Once upon a time, there lived a shepherd boy who was bored watching his flock of sheep on
the hill. To amuse himself, he shouted, “Wolf! Wolf! The sheep are being chased by the wolf!”
The villagers came running to help the boy and save the sheep. They found nothing and the boy
just laughed looking at their angry faces.
“Don’t cry ‘wolf’ when there’s no wolf boy!”, they said angrily and left. The boy just laughed at
them.
After a while, he got bored and cried ‘wolf!’ again, fooling the villagers a second time. The angry
villagers warned the boy a second time and left. The boy continued watching the flock. After a
while, he saw a real wolf and cried loudly, “Wolf! Please help! The wolf is chasing the sheep.
Help!”
But this time, no one turned up to help. By evening, when the boy didn’t return home, the
villagers wondered what happened to him and went up the hill. The boy sat on the hill weeping.
“Why didn’t you come when I called out that there was a wolf?” he asked angrily. “The flock is
scattered now”, he said.
An old villager approached him and said, “People won’t believe liars even when they tell the
truth. We’ll look for your sheep tomorrow morning. Let’s go home now”.

Once upon a time, a farmer had a goose that laid a golden egg every day. The egg provided
enough money for the farmer and his wife for their day-to-day needs. The farmer and his wife
were happy for a long time. But one day, the farmer got an idea and thought, “Why should I
take just one egg a day? Why can’t I take all of them at once and make a lot of money?”
The foolish farmer’s wife also agreed and decided to cut the goose’s stomach for the eggs. As
soon as they killed the bird and opened the goose’s stomach, to find nothing but guts and
blood. The farmer, realizing his foolish mistake, cries over the lost resource!
The English idiom “kill not the goose that lays the golden egg” was also derived from this classic
story.

An old miser lived in a house with a garden. The miser hid his gold coins in a pit under some
stones in the garden. Every day, before going to bed, the miser went to the stones where he hid
the gold and counted the coins. He continued this routine every day, but not once did he spend
the gold he saved.
One day, a thief who knew the old miser’s routine, waited for the old man to go back into his
house. After it was dark, the thief went to the hiding place and took the gold. The next day, the
old miser found that his treasure was missing and started crying loudly.
His neighbor heard the miser’s cries and inquired about what happened. On learning what
happened, the neighbor asked, “Why didn’t you save the money inside the house? It would’ve
been easier to access the money when you had to buy something!”

Four cows lived in a forest near a meadow. They were good friends and did everything
together. They grazed together and stayed together, because of which no tigers or lions were
able to kill them for food.

But one day, the friends fought and each cow went to graze in a different direction. A tiger and
a lion saw this and decided that it was the perfect opportunity to kill the cows. They hid in the
bushes and surprised the cows and killed them all, one by one.

One day, a camel and her baby were chatting. The baby asked, “Mother, why do we have
humps?” The mother replied, “Our humps are for storing water so that we can survive in the
desert”.
“Oh”, said the child, “and why do we have rounded feet mother?” “Because they are meant to
help us walk comfortably in the desert. These legs help us move around in the sand.”
“Alright. But why are our eyelashes so long?” “To protect our eyes from the desert dust and
sand. They are the protective covers for the eyes”, replied the mother camel.
The baby camel thought for a while and said, “So we have humps to store water for desert
journeys, rounded hooves to keep us comfortable when we walk in the desert sand, and long
eyelashes to protect us from sand and dust during a desert storm. Then what are we doing in a
zoo?”
The mother was dumbfounded.

There were four friends who hated studying. They partied all night before their exams and
planned to skip the test by lying to the professor. So they went to the dean and told him that
they had been to a wedding the previous night and on their way back, they had a flat tire. They
continued to say that they had to push the car all the way back, as they didn’t have a spare tire
and hence, were not in a position to write the exam.

The dean listened and agreed to let them take the test on a later date. Happy that they got a
second chance, the four friends studied hard and were ready for the exam. On exam day, the
dean asked the students to sit in separate classrooms, which the students agreed to.
The examination paper had only two questions, for a total of 100 marks. The questions were
thus:

1. Your name:
2. Which tire of the car burst: a) Front left b) Front right c) Rear left d) Rear right.

A farmer looking for a source of water for his farm bought a well from his neighbor. The
neighbor was cunning, though, and refused to let the farmer take water from the well. On
asking why, he replied, “I sold the well to you, not the water”, and walked away. The distraught
farmer didn’t know what to do. So he went to Birbali, a clever man and one of the nine
courtiers of Emperor Akbari, for a solution.
The emperor called the farmer and his neighbor and asked why the man was not letting the
farmer draw water from the well. The cunning man said the same thing again, “I sold the well,
not the water. So he cannot take my water”.
To this, Birbal replied, “All that sounds fine to me. But if you have sold the water and the water
is yours, then you have no business keeping your water in his well. Remove the water or use it
all up immediately. If not the water will belong to the owner of the well”.
Realizing that he’s been tricked and taught his lesson, the man apologized and left.

A farmer looking for a source of water for his farm bought a well from his neighbor. The
neighbor was cunning, though, and refused to let the farmer take water from the well. On
asking why, he replied, “I sold the well to you, not the water”, and walked away. The distraught
farmer didn’t know what to do. So he went to Birbali, a clever man and one of the nine
courtiers of Emperor Akbari, for a solution.

The emperor called the farmer and his neighbor and asked why the man was not letting the
farmer draw water from the well. The cunning man said the same thing again, “I sold the well,
not the water. So he cannot take my water”.
To this, Birbal replied, “All that sounds fine to me. But if you have sold the water and the water
is yours, then you have no business keeping your water in his well. Remove the water or use it
all up immediately. If not the water will belong to the owner of the well”.
Realizing that he’s been tricked and taught his lesson, the man apologized and left.

A young woman inherited a beautiful garden from her grandmother. She loved gardening too
and was very proud of her garden. One day, she saw a very beautiful plant in a catalog and
wanted that for her garden. She ordered it and planted it at the base of the stonewall in her
backyard. She took great care of the plant, which grew quickly and had beautiful green leaves
on it.

Months passed, but not a single flower bloomed on the tree. Vexed, she almost wanted to cut
the tree down. At such a time, her invalid called and said, “Thank you so much for the beautiful
flowers. You have no idea how much I enjoy looking at the blooms of the vine you have
planted”.
Hearing this, the young girl rushes to the neighbor’s side of the wall and sees the most beautiful
flower in bloom. All the care she took had paid off. Only the vine crept through the crevices
because of which it did not flower on her side of the wall but did generously on the other side.