The Frog Prince and the Princess

In times of yore, when wishes were both heard and granted, lived a king whose daughters were all beautiful, but the youngest was so lovely that the sun himself, who has seen so much, wondered at her beauty every time he looked in her face. Now, near the king’s castle was a large dark forest; and in the forest, under an old linden-tree, was a deep well. When the day was very hot, the king’s daughter used to go to the wood and seat herself at the edge of the cool well; and when she became wearied, she would take a golden ball, throw it up in the air, and catch it again. This was her favourite amusement. Once it happened that her golden ball, instead of falling back into the little hand that she stretched out for it, dropped on the ground, and immediately rolled away into the water. The king’s daughter followed it with her eyes, but the ball had vanished, and the well was so deep that no one could see down to the bottom. Then she began to weep, wept louder and louder every minute, and could not console herself at all.

While she was thus lamenting some one called to her: “What is the matter with you, king’s daughter? You weep so, that you would touch the heart of a stone.”

She looked around to see whence the voice came, and saw a frog stretching his thick ugly head out of the water.

“Ah! it is you, old water-paddler!” said she. “I am crying for my golden ball, which has fallen into the well.”

“Be content,” answered the frog, “I daresay I can give you some good advice; but what will you give me if I bring back your plaything to you?”

“Whatever you like, dear frog,” said she, “my clothes, my pearls and jewels, even the golden crown I wear.”

The frog answered, “Your clothes, your pearls and jewels, even your golden crown, I do not care for; but if you will love me, and let me be your companion and playfellow; sit near you at your little table, eat from your little golden plate, drink from your little cup, and sleep in your little bed;—if you will promise me this, then I will bring you back your golden ball from the bottom of the well.”

“Oh, yes!” said she; “I promise you everything, if you will only bring me back my golden ball.”

She thought to herself, meanwhile: “What nonsense the silly frog talks! He sits in the water with the other frogs, and croaks, and can not be anybody’s playfellow!”

But the frog, as soon as he had received the promise, dipped his head under the water and sank down. In a little while up he came again with the ball in his mouth, and threw it on the grass. The king’s daughter was overjoyed when she beheld her pretty plaything again, picked it up, and ran away with it.

“Wait! wait!” cried the frog; “take me with you. I cannot run as fast as you.”

Alas! of what use was it that he croaked after her as loud as he could. She would not listen to him, but hastened home, and soon forgot the poor frog, who was obliged to plunge again to the bottom of his well.

 The next day, when she was sitting at dinner with the king and all the courtiers, eating from her little gold plate, there came a sound of something creeping up the marble staircase— splish, splash; and when it had reached the top, it knocked at the door and cried, “Youngest king’s daughter, open to me.”

She ran, wishing to see who was outside; but when she opened the door, and there sat the frog, she flung it hastily to again, and sat down at table, feeling very, very uncomfortable. The king saw that her heart was beating violently, and said, “How, my child, why are you afraid? Is a giant standing outside the door to carry you off?”

“Oh, no!” answered she, “it is no giant, but a nasty frog, who yesterday, when I was playing in the wood near the well, fetched my golden ball out of the water. For this I promised him he should be my companion, but I never thought he could come out of his well. Now he is at the door, and wants to come in.”

Again, the second time there was a knock, and a voice cried:

“Youngest king’s daughter,

Open to me;

Know you what yesterday

You promised me,

By the cool water?

Youngest king’s daughter

Open to me.”

Then said the king, “What you promised you must perform. Go and open the door.”

She went and opened the door; the frog hopped in, always following and following her till he came up to her chair. There he sat and cried out, “Lift me up to you on the table.”

She refused, till the king, her father, commanded her to do it. When the frog was on the table, he said, “Now push your little golden plate nearer to me, that we may eat together.” She did as he desired, but one could easily see that she did it unwillingly. The frog seemed to enjoy his dinner very much, but every morsel she ate stuck in the throat of the poor little princess.

Then said the frog, “I have eaten enough, and am tired; carry me to your little room, and make your little silken bed smooth, and we will lay ourselves down to sleep together.”

