THE LION AND THE MOUSE

Once when a Lion was asleep, a little Mouse began running up and down upon him. This soon wakened the Lion, who placed his huge paw upon him and opened his big jaws to swallow him.
"Pardon, O King!" cried the little Mouse, "Forgive me this time. I shall never repeat it and I shall never forget your kindness. And who knows, but I may be able to do you a good turn one of these days?"
The Lion was so tickled at the idea of the Mouse being able to help him that he lifted up his paw and let him go.
Sometime later a few hunters captured the King and tied him to a tree while they went in search of a wagon to carry him on.
Just then the little Mouse happened to pass by, and seeing the sad plight in which the Lion was, ran up to him and soon gnawed away the ropes that bound the King of the Beasts. "Was I not right?" said the little Mouse, very happy to help the Lion.

Questions: 1. What is the title of the story? 2. Who are the characters in the story? 3. What did the mice do that made the lion happy? 4. Where do you think the story happened? 5. If you were the mice, would you help the lion too?

The Goose with the Golden Eggs

Once when a Lion was asleep, a little
Once upon a time, a man and his wife had the good fortune to have a goose which laid a golden egg every day. Lucky though they were, they soon began to think they were not getting rich fast enough.
They imagined that if the bird must be able to lay golden eggs, its insides must be made of gold. And they thought that if they could get all that precious metal at once, they would get
They imagined that if the bird must be able to lay golden eggs, its insides must be made of gold. And they thought that if they could get all that precious metal at once, they would get mighty rich very soon. So the man and his wife decided to kill the bird.
However, upon cutting the goose open, they were shocked to find that its innards were like that of any other goose!
MORAL: THINK BEFORE YOU ACT

Questions: 1. What is the title of the story? 2. Who are the characters in the story? 3. What kind of egg did the goose laid? 4. Why did the man decided to kill the goose? 5. If you were the man would you do the same thing? Why?

THE BOY WHO CRIED ‘WOLF’
Once there was a shepherd boy who had to look after a flock of sheep. One day, he felt bored and decided to play a trick on the villagers. He shouted, “Help! Wolf! Wolf!”
The villagers heard his cries and rushed out of the village to help the shepherd boy. When they reached him, they asked, “Where is the wolf?” The shepherd boy laughed loudly, “Ha, Ha, Ha! I fooled all of you.
I was only playing a trick on you.”
A few days later, the shepherd boy played this trick again.
Again he cried, “Help! Help! Wolf! Wolf!” Again, the villagers rushed up the hill to help him and again they found that boy had tricked them. They were very angry with him for being so naughty.
Then, Some time later, a wolf went into the field. The wolf attacked one sheep, and then another and another. The shepherd boy ran towards the village shouting, “Help! Help! Wolf! Help! Somebody!”
The villagers heard his cries but they laughed because they thought it was another trick. The boy ran to the nearest villager and said, “A wolf is attacking the sheep. I lied before, but this time it is true!”
Finally, the villagers went to look. It was true. They could see the wolf running away and many dead sheep lying on the grass.
We may not believe someone who often tells lies, even when he tells the truth.

Questions: 1. What is the title of the story? 2. Who are the characters in the story? 3. Why did the boy cried? 4. Do the villagers believe him time he shouted for help? 5. After reading the selection, did you learn something?

The Milkmaid and her Pail
Patty the Milkmaid was going to market carrying her milk in a pail on her head.
As she went along, she began calculating what she would do with the money she would get for the milk. I'll buy some fowls from Farmer Brown," said she, "and they will lay eggs each morning, which I will sell to the parson's wife..
With the money that I get from the sale of these eggs, I'll buy myself a new dimity frock and a chip hat; and when I go to market, won't all the young men come up and speak to me!
Polly Shaw will be so jealous; but I don't care. I shall just look at her and toss my head like this." As she spoke that, she tossed her head back and the pail fell off it, and all the milk was spilt!
MORAL: DO NOT COUNT YOUR CHICKENS BEFORE THEY ARE HATCHED.

Questions: 1. What is the title of the story? 2. Who is the main character in the story? 3. What happened to patty that made the pail fell off? 4. What are the plans of patty when she earns the money? 5. What did you learn from the story?

