STORY

There was a Dhobi in the city of Patna. The Dhobi had a donkey that used to carry all the clothes to the Ghat and back. The Dhobi used to give good food to the Donkey. The donkey also worked very hard. But slowly the donkey became very old and was not able to work. Then the Dhobi stopped feeding the donkey. The donkey felt miserable and decided to go to Calcutta to become a musician. So one day he started walking towards Calcutta. On its way he met an old dog that was weeping horribly .The donkey asked him, “Why are you crying/”. The dog replied, “My master brought me to this house when I was young. He asked me to guard the house at night. I also used to do it carefully. He used to give me good food and cared for me. I also used to like him. But now I have become old. I am feeling sleepy at night. I am not able to catch the thieves. And now my master has stopped giving me food. What should I do?” The donkey replied, “The same thing happened to me. So I have decided to go to Calc

There was a wise merchant. He used to carry all his goods to the market on the back of a donkey. He loved his donkey and used to take good care of the donkey. But the donkey was very lazy. On the way from the village to the market there was a dry river. But once in a while the river used to fill up. The donkey and the merchant used to get down in the water and cross it. The merchant was one day taking salt to the market. The donkey knew this and without his knowledge slowly bent its legs while walking in the water. Because of this the bag of salt was drenched and salt got dissolved in water. The load of the donkey came down and the merchant lost lot of money. So the next day, instead of salt the merchant loaded cotton on the back of donkey. Do you know , Maithree when cotton gets wet , it becomes heavy. The donkey did not know this. It played the same trick that day also. Then all the cotton got wet and became very heavy. The donkey thus got punished because of the wise merchant.

In the forest of Dandakaranya lived a goat and its seven lambs. The seven lambs were too small to go in search of food. So daily the goat used to go in search of food. It used to bring food and feed its lambs. Daily it will tell the lambs, “There is a bad wolf in the near by forest. When I am away it will come and eat all of you. So do not open the door to any body. The wolf has a rough voice and has a hairy tail. One day when the goat had gone food hunting, the wolf found out about the lambs. It came and knocked at their door. The lambs asked, “Who are you?” The wolf told in a gruff voice, “ I am your mother.” The lambs recognized the wolf’s voice and shouted, “No, you are the wolf. You have gruff voice.” Next day the wolf swallowed lot of butter before coming to the house of the lambs. And told in a soft voice, “I am your mother, open the door.” The lambs wanted the wolf to show its tail. The wolf did and they shouted, “You are the wolf, your tail is hairy.” The nex

There was once a very poor girl. She was very , very pretty. There was a fox who was in the forest. The fox wanted to marry the girl. It dressed itself like a man and went to the father of the girl. Mama, wont you give your daughter in marriage to me. The girls father was pleased and said , yes. The girl’s father gave the girl in marriage. But he never knew that his daughters husband was a fox. The fox was enjoying its stay in the girls house. There was lot of good food and several feasis. After a few days the girls father asked the fox to take his daughter to his home. The fox was not having any house. But it had to agree. So it took the girl with it and they started walking. After some time, the girl asked the fox”Amman, Amman Uracha?”. This means uncle ,uncle, whether your place has come. Then the fox replied. No, No Innum Oru Aru Kadakka Venum meaning , no, no , we have to crossone more river. They walked still further. The girl again asked “ammam, Amman, Uracha”. Then the fox r

In the forest near Madras there was a cute little monkey who could speak and sing. One day it was playing on a tree in a forest. While jumping from one tree to another, a thorn stuck to its tail. It gave great pain to the monkey. So it went to the town. On its way, it met an uncle with a knife. The monkey requested him to remove the thorn from its tail. That man also agreed and he tried to remove the thorn using his knife. Unfortunately the tail got cut. The monkey became very sad and angry. It told the man, “You have cut my tail with the knife. So you give me the knife. If you don’t, I will pinch you.” The man agreed immediately and gave his knife to the monkey. Monkey jumped here and there and started singing, “Lost I my tail but I got a knife, Dum, Dum, Dum” While it was going here and there it met another man who was carrying a basket of mango. Poor man was not having a knife to cut the mangos. So when he saw that the monkey was having a knife, he asked the monkey, “Can you