At this the daughter of the king began to weep; for she was afraid of the cold frog, who wanted to sleep in her pretty clean bed.

But the king looked angrily at her, and said again: “What you have promised you must perform. The frog is your companion.”

It was no use to complain whether she liked it or not; she was obliged to take the frog with her up to her little bed. So she picked him up with two fingers, hating him bitterly the while, and carried him upstairs: but when she got into bed, instead of lifting him up to her, she threw him with all her strength against the wall, saying, “Now, you nasty frog, there will be an end of you.”

But what fell down from the wall was not a dead frog, but a living young prince, with beautiful and loving eyes, who at once became, by her own promise and her father’s will, her dear companion and husband. He told her how he had been cursed by a wicked sorceress, and that no one but the king’s youngest daughter could release him from his enchantment and take him out of the well.

The next day a carriage drove up to the palace-gates with eight white horses, having white feathers on their heads and golden reins. Behind it stood the servant of the young prince, called the Faithful Henry. This faithful Henry had been so grieved when his master was changed into a frog, that he had been compelled to have three iron bands fastened round his heart, lest it should break. Now the carriage came to convey the prince to his kingdom, so the faithful Henry lifted in the bride and bridegroom, and mounted behind, full of joy at his lord’s release. But when they had gone a short distance, the prince heard behind him a noise as if something was breaking. He turned round, and cried out, “Henry, the carriage is breaking!”

But Henry replied: “No, sir, it is not the carriage, but one of the bands from my heart, with which I was forced to bind it up, or it would have broken with grief, while you sat as a frog at the bottom of the well.”

Twice again this happened, and the prince always thought the carriage was breaking; but it was only the bands breaking off from the heart of the faithful Henry, out of joy that his lord the Frog-Prince was a frog no more. 🙂

…≈…

Snow White And Rose Red

A poor widow lived alone in a little cottage, in front of which was a garden, where stood two little rose-trees: one bore white roses, the other red. The widow had two children, who resembled the two rose-trees: one was called Snow-white, and the other Rose-red. They were two of the best children that ever lived; but Snow-white was quieter and more gentle than Rose-red. Rose-red liked best to jump about in the meadows, to look for flowers and catch butterflies; but Snow-white sat at home with her mother, helped her in the house, or read to her when there was nothing else to do. The two children loved one another so much, that they always walked hand in hand; and when Snow-white said, “We will not forsake one another,” Rose-red answered, “Never, as long as we live;” and the mother added, “Yes, my children, whatever one has, let her divide with the other.” They often ran about in solitary places, and gathered red berries; and the wild creatures of the wood never hurt them, but came confidingly up to them. The little hare ate cabbage-leaves out of their hands, the doe grazed at their side, the stag sprang merrily past them, and the birds remained sitting on the boughs, and never ceased their songs. They met with no accident if they loitered in the wood and right came on; they lay down together on the moss, and slept till morning; and the mother knew this, and was in no anxiety about them. Once, when they had spent the night in the wood, and the red morning awoke them, they saw a beautiful child in a shining white dress, sitting by the place where they had slept, who, arising, and looking at them kindly, said nothing, but went into the wood. And when they looked round, they found out that they had been sleeping close to a precipice, and would certainly have fallen down it if they had gone a few steps farther in the dark. Their mother told them it must have been the angel that takes care of good children who had sat by them all night long.

Snow-white and Rose-red kept their mother’s cottage so clean, that it was a pleasure to look into it. In the summer, Rose-red managed the house, and every morning she gathered a nosegay in which was a rose off each tree, and set it by her mother’s bed before she awoke. In winter Snow-white lighted the fire, and hung the kettle on the hook; and though it was only copper, it shone like gold, it was rubbed so clean. In the evening, when the snow fell, the mother said, “Go, Snow-white, and bolt the door;” and then they seated themselves on the hearth, and the mother took her spectacles, and read aloud out of a great book, and the two girls listened, and sat and span. Near them lay a lamb on the floor, and behind them, on a perch, sat a white dove, with its head under its wing.

