Safety Is First Importance

A town-mouse paid a visit to his friend who lived in the countryside. The country-mouse was happy to see his friend. So he prepared a fine feast for him. The town-mouse looked at the fruit and the car of corn with hatred

"Is this how you live ?" he asked, "life in the country does not offer much."

He persuaded the country-mouse to accompany him to the town and see all the good things there.

So, the country-mouse packed all his belongings and off they went to the city. The country-mouse was really surprised to see the things there. But as soon as they settled down to enjoy a fine meal of cheese and fruit, a big cat leapt in through the window. Seeing the cat, both the mice ran into their hole to save themselves, so the cat ate up all the cheese and fruit.

When the cat had gone away, the mice came out of their hole.

"I am going," cried the country-mouse, "I like my simple fare in safety than this grand feast in such a danger."

MORAL: Safety is the first importance.

The Origin of Happiness

There was once a boy who hardly had any toys or money.

Nevertheless, he was a very happy little boy. He said that what made him happy was doing things for others, and that doing so gave him a nice feeling inside.

However, no one really believed him; they thought he was loopy.

He spent all day helping others, dispensing charity to the poorest, and looking after abandoned animals. Very seldom did he ever do anything for himself.

One day, he met a famous doctor who thought the boy's case was so peculiar that he decided to investigate him. So, with a complex system of cameras and tubes, the doctor managed to record what was happening inside the boy. What he discovered was surprising.

Each time the boy did something good, a thousand tiny angels gathered around the boy's heart and started tickling it.

That explained the boy's happiness, but the doctor continued studying until he discovered that we all have our own thousand angels inside us. Unfortunately, he found that, as we do so few good things, the angels spend most of their time wandering about, bored.

And so it was that the secret to happiness was discovered. Thanks to that little boy we now know exactly what we have to do to feel our hearts being tickled.

Moral of the story:
Happiness and contentment come from good deeds

Prince Lapioa

There was once a very unfair Prince, although he seemed like the perfect Prince: handsome, brave, and intelligent. Prince Lapio gave the impression that no one had ever explained to him the nature of justice. If two people came to him over some dispute, expecting him to resolve the matter, he would decide in favour of whichever one seemed most charming, or most handsome, or whoever had the best-looking sword.

Tired of all this, Lapio's father, the King, decided to get a wise man to teach his son about justice. "My wise friend, please take him away," said the King, "and don't bring him back until he's ready to be a just and fair King."

The wise man left by boat, with the Prince, but they suffered a shipwreck and ended up together, as the only survivors, on a desert island. There they had no food or water.

For the first few days, Prince Lapio, a great hunter, managed to catch some fish. When the old wise man asked him to share the fish with him, the young Prince refused. However, some days later, the Prince's fishing became less successful, while the old man was managing to catch birds almost every day. Just as the Prince had done, the wise man refused to share his catch. Lapio got thinner and thinner, until he finally burst into tears and begged the wise man to share some of his food to save him from starving to death.

"I will only share them with you", said the wise man, "if you show me you've learnt your lesson." The Prince, having learned what the wise man was trying to teach him, said, "Justice consists of sharing what we have, equally."
The wise man congratulated him, and gave him some food.

That same afternoon a ship rescued them from the island. On their return journey they stopped a while by a mountain, where a man recognised the Prince, and told him: "I am Max, chief of the Maximum tribe. Please help us, we are having trouble with the neighbouring tribe: the Minimums. We both share meat and vegetables, and we argue about how to share them out."
"Very easily solved," answered the Prince, "Count how many of you there are altogether, and share the food in equal proportions."
And so, he had already made good use of what the wise man had taught him.
But after saying this, came the sound of thousands of cries from the mountainside.
A hoard or angry men came running over, and led by the chief, who had asked the question, they leapt on Prince Lapio, and took him prisoner.

