestyle. However, the rich man wanted to make his son realize that his lifestyle was extremely rich and that poor people suffered a lot. He planned a day’s visit to the entire town to show him the life of the poor people.

The father and the son took a chariot and visited the entire town. They returned home after two days. The father was happy that his son was very quiet after seeing the poor people honouring the rich man and after witnessing the sufferings of the poor due to lack of facilities.

The rich man asked his son, “Dear boy, how was the trip? Have you enjoyed it?”

“Yes my dad, it was a great trip with you,” the son replied.

“So, what did you learn from the trip?” the father asked.

The son was silent.

“Finally you have realized how the poor suffer and how they actually live,” said the father.

“No father,” replied the son. He added, “We have only two dogs, they have 10 dogs. We have a big pool in our garden, but they have a massive bay without any end! We have luxurious and expensive lights imported from various countries, but they have countless stars lighting their nights. We have a house on a small piece of land, but they have abundant fields that go beyond the horizon. We are protected by huge and strong walls around our property, but they bond with each other and surround themselves with their fellow beings. We have to buy food from them, but they are so rich that they can cultivate their own food.”

The rich father was stunned and speechless, on hearing his son’s words.

Finally the son added, “Dad, thank you so much for showing me who is rich and who is poor. Thank you for letting me understand how poor we really are!”

True wealth is not measured by money and property! True wealth is created in good friendships and compassionate relationships.

True Wealth

Rafique Mohammad

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.

Goose with the Golden Eggs StoryHowever, upon cutting the goose open, they were shocked to find that its innards were like that of any other goose!

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.

Moral-Story