In a village, an artist used to make beautiful idols of gods and goddesses.
Once, he made a beautiful idol of Lord Rama.
The artist took a donkey from his neighbour potter to take the idol to
the city in order to sell it.
The artist loaded the idol of Lord Rama onto the donkey and headed for the city.
On the way, a woman paid her respect to the idol of Lord Rama.
Every passerby bowed his head with both palms joined in reverence to
the beautiful idol of Lord Rama.
The donkey thought that the poeple were paying respect to it by bowing before it.
Imagining so, the donkey stood on the road proudly and started braying loudly.
The artist cajoled and patted the donkey to move on but the donkey refused to budge.
Then, the angry artist started thrashing the donkey with a stick.
After getting a sound thrashing, the pride of the donkey vanished and it
started walking silently.
The Advice of the Bear
Ramu and Shyamu were close friends and were proud of their friendship.
Once, both had to go to another village passing through a thick forest.
Ramu advised his friend. “There are dangerous animals in this forest.
We should be careful.”
After some time, suddenly a growling bear came across them.
Shyamu ran towards a tree and climbed upon it. But Ramu did not know
how to climb up a tree.
The frightened Ramu had heard that bears do not harm dead persons.
So, he quietly lay down on the ground to act dead.
The bear came over to Ramu and sniffed his face and ears.
Ramu held his breath for the while. The bear took him for dead and moved on.
After the bear had departed, Shyamu got down from the tree and Ramu also stood up.
“I was afraid that the bear would kill you,” Shyamu said in a trembling voice.
Then Shyamu asked, “What was the bear saying in your ear, friend?”
Ramu replied, “Stay away from selfish friends.”
Moral : A friend in need is a friend indeed.
