Story Prism

Aesop's fables are a group of stories thought to have been written by Aesop, a Greek Storyteller. Each Aesop story demonstrates a moral lesson. Today's story - 'The Crow And the Pitcher' is a story that teaches us that we must not give up in the face of adversity.

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Transcript

Once upon a time, on a scorching summer day, a thirsty crow was flying over the countryside in search of water. The sun beat down mercilessly, and the crow's throat felt parched.

Children, what are the different kinds of drinks that you enjoy while quenching your thirst?

Great.

After a long flight looking for water, the thirsty crow spotted a pitcher under a shady tree. The crow had a smile on his face. Hopeful, the crow hurriedly flew down to satisfy his thirst.

As the crow reached the pitcher, it saw that there was indeed water inside, but alas, the water level was so low that the crow couldn't reach it with its beak. He was disappointed but he didn’t give up. He was determined to find a way to drink the water from the pitcher. So, the crow peered inside, trying to figure out a way to quench its thirst.

Children, can you please suggest a way for the crow to quench his thirst?

Let’s listen ahead.

After a moment of thinking, the clever crow had an idea. It began to pick up small pebbles from the ground nearby and dropped them into the pitcher one by one.

Children, do you know what happened when the crow dropped stones in the pitcher?

Indeed, with each pebble dropped in, the water level rose ever so slightly. The crow continued this method, dropping pebble after pebble into the pitcher.

Slowly but surely, the water level began to rise, inch by inch, until at last, it was high enough for the crow to dip its beak and take refreshing sips of water. The crow drank water to his heart’s content. Then with his thirst quenched, it flew away, feeling satisfied and delighted.

From that day on, whenever the crow encountered a challenge, it remembered the lesson it had learned from the pitcher: that with patience, perseverance, and a little bit of creativity, even the most difficult obstacles could be overcome.

And that is what we learn from this story: whenever we face problems, we must not give up immediately, but think through it, and we are bound to get the solution.

'The Needle Tree' is a story that teaches us to be kind

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Transcript

The Needle Tree

Once, two brothers lived at the forest’s edge. The older brother was always unkind to his younger brother. He used to even take all the food and snatched all the good clothes from the younger one.

Children, what was the unkind behaviour of the older brother?

Indeed, the older brother used to take food and good clothes from the younger sibling.

The older brother would go into the forest in search of firewood to sell in the market. But he was unkind and as he walked through the forest, he chopped off the branches of every tree he passed.

One day he came upon a magical tree.

The tree stopped him before he chopped its branches and said, ‘Oh, kind sir, please spare my branches. If you spare me, I will provide you with golden apples.”

The older brother agreed. The tree gave him two golden apples. The older brother was disappointed with just two golden apples.

Overcome by greed, the brother threatened the tree, “I’ll cut you if you don’t provide me with more apples.”

The tree was offended and instead of giving him more apples, the tree showered him with hundreds of tiny needles. The brother fell to the ground, crying in pain as the sun began to set.

Soon, the kind-hearted younger brother became worried and went in search of his older brother. He searched every nook and corner of the forest until he found him at the trunk of the apple tree, lying in pain with hundreds of needles on his body.

He rushed to him and started to painstakingly remove each needle with love. Once the needles were out, the older brother apologized for mistreating his younger brother. The magical tree saw the change in the older brother’s heart and gifted them with all the golden apples the brothers could need.

Welcome to the Turtle Tales series.

The Singing Turtle is an adapted folktale from Japan where a turtle helps a hard-working man to earn money by singing.

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Once upon a time, there lived two brothers. These two brothers lived with their mother a little further away from the city. Now, one of them was a hard worker.   He worked hard and did not waste his time being lazy.

Whereas, the other brother was a lazy bone and did not work at all. He preferred to sleep in his bed all day long.

Their mother had been sick and the family had always been poor. The hard-working brother's earnings were always spent by the lazy brother. Every day the hard-working brother went to the town with his lunch and came back in late the evening. During his lunch break, the hard-working brother would go to the river and have his lunch by the river.

One day, the hard-working brother told his brother that he's going to the city, “I’ll be back late in the night. There are some sticks I have gathered. I will sell them and make some money,” saying that, he left.

But as luck would have it he could not sell even a single stick by lunchtime.

The poor brother was upset. He knew his brother and mother were relying on him.

Children, what should the hard-working brother do now?

So, as usual, during the lunch hour, he went to the river. But instead of having his lunch, he started weeping. When he was weeping, the hard-working brother heard a voice.

“Why are you crying?” asked the voice.

The hard-working brother looked down wondering where the voice was coming from.

Then the voice asked him to look down. When the hard-working brother did so, he saw the voice was that of a turtle.

He was even more surprised when the turtle said, “I would like to help you. I am a singing turtle and if you take me to the market, I can help you fetch good money.”

The hard-working brother was confused and wondered, “But why would you help me?”