Lapio couldn't understand this at all. They threw him in a prison cell, and told him, "You tried to kill our people. If you don't solve this problem by daybreak tomorrow, you will stay in prison forever."
They had done this to the Prince because the Minimums were small and numerous, whereas the Maximums were enormous, but there were very few of them.
So the solution suggested by the Prince would have starved the Maximums to death.
The Prince understood the situation, and spent all that night thinking.

The next morning, when they asked him for a solution, he said: "Don't share the food equally. Instead, share it out according to how much each person eats. Give people food according to their size."
The Maximums liked this answer so much that they released the Prince, held a great party, garlanded him with gold and jewels, and bid him and the wise man a safe journey.

As they were walking along, the Prince commented, "I've learned something new. It is not fair to give the same to all. The fair thing is to share, but you must take people's differing needs into account.”
The wise man smiled with satisfaction.

Already close to the palace, they stopped in a small village. A man of very poor appearance received them and made sure they were well attended. Meanwhile, another man, of similar poor appearance, threw himself to the ground in front of them, begging. A third, who seemed to be a rich man, sent two of his servants to tend to the Prince and the wise man, and provided them with what they needed. The Prince so enjoyed his time there that, on his departure, he presented the villagers with all the gold which the Maximums had given him. Hearing this, the poor man, the beggar, and the rich man, all ran up to the Prince, each one asking for his share." How will you share it out?" asked the wise man, "the three are very different, and it looks like the one who gives away more gold is the rich man..."

The Prince hesitated. The wise man was right. The rich man had to pay his servants, he was the one who had spent most gold, and he had looked after them well.

However, the Prince was starting to develop a sense of justice, and something told him that his first conclusion on this matter was not sufficient.

Finally, the Prince took his gold and made three piles: one very big, another medium sized, and the last one small. In that order he gave them to the poor man, the rich man, and the beggar. Saying his goodbyes, the Prince set off with the wise man, heading back to the palace.

They walked in silence, and when they reached the palace gate, the wise man asked: "Tell me something, young Prince. What does justice mean to you?"
"I think justice lies in sharing, taking into account necessities, but also the merits of the individual."

"Is that why you gave the smallest pile to the troublemaking beggar?" asked the wise man, contentedly.

"Yes, that's why. I gave the big pile to the poor man who looked after us so well. In him I saw both necessity and merit, since, he helped us all he could, despite being poor. The medium pile was for the rich man. Even though he attended to us wonderfully, he really did not have much need for more gold. The small pile I gave to the bothersome beggar because he did nothing worthy of reward. However, given his great need, it was also right to give hive something to live on." explained the Prince.

"I think you'll be a fine King, Prince Lapio", concluded the wise man, embracing the Prince.

And he was right. From then on, the Prince became known throughout the kingdom for his fairness and wisdom. Some years later, his ascent to the throne was celebrated by all. And so it was, that King Lapio became remembered as the best leader the kingdom had ever had.

Moral of the story:
Three brief adventures to illustrate the nature of justice

The Careless Clown

There was once a clown named Lemon. He was a lot of fun, but also very careless. Whenever he did anything, he almost always ended up tearing his jacket, getting a hole in his sock, or ripping the knee of his trousers. Everyone said he should take more care, but Lemon found that really boring. So, one day, he had the happy idea of buying himself a sewing machine. This machine was so fantastic that it sewed everything up within a moment. It seemed like Lemon wouldn't have to worry about his things anymore.

Soon, the most important day in Lemon's life arrived. It was the day when everyone in town prepared a party for him, in celebration of Lemon's many years of service in making the citizens chuckle. On that day he wouldn't have to wear his colourful clown suit. That day he would be dressed like anyone else; very elegantly in his suit, and everyone commenting on his smart appearance.

