Moral Stories FriendShip Stories Bed Time Stories Short Stories General Stories Classical Stories

The Snail and the Deer

   Once upon a time the deer and the snail had entered a race. The deer had made fun of the snail because of his slowness. The snail became angry and he challenged the deer to a race.

   "We will race to the well on the other side of the plaza," said the snail. "All right," replied the deer. They decided to hold the race on the coming Sunday.

   So they began their race on Sunday. The swift runner that the deer was, he soon got to the other side of the well. The snail was not there. The deer laughed to himself and called out "O brother Snail, where are you?"

   "Here I am," came the reply. The amazed deer found the snail, sticking his head up out of the well.

   Determined to beat the snail, the deer said: "We will have another race. Let's race to the next well."

   "All right" said the snail and the race began again.

   The deer ran as fast as he could to the next well. He was there in a matter of moments, and having reached the spot he called as before, "Brother Snail, are you here yet?"

   ""Here I am," again answered the snail. "Why have you been so slow? It has almost been ages since I have been waiting here for you."

   The deer tried again and again, but always with the same result; At last he gave up and accepted defeat to the snail.

   Little did he know that the snail whom he had entered into race with had not even moved an inch from his place. He had many cousins in each of the wells of the town all of whom exactly looked like one another. Having heard the crows talking of the proposed race, they were determined to help their cousin to win it. So they perched themselves on the edge of their wells and answered to the deer as he came to each well.

   The poor deer still thinks that the snail runs faster then him.

Horses Became Servants of Man

   All horses once lived in the wild, running freely wherever they wanted. Then they were caught by men and kept in captivity. How did it happen? They say that once upon a time horses shared the land with wild boars. Just like little boys, the boars loved to make a mess. If they were very happy. This made the horses cross, because it ruined the best places where the grass was fresh and tasty.

   In the end , they went to the people of the nearby village and asked for help. "Yes," they said, "we will get rid of the boars for you, but in return you must live with us and let us ride you whenever we want." The men made saddles and, taking their spears, rode on the horses to chase the boars away. And so horses became the servants of men.

The Battle of the Crabs

   Long long ago, a shrimp was walking cheerfully on a beach when it saw a dozen land crabs crawling towards the sea. Curious, it went towards the crabs to ask what so many of them were doing together.

   "We are going to fight the waves." replied the head of the crabs. "They sing so loudly all the time that we cannot sleep well at night."

   "I don't think you will win the battle," said the shrimp. "The waves are so strong, and look at you. Your legs are so weak that your bodies bend almost to the ground when you walk. How can you hope to keep them down when you cannot even keep yourselves up?"

   It laughed at the crabs. But the crabs became angry and pinned it down to the ground.

   "How dare you insult us?" they shouted. "Now you too must help us in our fight."

   What could the poor shrimp possibly do? It promised to help the crabs in their battle.

   When they reached the shore, the crabs looked at the shrimp and said: "Your face is turned the wrong way, friend shrimp. How can you fight your enemy when you cannot even look at him?"

   And they laughed at the shrimp, for crabs are much like humans, who think they are the only ones who are right.

   But as they were laughing, the shrimp saw a huge wave coming, and it ran away as fast as it could. The crabs, who were all looking towards the shore, did not see it, and were killed.

   When their husbands did not come home even after a long time, the wives of the dead crabs thought that the battle must be a long one, and decided to go down and help their husbands. But as they reached the shore and entered the water to look for their husbands, the waves killed them too. Their children were left living alone.

   When the little crabs were old enough to walk, the shrimp often visited them and related to them the sad fate of their parents.

   Even today, you can watch the fiddlers, as little crabs are now often called, rushing into the sea waters, as if about to fight the waves and running back to the land as they find the waves rushing on them, as if due to a lack of courage to combat. They continually run back and forth. They live neither on dry land, as their ancestors did, nor in the sea, like the other crabs, but up on the beach, where the waves wash over them at high tide and try to dash them to pieces.