“I have been eating the crumbs you left behind after your lunch. I am indebted to you,” said the turtle politely.

The hard-working brother thanked the singing turtle for extending help and took him to the market. He was able to earn a handsome amount as people were excited to hear a turtle sing.

 Children, can you imagine what songs he sang?

That’s good.

The hard-working brother took his earnings and the turtle to his house. He narrated the entire story to his family. The next day when he was washing up the turtle, the lazy brother snatched the turtle and said, “I can earn more than you can.”

With that, the lazy brother took the turtle to the market. The lazy brother ordered and ordered the turtles to sing but that only made the turtle go back into his shell. The townspeople blamed the man for lying to them and said that it was an ordinary turtle anyway and not a singing turtle.

Angrily, the lazy brother left him in the market and stomped his way home.

Children, is that a good thing to do?

 The turtle slowly made his way back to the hut. Once home, the turtle told everything to the hard-working brother and the mother.

Upon hearing the story that mother told both the brothers, “Bad habits chase away the good things in life. You should be nice and polite to everyone.”

The Lazy brother apologized and promised to be polite and also work hard.

The hard-working brother and the turtle were delighted by this change of heart of the lazy brother.

The Escapades of Letter D is a story about Alphabet D finding out a secret about his toys and also teaches how everyone can play together.

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Transcript

It was night-time and all the alphabets had finished playing and together they put away all the toys: the duck, deer, dinosaur, doll, etc. They never left their

toys scattered. They always placed them back neatly in the drawers or in the toy basket.

After putting away the toys, they quickly washed up, had their delicious dinner, and went to their room. Soon they were busy reading and in no time, they were fast asleep.

One day, after all the other alphabets had gone to sleep Alphabet d decided to return to the playroom to play some more.

He quietly got out of the bed, tiptoed out of the bedroom, and walked towards the playroom. As he approached the playroom, he heard some noises. He stopped and wondered what those noises were.

D was very inquisitive and instead of rushing into the playroom, he decided to peep through the window to find out what was happening

“Oh My God! What are all the toys doing outside their baskets and drawers?” he wondered.

He carefully looked and realized that all the toys were playing around in the room. Or were they getting ready for something?

Alphabet D wanted to join them but thought that might scare the toys.

So, he decided to just watch them through the window.

He had never seen anything like this before.

Alphabet D saw the doll dressed up in her shimmering shining dress.

“Is there going to a party?” Alphabet D wondered.

In the other corner Alphabet D’s favourite deer was draping itself in a golden skin.

The very next moment, the toy tub caught Alphabet D’s attention. He saw the duck fluttering its wings to dry itself and quacking; quack -quack -quack-quack

Once she was done drying, she waddled towards the middle of the room.

The doll was ready by now. And so was the deer. They both walked elegantly towards the middle of the room. All the others also assembled in the middle for what looked like a dance party.

Suddenly, Alphabet D heard the beating of the drum. It was the dog. He appeared playing a beat on the drum. And everybody started rejoicing and dancing.                  

The doves came in and started circling right above all the others, fluttering their wings to the beat.

Indeed, it was a dance party

All you little children listening out there, I am sure you all love parties, especially birthday parties.

So, what’s your favourite part of any birthday party?

Is it the fun-filled games, or the delicious food, or the scrumptious cake, or the refreshing drinks, or the rhythmic dancing? Or is it everything put together.

Well, even the toys in our story were having a great time in the party.

So, till now in the story, Alphabet D, instead of sleeping, wants to play more and goes to the playroom, only to realize that all the toys were having a party.

As the toys were dancing, the dinosaur came with refreshing drinks and served them to all the animals.

But then the mean red coloured dragon, who always troubled the other toys, appeared from behind the cupboard. All the animals started running here and there as they were scared of the dragon. 

He was a big bully and scared all the toys by his loud shrieks and by blowing fire.

The toys shouted together, “Someone please help us!” and were running helter-skelter.

Hearing the commotion, the lion who was relaxing in the den rushed out.

One look at the dragon and the lion understood the problem that it was the dragon scaring all the other toys.

He roared, "You red dragon, that is no way to spoil the party. Instead why don’t you join them and have fun too!”

“But no one ever invites me to the party,” said one very angry dragon.

The doll gathering courage said, “Dragon dear, you are most welcome to join our party, but please don’t scare us.”

The dragon for the first time felt bad and apologized. All the toys accepted his apologies and soon he too was enjoying the party.

I love to sing,

You love to sing,

We love to sing together!

I love to dance,

You love to dance,

We love to dance together!

Alphabet D was glad to see the toys having a good time. He had a smile on his face, but by now his eyes were heavy and he slowly trudged back to his room and went to sleep.

Hello Children! I am alphabet D. Hope you liked the story.

You know I make the sound /d/

Let’s see what all words in the story started with /d/

/d/ drawers

/d/ dinner and was it /d/ delicious?