One evening, as they were thus happy together, some one knocked to be let in. The mother said, “Quick, Rose-red, open the door; perhaps it is a traveller who seeks shelter.” Rose-red went and pushed the bolt back, and thought it was a poor man, but a bear stretched his thick black head into the door. Rose-red screamed and sprang back, the little lamb bleated, the little dove fluttered about, and Snow-white hid herself behind her mother’s bed. However, the bear began to speak, and said, “Do not be frightened, I will do you no harm; I am half-frozen, and only want to warm myself a little.”

“You poor bear,” said the mother, “lay yourself down before the fire, only take care your fur does not burn.” Then she called out, “Snow-white and Rose-red, come out; the bear will not hurt you – he means honestly by us.” Then they both came out, and, by degrees, the lamb and the dove also approached, and ceased to be afraid. The bear said, “Children, knock the snow a little out of my fur;” and they fetched a broom, and swept the bear’s skin clean; and he stretched himself before the fire and growled softly, like a bear that was quite happy and comfortable. In a short time, they all became quite friendly together, and the children played tricks with the awkward guest. They pulled his hair, set their feet on his back, and rolled him here and there; or took a hazel rod and beat him, and when he growled they laughed. The bear was very much pleased with this frolic, only, when they became too mischievous, he called out, “Children, leave me alone.”

“Little Snow-white and Rose-red,
You will strike your lover dead.”

When bedtime came, and the others went to sleep, the mother said to the bear: “You can lie there on the hearth, and then you will be sheltered from the cold and the bad weather.” At daybreak the two children let him out, and he trotted over the snow into the wood. Henceforward, the bear came every evening at the same hour, laid himself on the hearth, and allowed the children to play with him as much as they liked; and they became so used to him, that the door was never bolted until their black companion had arrived. When spring came, and everything was green out-of-doors, the bear said one morning to Snow-white: “Now I must go away, and may not come again the whole summer.”

“Where are you going, dear Bear?” asked Snow-white.

“I must go into the wood, and guard my treasures from the bad dwarfs; in winter, when the ground is frozen hard, they have to stay underneath, and cannot work their way through, but now that the sun has thawed and warmed the earth, they break through, come up, seek, and steal: what is once in their hands, and lies in their caverns, does not come so easily into daylight again.” Snow-white was quite sorrowful at parting, and as she unbolted the door for him, and the bear ran out, the hook of the door caught him, and a piece of his skin tore off; it seemed to Snow-white as if she had seen gold shining through, but she was not sure. But the bear ran quickly away, and soon disappeared behind the trees.

After some time, their mother sent the children into the wood to collect faggots. They found there a large tree, which had been cut down and lay on the ground, and by the trunk something was jumping up and down, but they could not tell what it was. As they came nearer, they saw that it was a dwarf, with an old withered face, and a snow-white beard a yard long. The end of the beard was stuck fast in a cleft in the tree, and the little fellow jumped about like a dog on a rope, and did not know how to help himself. He stared at the girls with his fiery red eyes, and screamed out, “Why do you stand there! Can’t you come and render me some assistance?”

“What is the matter with you, little man?” asked Rose-red.

“Stupid little goose!” answered the dwarf; “I wanted to chop the tree, so as to have some small pieces of wood for the kitchen; we only want little bits; with thick logs, the small quantity of food that we cook for ourselves – we are not, like you, great greedy people – burns directly. I had driven the wedge well in, and it was all going on right, but the detestable wood was too smooth, and sprang out unexpectedly; and the tree closed up so quickly, that I could not pull my beautiful white beard out; now it is sticking there, and I can’t get away. There you foolish, soft, milk-faces! you are laughing and crying out, ‘How ugly you are! how ugly you are!’”

The children took a great deal of trouble, but they could not pull the beard out; it stuck too fast.

“I will run and fetch somebody,” said Rose red.

“You great ninny!” snarled the dwarf, “you want to call more people; you are two too many for me now. Can’t you think of anything better?”

