Mother's Voice #1

Mother’s Voice #1
Children's Bedtime Stories with Happy Endings
15 Stories of animals and birds from around the world

Mother & Child stories—interesting, inspiring, and educational.
To be read by the mother to her child for a good night’s sleep.
Ideally suited for 3 to 6-year old children.
“There is nothing sweeter than the Mother’s Voice”

Dedicated to Mothers
© Copyright 2017, Dr. R. Sinha

Contents
Mother’s Voice #1 Children's Bedtime Stories with Happy Endings............................................ 1
Preface .............................................................................................................................................. 4
1. Huma, the First Ape to Stand, Walk, and Run .......................................................................... 5
2. Don the Donkey and Tiggy the Tiger ......................................................................................... 8
3. Cows, Horses, Sheep, Dogs, and Cats ................................................................................... 12
4. The Kangaroo Baby and the Koala Baby ................................................................................ 17
5. The Elephant and the Frog ....................................................................................................... 22
6. The Dinosaur Baby and Grandpa ............................................................................................. 26
7. The Butterfly and the Honey Bee ............................................................................................. 31
8. The Panda Bear and Her Baby, Pandu ................................................................................... 36
9. Happy the Whale and Dolly the Dolphin .................................................................................. 40
10. The Polar Bear and the Snow Fox ......................................................................................... 44
11. The Hard-Working Ants Build a Smart City ........................................................................... 49
12. Eagles, the Rulers of the Sky ................................................................................................. 54
13. The Lion Pride and the Baboons ............................................................................................ 59
14. The Rhinos and Parrots of India............................................................................................. 65
15. Monkeys on the Banana Island .............................................................................................. 71
My story .......................................................................................................................................... 77
Preface
The primary job of all parents is to bring up children who are happy, healthy, strong,
confident, and grow up to become great human beings. Everything else in life—work,
money, house, car, entertainment, social life—is secondary. Although many parents
know it and want to do their best for their children, the modern lifestyle makes it difficult
to maintain a balance between their lives and those of the children.
Fortunately, even the busiest parents can find some quality time to spend with the
children to show that they love them, will always be there for their protection, support
them in every way, will help them realize their dreams, and want them to become good
human beings.
This is our humble attempt to help all caring parents to integrate a few activities in the
shortest possible time while putting their children to bed: storytelling, stretching their
imagination for problem solving, teaching some fundamental human values such as
love, compassion, respect, confidence and courage; and making them happy before
they sleep.
Please start early when the child is about 3 years old. Read the stories slowly, clearly
with some emotion and modulation of the voice. Say the direct speeches (in quotes) as
if you are playing the character in the story—softer, higher pitch for young characters or
babies, lower pitch for adult characters. You can read the stories many times. Every
time a child relates to what he or she already knows and expands his or her
understanding and imagination. You will be surprised how quickly a child builds up the
vocabulary and comprehension skill. If the child does not know a difficult word, please
explain that using simpler words or examples. Always give positive answers to the
child's questions. Often the child would ask, “… and then?” Please answer something
positive like, “Then they were happy, went to sleep and had sweet dreams.”
A child often likes to add new ideas to the story; listen and appreciate his/her
creativity. Never raise your voice before he/she goes to sleep, even if you have
something urgent to do. Just one harsh word can ruin the entire night’s sleep; be
extremely gentle, loving, and patient before he/she sleeps.
One last request, if you read the stories using an electronic device, please switch it
off and keep it far away from the bed. Let the child have a good night’s sleep without
any electro-smog.
Together with you, we wish to build a generation of humans with universal values and
create a happy world for them.
The children will always remember that there is nothing sweeter than the Mother’s
Voice.
Thank you.
Mother’s Voice Team
1. Huma, the First Ape to Stand, Walk, and Run
Keep trying, and someday, you will succeed.

Once upon a time, in the jungles of Africa, there lived many apes. Apes are like
monkeys, but they do not have tails. The apes were happy and playful. They jumped
from tree to tree, swung from the branches and made loud noises. The apes picked all
kinds of fruits and ate them. They threw the seeds down from which new trees grew and
provided more food for the apes.
Every day, the apes ate until they were full, and then came down from the trees to
the ground to drink water. They followed the older apes who knew the way to the sweet
water pond. All apes walked on four legs to the pond, bent down on four legs, put their
faces close to the water and drank from the pond. Then, they went back to the trees,
climbed up and slept in the trees. They repeated the same routine every day.
There was one little girl ape called Huma. She was very smart, very quick and always
tried to do new things. Huma’s mom and dad had to keep an eye on her, not that she
got into trouble.
One day, when all apes were walking on four legs to the pond to drink water, Huma
tried to stand on two legs. She tried hard and suddenly stood up on two legs and said,
“Mommy, look! I can stand on two feet.”
There was an older ape who said, “No! You should not do that; you will fall. Just get
down on four feet and come with us. We need to hurry.”
But Huma stood on two feet and tried to walk. It was difficult; she lifted one foot, and
oops! Huma fell on the ground.
One big ape said, “No one can walk on two legs. It’s not possible.”
An older ape shouted, “We told you not to do funny things. See, you fell down.”
Huma’s mother asked, “Are you hurt?”
Huma said, “No, Mommy. I'm fine.”
Huma’s dad was watching everything, but did not say anything. He allowed Huma to
do whatever she wanted, except for things that could really hurt her. Huma looked at
her dad; he smiled and nodded.
Huma stood again on two feet, stretched her hands on the sides to balance, lifted her
left foot just a little, carefully moved it forward and put it on the ground. That was her
first step. Then, she lifted her right foot, moved it forward and put it down. That was her
second step. Huma continued, left, right, left, right, left, right.
Huma said, “Mommy, Daddy, look! I can walk on two legs.”
One ape shouted at her, “What’s that funny thing you are trying to do? Get down on four
legs and walk like a normal ape.”
Another older and wiser ape said in a deep voice, “Huma, that’s not the way to walk.
You should walk like us on four legs. We have been doing this for millions of years.”
However, little Huma was not listening. She was walking faster and faster, and soon,
she was running and running. She was faster than all other apes.
Seeing her walk and run this way, all young apes were amazed and impressed. They
also tried to stand on two feet and walk. They fell a few times, got hurt, but they tried
again and again. Soon they were walking on two legs, and then going faster and faster
and Wow! They were running behind Huma toward the sweet water pond.
All grown-up apes screamed, “No, no, kids! Don’t run on two legs; that’s dangerous!”
But the young apes were not afraid of falling, they were running and running; nothing
could stop them anymore. They could feel the wind on their little faces and on their hair.
They could see that they were crossing the older apes, one by one and leaving them
behind. They were the fastest runners.
Finally, they reached the pond much before the older apes. They drank fresh cold
water. Not with their face into the water, but they took water in their palms, lifted it to
their lips and drank. They found out that with two hands free, they could do so many
more things even while walking and running. Then, they sat down under a tree and
talked about how wonderful it felt to run fast on two legs.
Huma told them how they should not be afraid to try to do new things. If they believe
that they can do it and keep trying, one day, they will succeed.
Huma’s parents reached the pond, hugged her and said, “We are very proud of you,
Huma. You did the impossible—walking on two legs. From today, all those who walk
like Huma will be called Humans. Those who don’t would stay as apes.”
All the young apes stood on two feet, raised their hands in the air and cheered aloud,
“Huma! Huma! Huma!
You are our friend. You are our leader.
We’ll do what you say. Hip, hip, hooray!”
Huma had a big smile on her face. She thanked and waved at all little humans.
“Nothing is impossible. If you keep trying, you will surely succeed.”