However, the night before, he had a look in his closet, and there wasn't a single suit in good condition. They were all ripped and torn, with dozens of stitching marks. Lemon couldn't possibly go to the party dressed in those. Well, Lemon was sharp and quick-witted, and he solved this problem by attending the gala celebration in his usual clown suit. That definitely amused the audience, but Lemon wasn't as keen on it. He had dreamed of being, just for one day in the year, the hero of the show, and not just the clown.

Very early the next day, Lemon replaced all those damaged old suits, and since then, he has looked after his clothes with great care. He realised that using short-term remedies ends up being no remedy at all.

Moral of the story:
Trying to continually cover up faults, ends up with there being no way to conceal them when it is most important.

Peggy’s Talking Pets

Peggy Pigtails was a good girl, and she was quite quiet and reserved. Not many words passed her lips, partly due to shyness, and partly because she sometimes felt she had nothing interesting to say.

But that all changed when Peggy and her family moved houses.

On arriving at the new place, she discovered a huge attic full of old junk. In one pile she found a big chest containing all kinds of strange things. Under them all, she found something special. It was an old book with a great heavy, thick cover, with gold writing on it. But what made it truly special was how it shone in the darkness of that attic, and in the most magical, fantastical way. What's more, the book was actually floating in the air. Peggy could find nothing holding it up.

She took the book down to her room and hid it there until nighttime, putting her puppy on guard duty over it. That night, when she was sure no one would disturb her, she sat with her doggy and started reading the book. It was a storybook, but Peggy could hardly get any of it read. She had only just started when her dog started speaking to her:

"What an interesting book you've found! It seems to have some lovely stories!" Peggy couldn't believe it, but the puppy continued talking, telling her all sorts of things, and asking a thousand questions. After some time, Peggy regained her composure and asked,

"So how come you're talking?"

"I don't know," answered the dog. "Instead of just thinking things, now I'm saying them too... it hasn't changed much for me; I guess it was the book that did it, though."

Peggy decided to investigate the matter, and she thought she would show the book to some other animals. One after another, the animals all started talking, and, before long, Peggy was chatting - in the most friendly manner - with a dog, three cats, two doves, a parrot, and five lizards. All the animals spoke as though they'd been doing so all their lives, and all of them had some pretty interesting tales to tell!

"Sure, babe!" Lemmy the lizard told her, "we all lead pretty incredible lives!"

Peggy Pigtails spent the next several days nattering with her new friends, and really enjoyed it. One day, though, unaware as to why, the book disappeared; and with it went the animals' voices. Peggy looked everywhere, but couldn't find that book.

Within a few days, she was missing the chats with her new animal friends so much that she could hardly think of anything else.

Then she remembered what Lemmy the lizard said to her, and she realised that she hardly spoke at all to her classmates or other children, and they probably had incredible lives too!

So, from that day, little by little, Peggy started talking more to her schoolmates, trying to find out about their lives. In the end, without realising it, she came to have more friends than anyone else in the whole school. And never again was she short of someone to have a good old natter with.


Moral of the story:
When we open ourselves to communicating with others, we enjoy getting to know them, because we all have things of value to share.

The Boy and the Cabbage

There was once a boy who - although very good and obedient - hated eating cabbage. Whenever he had to eat it he would complain and get extremely angry. One day, his mother decided to send him to the market to buy... a cabbage! So the boy was, of course, disgusted at this turn of events.

At the market, the boy reluctantly purchased one, but this wasn't just any old cabbage. It happened to be a cabbage which hated children. After an enormous argument, the boy and the cabbage set off for home, in silence, their anger barely below the surface the whole time. On the way, while crossing the river, the boy slipped and both of them fell into the rapids and were pulled under by the current. With great effort, they managed to come to the surface, grab onto a plank of wood, and stay afloat.

They had to spend so much time together, adrift on that plank, that after becoming mightily bored, they ended up conversing. They got to know each other, and became friends. They played many bizarre games, like the fish without a rod, the tiny hiding place, and the King of the mountain.
Chatting with his new friend, the boy understood the importance, at his young age, of vegetables like the cabbage, and how wrong it is to always be bad-mouthing them. The cabbage, for his part, realised that sometimes his flavour was a touch strong, and strange to children. So they agreed that when they reached home, the boy would treat the cabbage with great respect, and the cabbage would do its best to taste like spaghetti.