“Only don’t be impatient,” said Snow-white, “I have thought of something;” and she took her little scissors out of her pocket, and cut the end of the beard off.

As soon as the dwarf felt himself free, he seized a sack filled with gold that was sticking between the roots of the tree; pulling it out, he growled to himself, “You rude people, to cut off a piece of my beautiful beard! May evil reward you!” Then he threw his sack over his shoulders and walked away, without once looking at the children.

Some time afterwards, Snow-white and Rose red wished to catch some fish for dinner. As they came near to the stream, they saw that something like a grasshopper was jumping towards the water, as if it were going to spring in. They ran on and recognised the dwarf.

“Where are you going?” asked Rose-red, “You don’t want to go into the water?”

“I am not such a fool as that,” cried the dwarf, “Don’t you see the detestable fish wants to pull me in?”

The little fellow had been sitting there fishing, and, unluckily, the wind had entangled his beard with the line. When directly afterwards a great fish bit at his hook, the weak creature could not pull him out, so the fish was pulling the dwarf into the water. It is true he caught hold of all the reeds and rushes, but that did not help him much; he had to follow all the movements of the fish, and was in imminent danger of being drowned. The girls, coming at the right time, held him fast and tried to get the beard loose from the line, but in vain – beard and line were entangled fast together. There was nothing to do but to pull out the scissors and to cut off the beard, in doing which a little piece of it was lost. When the dwarf saw that, he cried out: “Is that manners, you goose! to disfigure one’s face so? Is it not enough that you once cut my beard shorter? But now you have cut the best part of it off, I dare not be seen by my people. I wish you had to run, and had lost the soles of your shoes!” Then he fetched a sack of pearls that lay among the rushes, and, without saying a word more, he dragged it away and disappeared behind a stone.

Soon after, the mother sent the two girls to the town to buy cotton, needles, cord, and tape. The road led them by a heath, scattered over which lay great masses of rock. There they saw a large bird hovering in the air; it flew round and round just above them, always sinking lower and lower, and at last it settled down by a rock not far distant. Directly after, they heard a piercing, wailing cry. They ran up, and saw with horror that the eagle had seized their old acquaintance the dwarf, and was going to carry him off. The compassionate children instantly seized hold of the little man, held him fast, and struggled so long that the eagle let his prey go.

When the dwarf had recovered from his first fright, he called out, in his shrill voice: “Could not you deal rather more gently with me? You have torn my thin coat all in tatters, awkward, clumsy creatures that you are!” Then he took a sack of precious stones, and slipped behind the rock again into his den. The girls, who were used to his ingratitude, went on their way, and completed their business in the town. As they were coming home again over the heath, they surprised the dwarf, who had emptied his sack of precious stones on a little clean place, and had not thought that any one would come by there so late. The evening sun shone on the glittering stones, which looked so beautiful in all their colours, that the children could not help standing still to gaze.

“Why do you stand there gaping?” cried the dwarf, his ash-coloured face turning vermilion with anger.

With these cross words he was going away, when he heard a loud roaring, and a black bear trotted out of the wood towards them. The dwarf sprang up terrified, but he could not get to his lurking hole again – the bear was already close upon him. Then he called out in anguish, –

“Dear Mr. Bear, spare me, and you shall have all my treasures; look at the beautiful precious stones that lye there. Give me my life! for what do you want with a poor thin little fellow like me? You would scarcely feel me between your teeth. Rather seize those two wicked girls; they will be tender morsels for you, as fat as young quails; pray, eat them at once.”

The bear, without troubling himself to answer, gave the malicious creature one single stroke with his paw, and he did not move again. The girls had run away, but the bear called after them, “Snow-white and Rose-red, do not be frightened; wait, I will go with you. Recognising the voice of their old friend, they stood still, and when the bear came up to them his skin suddenly fell off; and behold he was not a bear, but a handsome young man dressed all in gold.

“I am a king’s son,” said he; “I was changed by the wicked dwarf, who had stolen all my treasures, into a wild bear, and obliged to run about in the wood until I should be freed by his death. Now he has received his well-deserved punishment.”

