The Poor Old Woman

Hello, everyone.

    Today I am going to tell you a folktale of India.

    Once upon a time, there was an old woman in India. She was very poor. So poor that she could not afford to buy a lamp or a candle to light her little hut.

    Again this story was told to me when I was a little girl by my Aunt Aisha.

    Read on and find out she got out of her poverty.

The Poor Old Woman

    Once upon a time there was an old woman in India. She was so poor that she could not afford to buy a lamp or a candle to light her little hut. She had a spinning wheel which she used to spin thread with. Since she did not have any source of light it became very difficult for her to spin at night.

    Now there was a lady staying next to her hut. It was quite a big house. Now this lady used to light a lamp at night.  The lamp used to throw some light out of the window. The old woman used to go and spin near the window of that house.

    But the lady of the house did not like it one bit when the old woman used to do that. She felt very jealous and closed the window so as the old woman did not get any light.  She felt very sad that her neighbour treated her like that. So she used to take the spinning wheel and go on top of the hill and spin there in moonlight or if there was no moon in the faint light of the stars.

   One day, she took her spinning wheel and started to spin in the light of the window. As usual as soon as the lady of the big house saw that she closed the window.  So she took her spinning wheel and went to the top of the hill.

  

 As she was spinning away, suddenly four people appeared before her. The old lady looked up and saw them. She was surprised to see them because nobody came to this side of the hill at night. They were all old men.

    “Hello,” she greeted them, cheerfully.

    “Hello,” they greeted her back and asked, “why are you spinning here?”

    “Oh I like the moonlight,” she lied, not wanting to say anything about her neighbour.

    “But it is rather cold here,” one of them said and asked. “Don’t you feel cold?”  

    “Well, I do,” she replied. “I am covering myself with a thick shawl. So I don’t feel very cold.”

    “Do you like winter?” one of them asked.

    “Oh yes,” she replied. “In winter everything looks so nice because it is covered in snow. Everything looks white and beautiful.”

    “How about spring?” another old man asked.

    “Oh, I love spring,” she said, “the world looks so beautiful. The colourful flowers and the birds singing in the trees, it makes me very happy.”

    “What about summer?” the third old man asked.

    “The summer is beautiful, too,” she said. “The sun is always shining. The children play outside and they are so happy.”

    “How do you find autumn?” the fourth old man asked.

    “Oh autumn is lovely too,” she replied. “All the leaves turn such lovely colours then they fall and everything looks so nice. But why are you asking me all this?”

    “Well, you see,” the first one replied. “We are the four seasons, spring, summer, autumn and winter. We just wanted to know how you liked all the weathers.”

    “Oh, I see,” said old woman, taken aback.

    “Now since you like all the weathers,” Winter said, “we would like you to have these. Take them home and keep them somewhere safe.”

    Then they gave her twigs and leaves. They gave her enough to take them in her shawl. Then, they went away as suddenly as they had appeared.

    Now, the old woman was very much surprised that someone would give twigs and leaves for a gift but she did not say anything. When she had finished her spinning she took her spinning wheel and all the twigs and leaves and went home. She just tossed them in a corner of her hut and went to sleep.

    The next day she woke up bright and early as was her custom. Now when she woke up she got the surprise of her life!

    Now, you see what happened was that all the twigs and leaves had turned into gold and precious stones!

    The old woman could not believe her eyes. She rubbed them hard and looked again but they were still there. She was delighted. She took some of the gold and went to town and bought herself a lamp and some clothes. Now there was no need for her to work so hard.

    A few days passed. Her neighbour got curious when she saw that the old woman never went to spin near her window or on the hill at night. So one day, she went to her house.

    “Hello, how are you?” she greeted the old woman.

    “Hello, I am fine, thank you,” the old woman greeted back, very much surprised the she had come to her. Normally she did not even talk to her.

    After a bit if chatting, she asked about her wealth.

    The old woman was very polite and told her everything.

    Now this lady was very greedy. When she heard the old woman’s story she decided to go and do as her neighbour.

    So that day, she took a spinning wheel and went up the hill and started to spin. She sat there spinning for a very long time and she was getting frustrated now. She kept looking out for those old men.

    After some time these four men did appear.

