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A CARELESS TONGUE
There was a young woman who liked to tell stories about her neighbors. Some stories were good, some stories were funny and the young woman told them to make people laugh. As always happens in such cases, the people who heard the stories, told them to their friends trying to make them funnier and funnier. As a result many good people suffered because of those stories.
An old man of the village where the young woman lived knew about it. He wanted to make her stop telling stories about her neighbours. He did not know how to do it, but then he thought of a good plan.
"Daughter," he said when he met her one day. "I want to ask you to do one thing for me. 1 have here a bag of small stones. On your way home throw them as far as you can in all sides. When you do it, come back and tell me."
The young woman was surprised to hear it. But it was easy and she agreed to do what the old man asked.
When the young woman came back, the old man said: "Daughter, I want to ask you to do one more thing for me. Go along the same road and pick up all the stones that you have thrown away."
"But, Father, it is impossible!" said the young woman. "I can find some of the stones and bring them back to you, but I cannot find all of them."
"That's true," said the old man. "Those stones are like the stories that you tell about your neighbors. It's not difficult to throw around small stones but, but it's impossible to find them all. It's easy to make up stories about your neighbours, but it's impossible to call them back, because they go from mouth to mouth and become worse and worse. Remember this! First think, then speak. Remember this always!"
The young woman remembered it all her life.
IT WAS HIS SECRET
(A Japanese Tale)
Many, many years ago, in a small Japanese town lived a young man. His name was Kiki. At that time people in that town had never seen a mirror in their life, and they didn't know what it was. That is why nobody in that town knew what his own face looked like.
Kiki had a young wife whom he loved very much. His wife loved him too. They were happy.
One day when Kiki was walking in the street, he saw a small mirror there. But he didn't know what it was. When he picked it up and looked at it, he saw a picture of a young man with brown face and dark eyes. He didn't understand that he saw himself. He thought it was a picture of his father when he was young. When he smiled his father in the picture smiled back. When he laughed, his father laughed too. That's why he thought it was a holy picture. He put the mirror into his pocket and went home. At home he put it in an old lamp in his room. As he thought it was a holy picture, he didn't even tell his young wife anything about it.
From that day very often Kiki came home in the afternoon to look at that holy picture. His wife noticed it. One day she saw her husband quickly put an old lamp on the table and go away. When she ran up to the table and looked into the lamp, she saw the mirror. But she also didn't know what it was. She saw a picture of a young beautiful woman. Of course, she didn't understand it was her own face. She thought that her husband didn't love her any more: he loved another woman. That's why he often came home in the afternoon and looked at the picture of that woman. Kiki's wife began to cry.
When Kiki came home in the evening, his dinner was not ready, and his wife didn't want even to talk to him. At last she told him why she was angry. She told him about the picture of a young woman in the old lamp. But he said it was the picture of his poor father when he was young. He told her that he had found it in the street and put it into the old lamp in his room.
THE HOLY PYTHON
Many years ago a group of men went out hunting. They walked in the forest all day long. In the evening they were far from home.
"We will have to sleep in the forest tonight", said their leader. "Quickly look for a good place to sleep".
The hunters had to be careful. In those days there were many slave-traders all about the country, and they might attack the hunters at any moment.
Late in the evening they found a good place to sleep. After supper the hunters lay down on the ground and were soon all asleep.
When the tired men were asleep, a group of slave-traders surrounded them. They were to attack the sleeping men.
Suddenly something big and heavy fell from one of the trees on the one of the young hunters. The hunter woke up, looked down at his body and gave a terrible scream. A huge python was lying on him! He jumped to his feet, but his comrades were already awake. In a moment they were ready fight.
The slave-traders fired their guns. But the hunters hid behind the trees. The fight continued for a long time. When the hunters had no more arrows they fought with stones and even sticks.
The slave-traders could do nothing against the hunters. Some of the attackers were killed. The others had to run away.
After the fight was over, the hunters came together round their leader. The leader looked at the young man and said: "What made you wake up?"
"It was a python", the boy said. "It fell on me from the tree".
'It was a sign specially for us", the leader said. "You can see that the python is now our friend. From this day on no man, woman or child in our country will ever kill or eat a python".
To this day the people who live in those places remember the words of that man. If you go to their houses in the rainy season, you will find there pythons. In the daytime they sleep in holes under the houses, but at night they crawl about the room.
The people never harm the pythons and the pythons never harm the people.