/d/ doll. What was she wearing? Shimmering shining dress. And that is

/d/ dress

/d/ deer

/d/duck

/d/ dog, who was playing a

/d/ drum

/d/ doves

/d/ dance, and who came and disturbed the party?

/d/ dragon, and the lion came out of his

/d/ den

Join me in colouring and tons of fun activities by asking your parent or guardian to visit www.rituvaish.com. Once there, click on the D story! If you'd like us to display your artwork on our website, draw a picture of something that starts with alphabet D, colour it, and request a grown-up to send it to [email protected]. That's r-i-t-u-v-a-i-s-h at gmail.com.

Welcome to the Fox Tales series. Scrapefoot and the three bears is a story about a fox who enters the castle of the three bears but is thrown out of the window. This has many similarities to the fairy tale; Goldilocks and the three bears.

Free activity sheets and other downloadable resources available at www.rituvaish.com/archive-scrapefoot-the-fox-and-the-three-bears

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Transcript

Once upon a time in a land not so far away, lay the most beautiful forest with mighty old trees, mosses in all shades of green, clear babbling streams, and light open spaces filled with delicate sweet-smelling flowers.

In the middle of this wonderful forest stood the castle of the Three Bears. They were the masters of the forest.

And in the same forest, there was a Fox who lived all alone, his name was Scrapefoot.

Children, can you guess why he was called, Scrapefoot?

The old fox was known for the fact that he would rather beg and bow to anyone than do an honest day of work. He was lazy. It was his typical bow whereby her foot would scrape heavily backward over the floor that earned him the name -Scrapefoot.

He was very proud of himself. He would spend hours grooming himself daily and making sure that his tail was fluffy and lovely.

Scrapefoot was very much afraid of the Bears, but amongst all the things that he wanted very much, one was that he wanted to visit the great grey castle. And one day as he was roaming through the wood he found himself near the Bears' castle, and he wondered, “ Oh, how much I want to see this big, great, grey castle of the bears from the inside!”

He wondered whether he could get into the castle. He looked to the right, he looked to the left, he looked far ahead and way behind, and he could not see anyone.

Then he skidded here and he skidded there, till at last, he arrived at the door of the big grey castle. He tried to see if he could open it. Yes! the door was not locked.

“Would it be my lucky day? Looks like I will get to go inside this great grey castle at last, ” Scrapefoot smiled to himself.

He raised his paws and pushed the door and opened it just a little more. Next, he put his nose in and looked. Luckily he could not see anyone. So, then he opened it a little way farther and put one paw in, and then another paw, and another and another, and then he was all inside the Bears' castle.

He stood at the door, awestruck.

Children, put on your thinking caps and tell me why do you think Scrapefoot was awestruck?

After a moment, he realized that he was in a great hall with beautiful chandeliers, satin curtains and walls adorned with attractive paintings.

Next, his eyes fell on the three thrones; one big, one middling, and one little one.

He thought, “Why don’t I sit on one of the thrones and feel like the master of the forest?”

So, he sat down on the big throne. But he found it so hard and uncomfortable that it made his bones ache, and he jumped down at once and got into the middling throne, and he turned round and round in it, but he couldn't make himself comfortable. So then, he went to the little chair and sat down in it, and felt very nice, “This is so soft, warm, and comfortable!” The Scrapefoot was quite happy, but all at once, it broke to pieces under him.

“Never mind! Let me see the other parts of the castle,” Leaving the throne behind, Scrapefoot walked around the castle. Soon he found the dining room. In it stood a huge heavy but beautifully carved table with three plates on it.

The first plate was filled with big smoked salmon.

Children salmon a medium-sized silver-coloured fish that lives in the seas or rivers.

The Scrapefoot thought, “The bears surely know which fish is good. So I must taste it.”

He took the plate but the strong and weird smell of the salmon made him quickly push the plate as far away as he could.

On the second plate, lay a lovely cake, dripping with honey, “Ahh, the bears are famous to know which is the best honey. So let me try this.”

A bit cautious after his first experience Scrapefoot very, very carefully took the plate. But as soon as she smelled the richness and sweetness of the honey, he pushed the plate even further away than the first one.

Looks like Scrapefoot didn’t have a sweet tooth.

Children, which is your favourite dessert?

On the third plate, stood a little saucer filled with milk.

Scrapefoot carefully smelled the milk but this did not smell too strong, too weird, too rich, or too sweet. He took a little lick and liked it so much that he went on drinking it till it was all gone.

“That was delicious! I wish there was some more,” exclaimed Scrapefoot.

Then Scrapefoot thought, “I really want to see what is upstairs in this castle.” He tried to listen to any sounds, but he could not hear anyone.

So upstairs he went, and he found a great room with three beds in it; one was a big bed, and one was a middling bed, and one was a little white bed, and Scrapefoot climbed up into the big bed, but it was so hard and lumpy and uncomfortable that he jumped down again at once, and tried the middling bed. That was rather better, but he could not get so comfortable in it as he wanted.