Their agreement was nothing if not a great success. The boy's mother was greatly surprised at how willingly he ate the cabbage, and the boy prepared the best hiding place in his tummy for the cabbage, shouting "Mmm! What great spaghetti!"

Moral of the story:
A simple story to help children see vegetables with new eyes

The Donkey and The Little Dog

A man had a little dog, and he was very fond of it. He would pat its head, and take it on his knee, and talk to it. Then he would give it little bits of food from his own plate.

A donkey looked in at the window and saw the man and the dog.

"Why does he not make a pet of me?" said the donkey.

"It is not fair. I work hard, and the dog only wags its tail, and barks, and jumps on its master's knee. It is not fair."


Then the donkey said to himself, "If I do what the dog does, he may make a pet of me."

So the donkey ran into the room. It brayed as loudly as it could. It wagged its tail so hard that it knocked over a jar on the table. Then it tried to jump on to its master's knee.

The master thought the donkey was mad, and he shouted, "Help! Help!" Men came running in with sticks, and they beat the donkey till it ran out of the house, and they drove it back to the field.

"I only did what the dog does," said the donkey," and yet they make a pet of the dog, and they beat me with sticks. It is not fair."

Moral: Every creature has its own importance. One should remain itself. as its the best thing which one can do.

The Two Goats

Over a river there was a very narrow bridge. One day a goat was crossing this bridge. Just at the middle of the bridge he met another goat. There was no room for them to pass. Two Goats"Go back," said one goat to the other, "there is no room for both of us".

"Why should I go back?", said the other goat. "Why should not you go back?"

" You must go back", said the first goat, "because I am stronger than you."

"You are not stronger than I", said the second goat.

"We will see about that", said the first goat, and he put down his horns to fight.

"Stop!", said the second goat. " If we fight, we shall both fall into the river and be drowned. Instead I have a plan- I shall lie down, and you may walk over me."

Then the wise goat lay down on the bridge, and the other goat walked lightly over him. So they passed each other, and went on their ways.

 

Moral: Fighting is not always a solution to problem. 

The Stone Cutter

Once upon a time there lived a stone cutter ,in a small village. All day long he worked hard, cutting the hard stones and making the shape which were needed by his customers. His hands were hard and his clothes were dirty.

One day he went out to work on a big stone. It was very hard to work and the sun was very hot. After spending several hours cutting the stone, he sat down in the shade and soon fell asleep.
After sometime, he heard sound of somebody coming. Walking up he saw a long procession of people. There were many soldiers and attendants and in the middle, in a palanquin, carried by strong people at the king .
How wonderful it must be to be the great king thought the stone cutter . How happy I would be if i were the king instead of a poor stone cutter.

As he said these words, a strange thing happened. The stone cutter found himself dressed in silk clothes and shining jewels. His hands were soft and he was sitting in a comfortable palanquin.
He looked through the curtains and thought, How easy it is to be a king, these people are here to serve me.

The procession moved on and the sun grew hot. The stone cutter ,now the king ,became too warm for comfort. He asked the procession to stop so that he could rest for some time .
At once the chief of the soldiers bent before the king and said Your Majesty, only this morning you swore to have me hanged to death if we did not reach the palace before the sun set.
The stone cutter felt sorry for him and ordered the procession to go on its way again.
As the afternoon wore on, the sun grew hotter, and the king became more and more uncomfortable.
I am powerful, it is true, but how more powerful the sun is, he thought I would rather be the sun than a king .