2. Don the Donkey and Tiggy the Tiger
Always smile and never be sad.

One summer in India, a donkey was grazing in the fields. The grass was brown and
dry from the heat and sun. So, he looked around to see where the grass looked
greener. He walked there and tasted the green grass; it was soft, juicy, and tasty. He
ate some grass, walked a little farther, ate some more, again walked a little farther, and
finally went into the forest area where the grass was tall, green, soft, and juicy. He kept
grazing, walked deeper into the forest and slowly it got dark.
He met a strange animal that looked like a huge cat with golden-yellow fur and
beautiful black stripes. It looked like someone has painted a big cat with black lines. It
was a tiger, the king of the forest. They looked at each other like strangers.
The tiger asked, "Are you a horse?"

The donkey smiled and said, "Well, I look like a horse, but I'm actually a donkey. How
about you, are you a lion?"
The tiger replied, "No, I'm a tiger. Look at my black stripes; lions don't have stripes."
The donkey said with a smile, "Oh, I see. You are a tiger. If I had black stripes, what
would I look like?"
“No idea,” said the tiger as he shook his head and made a serious face.
The donkey said, “OK, let me put it this way. What looks like a donkey and has black
stripes?”
The tiger scratched his head and said, “I don’t know. Please tell me the answer.”
“A zebra! You see, a zebra looks like a donkey and has black and white stripes. Right?"
said the donkey and laughed aloud, “Ha ha! Hee-haw, Hee-haw.”
The tiger was a very serious fellow; he didn’t know how to laugh.
The donkey said, “By the way, I'm Don the donkey. Let me guess, you must be Tiggy
the tiger, right?”
The tiger said, “That’s right. You are very smart. Would you like to become the king of
the forest? I have been the king for way too long, and now I'm getting old and tired. We
need someone young, smart, and funny like you.”
Don the donkey agreed, "That sounds interesting. OK, I'll be the king, but just for one
day."
Tiggy the tiger said, "Good. Now, you are the king. Your job is to make sure that there is
no problem in the forest. Okay?"
Don nodded, “Yeah, Yeah! Don’t worry. I'll solve all the problems. I am the king now.
Hee-haw, hee-haw.”
They both walked deep into the forest. Tiggy the tiger called all the animals and birds
of the forest and said, “You wanted a new king. Here he is, Don the Donkey.”
The donkey saw that the animals in the forest were always complaining about each
other, and they were all unhappy about something or the other. Some complained about
how there was too little water, some about how the fruits were not ripe, some
complained about how the king tiger Tiggy ate too much and they did not have enough
food, some complained about how the birds got up very early and made noise, and so
on and so forth.
Don the donkey thought, "I have to change their habit of thinking bad about
everything. I must make them see the good things, make them think positive. That’ll
surely make them happy."
So, he came up with an idea. He asked all the animals to sing a happy song—Always
smile and never be sad.
Don the donkey king started and the animals repeated after him. One-by-one all
animals and birds joined in and they sang together:
"Always smile, and never be sad.

Everything is good, nothing is bad.
Look around and see it all.
Beautiful trees, short and tall.
Take a deep breath; smell the flowers.
Everywhere you see pretty colors.
Grass in the fields, fruits on the trees.
Veggies in gardens, honey from the bees.
Let’s be happy, with what we have.
We have friends, and we have love.
So, always smile, and never be sad.
Everything is good, nothing is bad.
Everything is good, nothing is bad."
All animals liked singing this happy song. This is the first time they sang a song
together. They wanted to sing more and shouted, "Once again. Once again!"
So, they sang it once again.
Surprise, surprise! All the animals became happy. They smiled and said, “Well sung,
well sung,” and shook hands and legs with each other.
The animals asked Don the donkey to stay in the forest as their king and sing with
them every day.
The donkey said, "There will be no more kings, but I can stay with you as your friend
and help you as long as you wish."
Tiggy the tiger said, "That’s a good idea. No more kings. We all will be friends and help
each other."
Then, from the top of a tree, someone said in the tiger’s voice, “That’s a good idea. No
more kings. We all will be friends and help each other."
The animals thought, there must be another tiger in the tree. They looked up, and
saw there was a parrot copying and mocking the old tiger. They all laughed out loud.
Even the tiger could not keep a serious face any longer.
He too laughed and said, “You guys are a bunch of funny animals. Don, you can come
and stay with me. Goodnight, fellows,” and slowly walked toward his cave.
Suddenly, the animals heard a deep voice coming from the cave. Tiggy the old tiger
was singing, “Always smile, and never be sad. Everything is good, and nothing is bad.”
They looked at each other and said, “That’s amazing! Even the old tiger is in a happy
mood.”
All the animals returned to their homes. They were still humming the song, “Always
smile, and never be sad. Everything is good, and nothing is bad” and went to bed
happily.
If we think about good things and sing happy songs, we become happy.
3. Cows, Horses, Sheep, Dogs, and Cats
Be kind to all animals.

Fred the farmer lived with his wife Lisa in a farmhouse in Canada. They had a little
son named Linus. On his farm, Fred had many animals: cows, horses, sheep, chickens,
cats and a dog. Linus liked the animals very much.
Linus went to the farm with his dad every morning before going to his school. He
helped his dad feed the animals, give them water, clean the barn, and check if all
animals are healthy and safe. Then, he put straw on the floor where the animals could
lie down during the day and sleep at night. The cows slept on the straw, the sheep
grouped together and slept next to each other, the dog slept near the door in his bed,
and the cats curled up in a basket and slept in a warm corner. But the horse never lay
down; he just stood on four legs, bent one knee, closed his eyes and slept while
standing.
One day, the farmer put an old bed in the barn and said, “I'm going to sleep here
tonight. One sheep will have a baby tonight. I have to make sure the mother and the
baby are healthy and safe.”
Linus asked, “Daddy, can I also sleep there? Maybe, I can help you.”
The farmer said, “Well, ask your mother first.”
Lisa, the mother, said, “Alright. But, where are you going to sleep? That bed is too small
for two.”
Linus thought for a moment and said, “Don’t worry, Mommy. I can sleep on the big pile
of straw.”
His mom said, “That's a good idea. We also did that sometimes when we were kids. It
was a lot of fun. Sure, you can sleep on the large pile of straw. But take a blanket with
you; it can get cold at night.”
In the evening, after dinner, the farmer and his son Linus went to the farm and slept
there.
After some time, Linus had a dream. In his dream, he saw that the farm animals were
talking to each other. He listened to what they were saying. The horse looked at Linus
and said, “Oh, hello Linus. We're just talking about our jobs. Why don’t you join us?”
Then the horse looked at the other animals and said, “As I was saying, when I was
younger, I could pull the plow alone. But once, I hurt my leg and the animal doctor said I
should not pull the plow. However, I still pull the cart, I carry all the firewood from the
forest, and I help to clear the snow in the winter. In the summer, I bring the hay and
straw from the fields for the other animals. Sometimes the children ride on my back and
have fun.”
All the animals said, “Wow! You are very strong, Horse. You do so many things for the
farmer and for us too.”
The horse felt very proud, and said, “Yep. That’s my job. So, who is next? Dog, how
about you? Please tell us what you do.”
The dog cleared his throat and said, “Well, I’m the farmer’s best friend.”
The cat said, “Oh, really? How so?”
The Dog said, “Well, I'm always with him, all day and night. Whenever he goes
somewhere, I go with him. I bark when I see something is wrong. Once, there was a
wolf trying to catch the chickens, I barked aloud and chased him away. Since then, the
farmer and I became best friends.”
The chickens nodded, “Right, right! He saved us from the wolf.”
The dog continued, “Oh, by the way, I also help him get all the sheep and cows come
back to the barn every evening.”
Everyone agreed, “Yes, he does a very good job.”
Then the horse asked, “Who is next?”

