The Mouse Merchant

 

In a wealthy city, there was a miserable young man who was weeping along the roadside. His father had passed away, leaving the young man and his mother very poor. The young man believed that he had no future and so he was feeling depressed.

At that moment, a wealthy and famous merchant Visakila came to the roadside with his friends. Visakhila pointed at a dead mouse near the street and turned to his friends. “A man with true focus and enterprise could pick up their dead mouse and start a business with it and eventually earn a fortune.”

Visakila's friends laughed it off. However, the young man saw this as a challenge. He picked up the dead mouse and went to the local tavern. 

There he found a cat owner who needed food for his pet.

When the young man gave the dead mouse to the cat, the owner of the cat gave the young man a handful of roasted gram.

The young man did not eat the roasted gram. Instead, he grounded the gram into a refreshing powder and mixed it with cool water. The young man took this to the edge of the forest and waited there. 

There were many wood cutters who were tired and returning home after a hard day's work. The young man politely offered the refreshing drink to the woodcutters. Gratefully the wood cutters accepted the drink  and in return the woodcutters gave the young man two pieces of firewood each.

The young man sold the firewood in the city market and used the money to buy some gram and molasses. With that the young man did this daily.

Soon, a massive storm hit the city. The storm blew branches into the royal gardens.

The royal gardener was worried because the king was supposed to come to the garden that day and the garden was a mess because of the storm. 

The young man came to the gardener and offered to help the gardner to clear the garden for free if he got to keep all the firewood that he had cleared.

Naturally the gardener agreed to this.

The young man offered sweet snacks to children playing nearby and asked them to clear the garden.

The children happily ate all the sweets and helped the old man and in return the children put all the firewood removed from the garden in the young man’s place.

The young man now had a massive stock of firewood. He sold the wood to the king’s potter at the premium price.

With this substantial capital, the young man opened a small shop and traded goods with traveling horse dealers. Eventually, the young man became one of the most prominent merchants in the empire.

Years later, the young man came to be known as Chuadutta. 

Chuadutta made a gold mouse encrusted with precious jewels and presented it as a gift to Visakila thanking the older man for the loan that built his entire empire.

Adapted from the Kathasarithsagara

The Woodcutter and the Diamond

There was once a woodcutter who lived in a village on the edge of a great forest. The  woodcutter worked day and night but he was very poor. 

One day the woodcutter cried out in frustration. “Why am I alone  undergoing friction and hard work while others walk in silk and gold?”

As an answer to his prayer an ascetic came near the woodcutter. 

The ascetic pulled out a muddy stone the size of a fist from his pouch and gave it to the woodcutter. “This is a rare uncut diamond.”

The woodcutter’s eyes widened in surprise. 

The ascetic however, shook his head. “First take  this stone to the market and ascertain its true price.” The ascetic smiled at the woodcutter. “Before you sell this diamond, come back and talk to me.”

The woodcutter agreed and he excitedly took the diamond to the village market.

First the woodcutter showed the diamond to a vegetable vendor. 

The vegetable vendor looked over the stone. “This is a heavy stone. I will give you two bags of potatoes for this.”

The woodcutter was taken aback. 

Then the woodcutter took the stone to a brass merchant.

The brass merchant nodded appreciatively at the stone. “This seems to be a rare stone. I can give you ten copper coins for this.”

The woodcutter refused to sell the stone to the brass merchant too and the woodcutter took the stone to the capital city. 

There the woodcutter showed the stone to the royal jeweler.

The royal jeweler removed the mud from the stone and looked into it. The jeweler was taken aback when he saw the stone. “Where did you find this? This is a rare uncut diamond worth a thousand gold coins now.” The jeweler was still breathless. “If this stone was polished by friction, this stone’s worth would not be measurable.” The royal jeweler shook his head. “I do not have enough money in the treasury to buy that polished jewel.”

The woodcutter took the stone back to the forest.

The ascetic was sitting near a fire when the woodcutter found him.

The ascetic smiled because he realized that the woodcutter had understood it. “We are all like this stone. When we are polished our worth is more than a kingdom. However now we judge our worth based on the opinion of the vegetable vendors and the brass merchants. Our hard work removes the dirt and lets our real diamond shine showing our true worth to the world.”

The woodcutter kept the stone but he did not sell it. He kept it in his home and started working hard and since then he never saw his hard work as difficult. 

