Basic Short Stories

Crows in the Kingdom One day Emperor Akbar and Birbal were taking a walk in the palace gardens. It was a nice summer morning and there were plenty of crows happily playing around the pond. While watching the crows, a question came into Akbar’s head. He wondered how many crows were there in his kingdom. Since Birbal was accompanying him, he asked Birbal this question. After a moment’s thought, Birbal replied, “There are ninety-five thousand four hundred and sixty-three crows in the Kingdom”. Amazed by his quick response, Akbar tried to test him again, “What if there are more crows than you answered?” Without hesitating Birbal replied, “If there are more crows than my answer, then some crows are visiting from other neighboring kingdoms”. “And what if there are less crows”, Akbar asked. “Then some crows from our kingdom have gone on holidays to other places”. Moral: There is always a way if you think with ease.

Always Stay Alert Once upon a time there was a lion that grew so old that he was unable to kill any prey for his food. So, he said to himself, I must do something to stay my stomach else I will die of starvation. He kept thinking and thinking and at last an idea clicked him. He decided to lie down in the cave pretending to be ill and then who-so-ever will come to inquire about his health, will become his prey. The old lion put his wicked plan into practice and it started working. Many of his well-wishers got killed. But evil is short lived. One day, a fox came to visit the ailing lion. As foxes are clever by nature, the fox stood at the mouth of the cave and looked about. His sixth sense worked and he came to know the reality. So, he called out to the lion from outside and said, How are you, sir? The lion replied, I am not feeling well at all. But why don’t you come inside? Then the fox replied, I would love to come in, sir! But on seeing, all foot prints going to your cave and none coming out, I would be foolish enough to come in. Saying so, the fox went to alert the other animals. Moral: Always Keep Your Eyes Open and Stay Alert before Walking in Any Situation.

Looking at Mirror One day all the employees reached the office and they saw a big advice on the door on which it was written: "Yesterday the person who has been hindering your growth in this company passed away. We invite you to join the funeral in the room that has been prepared in the gym". In the beginning, they all got sad for the death of one of their colleagues, but after a while they started getting curious to know who was that man who hindered the growth of his colleagues and the company itself. The excitement in the gym was such that security agents were ordered to control the crowd within the room. The more people reached the coffin, the more the excitement heated up. Everyone thought: "Who is this guy who was hindering my progress? Well, at least he died!" One by one the thrilled employees got closer to the coffin, and when they looked inside it they suddenly became speechless. They stood nearby the coffin, shocked and in silence, as if someone had touched the deepest part of their soul. There was a mirror inside the coffin: everyone who looked inside it could see himself. There was also a sign next to the mirror that said: "There is only one person who is capable to set limits to your growth: it is YOU." You are the only person who can revolutionize your life. You are the only person who can influence your happiness, your realization and your success. You are the only person who can help yourself. Your life does not change when your boss changes, when your friends change, when your partner changes, when your company changes. Your life changes when YOU change, when you go beyond your limiting beliefs, when you realize that you are the only one responsible for your life. "The most important relationship you can have is the one you have with yourself" . Moral: The world is like a mirror: it gives back to anyone the reflection of the thoughts in which one has strongly believed. The world and your reality are like mirrors lying in a coffin, which show to any individual the death of his divine capability to imagine and create his happiness and his success. It's the way you face Life that makes the difference.

Never to Give Up One day a farmer's donkey fell down into a well. The animal cried piteously for hours as the farmer tried to figure out what to do. Finally he decided the animal was old and the well needed to be covered up anyway it just wasn't worth it to retrieve the donkey. He invited all his neighbors to come over and help him. They all grabbed a shovel and begin to shovel dirt into the well. At first, the donkey realized what was happening and cried horribly. Then, to everyone's amazement he quieted down. A few shovel loads later, the farmer finally looked down the well and was astonished at what he saw. With every shovel of dirt that fell on his back, the donkey was doing some thing amazing. He would shake it off and take a step up. As the farmer's neighbors continued to shovel dirt on top of the animal, he would shake it off and take a step up. Pretty soon, everyone was amazed as the donkey stepped up over the edge of the well and totted off! Moral: Life is going to shovel dirt on you, all kinds of dirt. The trick is too not to get bogged down by it. We can get out of the deepest wells by not stopping. And by never giving up! Shake it off and take a step up!

Greedy Boy: Sam and Tom were identical twins. They were so identical that even their mother found it difficult to distinguish one from the other, at least during their initial days on earth. However, they were very different from each other when it came to everything other than their appearance. Sam had no friends, while Tom was a great friendship maker. Sam loved sweets, but Tom loved spicy food and detested sweets. Sam was mommy's pet and Tom was daddy's pet. While Sam was generous and selfless, Tom was greedy and selfish! As Sam and Tom grew up, their father wanted to share his fortune equally amongst them. However, Tom did not agree and he argued that whoever proved to be more intelligent and strong would have to get a bigger share of the wealth. Sam agreed. Their father decided to organize a competition between the two. He asked the two sons to walk as long as they could, and return home before sunset. The wealth would be divided in proportion to the distance covered. As a rule of the competition, they were not permitted to carry a watch to keep track of the time. The following day, Sam and Tom set out to walk. It was a rather sunny day. Sam walked slowly and steadily, while Tom broke into a sprint as he was bent on winning the race and also winning a greater portion of his father's wealth. Sam knew that it would be ideal to walk as far as possible till noon and start for home at noon as it would take the same amount of time to walk back home. Knowing this, Sam decided to turn back for home at noon so as reach home on time. However, Tom, with his greed to earn more wealth, did not attempt to return home even after mid-noon. He walked twice as long as Sam, and thought he would still be able to return home before sunset. He hurried back when he saw the sun turn orange. Unfortunately, he could not even make it half way home as the sun started to set. Slowly darkness engulfed his path and he had to drag his tired feet back home. He had lost the race. Only because of his greed. Greed leads to loss.