The chicken said, “We lay eggs. Do you know that children eat eggs and become
strong?”
The Rooster said, “Well, I can’t lay eggs, but I wake the Farmer up every morning, so
that he can feed you all.”
The cow said, “Yes, it’s very important to feed the animals on time.”
One of the cows had a little brown baby cow named Coffy. The baby cow (or calf)
was very cute. She was jumping around all this time and just came back to the mother
cow to drink milk. The mother cow licked the calf clean.
The mother cow said, “Now, can I tell what we the cows do? I eat a lot of hay and
grass every day, drink a lot of water and chew the food for hours to make (or produce)
milk. People cannot make milk from grass and hay, can they? Do you know how many
children drink my milk every day? Thirty children! What will they do if I do not make
milk?”
The horse replied, “I guess, the children will be hungry and cry.”
“Yes, you are right,” said the cow, “If I do not make milk, many little children will have no
milk to drink and they will not become strong. Also, the grownups will have no butter, no
yogurt, and no cheese. But, I'm a little sad that some farmers take away all our milk and
the baby cows do not get enough milk to drink.”
Linus said, “I'm sorry. I'll make sure the calf gets enough milk and we do not take
away all the milk from you. I'll tell Daddy and all farmers to do the same, leave enough
milk for the calves.”
All the animals looked at Linus and said, “Thank you, Linus. You are very kind. We all
like you very much.”
Linus felt very happy that the animals like him. A cat and her beautiful black kitten
(baby cat) came and lay down on Linus’s lap.
The cat said, “I don’t do much, but I keep the mice and rats away. Sometimes, when
Fred is away and Linus is in school, Linus’s mother, Lisa feels a bit lonely, then I give
her company. So, I’m her best friend.”
The kitten asked, “What do I do, Mommy?”
The mother cat said, “Well, you are so cute and so much fun, you bring happiness to
people. When they see you or pet you, they become happy. That’s your job, to make
people happy.”
Everyone nodded, “Yes, Yes! You are really cute. But, be nice, don’t chase the birds
and don’t drink milk from the sheep—that’s for her baby lamb.”
Then the horse turned to the sheep and said, “I guess, you are very tired. Do you
want to sleep now or do you also want to tell Linus what you do?”
The sheep looked at Linus and said, “The sweater you are wearing and the blanket you
are covering yourself with to stay warm, do you know where they come from?”
Linus said, “I don’t know; maybe, from a shop.”
The sheep said proudly, “They’re made from my wool. See the thick wool I have. Your
dad cuts that wool and your mom cleans it, dyes it in many colors, and knits sweaters,
hats, socks, and blankets with it. All from my wool,”
Linus said, “Oh, thank you. That’s what keeps me warm in the winter, or else, I would be
very cold. Thank you, sheep.”
The horse asked, “OK, Linus. Now you know what all we do for you and other people.
What can you do for us?”
Linus thought for a while and said, “Well, I'm still a kid, so I go to school. But after
hearing your stories, I have decided to do many good things for the animals. I'll grow up
to become an animal doctor (a Vet) and help the animals.”
All the animals said, “Oh, that’s great! We do need very good animal doctors (also
called veterinarian or a vet).”
Then the dog yawned and one-by-one all the animals yawned.
The rooster said, “Well friends, we should go to sleep. It’s getting late.”
All the animals walked to their places and went to sleep.
The birds were chirping loudly outside the barn. Linus opened his eyes and was
thinking, “Was it a dream I had or did the animals really talk to me? It all seems so real.”
The cat and the black kitten were sleeping next to him and that kept him warm.
Linus turned his head and saw, there were two small lambs next to the mother sheep
and they were drinking mother’s milk.
He woke his dad up and said, “Daddy, look! Two baby lambs.”
Linus ran outside, cut some fresh grass and fed the mother sheep. The mother sheep
looked at him and licked his hand as if she said, “Thank you, Linus.”
Linus smiled and gently pet the two little lambs.
“We should be kind to animals and protect them. All great people were very
kind to lambs, cows, horses, dogs, and all animals and birds.”
4. The Kangaroo Baby and the Koala Baby
Love your sisters and brothers.

Once upon a time in Australia, there was a little boy named Jirra. He had beautiful
shiny brown skin, curly black hair, and strong hands. He, his sister Riana, little brother
Dural and their parents lived by the river near a desert. Near the river, there were
trees—tall Eucalyptus trees. But in the desert, there were no trees, only sand. As far as
you could see, there was only sand and sand.
One day, Jirra, his brother, and sister went to the river. Jirra said, “Remember, Mommy
said not to get too close to the river, you may slip and fall.”
Riana, the sister, added, “Yes, there may be crocodiles in the river. We should stay
away and watch from far.”
The little brother Dural asked, “What’s a crocodile?”
Jirra answered, “Well, crocodiles are a bit like Alligators. They are big animals, have
long tails, and big mouth and teeth. They can swim in the water or crawl on land. We
should stay far away from them. They can bite.”
Jirra and Riana held Dural’s hands and they walked together. They saw some big
rocks where the path turned right. Suddenly, little Dural shouted, “Look! Crocodiles are
coming!”
They all were a bit scared and looked. They saw a group of animals coming from the
desert and going toward the river. The animals were big, they had long and strong tails
and they were jumping and hopping on two legs.
Jirra said, “Hmm, very strange animals! They don’t have big mouths, they came from
the desert, not from the water; and they can hop on two legs. They can’t be crocodiles.
Crocodiles can’t hop.”
Riana said, “Let me ask them who they are.”
She said aloud, “Hi there, who are you?”
The animals stopped, stood up tall, looked at them with big eyes, but did not reply.
She asked again, “We were wondering if you are crocodiles.”
Suddenly, a little animal popped his head out of his mommy’s tummy and laughed,
“Tee-hee. We are not crocodiles; we're kangaroos. I'm a baby kangaroo.”
The three children were surprised; they had never seen kangaroos before.
Riana said, “Wow, Look! A baby kangaroo in a pouch on his mommy’s tummy. How
cute!”
Dural, the little boy, asked the baby kangaroo, “What are you doing in there?”
The baby kangaroo replied, “Well, I'm a baby, I can’t hop and run. So, I live in my
mommy’s pouch and Mommy carries me around. When I'm bigger, I'll come out and hop
around like the other kangaroos.”
A big kangaroo said, “We come here to drink water. I'm the oldest. My job is to take
care of all kangaroos and make sure they are together and not get lost in the woods.
You three must stay together too, and watch where you are going. So that you can
return home safely.”
Jirra said, “Thanks. We'll stay together. I'll take care of my younger sister and brother.”
The kangaroo said, “We have to go now. You take care. Bye-bye.”
The baby kangaroo said, “See you again” and hid himself in his mommy’s tummy.
They all hopped toward the river to drink water.
Jirra, Riana, and Dural took a right turn near the big rock and continued to walk along
the riverbank. Jirra was watching the path, making sure there are no crocodiles, Riana
was looking at the river and little Dural was looking left and right, up and down and
asking tens of questions, “What’s this? What’s that?”
Jirra and Riana tried to answer as much as they could.
Suddenly, Dural asked, “Hey, what’s that on the ground?”
They all looked, there was a cute baby animal crying under a Eucalyptus tree.
Jirra asked, “Why are you crying?”
The little animal said, “I cannot find my mommy. She asked me to stay with her, but I
walked away and I cannot find her. I'm scared and I'm cold.”
Riana asked, “What does your mommy look like? Where do you live?”
He sobbed and said, “My mommy is a Koala. We live in the Eucalyptus tree. But I don’t
know which tree, there are so many of them here.”
Jirra, thought for a while, “Hmm, soon it’ll get dark. We cannot go into the woods to
find his mom. So, we better get some help. But I should not say anything that could
scare the baby koala.”
So, he said, “Oh, don’t worry. We'll find your mommy soon. Don’t go anywhere, just stay
put; and here, take my jacket, this will keep you warm.”
Jirra took off his orange jacket and wrapped it around the little koala. The koala looked
very cute in the orange jacket. Dural slowly pet the baby koala, he felt warm and
stopped crying.
Jirra told Riana and Dural, “Look, we have to ask dad to come and help. He can get
the police to come and help this baby koala find his mom. You two, stay here; don’t go
anywhere. I'm going to run to our house and will be right back with Dad. Okay?”
Riana said, “If you do not come back, we can take the baby koala home.”
Jirra replied, “You don’t know the way home. That’s why I want you to stay here with
Dural and the baby koala so they are not alone. I'll get dad right away.”
Riana replied, “I do know my way back. While we were walking, I was looking carefully
for some signs and I remember them. We have to go that way back to that big rock, and
then take a left turn and go straight toward our house.”
Jirra said, “Right. You are very smart. But wait here for 10 minutes anyway. I'll be right
back.”
Jirra ran to his house and told his dad what happened. His dad called the police. Jirra
and his dad got in the car and drove to the place where Riana and Dural were waiting
with the baby koala.
Then the police officers also came. One lady officer picked the baby koala up and gave
him a bottle of milk to drink and asked, “Do you remember who all live with you?”
The baby koala said, “Yes, I have Mommy, Daddy, Grandma, and two older sisters.”
The officer called other officers on the phone and found out where the koala family
lived. The officer said, “Thank you Jirra, Riana, and Dural. We have found his mom and
dad. His mom is worried about him. We'll take him there and he’ll join his family.”
Another officer said, “Thank you for being so nice and taking care of the baby koala.
We'll give you an award for being so kind, caring, and brave. Also, you get a free trip to
the zoo where you can see many kangaroos and koalas who lost their families and are
being raised by kind caretakers.”
The baby koala took the jacket in his hand, looked at Jirra and said, “Here is your
Jacket. Thanks a lot.”
Jirra replied, “You can keep the jacket. In that orange jacket, you’ll never be lost. Others
can easily find you.”
Dad gave Jirra a pat on the back and said, “That’s a good idea. You have many jackets;
the baby koala doesn’t have any.”
The baby koala said, “Thank you. I'll always wear it and think of you.”
Then the baby koala left with the officers to join his koala family.
Jirra, Riana, Dural, and their dad said goodbye to the baby koala, got in the car and
went home. While eating their dinner, Dad said, “I'm very proud of you, Jirra, that you
took care of your sister and brother. Riana and Dural, I'm very proud of you for taking
care of the baby koala.”
Their mom said, “I'm so happy that the baby koala went to his family. Great job, kids! I'm
proud of you. Here is some pie I baked for you.”
Then they ate the pie, brushed their teeth, went to bed and had funny dreams about
the baby kangaroo and the baby koala.
5. The Elephant and the Frog
Be friendly with all, big or small.