THE ELEPHANT AND THE DOG
Once upon a time a dog used to go into the stable where the king's Elephant lived. At first the dog went there because he wanted to get the food that remained after the Elephant.
After a while the Elephant and the Dog became friends. The Elephant shared his food with the Dog, and they ate together. When the Elephant slept his friend the Dog slept beside him. When the Elephant wanted to play he caught the Dog in his trunk and swung him to and fro. The Dog and the Elephant were happy only when they were together.
One day a farmer saw the Dog and said to the elephant-keeper, "I shall buy that dog. He looks very clever. How much do you want for him?"
The elephant-keeper asked a great deal of money, but the farmer paid it and took the Dog away to the country.
When the time came for the king's Elephant to eat he did not eat, as his friend was not there. Oh, how he wanted to share his food with his friend the Dog! When the time came for the Elephant to bathe, he did not bathe. On the next day the Elephant didn't eat again, and he did not want to bathe. On the third day, when the Elephant neither ate nor bathed, the King sent for his chief servant and said, "Go to the stable and find out what's the matter with the elephant”
The chief servant went to the stable and said to the elephant-keeper:
"Why is the Elephant so sad? Has he lost his friend?"
"Yes," said the keeper, "there was a dog who ate and slept with the Elephant. A farmer bought the dog and took him away to the country."
Then the chief servant went back to the King and said, "The Elephant is lonely without his friend, Dog. A farmer bought the Dog and took him away but no one knows where the farmer lives."
"Very well," said the King, "my servants must find the farmer who bought the Dog and ask him to turn the Dog loose, and he will find the way back. I'll give the farmer the money which he paid for the Dog."
When the King's servants spread the message all over the country, the farmer heard it and turned the Dog loose. The Dog ran back as fast as he could to the Elephant's stable. The Elephant was so glad to see the Dog that he picked him up with his trunk and placed him on his head. Then he put him down again.
When the elephant-keeper brought food to the stable the Elephant waited; when he saw that the Dog was eating, only then he ate by his side. All the rest of their days the Elephant and the Dog lived together.
THE LIGHTS ON THE CHRISTMAS TREE
Once the Christmas tree lights were no lights at all. They were the colors in the rainbow. Just perfectly good rainbow - the kind you see in the sky during the rain. And when Santa Claus made the very first Christmas tree, it was easy to see that he needed a rainbow for decoration. Because all the decorations he had were white. He lived at the North Pole then, you know, as he does now, and when he had powdered the tree with snow and hung icicles and he tied snowballs on the ends of the branches, he looked at it and said:
"No - it's pretty, but it needs some more color on it. It needs red and blue and gold -."
"Oh, Santa Claus," said the littlest White Bear. "Let's put a rainbow on it!"
'That's just what it needs," Santa Claus agreed. "I'll send the Biggest White Bear to get one."
"Oh," said the Littlest White Bear. He was so disappointed that the tears came to his eyes. "I was the one who thought of the rainbow. So I think you might send me to find it".
"All right then," Santa Claus said kindly. "But you must be careful. Rainbows are easy to break, you know, and really you are the clumsiest, funny little bear"
"Oh, I'll be careful!" promised the little bear and he ran and ran on his fat little legs till he found the most beautiful rainbow. Then he picked it and hung; it over his back and went home to Santa Claus, walking very carefully. He walked safely past the snowfields and safely past icebergs and safely past the slippery slides, and at last he came to Santa Claus's steps, and saw Santa Claus in the doorway, waiting for him.
"Hurah!" he laughed, waving his little front paws in triumph. "Here it is!"
And just then both his back feet slipped and - boom! He fell on his back, and the rainbow was broken into a thousand pieces.
"Don't cry, don't cry," said Santa Claus, hurrying down the steps. "You are not hurt!"
"No, but the rainbow is," sobbed the Littlest White Bear, "and I tried so hard to be careful."
"Never mind." Santa Claus patted him gently. "We'll put the pieces of the rainbow on the tree."
So they picked up a blue piece and put it here, and then they picked up a red piece and put it there, and the Christmas tree was prettier than if the rainbow had been all together.
"Oh," said the Littlest White Bear," I'm glad I fell down!"
And since then we have rainbow-colored lights on the Christmas tree.
THE LION AND THE GOAT
Once upon a time there was an old she-goat. One day, when it was getting dark, she was returning home with many other goats. As she was old and weak, she got tired and was left behind. It became quite dark, and as she couldn't find her way back, she decided to enter a cave that she saw near by. What was her surprise when she went in and found a lion sitting there. She was terribly frightened and stood still for a moment, then she thought of what she could do.