    “Hello,” they greeted her. “How come you are spinning here?”

    “Hello,” the lady greeted back getting very excited and lied, “I like to come here and spin.”

    “But it is very cold,” one of them said and asked “Do you like cold weather?”

    “Oh no,” she said, “I hate cold weather, you can’t even go out. There is snow everywhere and it becomes difficult to walk in it.”

    “What about summer?” the other old man asked.

    “In the summer it is so hot,” she replied. “You just sweat so much and then you become sticky.”

    “How about spring?” one of them asked.

    “Spring is not so bad,” she replied, “but I don’t like it so much. The birds are so noisy and the children make so much noise playing outside.”

     “What about autumn?” one of them asked.

    “Autumn is not so good either,” she answered, arrogantly. “The leaves are falling everywhere and it is such a nuisance.”

    The four old man were frowning now.

    “Here take these,” one of them said and gave her enough twigs and leaves to carry in her shawl and disappeared just as they had come.

    The lady was delighted. She took her spinning wheel and all the leaves and twigs and went home. She kept them in a corner of her house expecting them to turn to gold and precious stones. She could hardly sleep with excitement. She was thinking all the time what she would do with all the wealth. At long last she did go to sleep but she woke up very early to see what she had got.

    But when she looked in the corner where she had kept all the twigs and leaves she got the shock of her life!

    Instead of gold and precious stones there were all kinds of snakes and insects! And they were all coming after her.

    She ran away as fast as she could, screaming. She never returned there again.

    So you see the old woman was a kind soul and she had been rewarded and the other lady was greedy and her greed had made her selfish and she had to pay for it!

The Clever Crow

Hello, everyone!

    Today I am going to tell you the story of a very clever crow. What he did when he felt thirsty will make you smile. It is a very old story. I had read this story when I was a little girl.

     Read on and find out how clever a crow can be.

The Clever Crow

     Once, there was a crow. He was feeling very thirsty and started searching for water to drink. He flew around but could not find any water. At last just as he was giving up he saw a pitcher standing on the side of the road. Feeling hopeful he went and sat down on the mouth of the pitcher. When he looked inside there was very little water at the bottom. He was very disappointed. He did not know what to do. He sat there thinking.

    Suddenly, he had a brilliant idea. He started to search around and soon found some pebbles. What he did was he took a pebble and put that in the pitcher and then he put another and another and another. He went on doing that until the water was had risen to the neck of the pitcher. It was near enough for his beak to reach there and drink.

    And so when he saw that he stopped putting any more pebbles and put his beak in the pitcher and drank until all his thirst was quenched. Having satisfied his thirst he flew away happily.

    And so you see children, if you really want something you should never give up but keep trying until you get it.

Bunwas and the King

Hello everyone.

    The story that I am going to tell you today is of Bunwas. This story was told to me by my father when I was a little girl. He loved to tell stories I was always eager to hear them.

    I hope you enjoy this story as much as I enjoyed writing it.

 BUNWAS AND THE KING

    Once upon a time, there was a man in Arabia by the name of Abu Nawaz but everybody called him Bunwas. He was a very kind and intelligent man. He was always ready to help anyone in trouble. Because of this reason he was very popular amongst the people. The king was very jealous of him and was always looking out for ways to make Bunwas look bad. But, no matter what he did, Bunwas always got the better of the king.

    One day, the king had an idea. He announced in his kingdom that if anybody could stay in the cold water the whole night without having anything to warm himself with, he would give that person one kilogram in gold.

    Now, in his kingdom there lived a very poor woman and his son. They were so poor that they hardly had anything to eat. When the son heard this announcement he went to his mother and told her about the announcement.

    “Mother, the King is willing to give one kilogram of gold to anybody if he can stay in the cold water for one night,” he said. “I’m very strong and healthy. I’m thinking of going to the King and take up the challenge he has set. What do you think?”

    The mother was very concerned. Her husband had died and there was no-one else she could call her own save her son. She tried to dissuade him to take up the challenge but the son was adamant.

    “My son, what if anything happened to you?” she asked fearfully. “What will I do? You are the only one I can call my own. I love you so much I don’t want you to get hurt. Staying in cold water the whole night is very dangerous.”