On a sunny afternoon in Thailand, a herd of elephants was roaming around near a
big lake. There was a dad elephant, a mom elephant, an aunt, two young elephants and
a baby elephant called Boomba. The bigger elephants were eating the leaves from the
tall trees and the young elephants were eating grass.
The baby elephant Boomba had his milk, was full and was running around and being
playful. He came close to the lake and was chasing the birds.
The dad elephant said to him, “Boomba, please don’t chase the birds; They’re eating.”
Boomba, the baby elephant asked, “What are they eating, Daddy?”
The mom elephant said, “Maybe, the birds are eating fish and crabs.”
Boomba asked, “What’s a crab?”
The mom elephant said, “Well, it’s small and red. It has eight legs and two claws and it
crawls into little holes in the sand. But be careful, crabs can hurt you with their claws.”
Boomba said, “OK, I got it,” and ran to the lake, then back to his mother.
All the elephants went into the lake to take a bath. Boomba didn’t know how to swim, so
he stayed on the shore and watched the beautiful sunset. He saw how the sun slowly
turned orange and then red as it went down.
Boomba saw a small animal in the sand and said, “Daddy, look. I found a crab.”
The dad elephant came, looked and said, “Oh, that’s not a crab; that’s a frog. Frogs
don't hurt, they are nice. Careful! Don’t step on it,” and went back into the lake.
Boomba, the baby elephant, said to the frog, “Hi frog! What’s your name?”
The frog said, “I’m Fergie. Who are you?”
Boomba said, “I'm an elephant. My name is Boomba.”
Fergie, the frog asked, “Do you want to be my friend?”
Boomba asked, “You're so small, and I'm so much bigger. How can we be friends?”
The frog said, “I thought elephants are huge. You don’t look all that big.”
Boomba said, “I'm just a baby. When I grow up, I'll be as big as my daddy.”
Fergie said, “Well, it doesn’t matter how big you become, we can still be friends.”
Boomba agreed, “Sure. Let's be friends. But what do friends do?”
The frog said, “Well, friends talk to each other. They play together and help each other.”
Boomba said, “I can surely help you when you need help. But how can you help me?”
Fergie replied, “That we'll see. For now, let’s just talk and play. I have a question for
you. Why do you have two tails, one in the back and one in the front?”
Boomba laughed, “Ha ha. The one in the front is not a tail, it’s my trunk. It’s like a very
long nose. I can do many things with my trunk,” and pulled some grass out.
Fergie said, “Oh, I see. I wish I had a long nose like that. But I have a very long tongue.
I catch bugs with it like this,” and he stuck his tongue out quickly and caught a fly.
Boomba said, “That’s funny. Okay, you climb on my back and I'll run along the shore.”
Fergie the frog first jumped on Boomba’s trunk, and then jumped on his back, turned
around and said, “Let’s go, Boomba!”
Boomba started to run along the shore. The frog was bouncing up and down on
Boomba’s back and that tickled him. So, he laughed aloud and said, “Oh, this is fun!”
Suddenly, Fergie saw something on the sand and screamed, “Stop! Stop! Stop!”
Boomba asked, “Why? We're playing; we're having fun. Why stop?”
Fergie screamed, “Stop right away!”
Boomba was surprised, but stopped and asked, “Why did you ask me to stop?”
Fergie explained, “Look, there in front of you. That’s quicksand. Don’t go even one step
forward. Slowly, step back, OK?”
Boomba asked, “What’s quicksand?”
Fergie said, “It’s water under the sand and is dangerous. If you go there, you can sink
into it. If you fall in there you have to lie down and scream for help.”
Boomba got scared and started to step back very slowly. They heard the other
elephants running toward them and shouting, “Boomba, don’t go there. There is
quicksand. You may sink. Boomba, come back.”
The mom elephant came running and said, “I'm so glad you are safe.”
Boomba said, “My friend Fergie saved me. He told me to stop and I did not fall into the
quicksand.”
Mom asked, “Where is your friend? I do not see any Fergie.”
She was looking for another baby elephant somewhere around.
Boomba said, “My friend, Fergie, is sitting on my back.”
Mom looked closely and said, “Oh, that’s a frog. Hello Fergie. Thank you very much for
saving Boomba.“
Fergie replied, “You are welcome, ma'am. We are friends. Friends always help each
other.”
The mom elephant said, “That’s so nice of you. Is there anything we can do for you?”
Fergie thought for a moment and said, “Well, I'm alone. I don’t have any friends or
family. Can I come and stay with you? There, I'll have a fun friend, Boomba.”
The mom elephant said, “Sure, you can come with us and stay with us as long as you
wish. Also, there are many frogs where we live. You can find more friends there.”
Since then, Fergie the frog and Boomba the elephant became very good friends.
They talked to each other, played together, and helped each other. Boomba protected
Fergie from big birds and snakes, and Fergie ate the flies and mosquitoes that bothered
Boomba so that he could sleep peacefully every night.
“Big or small, love and respect all”