"If I try to run", she thought, "the lion will soon catch me, but if I pretend not to be afraid of him I may manage to save my life". She walked boldly up to the lion as if she were not afraid of him at all. The lion looked at her, looked and looked, not knowing what to think of this boldness on the part of the goat. He knew the goats had never dared to come near him. At last he thought she could not be a goat but must be some other strange animal which he had not seen before.
"Who are you, old one?" he asked her.
"I am the queen of the Goats," she replied. "I came to eat up a hundred tigers, twenty five elephants and ten lions. I have already eaten the hundred tigers and twenty five elephants and now I am looking for the ten lions."
The lion was very much surprised to hear this, and believing the goat had really come to eat him up, he went out of the cave saying that he was going to wash his face at the river and did not come back.
THE LION AND THE MULE
Deep in the forest lived a lion and a mule. The lion thought that he was very clever and that the mule was rather stupid.
One day they saw a carpenter building a house. "That is a very fine house," said the lion.
The carpenter was very frightened when he saw the lion, but he said, "I will make you a house fit for the king of all beasts. Come back tomorrow and it will be ready".
The next day the lion went to see his new house. "Just creep inside and see how well it fits," said the carpenter.
The lion crept inside and the carpenter said, "I have just got to put a few more nails in the door." He quickly nailed up the end of the big box he had made and the lion was trapped inside. Then the carpenter hurried off to get help.
Then along came the mule. "How do you like your new house?" he asked.
"The carpenter has made it too small and I can't get out," said the lion.
The mule laughed because the lion had been tricked. But he hit the box hard, splintering the wood with his strong hind feet. The lion crept out and the two ran away.
THE SUN AND THE WIND
One day the wind met the sun and said, "Oh, how strong I am! I am stronger than you." But the sun didn't think so.
"You are not stronger than I am" said the sun, "I am stronger than you." They said this to each other many times a day for six weeks. At last the wind and the sun decided to see who was stronger. They saw a man in the field. He had a black coat on. So they decided to see who could make him take off his coat.
"If you can make him take off his coat, you are stronger than I, but I can make him take it off, I am stronger than you. Let us try. I shall try first," said the wind.
And the wind began to blow. He blew and blew, but he could not make the man take off his coat. The more the wind blew, the more the man pulled his coat around him because the wind was very strong and very cold, and the man was cold, too. He was glad that he had a warm coat on. So the wind saw that he could not make the man take off his coat.
Then it was the sun's turn. The sun came out and began to shine very brightly. It became very hot.
"How hot it is!" said the man. "I must take my coat off." And the man took his coat off. The wind saw that the sun was stronger.
It was the sun's victory.
WHY CATS WASH THEMSELVES AFTER EATING
One day a bird flew into a farmer's yard. There was always something to eat for him there. He jumped around in the dust from one place to another picking up this and that from the ground and singing a loud song. The old bird, Tim by name, had a very good appetite and always ate a lot.
Old Tim was so busy that he did not look up or around and did not see a large black cat watching him from behind the farmer's house.
"How hungry I am!" thought the cat. "But soon I am going to have a wonderful breakfast."
Soon old Tim finished his breakfast and was going to clean his feathers when the cat jumped at him and the bird was between the cat's teeth.
"What a fine breakfast I am going to have!" said the cat.
"Oh, no, Mr. Cat, you can't!" cried out the Old Tim. "You are certainly not going to eat me up, are you?"
"But I am!" answered the cat. "Do you think I am going to look at you or to listen to your silly songs?" And the cat sat down ready to begin his breakfast.
"Oh, no, Mr. Cat, you can't do that."
"But why not? Don't get it into your head that I am going to let you fly away! Oh, no, you are wrong here," answered the cat."
"But have you already washed yourself?"
"No, I haven't. But what does it matter?" said the cat.
"Oh, Mr. Cat! What did your parents teach you? How can you have your breakfast without washing yourself first?" answered the bird.
"Do you think I can't? I don't see it your way."
"Of course, you can't!" repeated Old Tim. "Ask anybody and they are going to tell you that I am right. People never eat without washing themselves first," said the poor bird.
"Hm, well, I think you are right," said the angry cat. "All right, I am going to wash myself first and only after that have my breakfast."