There was a poor farmer. He had three sons Bhola Ram, Sola Ram and Tikku Ram. After he became very old, the farmer called his sons and told them, “I have become very old. In spite of my hard work, I could earn only a cock, a cutting knife and a cat. I am going to give the cock to Bhola, the cutting knife to Sola and the cat to Tikku. With this you go out in the world and try to earn some money.” The sons took what their father gave to them and promised to him that they would earn as much money as possible and help him. Bhola went out with his cock. Wherever he went there were hens and cocks. After a long journey, he reached an island where cocks were not known. During those times clocks were not there. People used to measure time by seeing the Sun. All the people of the island did not know when it was morning and woke up very late. By that time the sun was hot, because of this they found it very difficult to work. Bhola told them, “I have brought you a magical bird. It has a red

Once upon a time, started , Thatha. Stop, Thatha , you are boring us by this “once upon a time”, chided Maithree Kutti. But , Kutti, my stories have always to begin with , once upon a time. If you do not want , I will not tell stories to you. Maithree Kutti, said , OK , Thatha, I am giving you special permission to tell stories with, “Once upon a time.” So , Thatha continued, Once upon a time, there lived in a village a tailor. He and his wife lived in a small house in a big street. One day the tailor closed his shop early and went home for lunch. He called his wife and asked her to close the main door . But she was angry on the tailor because , he was not taking her to the mall. She said , I wont close the door, you only close it. Then the tailor shouted at his wife, you close the door. They quarreled for a long time and then the tailor told his wife, OK , whoever among us speaks first will have to close the door. The wife also agreed to this condition. Both of them did not w

Rama , Krishna and Mohan were three brothers. They were all poor. They were working in a factory. They went to the local temple. They prayed to the God , please make us rich. Then suddenly God spoke to them. Each of you go the Golden River and pour three drops of holy water taken from the temple tank. Then the golden river would become Gold and you will become rich. But you must go alone , said the God. If the water is not holy , you will be turned in to stones. Next day Rama started with one very big bottle of temple water. The Golden River was far away and there was no road to go there. So Rama started walking with a big pot of water. After some times, he became thirsty and started drinking the temple water. Then a dog ran up to him and told,. Please Ramu I am much more thirsty than you. If you do not give water to me I will die. But Rama laughed at the dog and told. It does not matter to me. Golden River is far off. If I give you some water, this bottle will have less water a

Rama was a poor farmer in a Tamil Nadu village. Once he sold some firewood and got Rs. 50/- When he was coming back home it became night, clouds gathered and frogs in a well started shouting, Croak, croak.” Rama was puzzled. He went near the well and told, “I did not get a crore of rupees. I only got Rs.50/-“ But the frogs were still shouting “Croak, Croak.” Then Rama counted his cash just in front of the well and told, “Hey, I just counted my money in front of you. It is only fifty rupees. Do you understand?” But the frogs continued to shout “Croak, Croak.” Rama as disgusted. He put the money in the well and told the frogs, “I have now given the money to you. You please count yourselves and tell me how much it is.” Still the frogs shouted, Croak, Croak”. Rama cursed the frogs and returned home After a few days, Rama’s wife made some sweets and she wanted him to sell it in the nearest town. When Rama went near the sweet shop, he was surrounded by several dogs, who were barki

There was a marriage in Indra’s home. So Yama and all his people had to attend it. But since there should be some one to open the door when people come to heaven, they left Chithra Guptha to guard the gate of hell and heaven. Yama told him not to allow anybody inside heaven during his absence. Two hours after Yama left to Indra’s home, Chithra Guptha heard a knock at the door. He just peered outside and found a poor lame tailor outside the heaven. Chithra Guptha told him, “Hey tailor, you wait outside till Lord Yama comes back.” Then the tailor requested in a very humble voice, “Sir, I am lame and have been good all my life. If I stand outside my legs will start paining. Please allow me in to the heaven.” Chithra Guptha read his books and told the tailor, “You are not a good man. You have taken money out of many shirts, which have been given to you for repair. So I cannot allow you inside heaven. If Lord Yama comes back and he decides to pardon you, then you can come inside heaven

