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.

What is Beautiful and what is ugly?

A stag was drinking water in a pond and had a look at its own reflection on the water. It thought, “what a beautiful horns I have. So sturdy, yet so graceful. This would save me in any combat, for sure. But look at my legs! They are so thin and so weak. It is very shameful to have such an ugly pair of legs. It is a wonder that these legs can carry my weight at all”

At that moment, a lion approached the pond for having water and noticed this beautiful stag. The lion was so hungry, and about to pound on the stag. The stag started running very fast, in order to save its life. It ran all over the plains free of trees, chased fiercely by the lion. Its ‘ugly’ legs carried the stag so well that it maintained a very safe distance ahead and the lion could not catch it.

But, when it had to pass through a woody place, the stag’s horns were caught by the overhead branches. Before the stag could release itself from the branches, the lion reached it and instantly killed it.

During the final moments, the stag thought, “how foolish I have been. The things I doubted and despised saved me, while those which I trusted and admired have brought about my end”

Moral:
Appearances can be deceptive.
What you think as your weakness could prove to be your real strength.
Look beyond the appearances, and recognize real strengths and weaknesses.

Ego !

Once there was a sculptor, who could make perfect wax models. His wax models were so perfect that it was almost impossible to differentiate the original from the reproduction. He had been very popular in his city and everyone was admiring his rare talent.

One day, he learnt that the angel of death was searching for him. He had decided to somehow dodge his death. He had reproduced a dozen wax models of himself. When the angel came down to pick this guy, she was at loss to know which of the thirteen specimens before her was the sculptor, so she left them all alone and returned to heaven.

This happened for quite sometimes, when ever the angel came for the sculptor, she would get confused and would go back.

Being an expert of the human nature, the angel came up with a clever idea. She said “ sir, you must be a genius to have succeeded in making such perfect reproduction of yourself. However, I have discovered a mistake in your work, just one tiny flaw”

The sculptor immediately jumped out and shouted, “impossible! Where is the flaw?”

“Here it is!” said the angel as she picked up the sculptor from among the reproductions and took him off.

Moral:
While our skills take us high, our ego pulls us down!

As Prof Bala Balachandran of Great Lakes Institute of Management puts it,
I Go, YOU Go, Why ‘E’go?