A bunch of ten tiny frogs were going together in a forest.

Three of the frogs fell into a deep pit accidentally. They had been jumping vigorously trying to come out. But, the pit was so deep; they could not reach out of it.

The seven frogs on top of the pit knew it was very difficult for the three frogs to come out. They shouted at them “Don’t jump, you can’t come out. The pit is too deep”.

On hearing this, one of the frogs gave up. It thought anyway it was not possible. It stopped jumping. However, the other two frogs kept on jumping.

The frogs on the top kept shouting “Don’t jump. You can’t come out. If you keep jumping, you’ll lose your energy and will die” The second frog got tired and gave up. It didn’t want to waste its energy and die. But, soon both these two frogs died, out of anxiety and exhaustion.

However, the third one kept on jumping. This would not want to give up. The frogs on the top kept on yelling “it is too difficult, you can’t do it”.

But this little frog kept on trying and finally, with a big effort, it came out of the pit successfully!
Now all the little frogs on the top wanted to know how this tiny one did came out, while other two frogs failed.

It turned out….
The third frog was deaf!

The tiny frog thanked those seven frogs for encouraging him to come out! This tiny frog thought, since it could not hear what was said, that the other frogs were encouraging it to come out!

Now the moral:

Never listen to other people’s tendencies to be negative or pessimistic...
Because they make you weak and to give up your dreams...

ALWAYS be POSITIVE!

Don’t ever GIVE UP...

And above all:

Be DEAF when people tell YOU that YOU can not fulfil YOUR dreams!

Always think: I CAN DO THIS!

Don't harm others, but...

This is a popular Ramakrishna story. There was a small village nearby a forest. A terrible poisonous snake lived on a lane going towards the forest. Everyone in the village was scarred of the snake and avoided going in the lane, as it bites anyone going in the lane.

One day, a swamiji (religious guru, monk) was passing through the village and about to enter the lane. The boys on the village ran towards him and said “Revered swamiji, please don’t go that way. A venomous snake lives over there.' 'What of it, my good children?' said the Swamiji. 'I am not afraid of the snake. I am always in the thinking of God and no one can harm me.’ So saying, he continued on his way along the lane. But the boys, being scarred, did not accompany him.

The snake noticed a passing man and moved swiftly toward him with upraised hood. But on seeing the swamiji and his kind look, it could not harm him. The swamiji recited a mantra, and the snake lay at his feet like an earthworm. The swamiji said: 'Look here. Why do you go about doing harm? Come, I will give you a holy word. By repeating it you will learn to love God. Ultimately you will realize Him and so get rid of your violent nature.' Saying this, he taught the snake a holy word and initiated him into spiritual life. The snake bowed before the teacher. The swamiji told the snake ‘Repeat this sacred word', 'and do no harm to anybody.' And then the swamiji moved on.

Some days passed and the boys in the village noticed that the snake would not bite. They threw stones at it. Still it showed no anger; it behaved as if it were an earthworm. One day one of the boys came close to it, caught it by the tail, and, whirling it round and round, dashed it on the ground and threw it away. The snake vomited blood and became unconscious. It could not move. So, thinking it dead, the boys went their way.

The snake regained its consciousness after some time. Slowly and with great difficulty it dragged itself into its hole; its bones were broken and it could scarcely move. Many days passed. The snake became a mere skeleton covered with a skin. Now and then, at night, it would come out in search of food. For fear of the boys it would not leave its hole during the day-time. Since receiving the sacred word from the teacher, it had given up doing harm to others. It maintained its life on dirt, leaves, or the fruit that dropped from the trees.