6. The Dinosaur Baby and Grandpa
Listen to your mother, eat your vegetables.

A hundred million years ago, there were big dinosaurs walking on the Earth. In one
dinosaur family, there was a father dinosaur called Argen, a mother dinosaur called
Tina, and a baby dinosaur whose name was Saurus. Argen and Tina were big, very big.
They ate leaves and fruit from the trees and they ate a lot. Sometimes, they ate all the
leaves of a tall tree.
Saurus was small; he couldn’t reach the tall trees. So, he ate flowers of little plants.
He didn’t eat much and was not growing fast. Tina, the mother dinosaur, pulled some
soft leaves from the tall trees and said, “Saurus, try these leaves. They are good for
you.”
Saurus put a little in his mouth, spat it out and said, “Nah, I don’t like it.”
Tina said, “Well, you have to chew it well. Then you’ll like the taste. See how Argen and
I are eating.”
Saurus said, “No, Mommy. I'll eat only the flowers.”
Argen looked at him and said, “Saurus, please listen to your mother and try some of
these leaves. Chew them well and swallow. Otherwise, you’ll not grow.”
Saurus looked at his daddy, put a few leaves in his mouth, chewed them and
swallowed. But he made a funny face as if he really didn’t want to eat these leaves.
Argen and Tina were quite worried about Saurus. Tina asked, “How will he grow big
like us if he doesn’t eat well?”
Argen said, “Yes, I'm also quite worried about him. If he stays so small, the other
dinosaurs are going to bully him. He is not going to be happy about that. I don’t know
what to do.”
Tina said, “I think, my father knows what to do. Let’s go and see him.”
“Good idea,” said Argen, “Your father, I mean Saurus’s grandpa knows a lot. Let’s go
and see him.”
Argen, Tina, and Saurus walked to where Saurus’ grandpa lived, way up on the hills.
Saurus was getting tired climbing up the hill. He was walking very slowly. Tina was
strong and was walking fast. Argen had to walk slowly behind Saurus so he was
protected. Finally, they reached the top of the hills and saw the big old Grandpa.
Grandpa was very happy to see them, especially to see his grandson Saurus. Saurus
sat next to Grandpa and talked to him.
Grandpa gently patted on his back and asked, “How old are you, Saurus?”
Saurus said, “I'm three years old. How old are you, Grandpa?
Grandpa laughed and said, “I'm one hundred years old.”
“One hundred years, wow!” said Saurus, “But, you are still very strong, aren’t you?”
“Oh, yes. I can still lift up a whole tree,” replied the grandpa dinosaur.
Argen said, “Sir, I have to ask you something. Saurus doesn’t eat much and doesn’t
like leaves. What can we do to make him eat like normal dinosaur kids? Can you tell
us?”
Tina made a sad face and said, “Yes, father. He doesn’t like to eat the green leaves and
vegetables that I give him. So, he is not growing much and is not very strong. Today, he
had difficulty climbing up the hill. I'm worried about him. Can you help us?”
Grandpa smiled and said, “Oh, don’t worry about Saurus. Leave him here with me for a
few days. He’ll be just fine. Saurus, would you like to stay here for a few days?”
Saurus jumped in joy, “Yeah, Yeah! I want to stay with Grandpa.”
Tina asked, “Are you sure you can stay here without Mommy and Daddy?”
Saurus said, “Yes, Mommy. I'm three years old. I can stay here without Mommy and
Daddy. I'll be with my grandpa,” and gave a big confident smile.
Argen and Tina looked at each other, smiled and said, “Okay, we'll come and get you in
a couple of days. Stay with grandpa and be a good boy.”
Then they waved bye and slowly walked down the hill.
Grandpa told Saurus, “You must be very hungry and thirsty too. Let's get something
to eat and drink.”
Saurus ate just a few flowers and drank fresh water from the fountain. He was tired, so
went to sleep.
The next morning, he got up and saw grandpa was picking some big round things from
the plants and putting them in a big pile. Then, he pulled some long green and orange
sticks from the ground and put them on the pile, and then some large leaves and put on
the pile, and finally some big white flowers and put them on the pile.
Saurus came to grandpa and asked, “Grandpa, what are you doing? Are you making
a mountain?”
Grandpa laughed and replied, “Oh, good morning, Saurus. This is my garden. I grow my
food here. I'm making breakfast for you and me. Let’s eat.”
Saurus asked, “What are these things, Grandpa?”
Grandpa replied, “Well, this is a melon, this is a cabbage, the dark green one here is
broccoli, these leaves are spinach, these long sticks are beans, these orange roots are
carrots and for you, these special flowers—cauliflowers.”
Saurus said, “OK, I'll just have the curly flowers.”
Grandpa laughed, “Ho Ho! Not curly flowers, say cauliflowers.”
Saurus tried some cauliflowers and said, “Hmm. I've never had flowers like this.
Interesting!”
He ate some more cauliflowers, and again some more and said, “I like these
cauliflowers. These are very good.”
Grandpa was happy to hear that.
Grandpa took a deep breath and said, “You know Saurus, when I was your age, I
was the smallest dinosaur kid. Everyone was bigger than me. I couldn’t play with the
other dinosaur kids, I could not run fast; I got tired when I walked too fast. All other kids
pushed me, teased me and made fun of me. I used to be very sad."
Saurus was listening seriously and said, "That happens to me too. So, how did you
become so big, Grandpa?"
Grandpa continued, "Then, my mother told me, ‘If you eat fresh vegetables, you’ll
become strong.’ So, I started to eat veggies. I ate veggies every day and I started to
walk faster.”
Grandpa put a bunch of spinach leaves in his mouth and started to chew.
Saurus asked, “And then? What happened, Grandpa?”
Grandpa said, “Eat some spinach and I’ll tell you.”
Saurus quickly put some spinach in his mouth and started to chew just like his grandpa.
Grandpa continued, “I started to get bigger and stronger. I grew strong muscles on my
legs and I could run very fast. Then one day, –”
Then he took some broccoli in his mouth and started to chew.
Saurus asked, “What happened one day? What happened, Grandpa?”
Grandpa said, “Eat some broccoli and I’ll tell you.”
So, Saurus put some broccoli in his mouth and started to munch.
Grandpa continued, “Then one day, all the young dinosaurs had a competition. They
had to run uphill to reach the top. As soon as the race started, all young dinosaurs were
going around the hill looking for a nice and easy path. I was so strong that I didn’t care
about the little bushes, grass, and rocks. I was pushing all the trees to the side and
running straight up the hill. Do you know what happened then?”
Grandpa took a mouthful of beans and carrots and started to munch.
Saurus asked, “What happened, Grandpa?”
Grandpa said, “Eat some carrots and beans and I’ll tell you.”
Saurus put carrots and beans in his mouth and started to much.
Grandpa continued, “I was the first to climb up the hill. All the big dinosaurs cheered.
They gave me a prize—this big vegetable garden. After that, all the young dinosaurs
became my friends. No one teased me or bullied me anymore.”
Grandpa gave a proud smile and continued, “Then, my mother said, ‘Remember, I told
you, eat your vegetables and you’ll become big and strong?’ I said, 'Yes, Mom, you
were right. Today I'm so big and strong because I listened to you and ate my veggies.”
Little Saurus thought for a while and asked, “So, if I eat veggies, will I become big and
strong like you, Grandpa?”
“Yes, my dear,” said Grandpa, “You’ll become the biggest and the strongest if you eat
veggies and play games.”
Saurus said, “Actually, I liked all the veggies you gave me. I'll ask my dad to make a
garden and grow veggies. I'll ask my mommy to give me veggies every day.”
Saurus stayed with his grandpa for a couple of days and ate all kinds of fruits and
veggies and walked a lot with his grandpa. Grandpa showed him all different kinds of
trees and plants, told their names and showed him how to grow veggies in the garden.
Saurus listened carefully and asked many questions. Grandpa was very happy to give
his knowledge to his grandson. Saurus started liking fruit and veggies and he could feel
that he is getting stronger and growing bigger.
After a few days, Argen and Tina came back. They were really surprised—there sat
Saurus next to a little mound of veggies and was munching away. They stood there for
a long time before Saurus noticed them.
He ran quickly to Tina and said, “Mommy, Mommy, I love—”
Tina asked, “I love what, veggies?”
Saurus laughed and said, “I love you, Mommy. And I like veggies. I'll eat veggies every
day and become the strongest.”
Then he folded his arm, flexed his muscles and showed them to his dad.
Argen said, “Wow, Saurus! You are looking strong already.”
The grandpa saw them and said aloud, “Oh, welcome Argen, Tina, Saurus. Welcome
to my vegetable garden.”
They ate fresh fruit and vegetables till the evening. They slept over at grandpa’s and the
next morning, walked down. Saurus continued to eat veggies and fruit every day.
In just one year, Saurus became one of the biggest and strongest dinosaurs ever.
Notes for Parents: Argentinosaurus was one of the biggest dinosaur species
weighing as much as 100 cars (100 thousand kilograms)
7. The Butterfly and the Honey Bee
You are beautiful, so is everyone else.