So after turning about a little while he got up and went to the little bed; and that was so soft and so warm and so nice that he fell fast asleep children, at once.

Children, what do you think is going to happen in the story now?

Let’s listen ahead.

And after a time the Bears came home, and when they got into the hall. The Big Bear went to his chair and said, “Who’s been sitting in my throne?” and the middling Bear said, “Who’s been sitting in my throne?” and the little Bear said, 'Who's been sitting in my throne and has broken it all to pieces?'

Next, they were feeling a little hungry. So, they went to the dining room, and the big Bear said, “Who’s touched my plate of salmon?” ' and the middling Bear said, “ Who pushed my plate so far away?” The little Bear said, 'Who's been drinking my milk and has drunk it all up?' 

Then they went upstairs and into the bedroom, and the big Bear said, “Who’s been sleeping in my bed?” and the middling Bear said, “ Who’s been sleeping in my bed?” and the little Bear said, “Who's been sleeping in my bed? -- and see here he is!”

So, then the Bears stood around the little bed came and wondered what they should do with Scrapefoot, the fox.

The s big Bear said, 'Let's hang him!' and then the middling Bear said, 'Let's drown him!' and then the little Bear said, 'Let's throw him out of the window.' And then the Bears took him to the window, and the big Bear took two legs on one side and the middling Bear took two legs on the other side, and they swung him backward and forwards, backward and forwards, and out of the window, he went.

Poor Scrapefoot was so frightened that he thought every bone in his body must be broken. But he got up and first shook one leg -- no, that was not broken; and then another, and that was not broken, and another and another, and then he wagged his tail and found there were no bones broken. So,     then he galloped off home as fast as he could go, and never went near the Bears' great, grey castle!

'Jumpy Learns A Lesson' is a story that teaches us to have the spirit of never giving up.

Free activity sheet available at www.rituvaish.com/archive-jumpy-learns-a-lesson

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Transcript

Jumpy Frog opened his eyes to the bright sun of a new day. He stretched out his long legs and stuck out his tongue to taste the morning air. Jumpy hopped out of his bed onto the green, dew-soaked leaves and raced to his mom nearby.

“Wake up, Mommy, wake up,” Jumpy shouted with excitement.

“Good morning, my baby boy,” his mom said. Jumpy yelled, “Do you know what today is?”

His mom teased, “No, what is today?”

Children, can you guess why is Jumpy so excited?

Let’s find out.

“My Birthday”, exclaimed Jumpy. “I’m 5 years old today.”

“Oh,” mom said, “Is it your birthday TODAY?”

“Mom, you remember, don’t you?” said Jumpy.

“Of course I do. It’s my favourite day of the year,” Mom said. She pulled out a big box with a bright red bow.

“Happy Birthday, my son!”

“Oh, Mom, is this what I think it is?” Jumpy hoped she had gotten all his hints about what he wanted. A new guitar! The kind that his favourite band plays. Shiny blue and sounding awesome!

Jumpy pulled apart the wrapping paper and yanked off the bow. He opened the box and it was…… the guitar! Jumpy was so happy. He immediately picked it up and started playing. Only to his surprise, it did not sound too good.

Jumpy quickly got discouraged and threw down the guitar. Mom picked it back up and said, “Jumpy, try again. You’ll never know how good you could be if you give up so fast.”

Children, have you learned any new things recently? Please share what it was.

That’s lovely

Jumpy was disappointed. He wanted the guitar, but he did not want to take the time to learn to play it.

He surely did not want to hurt his mom’s feelings, so he picked the guitar back up and tried again. It sounded just as bad. He got very upset!

“Jumpy”, said his mom, “never give up. Practice, practice, and practice. Soon you’ll see that you can accomplish anything you set your mind to.”

That night Jumpy tried again. The day after that he tried again. The day after that he tried again. Each day he tried a little longer and a little harder. Until one day Jumpy played the most beautiful song on his guitar.

His mom had been listening, as she had each day. She was so proud of him for not giving up.

Jumpy and his mom would sit for hours together while Jumpy played the song over and over until it was perfect!

Jumpy was so proud of himself and his mom was so proud of him too!

Jumpy said, “Thank you so much for buying me this guitar. I guess you believed in me before I even believed in myself!”

Jumpy’s mom said,” That’s what moms’ are for! With this guitar, you will make beautiful music forever. Now what better gift could there be?”

Jumpy said, “This is the best birthday gift ever.”

Jumpy and his mom sat together on a bunch of lily pads while Jumpy played his music as the sun set around them.

The Woodpeckers’ Granary is a story that is about woodpeckers working as a team to gather acorns, make their granary and protect it too. It also teaches children am important life lesson of not taking others things without permission.

Free activity sheet available at www.rituvaish.com/archive-originals-the-woodpeckers-granary.

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Transcript

You must have heard that it’s wrong to take other people’s things without their permission. Well, in today’s story, someone learns a lesson about not picking up things that don’t belong to them.