About a year later the swamiji came that way again and looked for the snake. The boys told him that it was dead. But he couldn't believe them. He knew that the snake would not die before attaining the fruit of the holy word with which it had been initiated. He went to the lane and searching here and there, called it by the name he had given it. Hearing the teacher's voice, it came out of its hole and bowed before him with great reverence. ‘How are you?' asked the swamiji. 'I am well, sir', replied the snake. 'But', the teacher asked, 'why are you so thin?' The snake replied: 'Revered sir, you ordered me not to harm anybody. So I have been living only on leaves and fruit. Perhaps that has made me thinner.'
The snake had become so soft it could not be angry with anyone. It had totally forgotten that the boys had almost killed it.
"The swamiji said: 'it can't be mere want of food that has reduced you to this state. There must be some other reason. Tell me.' The snake said: 'Yes, revered sir, now I remember. The boys one day dashed me violently against the ground. They are ignorant, after all. They didn't realize what a great change had come over my mind. How could they know I wouldn't bite or harm anyone?'
The swamiji exclaimed: 'what a great fool are you? You don't know how to protect yourself? I asked you not to bite, but I didn't ask you not to hiss. Why didn't you scare them by hissing?'

Moral of the story: Don't harm others, but protect yourself.

Rude Elephant and small sparrow – Power of teamwork

Once upon a time, there lived a rogue elephant in a forest. It was very big and strong and did not give respect to any animals in the forest. It was very rude and arrogant, because of its size, and harmed all other animals. It was very proud about its size and used to stamp down the small animals that came in its way. All animals in the forest were scarred on this elephant and tried to avoid going in front of him.

In the same forest, there lived a sparrow with her husband on a banyan tree. They built a nest and they also had some small lovely kids (baby sparrows) in the nest. One afternoon, this rude elephant came under the tree unable to bear the heat of the sun. Suddenly in a fit of rage, the elephant broke a branch of the tree on which the nest was built. Unfortunately, all the baby sparrows got crushed though the parents were saved. The she-sparrow was full of grief and began weeping for her babies. It felt helpless in front of the huge elephant, but somehow wanted to teach a lesson to the arrogant elephant.

A woodpecker, a close friend of the sparrow, heard her crying and moved by her grief asked her, “Why are you crying, my friend?” The she-sparrow said, “The wicked elephant has destroyed my offspring. If you are a true friend of mine suggest a way to kill him”. The woodpecker consoled her and told her that he knew a fly and she would definitely help them, to kill the elephant.

Both of them together went to seek the help of the fly. On meeting the fly, the woodpecker said, “This is my dearest friend. The wild elephant has crushed her babies. You have to find a way to kill that elephant. We need your help.” The fly replied, “One of my friends is a frog. Let us go to him and take his help too”. The she-sparrow, the woodpecker and the fly went to the frog and narrated the whole incident.

The frog said, “We may be small, but if we are united, we can definitely teach a good lesson to the huge elephant. Do what I tell you. Dear Fly, you go to the elephant when the sun is high in the sky and hum a sweet tune into his ears. When he closes his eyes in delight, the woodpecker will scoop his eyes out. Like this, he will become blind. When he will get thirsty, he will look for water. I will go to a marshy land and begin croaking there. Thinking that there is water, the elephant will come there. He will sink into the marshy area and die.”

The next day in the noon, all the three played out the plan and the elephant was killed, when he drowned into a marshy area after being blinded by the woodpecker, when he closed his eyes in response to the music of the fly. Thus, with the smartness of all the three small animals, the sparrow took her revenge on the elephant.

Morals:
However big and strong you are, never harm others.
Even if you are small, with right friends and an excellent plan, you can take on big enemies.
Always think it is possible, you can do the impossible.

Select your friends wisely

In a forest, all animals were scarred of the lion, which used to kill any animal that came into its sight. An ass and a fox entered into a pact that they would become friends and would try to help each other from the lion.

One day, the fox suddenly encountered the lion on its way. To save its life, the fox tried to negotiate with the lion. It said, “pls leave me now. I’ll get you the ass for your lunch. It is a good friend of mine and will do what ever I say” The lion was also not very hungry at that time and let the fox go.

The fox went to the ass and said ”I have found a way for us to escape from the lion. Come I’ll show you how.” The ass also went with the fox. The fox cunningly pushed the ass into a deep pit and went to the lion. “I have trapped the ass for you to eat. Pls spare me”

The lion had a look at the ass, which was trapped inside the pit and instantly killed the fox for its lunch. It had decided to eat the ass later at leisure, as anyhow it was already secured.

Morals:

Be careful in identifying your friends.
If you want to fool your friend, you’ll be fooled first
You reap what you sow

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.