He realized that this hard work was merely a precursor to show his true worth to the world.

Adapted from Indian Folklore

The Broken Pot

Every single day, an old woman would walk from her home to a nearby river. The old woman carried a heavy wooden pole on her shoulders. On each end of the pole was a large clay pot.

One of these pots was perfect. It delivered the full portion of water through the walk from the river back to the woman’s home. The other pot, however, cracked at the side. By the time the woman reached home, the other pot lost water and was only half full.

The woman still brought water in the two pots and this went on for two full years. 

The perfect pot was very proud of itself.

However, the poor cracked pot was unhappy. It was ashamed of its imperfections because it could achieve only half of what it wanted to do. 

One day the cracked pot finally spoke to the woman. “I am ashamed of myself. I want to apologise to you because you do all this hard work, you do not get the full value of your efforts. Because I leak the water all the way back to your house.” The old woman smiled gently at the pot. “Do you notice that there are wild beautiful flowers on your side of the path? But nothing on the other pot's side.” She nodded at the pot. “I have always known about your flaw. So I planted flower seeds on your side of the path. Every day as we walk back from the river for the past two years, you have been watering those seeds. I have been able to pick these beautiful flowers to decorate my table. Without you being what you are, I would not have this beauty to grace my home.” 

That was when the broken pot realised that it may be cracked and flawed, but it was still useful because it had created something beautiful.

Adapted from Folklore around the World

Anansi and the Pot of Wisdom

Long ago the world was brand new and things were not what we see as now. People did not know how to build houses, or how to weave cloth or even how to farm. 

This was because all the wisdom of the entire world was stored in a single large clay pot which was sealed tight with a cork. 

This pot was kept by Nyame, the Supreme Creator and the Great Sky God.

One day, Nyame decided that he did not want to keep all the wisdom to himself, so Nyame sent for Anansi the Spider.

Nyame handed over the heavy clay pot that had every single idea, invention and every piece of common sense that ever existed, to Anansi. “Anansi, take this pot of wisdom to Earth and share all the wisdom in it with all the creatures of earth so that they may learn to live well.”

Anansi bowed to Nyame and took the pot. Then Anansi spun a thread from the sky to the earth. But as Anansi reached earth a selfish thought came to him. ‘If I share this wisdom with everyone, all of them will become as clever as me. But if I keep this pot to myself, I will be the wisest creature in the universe. Everyone will have to come to me for advice, and I will be rich.’

So Anansi decided to hide the pot. 

He found the Onyina or the silk cotton tree which was a sacred tree that reached high into the clouds and the trunk of the Onyina tree has sharp thorns to keep animals away.

Anansi was very happy because he realized that this was the perfect place to hide the Pot of Wisdom because no one could climb the tree.

Using a thick vine, Anansi tied the heavy clay pot around his neck so that the pot rested right against his belly and then Anansi started climbing the tree.

However, midway, the pot was wedged between Anansi’s stomach and the tree.

Anansi struggled with the pot for nearly an hour after that but the pot did not move.

Suddenly Anansi heard a giggling voice from the base of the tree. 

Anansi looked down and saw his youngest son Ntikuma who was laughing at him. 

“What is so funny?” Anansi snapped.

“Oh Father!” Ntikuma giggled. “You are supposed to be having all the wisdom in the world, but you do not have the common sense to even tie the pot to your back so that it would not get in the way of your climbing.”

Anansi stared and realized that his son was absolutely right.

Even though Anansi had all the wisdom in the world, his son had shown more wisdom than him.

In a fit of anger, Anansi kicked the pot.

The heavy clay pot fell to the forest floor and shattered into a million pieces.

The wisdom burst free and blew into the rivers, fields and villages, where every single person, animal and insect breathed in the scattered wisdom.

High above, the great Sky God Nyame smiled. He had known how greedy and foolish Anansi was and Nyame knew that by giving the pot to a selfish trickster, Nyame made sure that the wisdom was available for all of the earth.

Adapted from African Folklore

The Fox and the Hedgehog

A fox and a hedgehog were strolling through the forests. 

The fox was very proud of itself. It looked down at its prickly companion with a smug smile. “Do you know hedgehog, if the hounds suddenly come, I am so clever that I have a hundred different strategies to escape. I can double back on my tracks. I can leap over streams, and I have half a dozen secret burrows, all over the forest.” The fox looked even more smug. “I have a master plan for everything.” 