And with those words the cat began to wash himself. The cat was so busy cleaning his coat that he did not see how Old Tim jumped aside and flew away
When the cat finished his washing and wanted to begin his breakfast there was no Tim there - he was high in a tree singing his song. Old Tim knew how to fool cats! The cat was very angry with Tim and with himself.
"Well, let people do as they like but I'm never going to wash myself before eating!" he said.
So from that day on all cats wash themselves only after and not before eating.
HOW ANIMALS LEARNED TO DO SOMETHING
Many years ago, in the man's early history, when people and animals were great friends, a man called all the animals together. He got on a large stone for all the animals to see him and began to speak:
"My dear friends! Listen to me!" the man went on to say. "I am angry with you. You are very lazy, you do not do anything. You have learned nothing. You can't go on like this, it's time for you to learn to do something. In a month's time I want you to come here and show me what you have learnt. I am sure you can learn a lot of things if you want to."
With these words the man got off the stone and said good-bye to the animals. The animals said good-bye to the man and to each other and left.
The animals thought and thought, they thought from early morning till late at night. In the end they thought of something and each animal began to learn to do something. The horse began to learn to run quickly and carry loads. The dog learned to bark, it wanted to help the man to watch his animals. The cow began to give milk. The cock learned to sing early in the morning and thus wake up the man. The cock's wife, the hen, began to lay eggs. The bees learned to make honey.
Many birds learned to sing beautiful songs; they had their singing lessons every day.
A month passed and the man again called all the animals together. "Well", he said, "I think you have learned to do something. It's time for you to show me what you have learned."
And the horse ran quickly, the cow gave milk, the hen laid eggs, the bees began to make honey, the cock sang and then the birds began to sing beautiful songs.
The man was very pleased with them all. To have milk, eggs and honey every day. It was wonderful.
"And what about you?" the man said to the fish. The fish stood behind the other animals and didn't do anything. "What`s the matter with you? Haven't you learned anything?"
The fish only opened and shut its mouth - it didn't know what to say.
"So you haven't learned to do anything and you cannot say a word," said the man angrily. "Very well, then you must always be like that and I don’t want to see you again."
And from that day on the fish has not said a word and has lived in the water where nobody can see her.
A HORRIBLY GOOD GIRL
Once upon a time there was a little girl called Bertha, who was extraordinary good, even horribly good. She did all that she was told, she was always truthful, she kept her clothes clean, ate milk pudding, learned her lessons perfectly, and was extremely polite in her manners.
She was so good that she won several medals for goodness, which she always wore pinned up to her dress. There was a medal for obedience, and the medal for punctuality, and a third for good behavior. They were large metal medals and they clinked against one another when she walked. Everybody talked about her goodness, and the prince of the country got to hear about it, and he allowed her once a week to walk in his park. It was a very beautiful park and no children were ever allowed to walk in it, so it was a great honour for Bertha to be allowed to go there.
There were a lot of delightful things in the park. There were ponds with gold and green and blue fish in them, and trees with beautiful parrots that said clever things at a moment's notice, and humming-birds that hummed all the popular tunes of the day. Bertha walked up and down and enjoyed herself immensely.
Just then an enormous wolf came into the park to see if he could catch a fat little pig for its supper. The wolf was mud-coloured all over with a black tongue and pale grey eyes that gleamed with unspeakable ferocity. The first thing it saw in the park was Bertha, because her pinafore was spotlessly white and clean that it could be seen from a great distance.
Bertha ran as hard as she could, and the wolf came after her with huge leaps. She managed to reach myrtle bushes and hid herself in one of the thickest of the bushes. The scent of the myrtle was so strong that the wolf could not sniff out where Bertha was hiding, so he might as well go off and catch a little pig instead. But Bertha was trembling very much, and as she trembled the medal for obedience clinked against the medals for good conduct and punctuality. The wolf was just moving away when he heard the sound of the medals clinking and he stopped to listen; they clicked again in the bush quite near him. He dashed into the bush, his pale grey eyes gleaming with ferocity and triumph, and dragged Bertha out and devoured her to the last morsel. All that was left of her were her shoes, bits of clothing, and the three medals for goodness.
THE COUNTRY MOUSE AND THE TOWN MOUSE
Once upon a time a country mouse who had a friend in town invited him, for old acquaintance's sake, to pay him a visit in the country. Though plain and rough and somewhat frugal in his nature, the country mouse opened his heart and store in honour of an old friend. There was not a carefully stored up morsel that he did not produce from his larder-peas and barley, cheeseparings and nuts - to please the palate of his city-bred guest.