    “Nothing will happen to me, Mother,” the son reassured her. “I’ll be perfectly safe, I assure you. Besides, if we can get that kind of gold all our worries will be over.”

    After a long argument, the mother had to give in. The son went to the king the next day and announced to him that he was ready to take up the challenge. The king was delighted.

    That very night the arrangements were made. A big basin was filled with water and kept in an open ground. A lot of people turned out to see the brave person was who was willing to spend a night in the cold water. Since the weather was very cold the water was bound to be very cold.

  

    The boy’s mother had come with him. At eight o’clock sharp the

king gave the order for the boy to enter the water. He put one foot in the water and felt it very cold but he thought of the gold and put his other foot in and then immersed his whole body in the water.

    His mother looked on in a very worried manner. She was helpless.

    The crowd that was gathered there slowly began to scatter as the night went on. Everybody was tired and sleepy, except for the mother of the boy. She sat some distance away and watched and then came to look at her son every now and then with a torch to see if he was alright. The night guards, who were to look at the boy in case he did not come out of the water and warmed himself, saw all this.

    The next day, the king appeared at eight o’clock in the morning and looked at the boy. He asked the guards if there was any foul play. The guards told him about his mother who went to look at his son with a torch. The king went to the freezing boy and told him to come out of the water. He then said, “I cannot give you the reward as there was foul play. Your mother was coming to see you with a torch. That torch was giving you warmth. How can I give you the reward?”

    The boy and his mother were very disappointed. They protested that he did not get any warmth at all since the mother only brought a torch which just gave out light but no warmth, but the king was adamant. Nothing that was said to him would make him change his mind. The mother started to cry. She knew how her son had endured the cold.

    They went home feeling very sad.

    The mother could not sleep that night. She kept thinking about the incident and about the king’s unfair behavior. Then she had an idea.

   The next day she went to Bunwas and told him the whole story.

    Bunwas thought for a little while and then told the old woman to give him some time to think. The old woman went home with a light heart, quite sure that if anybody could put things right for them it was Bunwas.

    Now, Bunwas began to think of a way to make the stubborn king see his mistake. Then, he had an idea.

    He went to the king and invited him to dinner the next day. The king was surprised to get a sudden invitation and asked, “What’s the occasion, Bunwas?”

    “Oh nothing,” replied Bunwas. “I just wanted us to get together and sit and talk. You cannot do that in the daytime as you are so busy. So I decided to invite you so that we could sit and talk.”

    “Very well,” said the king. “I shall be there at eight o’clock.”

    Bunwas thanked him and went away to prepare for the next day.

    The king arrived exactly at eight o’clock. Bunwas invited him and his bodyguards and some of his ministers into the house. Everybody settled down and started to talk about things here and there.

    The time began to pass. One hour passed, two hours passed and almost three hours had passed. Now the king could not wait any longer. He was extremely hungry.

   So he asked Bunwas, “Don’t you think it was about time the dinner was served?”

    “Let us go and see if the food is ready,” replied Bunwas.

    “What the food is not ready yet?” the king asked angrily.

  “Forgive me but we started to cook very early, since morning,” he said. “Let us go and see what is taking the chef so long.”

    And so, Bunwas, the king and some of his ministers went to the kitchen to have a look.

   What they saw there astounded and infuriated the king. The fire was burning alright but the pots of food were not being kept on the fire but were kept near the fire.

    “What is the meaning of this?” he asked angrily. “How can you cook food without putting the pots on fire?”

    “Of course, you can cook by putting the pots near the fire,” replied Bunwas.

    ”How can you cook anything without putting the pots on the fire?” The king asked furiously.

    “Forgive me, Your Majesty,” said Bunwas, “but they can. If a boy can get heat from a torch which his mother brought to see if he was alright, then how can a pot not get hot without putting on the fire?”

    The king stared at Bunwas in amazement. Then, he understood what Bunwas trying to say. He was a just king and he felt very much ashamed of himself when he found out that he had made a very big mistake. Bunwas saw that the king had got his point and he ordered his chef to bring the food that had been prepared in advance and everybody ate and went home

    The next day, the king called the boy and his mother and asked their forgiveness and rewarded the boy with one kilogram of gold and some land to make up for the wrong that he had done.

