The Barber Who Could Not Keep the King's Secret

Hello, everyone.

    Today I am going to tell you rather a funny story of a king who had very big ears and a barber.

    Read on and find out what happens when the barber could not keep the king’s secret.

The Barber Who Could Not Keep the King’s Secret

    Once upon a time, there was a king in India. This king had very long ears. He was very much ashamed of them and so he always kept them hidden under his royal turban. He had an old barber who cut his hair. He had been sworn to secrecy never to reveal to anyone that he had long ears. Now suddenly, this barber died. The king had to look for another barber who would not only cut his hair nicely but also keep his secret. The prime minister knew of his secret and searched very hard until he found a barber who would cut the king’s hair. He was also sworn to secrecy that he would never reveal the king’s secret no matter what happened.

    The first time this barber went to cut the king’s hair he never expected to see what he saw! When the king took off his turban his ears flopped down like a rabbit. The barber was shocked! He never expected the king’s ears to be so big. He went home that day but he just couldn’t get the king’s big ears out of his mind. He had to tell someone about it. But the trouble was he was sworn to secrecy and if he revealed the secret to anyone he would be killed immediately. He could not even sleep at night he wanted to talk to someone so badly about the secret. His stomach began to pain out of sheer stress. He had to tell someone but who? Suddenly he had an idea. He went into the jungle and whispered the secret to a tree. After doing that he felt much better and he went back home and went to sleep.

    Now the next day, there was a drummer who wanted to make another drum and so he went to the jungle to cut some wood for it. As it happened he went to the very tree that the barber had told the secret to! The drummer cut the tree and took the wood home. He made a beautiful drum out of it. That day he had been invited by the king to beat his drum at a party he had given that night.

    When the party started the drummer began to beat his drum. But what is this? The drum started to sing “the king has very big ears like a rabbit”! The drummer was shocked! He stared at his drum. Whenever he beat it the same song came out.

    The king was very angry and had the drummer arrested and brought before him. The drummer begged and pleaded he had nothing to do whatsoever with the drum singing. He told the king that he had just gone to the jungle and cut some wood and made a drum out of it. He had no idea as to how this had happened. The king told him to show the tree that he had cut. The drummer immediately took them to it. When the king and his men went there, they saw that the cut tree was still singing the song, “the king has big ears like a rabbit”.

    The king was puzzled. The only person that he had told his secret to besides his trusted men was the barber. Could he have told the secret to the tree?

    The king, at once summoned the barber. The barber was very much frightened but he came. The king asked him if he told anyone his secret. He swore he hadn’t told anyone. And then the king asked, “Not even a tree?”

    The barber bent his head and said nothing. The king was very angry and sentenced him to death.

    Now there was a custom there when a prisoner was sentenced to death he would be asked for his last wish. When the barber was asked for his last wish, he thought for a while and then he said, “My last wish is to see the king climb a mountain.”

    Everyone was surprised by such a wish. But the king had to do it.

    And so the very next day, the king got ready and started to climb the mountain. When he got higher the wind became very strong and suddenly the king’s turban flew away revealing his big ears. Now, everyone knew the king’s secret. People were amused but they dared not laugh.

    It was no longer necessary to kill the barber as everyone knew the king’s secret and he was set free.

    The barber’s quick wit had saved his life.

Bunwas and the Beggar

Hello, everyone.

    The story that I am going to tell you is about Bunwas. I hope you remember Bunwas. I have written two of his stories, ‘Bunwas and the King’ and ‘Bunwas and the Cheater. Well, today I am going to tell you another of his hilarious stories.

    Read on and find out when a street food seller tries to cheat a beggar and Bunwas intervenes to help the beggar.

Bunwas and the Beggar

    Once there was an old beggar. Someone once gave him a stale piece of bread. He was wondering how he was going to eat such a dry tasteless piece of bread when as he was walking he saw a man roasting mishkaki. Mishkaki is meat cut into small pieces and then marinated in ginger, garlic paste and some spices. These are then put in a skewer and then roasted over coals. It is a very delicious dish. 

    The beggar stood there looking at the man roasting the mishkaki and he had an idea. He went over and held his stale bread over the mishkaki where a lot of smoke was coming out. As you probably know that the smoke has a lot of aroma of whatever you are roasting. The man who was roasting saw him but did not say anything. Now when the beggar saw that the bread had absorbed enough aromas and had become quite moist he went away to one side started eating his bread.

    Now here, when the mishkaki owner saw that the beggar had eaten his bread he called him over and told him to pay up. The beggar was surprised!

     “I’m sorry, but pay you for what?” asked the beggar.

    “You pay me for the taste of my mishkaki,” replied the owner.

    An argument started with the owner insisting the beggar pay up and the beggar insisting he did not eat his mishkaki. A crowd gathered around to see what the argument was about. As they were arguing Bunwas happened to pass by. When he saw the crowd he decided to investigate. He made his way where the argument was going on.

    “Why are you arguing?” Bunwas asked them.

    “He has eaten my taste,” replied the mishkaki owner, “and he does not want to pay for it.”

    “He is lying,” protested the beggar, “I have not eaten his taste.”

    “How did he eat your taste?” asked Bunwas.

    “Well, I was roasting my mishkaki and he came and held his bread over it and took my taste. Then he ate it. See!” complained the man.