There was a rich farmer .He had three sons. The first two sons were very intelligent and clever. Everybody considered his third son as useless. People thought that he can never get anything done and called him Kuppuswami-the lord of rubbish. One day the first son wanted to go out and earn money. He said he would go to the forest and cut wood. His mother made lot of good sweets and also gave him Sherbet to drink. This boy went to the forest. There he saw an old man sitting on the floor. The old man asked the farmer’s son, “I am very hungry and thirsty. Can you give me something?” The farmer’s son refused and told that he had only a small quantity and he cannot give it to the old man. When he started cutting the tree, it fell on his hand and it broke. So he was forced to come home. Then the second son told his father, “I will go to the forest and cut wood.” .His mother made him few sweets and gave him lime juice to drink. He went to the forest and met the same old man. The old man ask

In the town of Nagapattinam in Tamil Nadu there was a fisherman named Kittu. He was a very nice man who was satisfied with whatever he had. His wife Muniamma was not like that. Kittu daily used to go to the sea to catch fish. One day, when the sky was clear and the wind was gentle, he went for putting his net in the water and he did not get any fish. At last he got a big turtle. He was terribly disappointed and was about to throw it on the beach. Then the turtle spoke to him, “I am actually a Deva but I have been cursed by a sage to become a turtle. Please put me back in the sea.” Kittu immediately released the turtle in the water. Then the turtle told him, “ You know I am a deva, can I give you something.” Kittu replied, “Poor deva, already you are in trouble, I do not want anything.” When he went home without any fish, his wife Muniamma shouted at him. Then Kittu told her the story of the turtle deva. Muniamma became very angry and told him, “ Go back to the sea and call the t

n the olden days, there was a very famous merchant in Mumbadevi called Shivnath. He owned three ships. He used to fill these ships with lot of material from Mumbai and go to different parts of the world. In different places he used to sell all his goods and earn lot of money. He had son called Shivnarayan. Shivnarayan grew up and started helping his father in the business. Shivnath always warned his son, “Along with these ships, you go to any part of the world you like. But do not go to Gadbad Pattan.” Shivnarayan also obeyed. After some time Shivnath died. Shivnarayan who was very curious wanted to go to Gadbad Pattan and do business. He just wanted to know what would happen. So one year after the death of his father Shivnarayan filled up his ship with lot of goods and reached Gadbad Pattan. He reached there safely. He met several big merchants there and told them that he can sell his goods to them. The next day while he was walking on the road, one lady approached and asked hi

There was a rich man in the city of Varanasi. He had a son called Avinash. From his birth Avinash was not interested in learning any thing. So Avinash’s father decided that he should be send him to Nalanda to learn under a great Guru. After one year, Avinash’s father asked him, “What have you learned,” and Avinash replied, “I have learnt the language of the dogs.” The rich man was very unhappy and decided to send him to study under a great Guru in Ujjain. After one year when the rich man asked Avinash, “What he has learned?” Avinash replied, “I have learned the language of the birds.” The rich man was terribly unhappy and decided to send him to learn under a Guru in Kanchi. This time Avinash replied, “I have learned the language of fishes.” The rich man got very angry with Avinash and asked his people to take Avinash to the forest and leave him there. Avinash was not at all afraid of the forest. The birds there told him to go to the city of Patna and meet the king of Patna. Avin

Gopal was a clever tailor. He was very good at his work. He always did his work with care. One day while he was stitching cloths at night, lot of mosquitoes entered his room. Since Gopal had to stitch the clothes before morning, he went on beating that part of the body where the mosquitoes sat. At a particular time lot of mosquitoes were sitting on his body and with one hit over them he killed ten of them. Suddenly Gopal decided that he was a great hero. He stitched a cap for himself, over which was written, “Hero who killed ten at a stroke.” He decided that he should not be tailor any more and decided to out in the world to earn lot of money. While going he searched his entire house to find something which he could take with him. He only found one Vada. He put it in his bag. When he came outside his house he could catch hold of a sparrow which was sitting on the window. He put the sparrow also in the bag. He walked a long distance and reached the house of a big Pahalwan (wrestler).