The town mouse, however, turned up his long nose at the rough country food. "How is it, my friend?" he exclaimed, "that you can endure the boredom of living like a toad in a hole? You can't really prefer these solitary rocks and woods to the excitement of the city. You are wasting your time out here in the wilderness. A mouse, you know, does not live forever; one must make the most of life while it lasts. So come with me and I'll show you life and the town."
In the end the country mouse allowed himself to be persuaded, and the two friends set out together on their journey to town. It was late in the evening when they crept stealthily into the city, and midnight before they reached the great house where the town mouse lived.
On the table of the splendid banquet room were the remains of the lavish feast. It was now the turn of the city mouse to play host... He ran to and fro to supply all the guest's wants. He pressed dish upon dish and dainty upon dainty upon him as though he were waiting on a king. The country mouse, for his part, pretended to feel quite at home and blessed the good fortune that he had made such a change in his way of life.
But in the midst of its enjoyment, just as he was beginning to feel contempt for his frugal life in the country, the sound of barking and growling could be heard outside the door.
"What is that?" said the country mouse.
""Oh, that is only the master's dogs," replied the town mouse.
"Only!" replied the visitor in dismay. "I can't say that I like music with my dinner."
At that moment the door flew open and a party of revellers, together with two huge dogs, burst into the room. The frightened friends jumped from the table and concealed themselves in a far corner of the chamber. At length, when things seemed quiet, the country mouse stole out from his hiding place, and bidding his friend good-bye, whispered in his ear: "This fine way of living may be for those who like it. But give me my barley bread in peace and in security in preference to your dainty fare partaken with fear and trembling."
MORAL: A crust eaten in peace is better than a banquet partaken in anxiety.
ABOUT THE COCK
Many, many years ago there lived three brothers in the sky - the Sun, the Moon and the Cock. They had neither mother nor a father. They loved each other dearly and were a very happy family. The brothers lived in a very nice house made of wood.
The Sun and the Moon worked and the Cock looked after the house. It was the Cock's duty to bring food and prepare their breakfast, wash up the dishes, sweep the floor and do many other things at home. It was also his duty to wake the Sun up early in the morning with his beautiful songs.
Early in the morning the Sun went to work. When he was at his working place high in the sky everybody said: "What a fine day it is! What wonderful weather!"
At the end of the day the Sun came home from work. Then the sky turned dark and soon night came. Then it was time for the Moon to go to work. But the Moon was a lazy worker. On his way to work he often came into a new cafe in the far corner of the sky and sat there with his friends for a long time. Those were very dark nights, as black as ink, and the poor people walking in the dark addressed a lot of angry words to the lazy Moon.
One day the Sun went off to work and the Moon and the Cock stayed at home. Late in the afternoon the Moon told the Cock to bring the cows and horses from the fields. The Cock answered: "Oh, my dear brother, I have had a long day's work and I still have a lot of things to do. I cannot go, do it yourself."
The lazy Moon was very angry with the Cock, he took him by the comb and threw him down from the sky.
In the evening the Sun came home. He went round the house but he did not see the Cock.
"Where is our brother, the Cock?" asked the Sun. "It is strange that he did not meet me with his wonderful songs."
"I have asked him to go and see our aunt who is ill", answered the Moon.
A lot of time passed, but there was still no Cock. Every minute the Sun looked out of the window and soon he began to understand that something was wrong with the Cock. Again and again he asked the Moon about their poor brother. And every time the Moon repeated his story about the aunt who was ill, but he never looked the Sun in the face. In the end he told the Sun everything.
The Sun began to cry and then said: "Oh, Moon, what have you done! You are a very bad brother, but you are going to pay for it. You did not want to live with our dear brother, the Cock, and I don't want to live with you. I don't want to see you any more. We are never going to meet each other. From this day on, the night must belong to you and the day to me. And our brother must never see you any more because you threw him down from the sky. He must not love you any more, but he is going to love and remember me. When I get up, he must get up too and be glad to see me. But when you come out, he must always go to sleep and never see you again."
And that is how it has been from that day on. When the Sun comes out in the morning the Cock is happy to see his dear brother and he calls out:
"Cock-a-doodle-doo, Cock-a-doodle-doo!" By this he wants to say, "Here I am too! Here I am too!"
But when the Sun goes down and the Moon shows its pale face the Cock quickly runs home and goes to sleep because he does not want to meet his brother whom he does not love any more.
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