Price of Revenge

That was a beautiful forest with a large meadow. A horse was grazing in that place for quite some time. The horse was all alone, enjoying that vast meadow. One day, a stag intruded into this place and started grazing there. The horse felt its territory was invaded by the stag and it didn’t like it, even though there were enough grass for both the horse and the stag.

One day, it spotted a hunter in the forest and requested his help to punish the stag. The hunter had agreed cheerfully. But he also sought the horse’s help “ I can not hunt the stag, as it runs very fast. Let me mount on you and together we can chase the stag. Using my weapon, we can easily kill the stag”

The horse readily agreed. As planned, the hunter mounted himself on the horse and they chased the stag and the hunter killed the stag with his spear. The horse was very pleased with the revenge. There was no one now to share his grass. It began to thank the hunter for his help, but the hunter said,” No, do not thank me. I did not know until now how useful you could be to me. I should thank you, as from now on I’ll keep you as my servant”

From that time, the horse has become a slave of the hunter.

Moral:

Taking revenge on somebody may put you into deeper trouble
The price of revenge is always high

Mr. Turtle

A rich little boy had a strange pet animal. A turtle! He used to rear it in a pond in his big garden. Every day, he used to watch the turtle cheerfully swimming in the pond.

One day, he found the turtle lying on its back, lifeless and still, beside the pond. He was heartbroken. He was crying inconsolably. His father tried his best to console him, “Don’t cry, my son. We’ll arrange a lovely funeral for Mr. Turtle. We’ll make a lovely little coffin. We’ll line it with costly silk. We’ll get a beautiful headstone for his grave with Mr. Turtle’s name carved on it. Then, we’ll get fresh flowers placed on it every day.

The little boy dried his eyes and became very enthusiastic about the project. When all was ready, a cortege was formed - Father, mother, the boy’s close friends, gardener, driver and some neighbors - began to move solemnly towards the pond to bring the body. But, to their surprise, they could not find the body there. It had vanished.

Suddenly the turtle emerged from the water merrily. It was alive!

The boy stared at the turtle in a bitter disappointment, then told his father “Let’s kill the turtle”

Moral:

Sometimes the obsession makes one inhuman
Kill the obsession not the turtle

Two thieves

Long long ago, one late evening, two thieves were entering into an inn, on the way back from their hard days work! Both of them had looted a horse each. They wanted to make sure that the next day they would leave with their respective horse.

So, they devised a method. They have decided to measure the length of the tails so that next day they could identify their respective horses without any problem. The first thief’s horse measured three feet one inch. The second thief’s horse measured three feet one and quarter inch. They both were pretty satisfied with the measurements and retired for the day.

The next day morning, when the started to leave from the place, they measured the length of the tails again to identify their respective horse.

The first horse measured three feet one and half inch. The second horse also measured three feet one and half inch! They were very confused and both of them were quarrelling with each other claiming the stronger horse was theirs.

The in-charge of the inn was noticing the quarrel and asked them for the reason. When he understood the reason for the quarrel, he wondered “I was watching both of you when you were walking in yesterday. You came with a white horse and the other with a black horse, Then, why are you fighting now?!

Moral:

Always look for simple solutions.
Most of the time, we confuse our self by complicated solutions!
We can make our life easier by having simple rules.

“Go deeper” – Another woodcutter story

That was a small village. A poor woodcutter lived in that village. The woodcutter used to go to the nearby forest everyday and cut trees for his living. He could not make his ends meet, as the trees he cut were not enough to make a decent living.

There was a saint in the forest, who used to sit in meditation most of the time under a huge banyan tree. He used to speak very less and what ever he speaks will have profound meaning. One day, the woodcutter met this saint and fell on his feet to get his blessings. He also mentioned abut his poverty and the difficult living he is into. The saint looked at the woodcutter’s eyes and said “go deeper” and closed his eyes and continued his meditation. The woodcutter could not understand anything and left the place very sadly.

Next day, when he was cutting the trees, he was thinking about what the saint has said. Go deeper. He has always been cutting the trees from the periphery of the forest. He usually stops at the place where he first sees trees and cuts them. He has decided to go deeper into the forest this time. When he went much further into the forest, to his surprise, he saw lot of sandal wood trees. Sandal wood trees are very expensive. He cuts those trees and sells them in the evening. He got much higher money that day than he would usually get. He was very happy, and continues to go deeper into the forest from that day onwards and has become rich.

