Chapter 19

1. A long time ago, there was lived a boy named Rodney in a village. He was very happy with his family. But his happiness could not last for long. Rodney and his fellow villagers faced a severe drought. They desperately waited for rains but with no luck. All the crops, land and even trees dried up. The cattle started dying. As there was no rain, the stream was drying up slowly. One night, meet with the villagers, Rodney said, S "Friends, we all have heard tales from our grandparents about an underground river flowing through our village. Why don't we dig and see?" The villagers agreed and started digging. They dug for some days but gave up soon. However, Rodney kept on digging. When people told him to give up, he said, "God is helping and guiding my way." One day, when he had dug deep enough, Rodney saw water. His attitude of not giving up saved the whole village. "Never give up so easily," Rodney advised all the villagers. Now, they are never short of water. And whenever any problem arises, all the villagers came up together and find a solution.

2.Adam had learned from his friends that lying is the easiest way out of any situation. So he became fond of lying and enjoyed telling small lies. When his parents caught him and warned him against telling lies, he shrugged them off, saying, "Lies never harm anyone!" Adam's father decided to explain to him why lying is bad. lies One evening, Adam and his father were walking down the street with some groceries. Just then, they saw a car rammed into a bookstore. Adam's father asked an what happened and he replied, "The car driver lied to his father that he could see without spectacles. They both were in the car when the accident happened. The father is seriously hurt. I'm sure the boy regrets ever lying!" Adam's father looked at Adam and said, "See Adam, a lie is so dangerous! It can hurt people!" Adam realized the huge cost of a lie and stopped lying.

3. An old man who had five sons was worried that his sons would never learned to get along. He brought all of his sons together and ordered his servants to bring in a bundle of sticks. He said to his oldest son "Break it." The son tried and tried, but even with all his might he was unable to break the bundle. The other sons also tried, but none of them was successful. "Untie the bundle," said the father, "and each of you take a stick." When they lad done so, he called out to them, "Now, break," and each stick was easily broken. "You see my meaning," said their father.

4. One sunny day, a lion was woken up by a tiny mouse running across his face. Rising up angrily, he caught him and was about to kill him. The mouse was scared and told the lion, "If you - would only spare my life. I would be sure to repay. !your kindness." The Lion laughed and let him go. It'll i happened shortly after this that the Lion was - caught by some hunters using a rope. The Mouse I heard the lion's roar and ran to help him. The mouse used his teeth to gnaw at the rope until the lion was free. The lion thanked the mouse for saving him: He learned that a creature is a creature no | matter how small. From that day on, the lion and : mouse became friends.

5. A Fox one day spied a beautiful bunch of ripe grapes hanging from a vine trained along the branches of a tree. The grapes seemed ready to burst with juice, and the Fox's mouth watered as he gazed longingly at them. The bunch hung from a high branch, and the Fox had to jump for it. The first time he jumped he missed it by a long way. So he walked off a short distance and took a running leap at it, only to fall short once more. Again and again he tried, but in vain. Now he sat down and looked at the grapes in disgust. "What a fool I am," he said. "Here I am wearing myself out to get a bunch of sour grapes that are not worth gaping for." And off he walked very, very scornfully. There are many who pretend to despise and belittle that which is beyond their reach.

6.One bright sunny day on the Serengeti Plains a zebra was walking under a tree to cool down. All of the sudden the zebra heard a terrible noise from the branches the Baobab tree above him. He looked up and saw a leopard! Feeling scared, the zebra didn't know what to da He seemed to be frozen in place. But before he could move, the leopard said, "Can you please help me down? I am stuck too afraid of in this to get down." "Do you promise you won't eat me if I help you?" asked the zebra. "Yes" said the leopard. "Ok here is the plan" said the zebra. "You gently jump onto my back and then I will kneel down and you can walk off of my back." "That's a great idea!" said the leopard. Say, the zebra stood under the branch where the leopard was. The leopard gently jumped down onto the zebra. Then, after getting onto the ground, the leopard said "Thank you so much! I promise that I will repay you one day." The next evening when the sky was turning dark and the moon was raising in the sky the zebra was eating grass on the plain. He was so busy eating that he didn't notice the lion sneaking through the tall yellow grass. Just then the leopard spotted the lion who was preparing to attack the zebra. Remembering the kindness that the zebra showed him, the leopard quickly and fiercely ran to chase the lion away. The lion saw the leopard coming and quickly ran away in the opposite direction. The zebra was joyful that he was saved from the fierce lion. "Thank you so much! You saved my life!" In response, the leopard said "I told you that I would repay your kindness one day" From that day on the zebra and the leopard were glad to be best friends.

7. It was a dark cold winter night in the big dangerous city. A cheeky monkey was shivering as he was walking down a dark street. It was so dark that he could not see where he was walking. As he was walking, he tripped over a creepy fat cat. "Ah!" the monkey yelled as he fell and hit the bottom. Splash! "Yuck! I'm covered in stinky litter and goo!" The monkey had fallen into a deep dark stinky sewer. He was trapped and terrified because he could not get out. A little while later a foolish chicken walked by and saw the monkey down in the sewer. "Hey monkey! What are you doing down there?" asked the chicken. "Hi chicken! Come down here so we can play and have a nice swim!" said the monkey. "I don't know, what is that awful smell?" asked the chicken. The monkey replied, "It is so nice down here. The water is warm and clean. It is only stinky up there." So the silly chicken decided to jump down into the deep dark stinky sewer. As soon as he did, the monkey quickly jumped onto the chicken's back and climbed out of the sewer leaving the brainless chicken behind. The chicken yelled up to the monkey, "Help mel" The monkey just laughed and ran away leaving the chicken in the cold dark stinky sewer.

8. When he had finished his work he looked at the waiting cow. I'll go and find my mug,' he said. I'm very thirsty and l'd love a drink of your nice milk. He ran off and came back with a mug. On it was his name: Pixie Pinnie'. He milked the cow, and took a mugful of her creamy milk. Then he began to mix some more black paint. 'Are you sure you'd like black spots? he asked. "You wouldn't like a few blue ones, or red ones? You would look most uncommon then. The cow thought about it. 'No, she said at last. 'I don't think so. l'd rather have black spots. They will look smarter than coloured ones.' "Well you must stand still,' said the pixie, 'or I might smudge the spots, and that would look horrid. Now then, are you ready? The pixie began to paint the cow. Goodness, you should have seen him! A big black spot here, and a little one there! Two by her tail, and three down her back. Four in a ring on her nose, and a whole crowd of spots down her sides. She did look grand! At last the pixie had finished. He put away his paints, took another drink of milk, and said 'Good-bye.' The cow left him and went back to the field. How grand she felt! The other cows stared at her. They didn't know her. Who was this funny spotted cow? 'Don't you know me?" said the cow, proudly. T've grown spots.' "Rubbish! said the biggest cow. 'Grown spots, indeed! You don't belong to us. Go away, you horrid, spotted creature. We don't want anything to do with you!