There was a little girl named Mira. She was a very happy girl. She played with her
doll, talked to the doll, and imagined that her doll talked to her too. She imagined many
stories and told them to the doll. Some of the stories were so good that she wanted to
write a storybook for all children. But she was very young and could not write. So, she
told the stories to her mother in the evening and the mother wrote them down to make a
storybook someday. Mira could draw pictures, and she drew beautiful pictures for her
storybook.
One day, Mira was playing in the garden with her doll and she saw a beautiful,
colorful flower on a plant. She came to pick it, but there was a butterfly sitting on it and
drinking the nectar from the flower. (Nectar is a sweet liquid inside a flower).
Mira told the doll, “If I pick the flower, then the butterfly will fly away. I better not touch
the flower.”
The doll replied, “Yes, you are right. We should not pick the flower. It looks more
beautiful on the plant and many butterflies and bees can drink from it.”
Mira said, “Yes, I like watching the flowers and the butterflies. But I do not like bees,
they sting.”
Suddenly she heard someone saying, “We do not sting. Unless, people try to hurt
us.”
Mira looked around, there was no one around. She looked at the doll and the doll said,
“I didn’t say that. Who was that?”
She looked at the flower again, and there was a little bee buzzing around the flower.
The bee spoke, “Hey butterfly, you are drinking too much nectar. Let me have some
too.”
The butterfly said, “OK. I left some nectar for you. You can have it now” and flapped her
beautiful wings and flew over to another flower. The bee sat on the flower and started
drinking nectar. The nectar was so good that the bee closed her eyes and enjoyed it.
Mira stepped back and asked, “Hey bee, I was just waiting for the beautiful butterfly to
finish her drink and was going to pick that flower. Now you just came over, didn’t let her
finish and started to drink.”
The bee took a long sip, turned to Mira, opened one eye and said, “Well, I need to drink
some nectar too. Otherwise, how can I make honey? If I don’t make honey, what’ll the
baby bees eat?”
Mira said, “Well, you can buy some honey from the shop and give it to them.”
The bee said, “I don’t have any money. But I can make honey.”
Mira laughed and said, “You are funny, you just made up a rhyme.”
The doll also laughed and said, “Yes. You should write a story about this funny bee.”
Mira said, “That’s a good idea. I’ll think of a story about the bee and the butterfly and tell
Mom to write it. But, I don’t know anything about them.”
The butterfly flew to Mira and said, “Oh, you want to write a story about me? I'll tell
you everything.”
Mira sat down with her doll under a tree and listened carefully to the butterfly that sat on
her shoulder and said, “Well, we fly from flower to flower drinking nectar. We also take
pollen (a fine yellow powder from inside the flowers) from one flower to the other. That’s
how fruits grow. If we did not do that, there would be no fruits. So, you see, we're not
only pretty, we also help to grow fruit for you.”
Mira said, “Really? I didn’t know that. Thank you. Do you want to tell me what else you
do?”
The butterfly replied, “Well, we bring happiness to people. When you saw me, you
became happy and you thought of kindness, did not pick the flower and enjoyed looking
at me, right? Making people think good and feel good is what I do.”
The doll said, “I do the same, I give happiness to Mira and Mira gives happiness to me.”
Mira was really impressed. She said, “Butterfly, tell me more about your life.”
The butterfly said, “Well, when I was very small, I lived inside an egg. Slowly I became a
caterpillar and came out. Then I ate a lot of leaves, grew bigger and hung from trees
inside a little cover. After some time, I grew wings, came out and became a butterfly.
And here I am, flying from flower to flower and spreading good things.”
Mira said, “Wow! That’s a beautiful story. I have to tell it to my mother.” The doll
clapped.
The bee came over buzzed around and said, “I have a story too. Do you want to hear
it?”
Mira said, “Alright. Tell us your story. But it better be a good story. Only then, I’ll tell it to
my mother”
The bee said, “So, when I was little, I was born in a huge castle with thousands of little
rooms. ”
The doll smiled and whispered, “She means a beehive.”
“Yeah, that’s what people call it. But for us, it’s a castle,” said the bee, “Now, please do
not interrupt, my head is buzzing from all the nectar I drank. So, as I was saying, I had a
few brothers, thousands of little sisters and one very big sister. My big sister was the
sweetest princess. She was so cute and chubby; all of us loved her dearly. Our aunts
used to bring honey and royal jelly (a mixture of honey and pollen) and feed us every
day. We always had enough to eat. Then we became bigger, had wings and we could
fly. We had to follow our aunts and fly to the gardens to find out which flowers have
sweet nectar, drink that and grow bigger. We also go from flower to flower, just like the
butterfly and carry pollen to help grow food for people and other animals.”
The bee took a deep breath and continued, “Anyway, our big sister ate a lot of honey
and royal jelly and became a big fat queen. After some time, she decided to build her
own castle. So, we all made a huge castle of wax for her. Do you know how hard we
had to work? We all worked twelve hours every day, morning till evening, to finish the
castle. She really liked it and we moved there. Now there are thousands of little baby
bees in the rooms. We must get up every morning, get nectar, make honey and feed
them.
The doll said, “You are so little and do so much work. That’s very impressive.”
“Thank you,” said the bee, “I just hope, some bear or people do not come and destroy
our castle and steal all the honey. That would be really mean. They should work hard
and make their own food. They should not take our honey. Right? Then they say, we
don’t look good and we sting them,” the bee sobbed.
The butterfly said, “You are right, bee. Many people pick flowers and spray chemicals
on the flowers, and we do not get good nectar. That’s not fair. They don’t know that we
help them make their food—fruits, vegetables, rice, corn nothing would grow without
us.”
Mira said, “I'm sorry, I didn’t know that you do so much for us and have such a beautiful
family. The grown-up people did not tell us your story. Now I'm happy that you both told
me your stories. I'll ask my mom to write it and send it to all children, so they understand
that butterflies and bees are beautiful, they help to produce our food and we should not
harm them.”
The butterfly said, “Thank you dear” and gave Mira a kiss on her cheek and flew away.
The bee said, “Nah, I better not kiss you.” She kissed the doll instead and flew away.
The doll said, “Hmm! It wasn’t that bad. The bee smells like honey.”
Mira got up to go home. A beautiful flower dropped from the tree. Mira picked it up
and said, “Dolly, remember, we should not pick flowers. We should use the ones that
have already fallen on the ground.”
They returned home. Mira gave the flower to her mom and said, “I brought this for you,
Mommy.”
Mom said, “Thank you, Honey,” and put the flower in a vase.
Mira smiled and said, “I have to tell you the story of the butterflies and the bees.”
Mom grabbed a pen and a notebook and wrote the story Mira narrated.
Mom said, “That’s really amazing, Mira! How did you learn so much about butterflies
and bees?”
Mira smiled and said, “From them,” and she looked at the doll. The doll was already
sleeping, snoring and dreaming, perhaps about the bees and the butterflies.
Without the bees and the butterflies, the trees and plants cannot grow any food
for us. We should protect bees and butterflies and not use chemicals that destroy
them.
8. The Panda Bear and Her Baby, Pandu
Brush your teeth twice a day.

