Writing a Book

"LET us write a book," they said;

“but what shall it be about ?"

"A fairy story," said the elder sister.

" A book about kings and queens," said the other.

"Oh, no," said the brother, "let's write about animals."

"We will write about them all," they cried together. So they put the paper, and pens, and ink ready. The elder sister took up a fairy story and looked at it, and put it down again.

"I have never known any fairies," she said, "except in books; but, of course, it would not do to put one book inside another anyone could do that."

"I shall not begin to-day," the little one said, “for I must know a few kings and queens before I write about them, or I may say something foolish."

"I shall write about the pig, and the pony, and the white rabbit," said the brother; "but first I must think a bit. It would never do to write a book without thinking."

Then the elder sister took up the fairy story again, to see how many things were left out, for those, she thought, would do to go into her book.

The little one said to herself, "Really, it is no good thinking about kings and queens until I have known some, so I must wait;" and while the brother was considering about the pig, and the pony, and the white rabbit, he fell asleep.

So the book is not written yet, but when it is we shall know a great deal.

The Wooden Doll

THE wooden doll had no peace. My dears, if ever you are a doll, hope to be a rag doll, or a wax doll, or a doll full of sawdust apt to ooze out, or a china doll easy to break anything in the world rather than a good strong wooden doll with a painted head and movable joints, for that is indeed a sad thing to be. Many a time the poor wooden doll wished it were a tin train, or a box of soldiers, or a woolly lamb, or anything on earth rather than what it was. It never had any peace; it was taken up and put down at all manners of odd moments, made to go to bed when the children went to bed, to get up when they got up, be bathed when they were bathed, dressed when they were dressed, taken out in all weathers, stuffed into their satchels when they went to school, left about in corners, dropped on stairs, forgotten, neglected, bumped, banged, broken, glued together, anything and everything it suffered, until many a time it said sadly enough to its poor little self," I might as well be a human being at once and be done with it !" And then it fell to thinking about human beings; what strange creatures they were, always going about, though none carried them save when they were very little; always sleeping and waking, and eating and di inking, and laughing and crying, and talking and walking, and doing this and that and the other, never resting for long together, or seeming as if they could be still for even a single day." They are always making a noise," thought the wooden doll ; " they are always talking and walking about, always moving things and doing things, building up and pulling down, and making and unmaking forever and forever, and never are they quiet. It is lucky that we are not all human beings, or the world would be worn out in no time, and there would not be a corner left in which to rest a poor doll's head."

The Honest Auto Driver

It was cold and windy night. Me and my friend met after a long time and were chatting for hours. We did not notice that time flew away and it was close to ten. We decided to take an auto rickshaw to go to our room. It started raining and we hurried to get into an auto rickshaw and reach our place. None of the auto rickshaw stopped for us, except one. The driver asked us where we want to go and we told the place. Without talking anything about the fare, he said, ‘please get in!’ We thanked the auto driver for stopping by us. Since it was very cold, I asked the driver to stop in the mid at any small restaurant or a tea shop. We liked to have a cut of hot tea. The driver stopped near a small restaurant. We ordered for tea and asked the driver to join us and have a cup of tea. The driver refused. I insisted him to take a cup as it could be refreshing. Again the driver refused to drink tea. My friend asked, ‘Will you not take tea from this shop or what?’ Driver replied, ‘No Sir, I don’t feel like having tea now.’ I asked again, ‘But why a cup of tea will make no harm.’ Driver with all smiles replied, ‘Thank you sir, but I’m sorry.’ My friend asked, ‘do you have any habit that you won’t eat outside?’ Driver said, ‘No!’ My friend became angry on the driver, ‘You think we are not equal to share a cup of tea with you?’ Driver remained silent and never replied. I was really surprised at his behaviour and asked my friend not to compel him. In 15 minutes, we reached our mansion. We paid the fare and he thanked us. I stopped him, as I really wanted to ask him why he refused to drink tea. He was thinking for a minute, and replied, ‘Sir, my son passed away this noon in accident. I don’t have enough money for his funeral. So I promised not to drink even water until I earn enough money for my son. That’s why I didn’t drink tea when you offered. Please don’t mistake me.’ We both are shattered and offered him more money for his son’s funeral. I said, ‘Please take this.’ He politely refused, ‘Thank you for your generosity sir. In one or two hours, if I get one or two more customers, I will earn the sufficient money I need.’ And he left the place. He could have charged us double or even triple the usual rate due to rain. Still, he received the nominal auto fare. In spite of his poor financial condition, his deep sorrow, the auto driver remained honest and stood by his words! Be honest to all because honesty is the right policy.

