The Needle Tree

The needle tree There were once two brothers who lived on the edge of a forest. The elder brother was very mean to his younger brother and ate up all the food and took all his good clothes. One day, the elder brother went into the forest to find some firewood to sell in the market. As he went around chopping the branches of a tree after tree, he came upon a magical tree. The tree said to him, ‘Oh kind sir, please do not cut my branches. If you spare me, I will give you my golden apples’. The elder brother agreed but was disappointed with the number apples the tree gave him. Greed overcame him, and he threatened to cut the entire trunk if the tree didn’t give him more apples. The magical tree instead showered upon the elder brother hundreds upon hundreds of tiny needles. The elder brother lay on the ground crying in pain as the sun began to lower down the horizon. The younger brother grew worried and went in search of his elder brother. He found him with hundreds of needles on his skin. He rushed to his brother and removed each needle with painstaking love. After he finished, the elder brother apologised for treating him badly and promised to be better. The tree saw the change in the elder brother’s heart and gave them all the golden apples they could ever need. Dear friends, it is important to be kind and gracious as it will always be rewarded.

A Hole in the Fence There was once a young boy who had problem controlling his temper. When he became angry, he would just say anything that came to his mind and hurt people. So his father gave him a bag of nails and a hammer and said, “Every time you get angry, hammer one nail into the fence in our backyard”. The first few days the boy hammered so many nails that he emptied half the bag. Over the weeks, the number of nails he hammered to the fence reduced and gradually, his temper was much in control. Then came a day when he didn’t lose his temper at all. His father asked him to remove one nail each day that he manages not to lose his temper. Finally, on the day the child was removing the last nail, his father says, “You have done well, boy. But do you see the holes in the wall? The fence is never going to be the same, even after repainting. Likewise, when you say mean things in anger, you will leave a scar in the person’s mind, as the nails did to the fence”. Dear friends, anger is a dangerous weapon like a knife. When you put a knife in a man and draw it out, the wound heals but the scar remains.

The camel and the baby 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. Dear friends, your strengths, skills, and knowledge are useless if you are not in the right place.

The Magic Gifts Long ago, a man called Chang lived with his three sons – Yong, Chin and Ying. Chang was very old and rich. One day, he called his sons to his bedside. “I want you to make me a promise,” he croaked. “When I die, I want you to share my fortune equally. You must live together happily.” Chin was glad to agree but his older brothers didn’t sound so happy. Not long after, Chang died and the brothers shared out his fortune. Yong and Ying each took a big share of the fortune. “The rest is yours,” they told Chin. Chin was left with a tiny bag of silver coins. Unlike his greedy brothers, he didn’t care for money. Ying and Yong couldn’t wait to spend their cash and even asked Chin got out of their house. So Chin bought an old hut in the village. His home was simple but he was happy. Chin spent his money helping poor villagers. He bought them food, new clothes and even paid their rent. He never spent a penny on himself. Meanwhile, his brothers used their money to make even more money. They bought a huge house, silk clothes and sparkling jewels. They spent every single penny on themselves. Soon, Chin became the poorest man in the village. His brothers felt ashamed of him and asked him left the village. Chin didn’t want to upset his brothers, so he left. He walked for miles and miles. At last he came to a stream. He took off his shoes and dangled his tired feet in the cool water. “Excuse me,” said a voice. Chin jumped and behind him stood an old monk. The monk looked weak and tired. “Could you carry me back to my temple?” he asked. “No problem,” said Chin. After a long walk, Chin and the monk arrived at a lonely, deserted temple. There was nobody else at the temple. Chin felt sorry for the monk. “I’ll stay and help you,” he said. For months, Chin helped the monk with chores. One day, Chin told the monk that he missed his brothers and he wanted to go home. Before he left, the monk gave Chin three gifts: an old straw mat, a wooden spoon and a pair of chopsticks. “They might come in useful,” said the monk, with a smile. Chin walked all days in the forest. He spread out the straw mat and lay down on top to rest. When Chin woke up, he couldn’t believe his eyes. He found himself lying in a big bed in a

beautiful room. He was in the tower of a grand castle. Chin picked up the spoon. “I wish I had something to eat,” he sighed. Fruits came pouring out of the spoon. Grapes, cherries, plums, peaches and pineapples piled up on the floor. As he munched the fruit, Chin looked down at his torn clothes. “I wish my suit was as fine as this castle,” said Chin. Chin suddenly found he was dressed ins ilk robes. “The mat and spoon must be magic,” he thought. “I wonder if the chopsticks are magical too,” thought Chin, tapping them together. Suddenly, four beautiful maids appeared. They sang and danced for Chin. “If only my brothers could see me now,” thought Chin. That very day, Ying and Yong passed Chin’s castle. “I’ve never seen this place before,” said Ying. “It’s enormous,” cried Yong. When they saw Chin, they were amazed. Chin told them all about the monk and the magic gifts. Ying and Yong were jealous. “Maybe if we were poor, the monk would give us magic gifts,” Ying whispered to Yong. They gave away all their belongings and went to visit the monk. They waited for months for the monk but he never appeared. Finally, they gave up. They trudged back to the village, tired and penniless. Chin saw them and welcomed them into his home and shared his fortune with them. At last, the three brothers lived happily together, just as their father had wanted. Dear friends, we have to treat our family members well and not to be selfish.

