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The greedy dog

One day, a dog stole a big piece of meat and, proud of his own courage, ran off with it held tightly in his jaws.

He reached the bank of the river where he looked down and spied another dog with a piece of meat in its mouth, every bit as big as his own. He did not realise that it was merely his own reflection in the water.

Feeling greedy he threw himself on the other dog to steal his meat as well. Unfortunately, when he found himself in the water, he had to let go of his own piece of meat to avoid drowning. The meat slipped out of his mouth and so he was left with nothing!

The fox and the turtle

For want of a better meal, a starving fox once captured a turtle As he got down to eat the turtle, he could not break through the solid shell in order to eat it.

The shrewd turtle did not get scared. He told the fox `You should try by putting me in the water for a while to soften me up.`

This sounded an excellent advice to the fox. He carried his prey to the stream and immersed it in the currents. The turtle, who was a superb swimmer, slid out of the fox`s paws and re-emerged in the mid-stream laughing, `There are animals who are even more cunning than you Mr. Fox. Now you`ll stay hungry!` And away he went to meet his family.

The lion and the grateful mouse

A lion was preparing to eat a mouse it had just caught. `Let me go, Oh King of the Jungle` the mouse begged him, `sooner or later you may need my help. The king of the forest found this idea so ridiculous that he laughed aloud, but he let the little mouse go, anyway.

Some time later, the lion was trapped in a net, which had been set down by the hunters. The lion began to roar. The little mouse heard the roar and came out to see what was wrong. When he saw the lion in the net he climbed on to it and began to chew the net. Slowly he made a big hole and freed the lion.

`As you can see,` said the mouse, `even the mighty sometimes need the help of the weak.

The monkey and the fishermen

Two fishermen were throwing their nets into the river, and a monkey on the branches of a tree watched their actions with interest. At midday, the men went off to eat and left their nets on the river-bank, intending to use them again after lunch.

The monkey came down from the tree, picked up one of the nets, and tried to throw it as he had seen the men do. The only thing he succeeded in doing however, was to imprison himself completely in the tight netting.

`Now,` said the monkey, `I have learnt that it is better to leave certain tasks to those who know how to do them.`

The crows challenge

Two crows challenged each other to see which of them could fly the highest, whilst carrying a sack of the same size.

The first crow filled his sack with cotton and laughed at the other crow who had filled his, instead with salt which was much heavier.

As they began to soar towards the clouds, it began to rain.

The cotton absorbed the rain water and became so heavy that the first crow did not even have the strength to fly. But then the second crow who had his sack full of salt was happy. Because all the salt melted in the rain and he could fly very very high. The first crow had to admit defeat.