Don’t desire to walk when you have wings to fly

Once upon a time there lived a generous, kind-hearted king. He was fond of birds and animals had a huge bird sanctuary in his reign. He dislikes harming the animals and birds and even did not kill them for the sake of eating meat. Owing to his generosity and kindness towards, he was gifted two beautiful falcons by his fellow businessman. Those two falcons belong to different place and lived in a different climatic condition. The king thanked the businessman and ordered the head of the bird trainer to provide all the facilities to those beautiful falcons and make them feel comfortable in their country. The head trainer took the birds and provided all essentials to help the birds adapt to the atmosphere. Gradually, the birds adapted to the country’s atmosphere. One day the king wanted to see the falcons fly as he heard that one of those falcons fly to great heights in a very high speed. The king was quite surprised and rewarded the bird trainer with handful of gold coins. He enquired about the other falcon bird. The bird trainer head stated with regret that the other falcon did not move even a step from the day one and just sits in the branch. The trainer also added that he tried everything best he could do and still he failed to make this bird move. The king consoled him and told the trainer that he would bring someone who is more experienced than him or an old man who knew about falcons.   The king announced about his requirement to make falcon move and fly. Hearing this announcement, an old man reached King’s place and assured him that he would make the bird fly like the other one. The king asked the head trainer to take the old man to the sanctuary to train the falcon and he told that he would visit them tomorrow to see if there is any change. Next day, the king was very surprised to see the other falcon fly like the first one to great heights in rapid speed. The king was too happy and rewarded him handful. The king asked what he has done to make the bird fly in a day. The old man simply replied, ‘I just cut down the branch of the tree where this falcon bird sits.’ Many of us are like this. We have wings to fly, we know how to fly, and where to fly still we sit doing nothing or doing something that makes us inferior to others. Don’t try to walk when you have wings to fly!

Money Vs Family

Rama’s family is very big. Rama is a hard worker and he is the sole bread winner of the family. He has three kids, two sons and a daughter. He lived along with father and mother. Rama used to work too hard to feed his family. He works for more than 16 hours a day. The kids cannot see him as he will leave home early in the morning before they wake-up and reach home around midnight where kids would sleep every day. The entire family eagerly wait to spend quality time with him and the kids miss him so much. The children were too curious about Sundays as his father would spend the entire day with them. Unfortunately, to meet the increasing household expenses and educational expenses, Rama took a weekend job to work even on Sundays. The kids were very shattered and even Rama’s wife and parents too! The typical routine continued for several weeks and year passed. All the hard work of Rama earned a lot of benefits and he was offered promotion with attractive increment. The family moved to a new house, got better clothes and ate healthy foods. However, as usual, Rama continues to earn more and more money. One day his wife asked him ‘why you are running for money? We can be happy with what we have now.’ Rama replied, ‘I want to give the best available in the world to all of you and want you to stay happy always.’ Two years passed and Rama hardly spent time with his family. The children yearned to have his father at home. Meanwhile, the sincere efforts of Rama reaped him a fortune. He was offered partnership and share in profits. He continues to earn more and more wealth. Now, Rama’s family is one of the richest families in the city. They have all the facilities and luxuries. Still, Rama’s children strive to meet his father as he was hardly seen at home. His children turned teens and they are no more kids. Now, Rama earned enough wealth to provide a luxurious life to his next five generations. Rama’s family went to their beach house to spend their vacation. His daughter asked, ‘Dad will you please spend one day at home and stay with us here?’ Rama replied, ‘Yes darling, tomorrow for sure, I will join you for the lunch and be with you all for next few days. I’m tired of work and need refreshment!’ The entire family became very happy. Unfortunately, the next day, none in Rama’s family were alive as they were washed out in Tsunami! Rama was too busy even to hear the news about Tsunami. When he tried to reach his beach house, he was sea and water everywhere and screamed for his family, He could not even find the dead bodies of his family. He can never have them again, cannot even see them and even by paying millions he cannot get back the life! He remembered his wife words, ‘why you are running for money? We can be happy with what we have now.’ Money can’t buy anything!