At once, he became the sun ,shining down on the earth.
His new power was hard to control.
He shone too strongly, he burned up the fields with his rays and turned the ocean into vapour and formed a great cloud which covered the land.
But no matter how hard he shone, he could not see through the clouds.
It is obvious that the clouds are even stronger and more powerful than sun said the stone cutter, now the sun, I would rather be a cloud.

Suddenly he found himself turned into a huge dark cloud.
He started using his new power. He poured rain down on the fields and caused floods. All the trees and houses were swept away but a boulder, which once he had been cutting when he was a stone cutter was unmoved and unchanged.

However much he poured down on the stone it did not move.
Why that rock is more powerful than I am said the stone cutter now a cloud. Only a stone cutter could change the rock by his skill. How I wish I were a stonecutter.
No sooner he said the words that he found himself sitting on a stone with hard and rough hands.
He picked up his tools and set to work on a boulder, happily.

Moral: Sometimes what you do is the thing only you can do.

The Hungry Mouse

A mouse was having a very bad time. She could find no food at all. She looked here and there, but there was no food, and she grew very thin.

At last the mouse found a basket, full of corn. There was a small hole in the basket, and she crept in. She could just get through the hole.

Then she began to eat the corn. Being very hungry, she ate a great deal, and went on eating and eating. She had grown very fat before she felt that she had had enough.
When the mouse tried to climb out of the basket, she could not. She was too fat to pass through the hole.

" How shall I climb out?" said the mouse. "oh, how shall I climb out?"
Just then a rat came along, and he heard the mouse.
"Mouse," said the rat, "if you want to climb out of the basket, you must wait till you have grown as thin as you were when you went in."

Moral: We should not get greedy

The Poor Bunny's Magic Present

Once upon a time there was a place where animals were suffering greatly from drought and hunger. A very poor bunny was walking sadly through the fields when, all of a sudden, a wizard appeared in front of him. The wizard offered the bunny a bag filled with little bouquets of flowers.

"They are magical, and they're even more magical if you know how to use them properly", said the wizard. The bunny was dying of hunger, but he decided not to eat the bouquets. He wanted to put them to good use.

On his way home, the bunny met a very old and very poor sheep who could hardly walk any more. "Can you spare me something?" asked the sheep. The bunny had nothing except his bouquets, and since they were magical, he was reluctant to give them to the sheep. But he remembered how his parents had always taught him to share everything; so he pulled a bouquet out of the bag and gave it to the sheep. As soon as he did this, the bunch shone with a thousand colours. Magic was at work.

The bunny continued on his way, feeling both happy and a bit annoyed. He had given away one of the bouquets, but at the same time it was obvious that the sheep needed it more than he did. As he continued his journey, the very same thing happened to the bunny when he met a blind duck and then a lame cockerel. When the bunny arrived home, he had only one magical bouquet left. He told his parents all about what had happened with the wizard, and his parents were very proud of the bunny's behaviour. He was about to pull out the final bouquet, when his little brother arrived home, crying with hunger. The bunny gave his brother the magical bouquet.

At that moment, with a great rumble of thunder, the wizard appeared again. He asked the bunny "Where are the magical bouquets I gave you? What have you done with them?" The bunny was frightened and he started to apologise. But the wizard interrupted, saying "Didn't I tell you that if you used them well they'd be even more magical? Well, go outside and see what you've done!"

The bunny went out, shaking. And what he saw was that, thanks to the way he had used his magical bouquets, for as far as the eye could see the whole countryside had turned into wonderful, green farmland. Farmland with enough water and food to feed all the animals!

And the bunny felt very happy that he had acted as he had, and that the magic of his generosity would bring happiness to everyone.

Moral of the story

Generosity can often be rewarded in the most unexpected and impressive ways

The Lazy Little Bird

There was once a little bird who was very nice, but very, very lazy. Every day, when it was time to get up, they had to shout at him again and again before he would finally struggle out of bed. And when there was some job he had to do, he would keep putting it off until there was hardly enough time left to do it. People kept telling him "What a lazy bird you are! You can't just keep leaving everything to the last minute”.