He has bought a big house, and a cart with two horses. He has started living a happy, rich life.

After some months, he was still pondering over what the saint has said. Go deeper. The saint did not mention anything about the sandal wood trees. He only asked him to go deeper. So, he has decided to go still deeper the next day. To his surprise again, he saw a small mountain with lot of silver. He brought the silver back into the village, sold them and become still more rich. He constructed a huge bungalow and bought a new car.

After some months, he was pondering again over what the saint has said. Go deeper. So, the next day he went deeper and found a mountain of gold, after some months we went still deeper and found lot of diamonds and so on… He has become very very rich and lived happily ever after.

That is the end of the story!

Moral: We should not do the same thing every day, like the woodcutter on the periphery of the forest. We should always try to do it better, deeper. We will always get benefited by going deeper in what ever we do.

The honest (and wise) Woodcutter

Long, long ago, there lived a woodcutter in a small village. He is sincere in his work and very honest. Everyday, he will set out into the nearby forest to cut trees. He’ll bring the cut trees in the evening to the village, sell them out to a merchant and earn his money.

One day, while cutting a tree near a river, his axe slipped out of his hand fell into the river. The river was so deep, he could not retrieve it. He only had one axe and since it is lost, he could not earn a living now. He was very sad and prayed to the river God. Since his prayer was so intense, the God appeared in front of him and asked “what is the problem, my son?” The woodcutter explained the problem and requested him earnestly to get his axe back. The God put his hand deep into the river and took a Golden axe and asked “Is this your axe?” The Woodcutter looked at the axe and said “No”. God told him to look carefully, “This is an expensive golden axe. Look, this maybe yours” To this the woodcutter firmly said “No”.

The God put his hand deep into the water again and showed a silver axe and asked “Is this your axe?” The wood cutter looked at the axe and said “No”. The God finally put his hand into the water again and took his iron axe and asked “Is this your axe?” To this, the wood cutter said “Yes”. The God was very impressed with his honesty and gave the other two axes also to him, along with his iron axe, as the gift for his honesty. The wood cutter was very happy.

Moral of the story: If you are honest, the God will give you more.

Part II:

The story did not end here. The wood cutter took those two expensive axes and went to the merchant to sell. The merchant was very surprised to see such expensive axes with the poor woodcutter. The wood cutter explained about the Water God and His gifts. The merchant was very greedy and wanted to try that himself. He took his own expensive iron axe with him and went to the river. He intentionally dropped the axe into the river and prayed to the God. The God appeared before him and asked for the problem. The merchant requested the God to recover his axe which fell into the river. The God put his hand deep into the river and took a golden axe and asked “Is this your axe?” The greedy merchant immediately said “YES”. The God was very angry and pushed the merchant into the river and killed him. The merchant had lost his axe and his life.

Moral of the story: If you are dishonest, the God will punish you.

Part III:

There is a III part of this story too. After many months, the woodcutter went through the river with his wife. Now, his wife accidentally fell into the river. The river was so deep, she immediately drowned. The woodcutter prayed to the water God again. The God appeared in front of him and asked “son, what is the problem now? Have you dropped the axe again?” The woodcutter explained about his wife and requested Him to get her back from the river.

The God put his hand deep into the water and took Aishwarya Roy from the river and asked “Is this your wife?” The woodcutter looked at Aishwarya Roy and immediately said “YES”. The God was very angry. He shouted “Liar, how come you have become so dishonest and greedy? I know this is not your wife. What made you to lie to me?” To this the woodcutter very politely answered. ”My Lord, I know what will you do. If I did not lie now, you’ll show Sushmita Sen and would ask is her my wife? If I still say no, you would finally show my wife. And you would gift all the three ladies to me.” “It is very difficult to manage just one wife. Please imagine my fate if I have to manage three wifes?” “Instead, I would better get drowned into the river by You”

The God was very pleased with the wisdom of the woodcutter and took his wife back from the river and gave her to him. He got Aishwarya Roy married to Abhishek Bachchan and all of them were happy.

Moral of the story: It is important to be honest. It is more important to be wise. Otherwise, you’ll be in deep trouble!