In the forests of China, there lived a panda bear family. The daddy panda was very
big. He was like a giant and so, everyone called him the Giant Panda. He had thick
white fur with black marks around his eyes and on his shoulder and legs. He walked
around all morning to find where the good food was, and then called the rest of the
family to come and eat it.
Do you know what the panda bears eat? They eat a lot of soft, juicy bamboo leaves.
The mother panda bear took care of the young panda bears. In the panda family,
there was a young boy panda bear named Chang and a small baby girl named Pandu.
Daddy Panda started to take Chang with him for walks and teach him which bamboos
had soft green leaves and which ones were hard to chew. Chang was learning to climb
the trees and eat soft, small leaves.
Daddy Panda told Chang, “Listen carefully. When you climb up a tree, always make
sure you are holding a branch with one hand; never open both hands at the same time.”
Chang stood under a bamboo tree and followed Daddy’s instructions.
Daddy said, “Hold a strong branch above your head with both hands. Put your left foot
on a lower branch, then push up and put the right foot on that branch. Then push up
and stand on your feet. Good! If you continue like that, you can climb up a tree easily.”
Chang tried hard to climb up the tree. Every time he was about to fall, Daddy caught
him and said, “Remember, never open both hands at the same time.”
One day, Chang climbed up very high on a bamboo tree and was scared to come down.
He started crying, “Daddy! I'm stuck. I can’t come down.”
Daddy was too heavy to climb up that high to help him. So, he said aloud, “Don’t be
afraid, Chang. I'll help you. You do what I say, and you can come down safely.”
He continued, “Hold the bamboo with both hands, slowly put your left foot down and find
a branch. Yes, right there. Now, bring your left hand down and catch the branch where
your right foot is. Yes, just like that. Next, the right hand down, catch the branch tightly,
now the right foot down on the lower branch. Great job, Chang!”
This way, he guided Chang step-by-step all the way down to the ground. Chang ran to
Daddy, gave him a big hug and said, “Thank you, Daddy.”
Chang practiced every day and now he could climb up the bamboo trees with ease.
Pandu the baby panda was very small, so the panda mother carried her around.
Pandu drank mother’s milk and always hung on to the mother panda. She watched how
Daddy and Chang climbed up the bamboo trees and ate leaves. Pandu could not talk,
but she pointed at Daddy and Chang up on the tree and made funny noises.
Mommy Panda said, “Yes, yes. You drink your milk, become strong, and then you too
can go up the tree.”
Pandu was very mischievous. She loved to break and tear things. If Mommy gave her
some leaves, she would tear them apart in a second. If Mommy gave her a bamboo
stick, she would hit it till it broke. Once, the daddy panda made a bamboo flute for her.
Pandu played the flute for a while and broke it right away. She was very mischievous.
Often, the daddy panda picked a lot of soft bamboo leaves and brought them for the
mommy panda. Mommy ate slowly but a lot. Mommy was very happy when Daddy
brought soft leaves for her; she knew Daddy loved her very much.
At night, the panda bear family lay on the ground and watched the stars and slowly fell
asleep. In the afternoons, they took a nap too. Sometimes, Chang climbed up a tree
and slept on a branch of the tree with his hands and legs hanging down and dangling;
he looked lazy and funny. When he snored, Pandu looked at him and giggled.
One day, when Chang was going to sleep, Mommy said, “Chang, come here first.”
Chang came and asked, “What, Mommy?”
Mommy said, “Open your mouth. Your teeth are very dirty and smelly.”
She took a little bamboo twig, chewed the end to make a toothbrush and started to
brush Chang’s teeth.
Chang said, “I don’t need that. My teeth are just fine.”
Mommy said, “Listen. You must brush your teeth every day. Haven’t you seen how your
daddy and I brush our teeth with bamboo twigs every day? You have to do that too, or
else, all your teeth would fall off.”
Chang looked at his mom and said, “but I brushed my teeth already.”
Mommy was annoyed, “Chang! I know you did not brush your teeth. You should never
lie to me. Alright, let me help you to brush your teeth. Then you’ll have beautiful teeth.”
Chang ran away, laughed, climbed up the tree, and slept on his favorite branch.
Every time Mommy wanted to brush his teeth, Chang ran away and climbed up a tree.
Mommy was unhappy and said to Daddy Panda, “Why don’t you help him with brushing
his teeth? I can’t do everything alone.”
Daddy Panda said, “Chang, do what your mommy says. Brush your teeth every day,”
and he walked off to meet other panda friends in the forest.
One day, Chang was eating bamboo leaves. There was a small, hard piece of wood
hidden in the leaves. He bit on it and screamed, “Ouch! It hurts!”
Mommy said, “Come down here and show me where it hurts. Chang was crying. He
slowly came down and said, “It hurts in my mouth. I bit into something hard.”
Mommy put Pandu down on the ground and said to Chang, “Open your mouth,” and
she looked carefully. Mommy seemed worried, she said, “Yes, you have lots of bad little
bugs in your teeth. It looks really dirty. Let me clean it gently.”
She tried to clean his teeth with a soft bamboo twig.
Chang screamed, “No, it hurts!”
Mommy said, “Well, it'll hurt a little now, but it'll get better tomorrow.”
Mommy carefully cleaned Chang’s teeth. Chang was crying, “Oh, it hurts, Mommy!”
Mommy said, “OK, now we're finished. We'll clean your teeth tomorrow again.”
Chang cried, “No, I don’t want to do this again. It hurts!”
Little Pandu was playing, pulling out dandelions from the ground, picking small sticks
and breaking them and watching how Mommy was cleaning Chang’s teeth.
Suddenly, she said in a baby’s voice, “Chang, you should do what Mommy says. Brush
your teeth every day,” she sounded just like her daddy.
Mommy was surprised, “Did you hear that? Pandu can talk!”
Chang was surprised too, and stopped crying. He laughed, ran to his daddy and said,
“Daddy, Daddy, Pandu can talk!”
Daddy came running and asked, “What did she say? Did she say, Daddy or Mommy?”
Pandu looked at Daddy and said, “You must brush your teeth every day. Or else, your
teeth will fall off!” she sounded just like Mommy and she giggled.
All of them laughed with joy that Pandu could talk like Mommy and Daddy.
Mommy said, “When Pandu grows up, she would be the best dentist in the forest.”
Chang was shocked. He opened his eyes very wide and spoke aloud, “What? Pandu
would be a dentist? That’s really scary. She pulls out and breaks everything. I better go
and brush my teeth.”
All pandas heard that Pandu would become a dentist and they became very nervous;
they knew what Pandu does with everything she gets her hands on–breaks it.
Since that day, all the pandas brushed their teeth with bamboo twigs every morning and
evening. All of them had clean, white teeth and beautiful smiles and never had a
toothache.
Brushing teeth twice a day keeps you healthy.