"Bah! There's really no problem", answered the little bird, "I just take a bit longer to get around to doing things, that's all".

The birds spent all summer flying and playing, and when autumn came and you could start feeling the cold, they began to prepare for the long journey to a warmer land. But our little bird, lazy as ever, kept putting it off, feeling quite sure that there would be plenty of time to prepare for the journey. That was, until one day when he woke up and all the other birds were gone.

Just like every other day, several of his friends had tried to wake him, but - half asleep - he told them he would get up later. He had gone back to sleep and only woke up again much later. That day was the day of the great journey. Everyone knew the rules: you had to be ready to leave; there were thousands of birds, and they weren't going to wait around for anyone. So the little bird, who didn't know how to make the journey alone, realised that because of his laziness, he would have to spend the long cold winter all on his own.

At the beginning, he spent a lot of time crying, but he had to admit that it was his own fault. He knew he could do things well when he put his mind to it so, putting his laziness aside, he began to prepare for the winter. First, he spent days looking for the place that was best protected from the cold. He found a place between some rocks, and there he made a new nest, well built with branches, stones and leaves. Then, he worked tirelessly to fill the nest with fruits and berries, enough to last the whole winter. Finally, he dug a little pool in the cave, so he would have enough water. When he saw that his new home was perfectly prepared, he began to train himself on how to get by on very little food and water, so that he would be able to endure the worst snowstorms.

And, although many would not have believed it, all these preparations meant that the little bird did survive through the winter. Of course, he suffered greatly, and not a day of that winter went by without him regretting having been such a lazy little bird. When the spring finally arrived, and his old friends returned from their voyage, they were all filled with joy and surprise at seeing that the little bird was still alive. They could hardly believe that such a lazy bird had managed to build such a wonderful nest. And when they realised that not even a bit of laziness remained in his little body, and that he had turned into the most hard-working bird of the flock, everyone agreed that he should be put in charge of organising the great journey next year.

When that time came, everything was so well done and so well prepared that they even had time left to invent an early morning wake-up song, so that from that day on no little bird, however lazy, would have to spend the winter alone again.

Moral of the story

Laziness ends up having a bad effect on many aspects of life. It can only be combated with forward-planning and hard work.

The Ugly Fairy

There was once a fairy who was learning how to be a fairy godmother. Most magic and wonderful, she was the kindest and cleverest of all fairies. However, she was also a very ugly fairy. And no matter how much she showed her wonderful qualities, it seemed that everyone was determined to believe that the most important thing about a fairy was her beauty. In the fairy school they ignored her, and every time she flew off on a mission to help a child or anyone else in trouble, before she could say a word they were already screeching and yelling at her: "Ugly! Get out of here, weirdo!"

Despite her being little, her magic was very powerful, and more than once she had considered using it to make herself beautiful. But then she remembered what her mother had always told her: "My dear, you are what you are, warts and all; and never doubt that you are this way for a very special reason..."

But then, one day, the witches of the neighbouring land invaded and destroyed the country, putting all the fairies and wizards in prison. Our fairy, just before being attacked, put a spell on her own clothes and, helped by her ugly face, she managed to pass for a witch. That way she was able to follow the witches back to their den.

Once there she used her magic to prepare a big party for everyone, decorating the cave with bats, toads and spiders. The music was provided by a pack of howling wolves. While the party was in full swing, the fairy hurried off and set free all the fairies and wizards who had been imprisoned. When all of them were free, they worked together on one big spell which succeeded in trapping the witches inside the mountain for the next hundred years. And for the next hundred years, and more, everyone remembered the great bravery and intelligence of the ugly fairy.

And from that day on no one in that land ever saw ugliness as a disgrace. Whenever someone ugly was born, people were filled with joy, knowing that for that new person great things lay ahead.

Moral of the story

We can all achieve great things, and we have within ourselves all that is needed to do so. We should not give such great importance to physical beauty, nor should we want to change only according to how others see us.