So gather around.

Before I plunge into the story, let me tell you dear children that acorn woodpeckers are a particular type of woodpeckers that eat, as the name implies, mainly acorns.   They live in a family that cooperates and helps each other.

A big flock of acorn woodpeckers was soaring in the sky.

This flock had a fledgling named, Nutty.

Nutty loved his flock for it had his papa, mummy, uncles, aunts, and cousins too. They always stayed together and had a lot of fun playing as well as working together.

One day while flying they spotted an oak tree grove. As they were circling over the grove, all of them were enchanted by its tall oaks. So, they decided to get a closer look and landed in the oak grove.

They found that not only were the tall oak trees gorgeous, there were beautiful wildflowers growing and they could even hear the gurgling of a waterfall nearby. Every member of the flock was elated.

Looking at his flock’s happy faces, papa announced “Let's make this our new home. It is so pretty here.” The whole flock chirped in agreement.

The fledglings couldn’t believe their ears, “Hurray! A new home! That’s awesome.”

Looking keenly all around the oak trees Nutty was worried.

“There are no holes here,” he gave an anxious shriek.

Another fledgling added, “Where will we store our acorns?”

“Well! We will teach you how to make the holes and store the nuts. It’s hard work, but doing things together makes it enjoyable,” papa assured the little ones.

All the cousins exchanged a smile and gave high-five to each other with their wings and said, “That’ll be fun! We have never made our holes as in our previous home we already had them.”

Nutty exclaimed, “I’ll make the biggest one!”

Mummy who was observing the excitement amongst the young ones added, “ We don’t need to make big ones. You have to learn to make the holes just the right size to fit the acorn.”

One of the uncles explained, “And remember not to make them lower on the trunk as then the other animals might take our nuts.”

Soon, all the elders got busy with what woodpeckers love doing the most, drilling small holes in the trunk of the oak trees.

Papa made himself comfortable on the trunk of one of the oak trees and called all the fledglings, “Come here, let me teach you how to make the right size holes and the correct distance apart.”

Happily, all the fledglings gave noisy trills and under papa’s guidance got busy pecking the wood to make the cavities.

One of the uncles, flying around the grove, gave a loud call to the flock, “I suggest that since it’s fall, some of us should start harvesting the green acorns. If we delay, we might not have enough acorns in our new granary for the winter months. The others can keep drilling the wood.”

The flock unanimously agreed. They knew building a new granary isn’t an easy task.

Every day, some would fly out in search of acorns, bring back some to keep in the cavities. In the meantime, the others would frantically make holes in the oak trees.

In a few weeks, all their hard work paid off. Their granary was almost ready.

The fledglings were most excited as it was their first year to make holes and store the nuts. They were also very possessive about them.

One day, after soaring in the sky, the flock returned to the grove of the oak trees.

Nutty, enthusiastic about his acorn went straight to check on his very first acorn that he had stored.

Nutty couldn’t believe that the hole was empty. He screeched, “My acorn is not there.”

All you little children listening out there, can you guess what had happened to the acorn.

Well let’s listen ahead to find out. 

One day Nutty found that one of the acorns was missing and gave out a loud shriek that his acorn is not there.

“Mine is also missing,” shouted another one from behind the tree. Mummy calmed them down, “They might have fallen down to the ground. Go look for them”

Instantly, the two cousins flew down and looked all around the tree but could not find their acorns.

Unfortunately, the next day too some of the acorns were gone.

“For sure there is a thief!” announced one of the uncles.

Vexed with the situation the father said, “There has to be a way to find out who the trespassers are who are stealing from our granary. Let’s have a flock meeting right now.”

Everyone got together and started thinking about ways to find out who the thief was.

One of the aunts suggested, “Let us do aerial passes around the grove and catch the thief.”

Mummy recommended, “That’s a great idea. But let's distribute the work as we can neither afford to skip collecting the nuts nor can we skip guarding our granary.”

Uncle approved, “That’s right. Hence, some keep gathering the nuts, while the others keep a watch on our granary..”

“That's a great plan,” echoed the flock.

The next day, the woodpeckers were nervous but everyone went about carrying on with their respective duties.

Till noon, the guarding woodpeckers found nothing unusual, apart from the rustling of the leaves and the melodious music of the wind passing through the grove.

Suddenly, the guards saw some movement amongst the dry heap of leaves and they became alert.

They saw a tiny squirrel who looked here and there for any predators and then quickly climbed and reached the granary, She was about to get the acorn out when the guard woodpeckers shouted, “Hey! You thief squirrel, you should be ashamed of yourself for stealing our food. Go away at once. If you are seen anywhere around our granary, you'll have to face the consequences.”

The squirrel was taken aback, the words of the guarding woodpecker pinched her badly and she scurried away. That night she couldn't sleep as the words, “You thief squirrel” kept on resonating in her ears.