The fox finally looked at the hedgehog with pity. “You however, have nothing!”

The hedgehog was quiet for a few seconds. “I have one trick, and I think that is enough.”

Suddenly the fox and the hedgehog heard the hound’s howl echoing through the trees. 

The hedgehog did not pause. He tucked his head and pulled his paws and rolled himself into a tight sharp ball of defensive spikes.

On hearing the hounds, the fox's brilliant mind, however, went through many possibilities. 

The fox wondered whether he should run to the river, but then the fox decided against it, because the water current was too strong. Then, the fox wondered whether he had to double back, but then the fox realised that the wind was blowing straight towards the hound. Finally, the fox wondered whether he had to climb the ridge. But then the fox was afraid that this would damage his beautiful fur. 

So thinking all this, the fox was frozen on his tracks.

While the fox was still calculating all this, the hounds burst from the trees. 

The hedgehog remained perfectly safe inside his prickly armour. The hedgehog heard the commotion around and looked up only when the noise around him faded into the distance.

When the hedgehog finally felt that it was safe, he unrolled and looked around. 

The fox was, however, nowhere to be found.

The hedgehog went home safe that day, because he knew that one simple, reliable plan executed immediately was better than a hundred complex options.

Adapted from Aesop’s Fables

The Crow and the Peacock

There was once a crow that did not like its black feathers.

The crow often admired the colourful feathers of the peacock and wanted to be one among the peacocks. 

The crow would often tell its fellow crows, “You all look so dull and plain. look how beautiful the peacocks are. I wish I were a peacock, too.”

Finally, the crow had an idea. 

It decided to pick up all the peacock feathers that had fallen down and decided to stick it to its own wings so that it would look like the peacock.

Painstakingly, using tree sap, the crow stuck all the fallen peacock feathers to its tail.

The crow looked at its own work. “Now I am as gorgeous as a peacock.” The crow told itself.

However, when the crow tried to join the flock of peacocks, the crow was mocked and thrown out of the place because the peacocks clearly saw that the crow was not one among them. “Putting on peacock feathers will not make you a peacock.”

Sadly the crow returned to the other crows. But none of the crows now wanted to be with this crow that had shunned them.

A wise old crow came and told the crow its lesson. “We have to accept ourselves for the way that we are and not copy others, blindly. I hope that you have learned your lesson.”

Adapted from the Panchantantra

Audio Story in Youtube

The Story of the Three Dogs - Part Fourteen

 

The boy then came inside the hall with his three dogs. 

Everybody who had come for the wedding was filled with wonder at what the three dogs could do and they all felt that they had never seen a more bold and brave young man as the boy.

As soon as the three princesses saw the boy, they immediately realised who he was and quickly rose from the table to embrace him.

That was when the king learnt that the two other princes had used deceit to win the hands of the other two elder princesses.

The king was very angry, and he had the two princes thrown out of his kingdom.

The young boy was received with great honour and he was married to the youngest princess on the same day.

After the old king died, the young boy was chosen to be king over the land and he became a brave monarch as he lived with his Queen and ruled the kingdom happily.

Adapted from Swedish Folk Stories

The Story of the Three Dogs - Part Thirteen

The Boy lay almost dead in the forest. But he was not forsaken. His faithful dogs came close to him to warm his body, and they licked his wounds. The dogs did not leave and their master slowly regained his breath and showed signs of life.

Then, the Boy regained his strength and started his way to the king's palace and finally reached there too.

The Boy was shocked because he found that in the kingdom, there were banquets everywhere and everyone was happy and joyful.

The Boy asked one of the people in the kingdom what the celebrations were for. 

The people replied. “The three daughters of the kingdom are back safe and sound from the power of the mountain ogres and today is the wedding of the two eldest princesses.”

“Is the youngest princess also getting married?” The Boy asked anxiously.

The people unhappily shook their heads. “The youngest princess would not accept anyone as her husband and she is constantly weeping. But nobody knows why she is so unhappy.”

The boy was happy because he realized that the third princess also loved him and that was the reason that she had not accepted anyone as her husband. 