    Bunwas turned to the beggar and asked him, “Did you do that?”

    “Yes, but I did not eat his mishkaki,” the beggar protested again.

    Bunwas then turned to the man and asked him, “How much does he owe you?”

    The owner of the mishkaki told him.

    Bunwas put his hand in his pocket and took out some money.

 

    “Count carefully,” he told the owner.

    He started dropping the money on the counter one coin at a time. The owner watched greedily and counted. When all the money was on the counter, he asked the owner, “Did you count the money?”

 

    The man nodded his head and reached out to take it but before he could do so, Bunwas reached out and took the money and put it in his pocket.

    The man watched open mouthed! Then he said angrily, “Why did you put the money in your pocket. It belongs to me. Give it to me.”

    Bunwas looked at him calmly and said, “That was not your money. The beggar here, ate the taste of your mishkaki. He did not actually eat it. So you just get the sound of the coins but you do not actually get it. See!”

   

    So saying he told the beggar to go on his way and he went on his, leaving the mishkaki man very annoyed and angry.

  

    The crowd who had been watching and listening with interest, began to laugh at the man now, because he had not succeeded in cheating the poor beggar.

The Clever Traveler

Hello, everyone.

    The story that I am going to tell you today is of a traveler in olden times when people travelled by foot mostly.

 

    Read on and find out what happens when this traveler is hungry and thirsty and there is no food or water anywhere around.

The Clever Traveler

    Once there was a traveler. As you know in olden times people travelled by foot mostly because there were no cars then and travelling by an oxcart would be expensive. So if they wanted to travel from one village to another village nearby they would travel by foot.

    Now let us get back to our traveler. He decided to travel to a nearby village by foot. As it was not that far he knew he would reach there by that evening. He took with him some water and some food. He was a poor man so he had taken just a little food and it was very hot. By the time noon time came he had finished his water and his food. He was feeling very hungry and thirsty now. When he looked around there was no river or a spring of water and there were no fruit trees either. Although there were some coconut trees and they were very tall. He couldn’t possibly climb one of those. He became desperate. He did not know what to do. Then he suddenly heard some chattering sounds coming from above. When he looked up he saw some monkeys in those trees. He looked and started wondering how to get those coconuts and as he was doing that he was scratching his head. As soon as the monkeys saw him do that they started scratching their heads. When he put his hands down they did that too. When he saw that he had an idea.

    He took up a stone and threw it at the monkeys. One of the monkeys at once plucked a coconut out of the tree and threw it at the traveler. Encouraged by that the traveler threw some more stones and the monkeys threw some more coconuts. The traveler was delighted. He opened the coconuts one after the other. He drank as much water as he could and ate the flesh to his heart’s content and went on his way. His hunger and his thirst both satisfied.

Little Ali and the Scrapbook

Hello, everyone.

    I am going to tell you another story of little Ali. This time he is bored and goes to his room to do something and then what happens? Read on and find out.
 

Little Ali and the Scrapbook

    One day, little Ali was bored. He was in the middle of his school holidays. He was sitting at the dining table with his chin in his hands as was his habit looking really bored.

    “What happened?” asked his mother peeling an onion.

   

   “I am bored,” Ali replied.

    At that moment his eyes began to water because of the onion. Suddenly he ran out of the room and came back with his toy sunglasses. He put them on and then went and sat down in his place at the dining table. His mother looked at him and asked, “Why are you wearing your sunglasses?”

      “I won’t cry if I have my glasses on,” he said.

 

     His mother chuckled and went on cutting the onions.

    “Mommy, can I help you in the kitchen?” he asked.

    “Well, there is hardly anything you can do today,” she replied. “I have done all the preparations and I am going to cook now. Why don’t you go and play in your room?”

    “There is nothing to do there,” he said.

    “Why don’t you cut out some pictures from the magazines and stick them in your scrapbook?” suggested his mother.

    “Ok, I will try that,” said little Ali slipping off his chair.

   Ali’s mother was frying the onion after a while when she suddenly heard Ali crying!

    “Mommy, mommy…………..,” he yelled.

    Ali’s mother switched off the stove and went running to his room to see what the matter was.

 

    When she reached there she had to suppress her laughter at what she saw! Ali was standing in the middle of the room with pictures stuck on his hands, on his arms, on his legs and even on his hair! He really looked a sight!

    “Whatever have you done to yourself?” asked his mother.

    “I was trying to stick some pictures in my scrapbook but they all got stuck onto me,” he explained, crying. “I can’t get them to stick in the book.”

    His mother took him in the bathroom and gave him a thorough bath and soon he was rid of all the pieces of paper stuck on him. Then she took him downstairs and gave him a glass of milk and some biscuits.

    “I will show you how to stick pictures in your scrapbook later, alright?” his mother said and gave him a big hug.

    “Alright,” Ali replied.

    Later, that day, she taught him to stick pictures in his scrapbook.

    When Ali’s father came back from work that day Ali’s mother related the story to him, laughing uncontrollably.

    Ali’s father picked him up and gave him a hug.

    “Whatever are you going to do next, buddy?” he asked with a laugh.

    By the way, when my children were little they used to do the same thing, that is, wear their sunglasses when they saw me cutting onions. It really made me laugh!