The Boy who almost became a Prince

A King who had no children announced a competition to decide who would be made a Prince and heir to the throne. The boy who passed all the tests, although excellent, was impatient, and that worried the King. So the King decided to test the boy, taking him to the forest with a dog, and pointing him to a great treasure in the centre of the woods.

The King left the boy with the dog, saying that if, upon his return, the boy and the treasures were still there, waiting for him, then the boy would receive the Kingdom. The boy accepted the challenge, but soon he grew impatient, and despite the dog's warnings, the boy entered into the forest. As soon as he did so, the treasure disappeared.

And so, the boy lost both the treasure and the chance to inherit the Kingdom

Moral of the story

A boy who is exceptional at everything except at having patience, loses everything because of it

---

The Life-Wasting Potion

Many, many years ago everyone was strong and healthy. They ate a very varied diet, and especially loved fruit, vegetables, and fish. Everyone took daily exercise, and they enjoyed themselves playing and leaping about. The Earth was the healthiest place you could imagine, and it was clear that both adults and children were full of joy and good moods.

All that made the dark witches furious. They only ever wanted to do harm and make problems for people. The worst of all of these witches was Sourface; she was evil, and could be relied on to come up with the nastiest ideas. She suggested that all the witches combine their energies to invent a potion which would take away people's desire to live happily. So, one night, all the witches gathered down in the swampy forest and worked together on that evil spell. The spell was so powerful, and would need so much energy to cast, that when one of the witches got one of the words wrong, there was a huge explosion. So big was the explosion, that it completely destroyed the forest.

It turned all those evil witches into tiny little creatures, like germs, and left them trapped in a green liquid inside a small glass bottle, which lay lost in the swamp. There they were trapped for centuries, until one day a little boy found the bottle. Thinking it contained some kind of soft drink, he drank the lot. The evil, microscopic witches took advantage of this situation, and even though they were tiny and couldn't hurt anyone, they soon learned to change the little boy's likes and dislikes in order to get him to do what they wanted.

In a few days, a funny feeling in his mouth and tongue meant the boy no longer wanted to eat vegetables, fruit, or fish. All he wanted to do was eat ice cream, pizza, burgers, and candy. Then a nibbling feeling all over his body meant he no longer enjoyed playing and running about with his friends. All that stuff tired him out; he now just wanted to stay in the house, sitting or lying about. So, his life got more and more boring, he started feeling ill, and before long he had no desire to do anything. The evil potion had worked! And the worst thing of all was that the witches learned to jump from one person to another, like a virus. They managed to turn the influence of the potion into the most contagious of diseases: the disease of wasting your life.

It was a long while before, with the help of his microscope, Doctor Fitton-Helthie discovered that the little witches were causing all this disease. There was no vaccine or cough mixture to get rid of them, but the good doctor discovered that the witches could not stand joy and good humour. It turned out that the best cure was to make a strong effort to live a healthy, joyful, and happy life. When a person became healthy, the little witches would leave that body as soon as they could, riding off on a sneeze.

From then on, the best remedy was not pills or injections, but just a little bit of effort to eat some fruit, vegetables, and fish, and to do some exercise. And whoever came to see Doctor Fitton-Helthie, and took his advice, ended up totally well, being cured of the waste-of-life disease.

Moral of the story

Although you have to make some effort to live a healthy and happy life, it pays to eat a little of everything, and do some exercise.

The Bad Neighbours

There was once a man who went out to look for a job. As he was passing his neighbour's house, an important piece of paper fell out of the man's pocket.

His neighbour happened to be looking out the window. He saw the piece of paper fall, and he thought: "What a disgrace! That guy deliberately let that fall out of his pocket. He's trying to mess up the front of my house, and he's being sneaky about it, too!"
But instead of going out and saying something, the neighbour planned his revenge.