The Ant and the Dove
One hot day, an ant was searching for some water. After walking around for some time, she came to a spring. To reach the spring, she had to climb up a blade of grass. While making her way up, she slipped and fell into the water.
She could have drowned if a dove up a nearby tree had not seen her. Seeing that the ant was in trouble, the dove quickly plucked off a leaf and dropped it into the water near the struggling ant. The ant moved towards the leaf and climbed up there. Soon it carried her safely to dry ground. Just at that time, a hunter nearby was throwing out his net towards the dove, hoping to trap it.
Guessing what he was about to do, the ant quickly bit him on the heel. Feeling the pain, the hunter dropped his net. The dove was quick to fly away to safety.
One good turn deserves another.

Questions: 1. What is the title of the story? 2. Who are the characters in the story? 3. What happened to the ant? 4. How did the dove help the ant? 5. If you were the dove, would you also help the ant? Why?

The Bundle of Sticks

A father had a family of sons who were always quarreling among themselves. When he failed to solve their fights with his advice, he decided to give them a practical illustration of the evils of disunion; and for this purpose he one day told them to bring him a bundle of sticks.
When they had done so, he placed the bundle into the hands of each of them in succession, and ordered them to break it in pieces. They tried with all their strength, but were not able to do it.
Next, he opened the bundle, took the sticks separately, one by one, and again put them into his sons' hands, and asked them to break it, and they could do so very easily.
He then told them: "My sons, if you stay together and help each other, you will be as strong as this bundle, and no enemy can beat you; but if you are divided among yourselves, you will be broken as easily as these sticks."The sons understood the message, thanked, and promised the father to always be together no matter what.

The Fox and the Grapes

One afternoon a fox was walking through the forest and spotted a bunch of grapes hanging from over a lofty branch. "Just the thing to quench my thirst," quoted the fox.
Taking a few steps back, the fox jumped and just missed the hanging grapes. Again the fox took a few paces back and tried to reach them but still failed.
Finally, giving up, the fox turned up his nose and said, "They're probably sour anyway," and proceeded to walk away.
MORAL: IT'S EASY TO DESPISE WHAT YOU CANNOT HAVE.

The Fox and the Stork

A selfish fox once invited a stork to dinner at his home and for a joke put nothing before her but some soup in a very shallow dish. The fox could easily lap this up, but the Stork could only wet the end of her long bill in it, and stayed hungry.
“I am sorry that the soup is not to your liking," said the fox with a sly smile.
"Oh, please do not apologize," said the Stork. "I hope you will return this visit, and come and dine with me too sometime." So a day was appointed when the Fox should visit the Stork.
Finally, when they were seated at the table, the Stork served them both some soup in a very longnecked jar with a narrow mouth. The stork drank the soup easily but the fox could not insert his snout into the tall jar. This time it was the Fox’s turn to go hungry.

The Hare and the Tortoise

There once was a speedy Hare who bragged about how fast he could run. Tired of hearing him boast, the Tortoise challenged him to a race. All the animals in the forest gathered to watch.
The Hare ran down the road for a while and then and paused to rest. He looked back at the tortoise and cried out, "How do you expect to win this race when you are walking along at your slow, slow pace?"

The Hare stretched himself out alongside the road and fell asleep, thinking, "There is plenty of time to relax."
The Tortoise walked and walked; never ever stopping until he came to the finish line.

The animals who were watching cheered so loudly for Tortoise, that they woke up Hare. The Hare stretched and yawned and began to run again, but it was too late. Tortoise was already over the line.

The Wolf and the Lamb

A lamb was grazing with a flock of sheep one day. She soon found some sweet grass at the edge of the field. Farther and farther she went, away from the others.
She was enjoying herself so much that she did not notice a wolf coming nearer to her. However, when it pounced on her, she was quick to start pleading, “Please, please don’t eat me yet. My stomach is full of grass. If you wait a while, I will taste much better.”
The wolf thought that was a good idea, so he sat down and waited. After a while, the lamb said, “If you allow me to dance, the grass in my stomach will be digested faster.” Again the wolf agreed.
While the lamb was dancing, she had a new idea. She said, “Please take the bell from around my neck. If you ring it as hard as you can, I will be able to dance even faster.”
The wolf took the bell and rang it as hard as he could. The shepherd heard the bell ringing and quickly sent his dogs to find the missing lamb. The barking dogs frightened the wolf away and saved the lamb’s life.
The gentle and weak can sometimes be cleverer than fierce and strong.