    The old woman was very happy. She at once went to Bunwas with her son and expressed their gratitude. She was crying tears of joy.

    The old woman and her son lived happily ever after. They never had to worry about anything at all ever again.

She was too Small

    Hello, everyone.

    Today I am going to tell you the story of very short little girl.

    Read on find out how she made other to stop teasing her about her height.

SHE WAS TOO SMALL

    Alice was an eleven year old little girl. She was kind and helpful. As a matter of fact, she was a very nice little girl. She was also very friendly, but she had a problem! A big problem! She was short.

    Whenever she wanted to play with the other children, they always told her she could not play with them, that is, games like volleyball or basketball. And she loved these games. But she just could not get anybody to play with her. Whenever she asked anybody if she could play basketball or volleyball or any such game, she always got a ready answer, “No, you are too short to play.” And nobody took her on their team.

    That really made her sad and angry. She wished that she would be tall. The same thing happened at home. Both her older brothers told her she could not play with them and that really upset her and made her feel lonely. Then, she would go away and read a book or help her mum in the kitchen.

    What really made things worse were that sometimes the other children would call her ‘Shorty’ and she hated that.

    “Can I play volleyball with you?” Alice would ask.

    “No, you can’t, Shorty.” Was the answer she would get and she would turn away in disappointment.

    One day, she came home looking very down in the dumps.

   “What’s the matter?” asked her mother.

    “Nothing,” she replied, sitting down at the dining table, putting her hands under her chin.

    “Then, why are you looking like you’ve just lost your favourite book?” her mother asked again.

    “Well, it’s like this. Whenever I want to play with the other children, they always tell me I’m too short or too small to play with them. So, if I want to play outdoor games I don’t have anybody to play with and that makes me feel odd one out and it also makes me feel lonely,” she said dolefully. “And they tease me so!”

    “Hmm! I see. So that is the problem,” her mother said, thoughtfully. “Well, the first thing you should know is that being short should not be a handicap to you in any way. Some of the greatest leaders were very short.”

    “Really!” asked Alice in amazement, her eyes growing as big as saucers.

    “Yes,” replied her mother. “Haven’t you heard the story of David and Goliath? Goliath was a giant and yet David managed to defeat him in spite of his size. If you cannot play games with the other children that does not mean that you cannot do anything else. You can use your brains for something else that will make the other children stop teasing you and also that will make them respect you. See!”

   “Oh, thank you, Mother! I see what you mean. I’ll try to do what you told me to do,” said Alice, cheering up.

    The opportunity came the very next day for Alice to show her brains.

    Miss McNamara, their class teacher, came to the class, holding some papers in her hands.

    “Children, I have some very exciting news for you,” she said. “We are going to have interschool’s quiz. Whoever wins this quiz gets a trophy and one thousand pounds. Also, that child gets to go in the National League of Quiz.”

    The children all got excited and started to talk at once. The teacher banged the table with a ruler to silence them.

    “Please, be quiet, everybody,” she said. “If you want to take part in this quiz, you’d better let me know by tomorrow. Then, you will take home some forms to fill and sign by your parents. But, before you take the forms you will have to take a test here in the school to see if you are competent enough to participate or not. Has everybody understood? If you have any questions please ask me now.”

    All the children were excited, especially, Alice. She knew she had a chance of being chosen. After all she had a lot of general knowledge, because when nobody wanted her to play with them she would take up a book and read. She had also become a member at a local library. She would bring books on sorts of topics including of different animals and different countries. What she loved most was to read about ancient times. For example, she would read about ancient Egypt, Rome, Greece and many, many more.

   So now, she felt very confident that if she tried hard enough, she could get through her test and get to go to take part in the quiz.

    As soon as she got home, she went to her mother.

    “Mother, there is an inter-school’s quiz,” she said, excitedly. “Our teacher will take the names of all the children who to take part, tomorrow.”

    “Why, that’s wonderful! Of course,” her mother replied.

    “Tomorrow, I will let my teacher know that I want to take part. Then, she’ll give me a test, if I pass the test I’ll have to fill a form and then I’ll be able to take part in the quiz. Oh, Mum! How I wish I’d win! Then, I could show the other children that just because I am short does not mean that I’m dumb as they make me out to be,” she said, excitedly.

