These may be simple stories, there are usually great lessons to be learned from them. Feel free to add your favourites.


The Farmer and the Stork

A Farmer placed nets on his newly sown
plough lands, and caught a quantity of
Cranes, which came to pick up his seed. With
them he trapped a Stork also. The Stork
having his leg fractured by the net, earnestly
besought the Farmer to spare his life. “Pray,
save me, Master,” he said, “and let me go free
this once. My broken limb should excite your
pity. Besides, I am no Crane, I am a Stork, a
bird of excellent character; and see how I love
and slave for my father and mother. Look too,
at my feathers, they are not the least like to
those of a Crane.” The Farmer laughed aloud,
and said, “It may be all as you say; I only
know this, I have taken you with these
robbers, the Cranes, and you must die in their
company.”


Birds of a feather flock together.

Fox and the goat

A Fox having fallen into a deep well, was
detained a prisoner there, as he could find no
means of escape. A Goat, overcome with
thirst, came to the same well, and, seeing the
Fox, inquired if the water was good. The Fox,
concealing his sad plight under a merry
guise, indulged in a lavish praise of the water,
saying it was beyond measure excellent, and
encouraged him to descend. The Goat,
mindful only of his thirst, thoughtlessly
jumped down, when just as he quenched his
thirst, the Fox informed him of the difficulty
they were both in, and suggested a scheme
for their common escape. “If,” said he, “you
will place your fore-feet upon the wall, and
bend your head, I will run up your back and
escape, and will help you out afterwards.” On
the Goat readily assenting to this second
proposal, the Fox leapt upon his back, and
steadying himself with the Goat’s horns,
reached in safety the mouth of the well, when
he immediately made off as fast as he could.
The Goat upbraided him with the breach of
his bargain, when he turned round and cried
out: “You foolish old fellow! If you had as
many brains in your head as you have hairs in
your beard, you would never have gone down
before you had inspected the way up, nor
have exposed yourself to dangers from which
you had no means of escape.”


Look before you leap.

The Two Travelers

Two men were traveling together, when a
bear suddenly met them on their path. One of
them climbed up quickly into a tree, and
concealed himself in the branches. The other,
seeing that he must be attacked, fell flat on
the ground, and when the Bear came up and
felt him with his snout, and smelt him all
over, he held his breath, and feigned the
appearance of death as much as he could.
The Bear soon left him, for it is said he will not
touch a dead body. When he was quite gone,
the other traveler descended from the tree,
and accosting his friend, jocularly inquired
“what it was the Bear had whispered in his
ear?” he replied, “He gave me this advice:
Never travel with a friend who deserts you at
the approach of danger.”


Misfortune tests the sincerity of friends.

The Gnat and the Bull

A Gnat settled on the horn of a Bull, and sat
there a long time. Just as he was about to fly
off, he made a buzzing noise, and inquired of
the Bull if he would like him to go. The Bull
replied, “I did not know you had come, and I
shall not miss you when you go away.”

Some men are of more consequence in their
own eyes than in the eyes of their neighbors.