So they all went home together to the widow’s cottage, and Snow-white was married to the prince, and Rose-red to his brother. They divided between them the great treasures which the dwarf had amassed. The old mother lived many quiet and happy years with her children; but when she left her cottage for the palace, she took the two rose-trees with her, and they stood before her window and bore every year the most beautiful roses – one white and the other red.

…≈…

 

The Golden Egg!

A poor barber lived alone in his small hut. He was dedicated to his work. And whatever he earns was enough to fulfill his needs.

One evening, after returning from work, the barber was hungry.

“What shall I cook tonight?” he thought.

Just then he heard a Goose clucking outside his hut. “That Goose would make a great feast for me,” thought the barber and prepared to catch the it.

With a little effort he was able to catch the Goose. As he was about to kill the Goose, it squeaked..

“Please do not kill me, O kind man! I will help you.” barber stopped. Though he was surprised that the Goose spoke, he asked, “How can you help me?”

“If you spare my life, I will lay a golden egg everyday for you,” said the Goose.

The Barber’s eyes got widened in delight. He was surprised to hear this promise.

“A golden egg! That too everyday! But why should I believe you? You might be lying,” said the Barber.

“If I do not lay a golden egg tomorrow, you can kill me,” said the Goose.

After this promise, the Barber spared the Goose and waited for the next day.

The next morning, the barber found a golden egg lying outside his hut and the Goose sitting beside it.

“It is true! You really can lay a golden egg!” exclaimed barber with great delight. He did not reveal this incident to any one, fearing that others would catch the Goose.

From that day onwards, the Goose would lay a golden egg everyday. In return, the barber took good care of the Goose. Very soon, the Barber became rich.

But he became greedy. He thought, “If I cut open the Goose’s stomach, I can get out all the golden eggs at once. I do not have to wait for the Goose to lay the golden eggs one by one.”

That night, he brought the Goose to the interior portion of his house and killed the Goose. But to his dismay, he found no golden eggs. Not even one.

“What have I done? My greed had made me kill the Goose,” he wailed. But it was too late.

 Moral: Think Before you act and Dont be Greedy!

 

Ring a Ring o’ Roses

British

Ring-a-ring o’ roses,
A pocket full of posies,
A-tishoo! A-tishoo!

We all fall down.

American

Ring-a-round the rosie,
A pocket full of posies,
Ashes! Ashes!

We all fall down.

German

Ringelringelreihen,
Wir sind der Kinder dreien,
sitzen unter’m Hollerbusch
Und machen alle Huschhuschhusch!

Prayers Before Meals:

Bahá’í Prayer Before Meals

O my Lord, my Hope!
Praise be unto Thee, for Thou hast sent down unto us this spiritual table, supreme benefit and heavenly blessing. O our Lord! Strengthen us to partake of this heavenly food, so that its fine essence may run through the pillars of our spiritual being and that we may thereby obtain a celestial power for serving Thy Cause, promulgating Thy signs and adorning Thy vineyard with lofty trees, the fruits whereof shall be near (to gather) and of perfuming fragrances. Verily Thou art the Possessor of great bounty! Verily Thou are the Clement, the Merciful!

~ (Tablets of Abdu’l-Baha Volume 1, p. 167)

Hindu Prayer Before Meals

Brahmārpaṇam brahma havir
Brahmāgnau brahmanāhutam;
Brahmaiva tena gantavyam
Brahma karma samādhinā.

“Brahman is the oblation; Brahman is the clarified butter etc. constituting the offerings, by Brahman is the oblation poured into the fire of Brahman; Brahman verily shall be reached by him who always sees Brahman in all actions.”

Irish Grace Prayer Before Meals

Bless, O Lord, this food we are about to eat; and we pray You, O God, that it may be good for our body and soul; and if there be any poor creature hungry or thirsty walking along the road, send them into us that we can share the food with them, just as You share your gifts with all of us.

