The Crows And The Black Snake

              Father Crow and Mother Crow had their nest in a huge banyan tree. They had been living there for a number of years and had many children.
              One day a large black snake came and made its home in a hole beneath the banyan tree. The crows did not want a snake as their neighbor. But they could not do anything about it. 
              Mother Crow laid eggs and soon they were hatched. Father Crow and Mother Crow brought up their children with great care.
             
             One day the crows went out in search of food. The snake crawled up the tree and ate the young crows. When Father Crow and Mother Crow returned, they were shocked to find their little ones gone. They did not know what had happened to them. They asked all the birds and animals in the neighborhood, but nobody could tell them how their children had disappeared. 
              
               They cried for a long time and decided to keep a better watch when they had children again.
Months passed. Mother Crow laid eggs and soon they had baby crows. This time the crows kept a more careful watch over the children. One of them always remained at home while the other went out to get food. 
     One day the Mother Crow saw the snake coming up the tree. She cried for help and tried her best to drive it away. But the snake crept up, and ate the baby crows.   
        Mother Crow cried and cried. Many other crows joined her and all of them cried and tried to attack the snake. But the snake went into its hole before the crows could do him any harm.
         The crows were still crying when Father Crow returned. He was also very sad when he heard of the fate of the little crows. He tried to console Mother Crow, but she was heartbroken. Between sob she said, "We must leave this place immediately. So long as the black snake lives here, we are not safe. We shall go far, far away and make our home somewhere else." Father Crow was unhappy. "We have staying here for many years. It will be sad indeed to leave our home."
            "But," said the Mother Crow, " who will protect us from this wicked black snake ?"
          Father Crow replied, "We will have to find some way  to drive away the snake. We have our friend, the old fox. He is intelligent. Let us go and consult with him."
          Mother Crow agreed. They both went to the old fox and told him what had happened. " Help us ! " they cried. "Save us from this cruel snake or else we will have to leave our home and go away."
           The old fox thought for a while and then said, "You need not leave your home. You have been staying there for many years. We have to find a way to get rid of this snake. I think  I can help you. Do as I tell you and there is every chance that the snake will be kill. Now listen to me. Tomorrow morning ladies of the royal palace will go to the river for their bath. They will keep their ornaments and clothes on the river bank before they enter the water. Their servants will be there, at a distance, keeping watch over the valuables."
           "You should go there and find out where they keep their ornaments. When nobody is near, one of you pick up a necklace or any other valuable ornament and fly away. You must cry aloud so that the servants will see you flying away with the ornament. They will run after you to get it back. You must fly straight to the banyan tree and drop the ornament into the snake's hole."
           The crows agreed to do what the fox had told them. Next morning they went to the riverside and waited. The ladies of the royal palace came and left their ornaments and cloths on the bank before they went into the river, exactly as the fox had said they would. The crows looked at the ornaments. They noticed a pearl necklace among them. Mother Crow flew down, picked up the necklace and flew away. Father Crow followed her, cawing loudly all the way.
           The servants saw the crow taking the necklace and ran after her. The crows went straight to the hole where the black snake lived and Mother Crow dropped the necklace into it.
            The servants tried to take it out with a long stick. The snake was disturbed. It came out hissing and raised its hood. The servants surrounded the snake and beat it to death. They took out the necklace and went away.
        Father Crow and Mother Crow were happy the snake was dead. They were grateful to the old fox.




The Jackal Who Killed No Elephants

             
          Once upon a time, a lion & lioness lived together in a forest. One day, two little cubs were born to them. The lion and the lioness were both very happy.
           The lion said to the lioness, "You must stay home and look after the babies until they grow up. I shall go out and bring you all the food you need."
         
            Every day, the lion went hunting and brought home enough food. One day, however, he could find no animal to kill. In the evening, as he was returning home, he found a baby jackal. He picked it up and took it to the lioness.
            "This little jackal is the only food I could find for you today," said the lion. "Kill him and eat him. I could not kill him because he is only a baby."
             "My dear," replied the lioness, "then how do you think I can kill him ? I am the mother of two babies just like him. No, I shall do him no harm. He shall be my third son."
            So the lioness looked  after the baby jackal. He lived with her two cubs and the three babies grew up together.
           Then ran about and played together, Sometimes they had little adventures together. They chased any wild animals the saw.
           One day, a wild elephant came into thew forest. The lion cubs followed him. They wanted to kill the elephant. But their brother, the young jackal, was frightened.
            "Don't go near him," cried the jackal, "he is an elephant and he will kill you ! " And the jackal ran away.
         When they saw their brother running away, the lion cubs lost courage and ran home.
         The lion cubs told their mother and father about the elephant and how their brother had run away.          
     


         The young jackal heard this. He felt very hurt.He was angry and began to shout at the young lions. He told them he was not a coward; he was as brave as the were.
         "Come out and fight with me, if you dare," he said.
         The lioness took the young jackal aside. "You should not talk like that to your brothers," she said.
       But this only made the jackal angrier.
         "What right have they to make fun of me ? " he said. " Am I not as brave as they are ? I will show them my strength. I will kill them both!"
        But the lioness only smiled at the jackal.
   "You are brave," she said, "and you are also handsome, and you have brains. But you see, jackals do not kill elephants."
       " What do you  mean ? " he asked.
       "  Listen to me, my boy," replied the lioness. "Your mother was a jackal. I took pity on you. I bought you up like one of my own children. My sons do not know that you are a jackal. But now you shou
ld ran away and live with your own people. If you don't , my children will kill you and eat you up."
      The young jackal was frightened. he quickly ran away.