That night, he took his waste-paper basket and went to the man's house. The first man also happened to be looking out the window, and saw what happened. Later, when he was picking up the papers which had been dumped on his porch, he found the important piece of paper that he had lost. It was torn into dozens of pieces. He thought that his neighbour had not only picked his pocket, but had had the cheek to mess up his doorway with rubbish.

He didn't want to say anything. Instead, he started plotting his revenge. That night he phoned a farmer to make an order of ten pigs and a hundred ducks. He asked that they be delivered to his neighbour's house.

Of course, the next day, his neighbour had quite a bit of trouble trying to rid himself of so many animals and their accompanying pong.

Sure that this had been a dastardly trick pulled by his neighbour, as soon as the second man had gotten rid of the pigs and ducks, he again started planning his revenge.

And so it went on.

They continued trying to get their own back on each other, and each time their acts of revenge got bigger and more ridiculous. The dropping of that single piece of paper ended up invoking a rock band, a fire siren, the driving of a lorry into a garden fence, the throwing of a hail of stones at windows, the firing of a canon, and finally the dropping of a bomb which destroyed both men's houses.

Both ended up in a hospital, and had to spend quite some time sharing a room there. At first they refused to speak to each other, but, one day, tired of the silence, they got to talking. As time passed, they became friends, until one day they finally dared discuss the piece of paper incident. They realised that it had all been a misunderstanding, and that if they had talked to each other on the first occasion - instead of jumping to conclusions about bad intentions - then none of this would have happened. Even better, they would still have their houses.

However, in the end, the fact that they were talking, and had become friends, helped them greatly to recover from their wounds, and to work together to rebuild their houses.

Moral of the story

We should not guess or imagine the intentions of others. Talking is how we come to understand others, and clear up a great many problems

A Letter Soup

Once upon a time there was a very evil and unpleasant crook who only ever thought about how to get money. Seeing anyone happy bothered the crook enormously. What he hated most was when people were polite and courteous to each other, saying things like please and thank you, and don't mention it. It annoyed him even more if they were smiling when they said these things.

The crook thought all those kinds of words were a useless waste, and weren't good for anything. So what he did was spend a lot of time inventing a machine which could steal words. With this machine, he planned to steal 'please', 'thank you', 'don't mention it', and similar words people used to be polite. He was convinced that no one would notice if those words were to suddenly disappear. When he had stolen these words, he intended to take them apart and sell the letters to book publishers.

After he started up his machine, people would open their mouths, intending to say kind and polite things, but nothing came out. All those words ended up inside the big machine. Just as the crook had hoped, in the beginning nothing happened. It looked like people really didn't need to be polite after all. However, after a while, people started to feel like they were always in a bad mood, doing everything reluctantly, and feeling like everyone else was being forever demanding of them. So, within a few days, everyone was angry and arguing over the slightest little thing.

The crook was terribly happy with his success, but he didn't count on a couple of very special little girls. Those girls were deaf, and had to communicate using sign language. Now, because the machine couldn't steal gestures, these girls continued being kind and polite. Soon they realised what had been happening to everyone else, and they found out about the crook and his wicked plan. The girls followed him to his hideout on the top of a hill next to the sea. There they found the enormous machine busy separating all the words into letters. The crook had gone to take a nap, so the girls crept up to the machine and started being polite and courteous to each other.

Try as it might, the contraption couldn't steal those words, and it started to suffer a power overload, which got more and more serious as the girls went on communicating. Finally, it exploded, sending all the letters it had gathered flying into the sky. These letters started coming down, like rain, and most ended up in the sea. After that, everyone could be polite and thoughtful again. The anger and the arguments stopped, proving that good manners are very useful for keeping people together in a spirit of happiness.

Seeing all those letters fall into the sea gave those two little girls an idea. A little while later they opened a factory. Making alphabetti spaghetti soup!


Moral of the story

Good manners help us live together in a pleasant atmosphere