A Glass of Milk

There was a poor boy who made a living with selling various objects door to door, to pay for his school. He was very hungry and felt he couldn’t walk even a few steps. He decided to ask for food at a house. He knocked the door and was stunned to see a beautiful young girl in the door step. With so much hesitation, in spite of his hunger, he asked the girl to offer a glass of water. The young girl understood his hunger through his eyes and offered him milk in a huge glass. With astonished look he drank the milk very slowly. And asked, how much I owe you for this milk? The girl replied ‘I don’t accept anything for kindness.’ With big smile in his face, the boy thanked the girl from the bottom of his heart and left the place. Years passed by. The young girl fell ill and was diagnosed with a rarest kind of nervous condition, which was a complicated condition to treat. While many experienced doctors baffled at her condition, she was taken to a big hospital to study about her condition. Dr. Kevin, a renowned specialist called in by the hospital to examine her. He gave a visit to the hospital where she was admitted to learn about the rare condition. As he entered her room, Dr. Kevin immediately identified who was that woman! With all his efforts and knowledge, Dr.Kevin battled hardly with the disease for weeks and months. At last, he won over the disease and the woman was completely cured. Everyone praised the doctor, while the woman was quite afraid about the hospital bill as she could not afford to pay. Dr. Kevin asked the hospital to send their bill to him as he would add his charges. After receiving the hospital bill, he wrote note and sent it to her. With lots of fear, she opened the bill and had no idea how much she was charged. Her eyes filled with tears and happiness once she opened the bill. She found the bill cancelled and it was not the reason for her happiness. She saw the note written by Dr.Kevin - “Bill Paid years ago with a glass of milk!”

Health is Wealth - A short moral story for kids

Once upon a time, there lived a generous and kind-hearted king. Yet, people aren’t happy with their king. Because, the king was too lazy and he will not do anything other than eating and sleeping. He spent days and weeks and months in his bed either eating something or sleeping. He almost became inactive. The king became a potato couch and people started to worry about the king. One day he realized that he couldn’t even move his body, unable to move his foot. He became very fat and his enemies made fun of him ‘fatty king’, ‘bulky king’ etc. He invited specialized doctors from various parts of his country and offered them generous rewards to make him fit. Unfortunately, none could help the king gain his health and fitness. Since the king was very cordial to his fellow people, many suggested renowned doctors to help him. He spent enormously but everything went vain. One fine morning, a holy man, (Rishi) visited the region of the King. He heard about the ill-health of king and told the minister to meet him at his place. When minister met him, he informed the minister that he could easily cure the king. Hearing these promising words, minister became very happy. He requested king to meet the holy man to get rid of the ill health. The holy man resides at a distant place. Since the king cannot move his body, the fatty king asked the minister to bring the holy man to palace, but the holy man refused and ordered to come to meet him. After strenuous efforts, king met the holy man. The holy man encouraged him and said he is good and very soon the king would gain his health. He asked the king to come to treatment every day from the next day of visit. Also the holy man told king that he would treat the king only if he comes on foot to his place. King was unable to walk even a few steps on the road, but accompanied by his followers, he reached the holy man’s place. Unfortunately, the holy man was not available there and his devotee requested the king to come and meet him next day for treatment. This was repeated for two weeks and the king never met the holy man, never had any treatment. Suddenly, king realized that he feels a lot lighter, lost considerable amount of weight and felt active than before. He realized the reason why holy man asked him to reach his place by walking. Very soon, king regained his health, and people are very happy in his kingdom. King had a lot of wealth, but no amount of wealth made him healthy. Health is Wealth!