She thought, “I am not a thief!”

But then she realised that if we pick up something, that belongs to someone else without taking permission, that’s being a thief. She was devastated and vowed to rectify her mistake.

The next morning, she went looking for acorns and came back with them to the oak grove.

The guarding woodpeckers yelled out, “ We told you that you should not come close to our granary.”

The squirrel pleaded showing the acorns that she had brought, “I am so sorry. See, I have come to replace the nuts back in the hole. I promise never to steal again. Please don’t call me a thief.”

The woodpeckers were surprised by squirrel’s change of heart.

Nutty said pleasantly, “Thanks! That’s sweet of you. to replace our nuts.”

The others replied,“ We forgive you and won’t call you a thief.”

From that day, the squirrel worked hard and never stole anything.

And As for the woodpeckers, the flock was delighted that they could find the thief.

Since then, the acorn woodpeckers have always believed in: Team work makes dreams work.

Akbar and Birbal folktales are very famous in India. These are a set of moral stories inspired by the interactions of Mughal Emperor Akbar and his wisest courtier Birbal and have been enjoyed by children for many many years. These stories were mostly passed on from generation to generation by word of mouth, till the print medium started. You know children, Birbal was an extremely witty courtier and. you will really enjoy listening to the witty, interesting, and sometimes funny, occurrences in the lives of Akbar and Birbal. These stories also help us to think smart just like Birbal.

Today's story: The Nine Stick is a witty story where Akbar loses his favourite ring and requests Birbal to help out find the thief. Was Birbal successful? to find out, listen to the story.

Free activity sheet available at www.rituvaish.com/the-nine-sticks

Send your artwork to [email protected].

Transcript

Akbar was one of the greatest rulers in India.

As the highest ruler in the land, the emperor, Akbar resided in a spacious palace with throngs of obedient servants and so many riches and treasures, it would take all one thousand of his elephants to carry them!

The emperor’s most precious riches and treasures were his jewels. Glittering gold crowns... sparkling silver anklets... radiant ruby earrings... The glistening gems were so dear to the emperor that he kept them locked away in a big locker hidden deep beneath the palace.

Only ten people had a key to that locker: the emperor himself, plus nine pf his trusted attendants who had a very special job.

Every time the emperor wished to wear a piece of jewelry, be it - the emerald pendant — the one shaped like a peacock! or a shimmering bracelet, he would ask one of the trusted servants to bring it from the locker.

To get to the locker, the attendant had to push through a secret hole in the wall. Then they had to run down a hidden set of stairs and unlock a heavy steel door. Once they entered the vault, they would seek out whichever jewel the emperor desired, bring it back to the great ruler’s chamber, and then help him put it on as he admired himself in the mirror.

One day, the emperor, Akbar, decided he’d wear a thick gold ring set with a dazzling diamond the size of an apricot. The ring had been passed down in his family from generation to generation, and the emperor considered it to be his greatest treasure.

So, he asked one of his nine attendants to fetch the ring from the locker. But when the attendant came back, the great ruler was flabbergasted to hear that the ring wasn’t there!

The emperor exclaimed, “What?!? My greatest treasure is missing? It can’t be! Send for another attendant! Let them try!”

So a second attendant went to the locker to look for the ring… and, like the first attendant, he too claimed it was nowhere to be found.

Emperor said not believing the attendant, “ Come now! That ring didn’t just get up and walk away! The door to that vault is as thick as the trunk of a banyan tree!”

But then the third attendant too reported the ring was gone. And so did the fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh, eighth and the ninth.

All returned empty-handed.

The emperor was now very angry and decided to go himself and look for the diamond ring himself.

So, the emperor grabbed his key, marched down to the locker and spent hours sifting through his vast collection of jewels… until, at last, he collapsed in a heap.

Emperor Akbar called out to Birbal, “ You need to help…my greatest treasure is gone!”

Birbal was the emperor’s favourite advisor. The wise and witty man was famous for his razor-sharp intellect and was the first person the emperor called whenever he had a problem he couldn’t solve, a question he couldn’t answer, or a puzzle he couldn’t crack.

Children, do you know any riddle? Please ask either your friend or your family members to solve it.

As the emperor told Birbal what had happened.  The shrewd advisor, Birbal,  listened carefully, scratching his chin and nodding his head. By the time the emperor finished his story, Birbal’s brilliant mind was already hard at work.

Birbal said, “Kindly remind me, Your Imperial Highness… Who in this palace holds a key to the vault of jewels?”

“Well, I do, of course… plus my nine jewellery attendants. And all nine of them gave their word that the ring isn’t there!” said Akbar.

Birbal said, “Looks like your ring has been stolen. And it seems like one of your nine jewellery attendants is the culprit! But leave everything to me, sir, and you will see your greatest treasure very soon. All I need is a little bit of wood, a little bit of time... and maybe… just maybe… a little bit... of magic!”

Children, What do you think Birbal is talking about?