Anglican Prayer Before Meals

Blessed are you, O Lord God, King of the Universe, for you
give us food to sustain our lives and make our hearts glad;
through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Catholic Meal Prayer Before Meals

Father of us all,
This meal is a sign of Your love for us:
Bless us and bless our food,
And help us to give you glory each day
Through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen!

General Graces Before Meals

~ Bless us, O Lord, and these your gifts, which we are about to receive from your bounty. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.

~ God is great, and God is good, And we thank him for our food; By his hand we all are fed; Give us, Lord, our daily bread.

~ God, we thank you for this food. For rest and home and all things good. For wind and rain and sun above. But most of all for those we love.

~ O Lord, we thank you for the gifts of your bounty which we enjoy at this table. As you have provided for us in the past, so may you sustain us throughout our lives. While we enjoy your gifts, may we never forget the needy and those in want.

~ Bless this food to our use, and us to thy service. Fill our hearts with grateful praise. Amen.

O God! Educate these Children… (Bahá’í Prayers)

O God!  Educate these children.  These children are the plants of Thine orchard, the flowers of Thy meadow, the roses of Thy garden.  Let Thy rain fall upon them; let the Sun of Reality shine upon them with Thy love.  Let Thy breeze refresh them in order that they may be trained, grow and develop, and appear in the utmost beauty.  Thou art the Giver.  Thou art the Compassionate.

~‘Abdu’l-Bahá

One Two Buckle My Shoe…

One, two, buckle my shoe.
Three, four, open the door.
Five, six, pick up sticks.
Seven, eight, lay them straight.
Nine, ten, do it again!

One, two, buckle my shoe.
Three, four, open the door.
Five, six, pick up sticks.
Seven, eight, lay them straight .
Nine, ten, a big fat hen!

The Thirsty Crow

One hot day, a thirsty crow flew all over the fields looking for water. For a long time, she could not find any. She felt very weak, almost giving up hope.

Suddenly, she saw a water jug below her. She flew straight down to see if there was any water inside. Yes, she could see some water inside the jug!

The crow tried to push her head into the jug. Sadly, she found that the neck of the jug was too narrow. Then she tried to push the jug down for the water to flow out. She found that the jug was too heavy.

The crow thought hard for a while. Then looking around her, she saw some pebbles. She suddenly had a good idea.

She started picking up the pebbles one by one, dropping each into the jug.

As more and more pebbles filled the jug, the water level kept rising. Soon it was high enough for the crow to drink. Her plan had worked and she quenched her thirst.

Moral: If you try hard enough, you may soon find an answer to your problem.

 

The Lion And The Hare.

There lived a lion by the name of Bhasuraka, in a dense jungle. He was very powerful, cruel and arrogant. He used to kill the animals of the jungle unnecessarily. He even killed the human beings, who travelled through the jungle. This became a cause of worry for all the animals. They discussed this problem among themselves and ultimately came upon a decision to hold a meeting with the lion and make an amicable settlement with him and put an end to this ongoing trauma.

So, one day, all the animals of the jungle assembled under a big tree. They also invited king lion to attend the meeting. In the meeting the animals said to king lion, “Your Majesty, we are happy that you are our king. We are all-the-more happy that you are presiding over the meeting.” King lion thanked them and asked, “Why is it that we have gathered here?” All the animals began looking at each other. They had to muster enough courage to broach the topic. “Sir,” said one of the animals, “It’s natural that you kill us for food. But, killing more than what is required is a positive vice and unnecessary. If you go on killing the animals without any purpose, soon a day will come, when there will be no animals left in the jungle.”

“So what do you want?” roared king lion.

“Your Majesty, we have already discussed the problem among ourselves and have come upon a solution. We have decided to send one animal a day to your den. You can kill and eat it. This will save you from the trouble of hunting and you will not have to kill a number of animals unnecessarily for your meals.”

“Good,” the lion roared back. “I agree to this proposal, but the animals must reach to me in time, otherwise, I’ll kill all the animals of the jungle.”