    Her mother laughed.

    “Of course, you’ll win. What with all the books that you are always reading,” she said.

    And so, Alice went away to go through her books. She just couldn’t wait for the next day to come.

    Next day, when her class-teacher came into the classroom and asked the children to raise their hands if they wanted to take part in the quiz, Alice was the first one to raise it. The teacher took down their names and told them to be in the conference room during the games period. Except for Alice, the few children who had volunteered to be in the quiz groaned when they heard they had to miss their games, but they had no choice.

    In the games period all the children who wanted to take part trouped to the conference room. There, they found some children from other classes already seated. They were shown to their seats and then when all the children had come the test began. Alice found the test very easy, while she found some children chewing their pencils and looking very thoughtful.

    Alice was the first one to finish her paper. When everyone had finished, the teacher announced that they would get the results the  next day.

  Alice woke up very early the next day. She could hardly eat her breakfast as she was so excited she wanted to know the results so badly. She was hardly able to sit still in the classroom.

     After midmorning break Mrs. Collins, their headmistress came to their class with a paper in her hand.

    Alice sat up straight! She did not want to miss anything that the headmistress had to say.

    “Good morning, children,” she said.

    “Good morning, Ma’am,” replied the children.

    “I have brought you the results of the quiz test,” she said.

    All the children sat up straight, except Alice, who had been sitting up straight from the very moment that she had seen the headmistress come into the class.

    “In your class only Alice and Patrick have passed the test. And so, only these two will be able to participate in the quiz. Both of you will come to my office at lunch time and collect your forms. Please, be sure to get them filled by tomorrow. The quiz is going to take place after two weeks and I’ll have to submit them before then,” she said and with that left the class.

   There was silence in the class when the headmistress had left. Alice’s face glowed with pride as she looked around her. She could see many disappointed faces. The only other happy face that she could see was of Patrick.

    That day, she couldn’t wait to tell her mum and dad. As soon as she reached home, she ran straight to her mother, her father was not back from work as yet.

    “Mum, Mum, I have passed my test and I have been chosen to take part in the quiz. Look, I have brought the form for you or Dad to fill!” She said, excitedly.

   “That is very exciting, Dear,” her mother said, very pleased. “When is the test?”

   “It’s after two weeks,” answered Alice.

    “Well, you’ll have to work very hard indeed, my dear,” her mother said.

    “I know, Mum,” said Alice. Then, she added, “I will try my best to make you and Dad very proud of me.”

    “I know you will,” said her mother, smiling. “Now, would you like to have some lemonade? You must be very thirsty after all that excitement,” she teased Alice.

   Alice grinned and said, “Oh yes, Mum. Thank you.”

   And so for the next two weeks, Alice was seen buried in books of all sorts, she brought from the library.

    The quiz had been organized in one of the other schools. All the participants had been told to be there at 9.00 a.m. sharp.

    Alice woke up very early. She got dressed and had her breakfast and went to school. They had been told the school bus would take them to the other school. Alice waited patiently. And soon she and Patrick were summoned to go to the bus. Soon the bus took them and the other pupils from other classes to the other school.

    Once there they were led to the assembly hall. There the children were told to take their seats. Seven desks on each side were arranged opposite to each other, and in the middle was the table at which sat three judges.

    Alice took her seat with a beating heart. Her hands were sweating and she crossed her fingers and prayed that she would be able to answer all the questions.

    At 9.15 sharp, the quiz began. There were all sorts of questions. Some of them were very hard and some children were unable to answer them and then the same question was taken to the opposing team and they were told to answer. But, sometimes, even the opposite team was unable to answer, in which case nobody got any marks of course. But, there about three or four questions that the opposite team was unable to answer and Alice answered them. Because of this, Alice’s team won.

    Her team got a cup and each of the winners got ten pounds and because, Alice had answered so many questions, she got an additional ten pounds!

    Alice was overjoyed!

     Now, she wouldn’t mind if anybody called her ‘Shorty’! She had shown everybody that although she was not tall, she had a lot of brains. When her mother and father and her two brothers heard that she had won, they were very proud of her!