STORY

                                                              Jack and the Bea n Stalk Once upon a time there was a poor widow who lived with her son Jack in a little house. Their wealth consisted solely of a milking cow. When the cow had grown too old, the mother sent Jack to sell it. On his way to the market, the boy met a stranger. "I will give you five magic beans for your cow," the stranger offered. Jack was unsure and hesitated for a while but then, enticed by the idea of such an extraordinary deal, he decided to accept. When he returned home, his mother was furious and reprimanded him sternly: "You fool! What have you done? We needed the money to buy a calf. Now we don't have anything and we are even poorer." Jack felt guilty and sad. "Only a fool would exchange a cow for five beans," his mother fumed. Then, at the height of her exasperation, she threw the five beans out of the window and sent Jack to bed with no dinner. T

                                           RAJ LEARNS A LESSON Raj is a middle aged man. Although he was born in a poor family, he was raised well by his father and mother. His father owned a welding shop, and used to work for more than 12 hours a day, so that his family could lead a comfortable life. However, Raj’s father could not earn sufficient money to provide a decent life to his family. Raj was an average student in school, and used to score around 70 percent marks. Raj’s dream was to become a doctor. Since his marks weren’t very high, he could not get the desired course that he wanted to study. Instead, he joined a bachelor’s degree course, completed the course successfully, and got a job in a company. While his life was going on with no dramatic change, his father continued to work in his welding shop, so that he did not have to depend on Raj. After getting a permanent job, Raj’s parents wanted him to marry. He got married to a girl from his native town, and a

                                                The Monkey and the Wedge There was once a merchant who employed many carpenters and masons to build a temple in his garden. Regularly, they would start work in the morning; The Monkey And The Wedge - Panchatantra Story Picture and take a break for the mid-day meals, and return to resume work till evening.     One day, a group of monkey arrived at the site of the building and watched the workers leaving for their mid-day meals.   One of the carpenters was sawing a huge log of wood. Since, it was only half-done; he placed a wedge in between to prevent the log from closing up. He then went off along with the other workers for his meal.   When all the workers were gone, the monkeys came down from the trees and started jumping around the site, and playing with the instruments. The Monkey And The Wedge - Panchatantra Story Picture There was one monkey, who got curious about the wedge placed between the log. He sa

                                  A Wise Counting   Emperor Akbar was in the habit of putting riddles and puzzles to his courtiers. He often asked questions which were strange and witty. It took much wisdom to answer these questions. Once he asked a very strange question. The courtiers were dumb folded by his question. Akbar glanced at his courtiers. As he looked, one by one the heads began to hang low in search of an answer. It was at this moment that Birbal entered the courtyard. Birbal who knew the nature of the emperor quickly grasped the situation and asked, "May I know the question so that I can try for an answer". Akbar said, "How many crows are there in this city?" Without even a moment's thought, Birbal replied "There are fifty thousand five hundred and eighty nine crows, my lord". "How can you be so sure?" asked Akbar. Birbal said, "Make you men count, My lord. If you find more crows it means some have