The animals agreed to this proposal. Everyday one animal walked into the lion’s den to become his feast. The lion too was very happy to have his food right before him. He stopped hunting for his prey.

One day, it was the turn of a hare to go into the lion’s den. The little hare was unwilling to go and become a meal of the lion, but the other animals forced him to go to the lion’s den.

Having no alternative, the hare began thinking quickly. He thought of a plan. He began wandering around and made a deliberate delay, and reached the lion’s den a little late than the lion’s meal time. By now, the lion had already lost his patience and seeing the hare coming slowly, he became furious and demanded for an explanation.

“Your Majesty”, the hare said with folded hands, “I am not to be blamed for that. I have come late because another lion began chasing me and wanted to eat me. He said that he too was the king of the jungle.”

The king lion roared in great anger and said, “Impossible, there cannot exist another king in this jungle. Who is he? I’ll kill him. Show me where he lives.”

The lion and the hare set out to face the other lion. The hare took the lion to a deep well, full of water.

When they reached near the well, the hare said to the lion, “This is the place where he lives. He might be hiding inside.”

The lion again roared in great anger; climbed up the well and peeped in. He saw his own reflection in the water and thought that the other lion was challenging his authority. He lost his temper.

“I must kill him”, said the lion unto himself and jumped into the well. He was soon drowned.

The hare was happy. He went back to other animals and narrated the whole story. All the animals took a sigh of relief and praised him for his cleverness. They all lived happily thereafter.

Moral: Intelligence is superior to physical strength

 

The Rabbits And The Elephants

Once upon a time, there lived a herd of elephants in a deep jungle. Their king was a huge elephant by the name of Chaturdanta. In the middle of this jungle, there was a big lake where all the animals went to drink water. Once it so happened, that it didn’t rain for the whole year and the lakes went dry. The elephants, after a great deal of discussion, decided to move to the other forest, where there was a lake named Chandrasar. This lake was full of water and never went dry even if there were no rains.

And so, the elephants set out for the lake ‘Chandrasar’. They felt very happy upon reaching the new lake. They bathed in the fresh water of the lake and also enjoyed playing and spewing water on each other by their trunks. After having bathed satisfactorily and quenched their thirst with the sweet water of the lake they came out of it and entered the deep forest.

But, there lived many rabbits in their burrows around the lake area. When the herd of elephants walked around they stamped the burrows with their heavy feet. Thus, many rabbits were either killed or were left physically handicapped.

So, in order to salvage the grave situation, the rabbits held a meeting and discussed this new calamity. At one point, they decided to shift from that dangerous place and live somewhere else. But a rabbit named Lambkarna advised them to exercise patience. He offered his services for the sake of all the other rabbits and said, “Don’t worry friends. Just see, how I drive these~ elephants away from this forest

The next day, Lambkarna sat on a high rock. The rock lay in the main path of the elephants, leading to the lake. When the elephant passed by the rock, the rabbit addressed the king of the elephants in a tough voice, “You’re a cruel fellow. You’ve trampled many of my relatives and friends under your feet. I too am king of rabbits. I stay in the heaven with God Moon. God Moon is very much annoyed with you.”

The king elephant was frightened to hear this. He said in a trembling voice, “Please take me to God Moon. I’ll ask for his forgiveness.”

“All right”, said the clever rabbit. “See me tonight at the lake.”

The king elephant, then, as told by the rabbit, reached the lake at night. The king rabbit and the king elephant both stood near the edge of the lake. It was a silent and moonlit night. Mild breeze was blowing. The rabbit asked the elephant to look carefully into the water of the lake.

As soon as the king elephant looked into the lake, he saw the reflection of half-moon in the lake’s water. Just then a mild breeze blew and the reflection of the moon in the water became wavy

Pointing to the wavy reflection of the moon, the king rabbit said,

“Look for yourself, how annoyed God Moon is with you. Better you ask for his mercy, otherwise, he might curse you to death ‘ “

The king elephant became more and more frightened. He promised God Moon not to ever visit the lake with his friends.

The rabbits lived happily, thereafter.

Moral: Clever move