A true friend Fiona was a very popular girl at school. She was clever and fun, and got on well with everyone. She invited the whole class to her birthday party, and from time to time she would give presents to everybody. She was such a busy girl, with so many friends, that she hardly got a chance to spend time with individual friends. However, she felt very lucky, no other girl had so many friends at school and in the neighbourhood. But everything changed on National Friendship Day. On that day, at school, everyone was having a great time, drawing, painting, and giving gifts. That day in class everyone had to make three presents to give to their three best friends. Fiona enjoyed the task of choosing three from amongst all the dozens of her friends. However, when all the presents had been made and shared out among classmates, Fiona was the only one who had not received a present! She felt terrible, and spent hours crying. How could it be possible? So much effort to make so many friends, and in the end no one saw her as their best friend? She realized that she had not been a true friend to anyone. She had tried not to argue with anyone, she had tried to pay attention to everyone, but now she had found out that was not enough to create true friendship. When she got home that night, Fiona asked her mother where she could find true friends. "Fiona, my dear," answered her mother, "You cannot buy friends with a smile or a few good words. If you really want true friends, you will have to give them real time and affection. For a true friend you must always be available, in good times and bad". "But I want to be everybody's friend! I need to share my time among everyone!" Fiona protested. "My dear, you're a lovely girl," said her mother, "but you can't be a close friend to everybody. Hearing this, Fiona decided to change her ways so that she could finally have some true friends. She thought about her mother. Her mother was always willing to help her, she put up with all of Fiona's dislikes and problems, she always forgave her, she loved her a great

deal... That was what makes friends! And Fiona smiled from ear to ear, realizing that she already had the best friend anyone could ever want.

Value of Time

Once, a king and a lazy man named Haria were very good friends. One morning, the king said, "Why don't you do work to earn some money?" Haria said, "No one gives me job. My enemies told everyone that I never do any work in time." The kind said, "You can go into my treasury and collect as much wealth as you can, till sunset." Haria rushed home to tell this to his wife. She said, "Go and get the gold coins and gems now." "I cannot go now. Give me lunch first." After lunch, he took a nap for an hour. Then in the late afternoon, he picked some bags and went to the palace. On the way, he felt hot so he sat under a tree to rest. Then, two hours later, he got up to go but saw a man showing some magic tricks. He stopped to watch for an hour again. When he reached the palace it was already time for sunset. The palace gates had been shut. So Haria had lost a golden chance because he had not learnt the value of time. Dear friends, we have to value time as time waits for no man.

The Kite without a thread Once a father and son went to the kite flying festival. The young son became very happy seeing the sky filled with colourful kites. He too asked his father to get him a kite and a thread with a roller so he can fly a kite too. So, the father went to the shop at the park where the festival was being held. He purchased kites and a roll of thread for his son. His son started to fly a kite. Soon, his kite reached high up in the sky. After a while, the son said, “Father, it seems that the thread is holding up a kite from flying higher. If we break it, it will be free and will go flying even higher. Can we break it?” So, the father cut the thread from a roller. The kite started to go a little higher. That made a son very happy. But then, slowly, the kite started to come down. And, soon it fell down on the terrace of the unknown building. The young son was surprised to see this. He had cut the kite loose of its thread so it can fly higher, but instead, it fell down. He asked his father, “Father, I thought that after cutting off the thread, the kite can freely fly higher. But why did it fall down?” The Father explained, “Son, at the height of life that we live in, we often think that some things we are tied with and they are preventing us from going further higher. The thread was not holding the kite from going higher, but it was helping it stay higher when the wind slowed down and when the wind picked up, you helped the kite go up higher in a proper direction through the thread. And when we cut the thread, it fell down without the support you were providing to the kite through the thread”. The son realized his mistake. Dear friends, never let go of our family as they are always there to support us.

Father and Son A father had a family of sons who were perpetually quarrelling among themselves. One day he told his sons to bring him a bundle of sticks. When they had done so, he placed the fagot into the hands of each of them and ordered them to break it in pieces. They tried with all their strength and were not able to do it. He next opened the fagot, took the sticks separately, one by one, and again put them into his sons’ hands, upon which they broke them easily. He then addressed them in these words. “My sons, if you are of one mind, and unite to assist each other, you will be as strong as this fagot, uninjured by all the attempts of your enemies, but if you are divided among yourselves, you will be broken as easily as these sticks.” Dear friends, unity is strength.