So that night, the emperor’s favourite advisor… wise, witty Birbal... summoned the 9 attendants to his office.

Birbal said, “Welcome, everyone. As you know, we have a mystery on our hands. The emperor’s diamond ring is missing from the vault… and one of you has stolen it! Now ladies and gentlemen... other than the emperor himself, you nine are the only ones in this entire palace who possess a key to the locker  So if you’re the thief who made off with His Imperial Excellency’s diamond ring, confess now and you will be forgiven.”

Birbal waited a moment, but no one would confess.

Birbal added, “So since none of you will come clean, we’ll just have to resort… to magic!”

Birbal strolled over to his desk and pulled open a drawer. He reached inside and then lifted out nine sticks of wood. All nine sticks were identical: same color, same thickness, same length. The wise advisor handed one stick to each attendant.

Laying the nine sticks on the table Birbal said, “Ladies and gentlemen, you may think these nine identical sticks look like ordinary pieces of wood… but no!

These sticks have special powers… powers that will tell us who stole the emperor’s ring!”

The attendants looked confused. Birbal smiled and added, “Let me tell you how these sticks will find out the thief. If you give one of these sticks to an honest, trustworthy person, nothing will happen; the stick will stay exactly as it is. But if you give the stick to someone who is dishonest and deceitful… someone who has stolen, say... the stick will grow exactly two inches longer! Overnight!”

The attendants looked at the sticks in awe.

Birbal then asked each one of the attendants to go back to their room taking their sticks and placing them under their beds. The they should lock the door and make sure no one else entered the room. Then, the first thing next morning they should bring back the sticks and the sticks would tell who stole the emperor’s ring.

Bright and early the next morning, the nine attendants grabbed their sticks, unlocked their doors, and returned to Birbal’s office.

Birbal entered with the emperor Akbar and said, “ Good morning, ladies and gentlemen! Now, we need to measure those sticks of yours! Why don’t you do the honors, Your Imperial Excellency?”

Birbal handed the emperor a measuring tape. The great ruler walked from attendant to attendant, measuring each of their sticks with care.

Once the emperor was finished, he turned to Birbal with a quizzical look.

Akbar said quizzically, “ Well, this is most peculiar! According to my measurements, none of the nine sticks have grown longer! But one of the nine sticks... has gotten shorter!”

The attendants gasped. Birbal’s eyes gleamed.

With a twinkle in his eyes Birbal asked,

Birbal with a surprise look said, “One of the sticks has ‘gotten shorter,’ you say? How much shorter, Your Imperial Highness?”

The emperor held up two fingers and gestured toward one of the attendants whose stick was shorter by two inches.

The attendant immediately began to shudder and sweat. Birbal walked over to the nervous woman and took the stick from her quivering hand. He peered at the stick closely.

Birbal exclaimed, “This attendant’s stick is two whole inches shorter than all the rest! Ladies and gentlemen, we have found the thief who stole the emperor’s.”

He asked the royal guards to take the attendant to her room and bring back the emperor’s diamond ring.

Akbar was confused.

“You told that in the hands of someone dishonest and deceitful, the magic stick was supposed to grow two inches overnight. But that attendant’s stick didn’t grow two inches... It shrank!”

The wise advisor smile and explained that the sticks weren’t magical. He just hoped that he would make the thief believe that they were and at night the culprit cut the stick by exactly two inches.

In short, the guilty attendant cut two inches off of her stick because that way, if the stick grew two inches overnight, it would still look like all the other sticks come morning!

Akbar patted Birbal’s back and said, “You are my real gem.”

Thanks to Birbal’s wit and wisdom, by the end of the day the emperor was wearing his thick gold ring set with a dazzling diamond the size of an apricot.

But the great ruler no longer considered the bright, brilliant jewel his “greatest treasure.”

Because now he realized that his greatest treasure was bright… and brilliant… but it wasn’t any ornament.

It was Birbal! A wise and witty friend who was always there for him, no matter what.

Today’s story- The Blue Jackal is from the Panchatantra. It’s a story about a jackal who acts like someone else and tries to rule the forest, but does he succeed? Listen to the story to find out.

Free activity sheet available at www.rituvaish.com/archive-panchatantra-the-blue-jackal

Send your artwork to [email protected].

Transcript

Once there was an adventurous jackal in a forest who frequently strayed into the neighbouring village looking for food. The village was filled with dogs that scared the jackal. Although he was scared of the dogs, the jackal loved food and travelled to the city again and again.

One day, as he was going to enter a house, he heard barking. He was shocked to find a gang of dogs running towards the house. They looked violent and caused the jackal to panic. In a hurry, he ran to the next house he saw open. It happened to be the house of a washerman. Scared, the jackal tumbled into a tub of indigo, the blue dye used for bleaching clothes. The dogs couldn’t see the jackal and they ran another way.

Children, what colour was the jackal now?

Let’s listen ahead.