He then went to the guard room and sent a message to the king. “I am a guest at the wedding and I ask permission to add to the joy of the weddings by showing my performing dogs.”

The king was happy when he heard this message and he asked that the stranger should be received and brought inside the palace.

Adapted from Swedish Folk Stories

The Story of the Three Dogs - Part Twelve

The two princes told the others that they had been very unsuccessful and were now forced to return home on foot, when they had met the Boy and the three princesses.

The Boy was worried about the two princes, and he asked them to travel with them so that they could all go back together to the kingdom of the three princesses.

However, when they were travelling together, the two princes realised how the poor Boy had not only protected the three princesses and brought them back, but he also served them well. 

Naturally, the two princes were very envious of the Boy and decided to do away with him. That way, the two princes could tell everyone that they were the ones who had saved the three princesses.

Soon the two princes found themselves alone with the Boy and they fell on him and choked him and left him dead in the deep forest.

After that, the two princes threatened the three princesses to take an oath to keep a secret about what had happened. If the princesses did not agree to it the princes said that the princesses would be killed. Now that the three princesses were under the power of the princes, they did not refuse the princes. 

Though they deeply grieved for the Boy who had lost his life for them, they could not do anything.

The youngest princess who loved the Boy wept day and night.

The two princes took the three girls back to the kingdom and there was great joy there.

Adapted from Swedish Folk Stories

The Story of the Three Dogs - Part Eleven

 

Now that the giant was free of the three dogs, he looked smugly at the Boy. He pulled out his sword that hung from the wall. “I will now avenge my brothers.”

The Boy was shocked and realized that he had no one to fight the Giant, because his dogs were trapped. But the Boy thought fast.

“Before I fight you, I want to say a prayer and play a hymn in my pipe.”

The Giant did not see anything wrong with the request and agreed to it.

After saying his prayer the boy then played on his pipe.

When the pipe’s music sounded over the hill, the Giant’s magic spell lost its power and the three dogs became free.

The three dogs came rushing to the Boy’s aid, like a gust of wind.

“Hold On,” The Boy cried. “Hold this Giant!” The Boy turned to his two other dogs. “Tear and List tear this Giant into a thousand pieces.”

The Giant lay dead.

Then the boy took all the precious things from the mountains and took the Giant’s horses, the golden chariot and placed the princesses in the chariot and drove away from the mountain.

The three princesses were happy at being free for saving them.

But the Boy fell in love with the youngest princess and the third princess also loved the Boy back.

Then they drove towards the kingdom of the three Princesses.

However, on the same road were two wanderers and these wanderers looked terrible. Their clothes were torn and their feet were sore from the continuous walking.

These wanderers were the two princes who had travelled in search of the three princesses.

Adapted from Swedish Folk Stories

The Story of the Three Dogs - Part Ten

The boy and the giant had eaten to their fill. The boy then nodded at the giant. “Give me something for my thirst.”

The giant pretended to frown. “At the top of this mountain there is a spring that gives the purest wine ever. But I have no one in the castle who can go and bring it.”

The boy waved that away. “Is that all? One of my dogs can bring the wine.”

On hearing this, the giant was glad because the giant wanted nothing more than for the boy to send his dogs away.

The boy ordered Hold On to go to the spring and fetch some wine. The giant gave a huge jar to the dog. The dog left to bring the wine, but it was obvious that the dog did not want to do this.

Though the boy and the giant waited for a long time, the dog did not return.

The giant frowned some more. “I do not know why it is taking so long for the dog. I think it would be best if you send another dog to go and help Hold On. The jar is probably too heavy for one dog to carry.”

The boy did not suspect anything and he asked Tear to go and see why Hold On did not return.

Tear did not want to leave his master. But the boy did not listen and drove the dog off to the spring. 

The giant laughed silently and the princess wept, but the boy did not pay attention to it, for he was in high spirits and did not think he was in danger at all.

When they did not hear anything of the wine or the dogs, the giant then convinced the boy to send the third dog too.

The boy asked List to go to the spring, but the dog did not obey the boy. 

Then the boy became angry and drove the dog away with blows.

Then, List also ran up the mountain.

On top of the mountain, the giant had used sorcery to create a huge wall to trap the dogs. 

Just like what had happened to the first two dogs, List also became a captive of the giant, as a high wall rose around the dog.

Adapted fromSwedish Folk Stories