The Donkey and The Cunning Fox

 

Once there lived a foolish donkey in a town. The town was situated near a forest. There, in the forest lived king lion and his minister, a cunning fox. Once, king lion was badly wounded in a fierce fighting with an elephant. He became unable to hunt for his prey. So he asked his minister, the cunning fox to bring some good meal for him. As the fox used to share the prey, which king lion hunted for his meals, he at once, set out to search for food.

While wandering here and there, the fox met a donkey. The donkey looked foolish, nervous and hungry. The fox asked him, "Hello! you seem to be new to this forest. Where do you actually come from?"

"I come from the nearby town", said the donkey. "My master, the dhobi makes me work all day, but doesn't feed me properly. So I've left my home to find a better place to live in and eat properly."

"I see", said the fox. "Don't worry. I'm a senior minister in this forest kingdom. Come with me to the king's palace. Our king needs a bodyguard, who has the experience of town life. You will live in the palace and eat a lot of green grass growing around it ' "

The donkey was very happy to listen to all this from the minister fox of the forest kingdom. He proceeded with him to the royal palace.

Seeing a,donkey before him the king lion became highly impatient and pounced upon him immediately. But on account of constant hunger, the king lion had gone weak. He couldn't overpower the donkey. The donkey freed himself and ran for his life.

"Your Majesty," said the fox to king lion, "you shouldn't have acted in such a haste. You have scared your prey."

"I'm sorry," said king lion. "Try to bring him here once again."

The hungry fox went again to the donkey and said to him, "What a funny fellow you are. Why did you run away like that?"

"Why shouldn't IT' asked the donkey.

"My dear," said the fox, "you were being tested for your alertness as a royal bodyguard of the king. Thank god, you showed a quick reflex, otherwise, you would have been rejected for the job."

The donkey believed what the fox said and accompanied him once again to the palace. There at the palace the king lion was hiding behind the thick bushes. As soon as the donkey passed by the bushes, the lion pounced upon him and killed him instantly.

Just when the lion was about to begin eating the donkey, the fox said, "Your Majesty, you're going to have your meals after quite a few days. It's better you first take a bath and offer prayers."

"Hmm!" the king lion roared and said to the fox, "Stay here. I'll be back right now."

The lion went to take bath and offer his prayers. In the meantime, the fox ate the donkey's brain. When the king lion came back to eat his prey, he was surprised to see that the donkey's brain was missing.

"Where is this donkey's brain?" The king lion roared in great anger.

"The donkey's brain!" the fox expressed his surprise. "Your Majesty, you're fully aware that donkeys don't have a brain. Had that donkey ever had a brain, he would never have come with me to this palace for the second time."

"Yes," agreed king lion, "that's the point."

And he started eating happily the rest of the flesh of the dead donkey.
       "Sometimes a cunning argument outwits normal intelligence"

Source: Internet

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THE LAPWINGS AND THE SEA

 

 Once upon a time, there lived a lapwing and his wife on a sea-shore. When it was time for the lapwing's wife to lay eggs, she said to her husband. "I don't want to lay eggs here on the sea shore. The sea might eat up my eggs. Let us go to some pond or lake."

"Don't be foolish", said the lapwing. "Even our ancestors laid eggs here. Let the sea eat our eggs. I'll teach him a lesson, if he tries to do so .

The lapwing's wife laid eggs on the sea-shore and flew in the sky in search of food. But when she came back to the sea-shore, she was shocked to see all her eggs missing. She began to weep. When the lapwing came to know about it, he became red with rage. He called a meeting of all the birds and narrated to them the unjust and cruel exercise of power by the sea. Addressing all the other birds around him, he said, "Today the sea has swept away our eggs. Tomorrow it might be your turn."

The birds understood the logic and became highly upset over this incidence. They decided to meet their king, the eagle. The king eagle was infuriated to hear the story of the lapwing. He said to the birds, "Don't worry. I'll punish the sea for his misdeeds right now. I'll suck all its water and make it dry."

Lord Vishnu who was holding a conference in the heaven heard the outcry of the birds. He despatched his messenger to king eagle and told him to wait.

Then Lord Vishnu himself addressed the sea and put a condition before him that either he should return the lapwing's eggs or else he should be prepared to lose existence.

The sea god was frightened to hear Lord Vishnu's commands. He returned the eggs to the lapwing. He also promised that he will never wash away the birds'eggs lying on the sea-shore, in future.

                     "One should always fight against injustice"

THE HORSE AND THE LION

Long ago, there was a farmer who had an old horse with him. As the horse had become old, the farmer told the horse to leave his house and live in some forest. The horse became very sad. He said to his master, "Master, I'm your old servant. I have served you all my life. I have always been faithful to you and there has been no slackness on my part in carrying out my duties. So long as I was physically strong, you had all your affections for me but as soon as you realised that I have become physically infirm; I, no longer, have that vigour and vitality in me, you asked me to leave your house and go and live in some forest. Is this a reward to the services rendered by me with all my honesty and faithfulness?"

The farmer was at a loss of words. He had no logical answer.

"All right!" the farmer said to the horse. "You can stay in my house provided you bring me a lion. I want a lion's skin."

So the worried horse set out for the forest. There he met a fox. The fox took pity on the horse and enquired from him the reason of his sadness. The horse narrated the whole story.

The fox being good natured offered to help the horse. He said to the horse. "You lie down here on the ground as if you were dead."

The horse followed the advice of the fox and lay there on the ground as if he were dead.

Then the fox met king lion and said "Your Majesty, there is a dead horse lying in an open field. It's better you come and see for yourself."

When the fox and the lion reached the spot, where the horse was lying pretending to be dead, the fox said, "Let us pull this horse and put it behind the bushes so that we could have a peaceful meal. What I'll do is that I'll tie your tail to the tail of the horse."

"Yes, I agree with you," said the lion.

So the fox, instead of tying lion's tail to that of the horse, tied the horse's tail with the leg of the lion. Then he asked the horse to get up and run fast.

The horse, at once got up and started running as fast as he could.

All this happened so suddenly that the lion didn't get a chance to balance himself. The horse was running so fast that he was literally being dragged like a dead animal. His body slammed against big rocks so many times and was caught by thorny bushes in the way. He was getting injuries after injuries and was bleeding profusely.

The lion began to cry and threaten, but the horse didn't stop. At last, the lion couldn't take any more of it and succumbed to injuries.

The horse stopped at his master's house with the dead lion tied to its tail. The farmer was very happy to see the dead lion. He permitted the horse to stay at his house as long as he wished.
                                       
                                          "Mind is mightier than body "

Courtesy:tripod dot com