King Vishnu Verman had twelve sons. He somehow hated all his sons and wanted only a daughter to rule after him. So he told his queen Latha that as soon as she a daughter was born to her, he will kill all his twelve sons. He also made 12 wells in his garden to throw his sons inside. Asoka was the last among the twelve sons. He was very nice kid and was a darling of his mother. One day, when he saw his mother crying, He asked, her, “Ma, why are you crying?” Queen Lata told that she was expecting to give birth to a girl and when a girl is born, Asoka and all his eleven elder brothers would be put in wells. Then Asoka told the queen that, “I along with my brothers w ill run away to the forest. From there daily I will be watching the palace. If a girl is born, you please fly a red flag on your palace. Then we will go deeper in to the forest and never come back. But if another boy is born, you fly a white flag and we will all come back.’ The queen agreed to Asoka’s plan. Asoka then told h

Vikram was a great soldier in the Kingdom of Panna. He served the king well. But When Vikram, celebrated his 30th birthday, the king told him, “you are of no use to me now. You can go.” Vikram had not earned much money by then. So he decided to travel, get a few servants and earn some money When Vikram was walking by a road he saw, one man called fatty carrying 100 big tress on his nail. Vikram asked him, “I am going to earn money. If you become my servant and come with me, I will give you a portion of the money that we earn together”. That man agreed and went with Vikram. When both Vikram and his servant went for some distance they saw a soldier standing and aiming his gun at something. But both of them were not able to see anything. They asked him, “What are you trying to shoot.” He replied, “There is a fly sitting on a Banyan tree five hundred miles away. I am trying to shoot its left eye.” Vikram was impressed with this man. Vikram asked him, “I am going to earn money. I

Karthik was a very good man. He had a daughter called Saral in his home. Once Karthik was returning from the nearest town by walk through the forest. While he was crossing a big lake he saw a pretty boy being looked after by a swan. Karthik went near the swan and told him that he will look after the child well. He brought that child home and called him Hamsa Puthra. After a few years his wife died because of some illness. Since his wife was no more, he engaged a cook called Thadaga in his house. Thadaga was a very bad lady who knew some magic. She liked Saral and taught her lot of what she knew about magic. One day when Karthik had gone to a far off city on business, Saral saw Thadaga bringing lot of water from a far off well. Naturally she became very curious and asked Thadaga, “Auntie, why are you bringing so much water?” Then Thadaga replied, “I do not like the boy Hamsa Puthra. So tomorrow morning, I will get up early morning and boil all this water. When he is sleeping, I will

Sharath Kumar worked in the army of a king. When he was slightly wounded and injured one of his fingers, he lost his job. He felt dejected and started walking to his village which was at a very long distance. While he was walking through the forest, he saw a big mango tree with lot of mangoes in it. He felt like climbing the tree. Suddenly an old man who had a very big beard appeared there. He told Sharath Kumar, “My name is Mantra swami. I am a magician. You appear to be a very good person and I want to help you. I would give you my magical towel. Along with it you climb up this mango tree. When you reach the top, you will find a big hole in the mango tree. Get down in this hole. This will take you to a room below the tree. In that room there will be a cash box. On that box a dog with saucer like eyes will be sitting. Do not be afraid. Catch hold of the dog and keep it on my magical towel. If you open the box, you will find lot of copper coins. After taking whatever you want, go to

There was a king and a queen in the kingdom of Kalyani. Both of them were very good people but never had any babies in their house. They daily went to the temple and prayed God to give them a baby. Once when the queen went to the temple, there was a holy man sitting near the gate. He asked her, “I am very hungry. Give me something to eat.” The queen immediately gave all the fruits, which she had brought for offering to the God to him. That Holy man was very happy and asked her, “Can I pray God to give you something?” The queen with folded hands told, “Great sage, please bless me so that our house will have a little baby. “ The sage blessed her and went his way. After one year a baby girl was born in the house of the king and the queen. They became very happy and celebrated the occasion. They named the little girl as Ghulab (rose). They also arranged for a special feast to all the sages of the kingdom. They had invited 12 sages and had arranged for 12 golden dining tables. But 13

Once upon a time, in the town of Calcutta there lived a merchant called Naresh Guptha. When he was born, his family was very poor. But Naresh was very hardworking. Morning to evening he tried his best to earn money. He succeeded too. He became extremely rich. But Naresh was very careful about his money. He did not spend even a paisa unnecessarily. If there was expenditure, he always asked, “By spending this money, what will I get in return? Will it be useful to me?”. He had a son called Suresh. After a long time, Naresh died. All his money came to Suresh. Suresh did not know the value of money. He spent it unnecessarily. Lot of people gathered round him. They praised Suresh so much that he gave them whatever they asked for. Soon Suresh lost all the money his father gave him. He became so poor, that he did not have anything to eat. At that time a close friend of Naresh gifted a big box to Suresh. Suresh thought that it will contain lot of money. So he wanted to open and see it. But a