The jackal came back to the forest with his body dyed in blue. He appeared very different from any other animal. With his cunning mind at work, he was pleased as no one would be able to recognize him and he could easily fool anyone in the jungle.

Just like he had thought, everyone in the forest was surprised to see such an unusual animal.

When the lions, tigers, panthers, wolves and other animals in the forest saw him, they were frightened and ran in all directions. They thought to themselves, "We do not know his power and strength. It is better we keep a distance from him. Haven't the elders warned us not to trust strangers?”

Finally, the lions and the tigers gathered courage and asked who he was and who had sent him.

“I have been sent by God himself to look after you. I will now be the king of the jungle,” the jackal said.

The lion protested, “Don’t you know, I have always been the king of the forest.”

“From now, that must change and all of you must serve me” The Jackal said happily.

Some animals like the tiger protested and asked what would happen if they didn’t obey him. He replied, “God would destroy the entire forest if you all didn’t obey me.”

Scared for their lives and their forest, the animals asked the blue Jackal what he would like them to do.

“Bring me lots of food,” said the blue jackal promptly.

The animals quickly scurried and returned with lots of food for the Jackal.

He had so much food that he gave his leftovers to the other animals and said, “ You must serve me fresh food every day. Hope that is clear.”

He even threw out the pack of jackals from the forest because he knew that they could identify him someday.

The blue Jackal was very happy with himself for fooling the entire forest and was happy to be away from the city dogs.

But one day the banned pack of jackals was walking around the forest, howling loudly. The blue jackal began howling too out of habit.

Because of this mistake, the lions and other animals immediately recognized that their king was after all a jackal and not a God-send creature. They at once pounced on the blue jackal and in turn, banished him from the forest forever.

Akbar and Birbal folktales are very famous in India. These are a set of moral stories inspired by the interactions of Mughal Emperor Akbar and his wisest courtier Birbal and have been enjoyed by children for many many years. These stories were mostly passed on from generation to generation by word of mouth, till the print medium started. You know children, Birbal was an extremely witty courtier and. you will really enjoy listening to the witty, interesting, and sometimes funny, occurrences in the lives of Akbar and Birbal. These stories also help us to think smart just like Birbal.

Today's story: Birbal's Khichadi is a tale where Birbal helps a poor man get his much-deserved reward.

Free activity sheet available at www.rituvaish.com/archive-birbals-khichadi

Send your artwork to [email protected].

Transcript

On a cold winter day, emperor Akbar and Birbal took a walk along the lake. As they were discussing matters related to the empire, a thought came to Birbal that a man would do anything for money. He expressed his feelings to Akbar. Akbar put his finger into the lake and immediately removed it because it was freezing cold.

Akbar immediately said, “ I don’t think a man would spend an entire night in the cold water of this lake for money.”

Birbal replied confidently, “I am sure I can find such a person.” Akbar then challenged Birbal to find such a person and said that he would reward the person with a thousand gold coins.

Children, do you think Birbal would be successful in finding a person who would be ready to stand in freezing water for a whole night?

Let’s see.

Birbal searched far and wide until he found a poor man who was desperate enough to accept the challenge. This poor man was really in need of money.

The poor man entered the lake and Akbar had guards posted near him to make sure that he did as promised.

Children, what’s your guess, would the poor man would be able to stand in cold water.

Well, the poor man kept standing the whole night inside the pond, shivering badly. But he did not come out even once.

The next morning the guards took the poor man to Akbar.

The Emperor asked, “Tell me something, how could you stand in the freezing cold water all through the night?”

The innocent poor man replied, “Huzoor, I could see a faintly glowing light coming from your palace, a kilometre away. Looking at that light gave me imaginary warmth and strength to keep standing in the water.”

After listening to the poor man, Akbar declined to pay him his reward saying that he had got warmth from the light and this was cheating. The poor man went away disappointed and empty-handed.

Children, do you think Akbar did the right thing by not giving the reward to the poor man?

That’s correct, it wasn’t good on Akbar’s part not to give the poor man his well-deserved money.

Birbal tried to say something in the favour of the poor man but the Emperor refused to listen to him. Soon after, Birbal stopped coming to the durbar and sent a messenger to the king stating that he would come to the court only after he had cooked his khichdi.

One day passed, the second day passed, the third and fourth day too. When Birbal did not come to the court for five days, the Emperor himself went to Birbal’s house to see what he was doing.

Children, can you guess what Birbal was doing?

Listen ahead to find out.

Birbal had lit the fire and kept the pot of khichdi one metre away from it. Akbar asked him “How will the khichadi get cooked with the fire one metre away? Are you in your senses, Birbal?”

Birbal humbly replied, “O’ Jahapanah! If it is possible for a person to receive warmth from a light that was a kilometre away, then it is also possible for me to cook this khichdi a metre away from the fire.” Akbar understood his mistake. He called back the poor man and rewarded him with 1000 gold coins as promised.