9. Happy the Whale and Dolly the Dolphin
Help the children if they are in trouble.

A mother whale and her baby were swimming in the Atlantic Ocean near the shores
of Norway. It was a beautiful day, blue sky and a few patches of white clouds here and
there. They were swimming and playing for hours. The baby whale could swim very
fast. He swam close to the shore to catch some shrimps, turned around and circled his
mother, drank some milk and swam toward the shore again.
Suddenly, there was a big wave that swept the baby whale to the shore and he got
stuck on the sandy shore.
The people on the shore screamed, “Oh no! The baby whale is stuck in the sand.”
The mother whale quickly swam toward the shore, but the water there was too shallow
for her to get to the baby whale. The baby whale was flapping his flippers and the flukes
(tail) trying to crawl back into the water. He was sliding a little on the wet sand, but not
enough to get back into the water.
He was crying, “Mommy, I'm stuck here. Help me!”
The mother whale was trying to come close, hoping for another big wave to come, but
the waves were too small to reach the baby whale. The people on the shore called the
emergency telephone number for help; the officers said they would come soon. But the
baby was crying aloud and trying to get back in the ocean.
Far away in the ocean, there was a group of dolphins playing with their babies and
making noises. They heard the cry of the baby whale.
One baby dolphin said, “Did you hear that, Mommy? A baby is crying.”
All the dolphins swam toward the shore and saw the baby whale stranded on the sand.
One big old dolphin said, “Well, the mother whale is here. She can surely help her
baby.”
Another dolphin said, “No, she can’t. The water here is not deep enough for such a big
whale to go close to the shore. She too will get stuck.”
The baby dolphin said, “Come on, help that baby.”
Her dad was a brave dolphin. He said, “Alright. You wait here with Mommy. Don’t go
close to the shore. I'll go and get that baby whale out of the sand back into the water.”
The mommy dolphin said, “Be careful!”
The daddy dolphin started moving closer to the baby whale.

The mommy whale looked at him and cried, “Sir, please help me get my baby back in
the water. I can’t reach him.”
The daddy dolphin got on a wave as if he was surfing and went all the way to the baby
whale. He gently grabbed the baby whale’s tail (flukes) with his mouth. He tried to pull
the baby whale back into the water. He pulled and pulled, but the chubby baby whale
was heavy. Every time a wave came, the daddy dolphin pulled with all his strength.
Seeing the daddy dolphin trying so hard, the baby dolphin said to another adult dolphin,
“Come on uncle. Why are you just watching? Go and help Daddy!”
The adult dolphin said, “I don’t know how to help him.”
The baby dolphin said, “Simple. Go and pull Daddy when he pulls the baby whale.”
All the dolphins said, “That’s a great idea! Thank you, baby.”
Two adult dolphins came to help. One came close to the daddy dolphin and grabbed his
tail and pulled him, another pulled the second dolphin’s tail. They were pulling together
every time the wave came. Imagine three dolphins in a chain trying to pull a baby whale.
The children on the shore were encouraging, “Pull, pull, pull, pull!”
Some children on the beach came to push the baby whale back into the water. Yes, the
baby whale was moving down slowly toward the water.
The mother whale shouted, “Hang in there, baby. I'm coming too,” and the mother
whale grabbed the tail of the third dolphin and pulled hard exactly when all the dolphins
pulled. “Splash!” The baby whale fell on the dolphins and the dolphins fell on the
mommy whale; all were in the water. All of them got up and laughed with joy. The baby
whale was very happy to be back with his mother again.
All the people on the shore cheered. “Wow! The dolphins saved the baby whale!”
The coastguards and the officers came to help, but the job was already done.
One officer said, “I’ve never seen anything like this in my entire life. I have seen
dolphins helping children, but helping such a big baby whale? That takes some guts.
Good dolphins, smart dolphins!”
The baby whale was a little shaken; he was hiding under the mother whale and
drinking mother’s milk. The mother whale was in tears with joy and gratitude.
She said, “Thank you very much, my friends. You guys are so nice and kind. You saved
my baby. How can I ever repay you?”
The daddy dolphin said, “That’s alright, ma'am. Just check your baby’s tail. I hope I
didn’t hurt him with my teeth.”
The baby whale came closer and said, “No, I'm fine. Thank you, sir.”
The daddy dolphin patted on his head and said, “You are a good boy. Stay close to your
mommy and away from the shore, okay?”
Mommy dolphin proudly said to the mother whale, “Oh, he likes saving babies. Once,
he saved many baby turtles from a big shark.”
The father dolphin smiled; maybe he liked being a hero and the appreciation from
Mommy dolphin.
The baby dolphin was looking at the baby whale and she asked her mother, “That’s a
very big baby. He is almost as big as my daddy. Why does he still drink mother’s milk?”
Everyone burst into laughter.
The mother dolphin explained, “Well, whale babies are big in size. But They’re still
babies; they need to drink mother’s milk to grow.”
They all started swimming to the west deeper into the ocean. Mommy whale blew out
a lot of water through her nose like a fountain.
The baby whale swam to the baby dolphin and asked, “What do you drink?”
Baby dolphin replied, “Well, I drink milk and water. But I’ve just started eating fish. What
do you eat?”
The baby whale replied, “I’ve just started eating some shrimps and plankton.”
The baby dolphin asked, “Plankton? What’s that?”
The baby whale replied, “Plankton is like tiny tiny fish, but lots of them. But when I grow
up, I'll eat big fish too. By the way, what’s your name?”
The baby dolphin said, “I’m Dolly the dolphin. What’s your name?”
The baby whale replied, “I’m Happy. Well, I'm happy that I'm in the water again. But I
meant my name is Happy.”
Dolly said, “I'm happy to meet you, Happy,” and both laughed.
The mother dolphin and the mother whale were talking to each other while swimming.
They became friends. But it was time to go in different directions—the whales had to go
north where the daddy whale was waiting for them and the dolphins to the south to
where they lived.
There was a beautiful sunset and the ocean was calm. The orange sunlight was
shining on the backs of the dolphins and the whales. It was a wonderful sight to see
these beautiful ocean animals, smiling and talking as if they have been friends forever.
The whale and dolphins shook their flippers and bid goodbye.
Happy said, “It was nice talking to you, Dolly. Hope to see you again. Bye for now.”
Dolly jumped out of the water, made a flip in the air and said, “Bye-bye Happy whale.
Sleep well, sleep well.”
There have been many cases when dolphins have helped children who fell into
the ocean. We should also help children, dolphins, and whales.
10. The Polar Bear and the Snow Fox
Learn to share.
Near the North Pole, in Russia, there lived a mother polar bear. She had a cute baby
polar bear named Poloo. The mother and the baby Poloo swam in the ocean. Mommy
caught fish and swam back to the shore. They ate fish and walked to a dry place to
sleep. They did that every day and the life was great.
One day, the mother polar bear said, “My dear Poloo, you have to eat more. The
Winter is coming soon, you have to eat more and become big.”
Poloo said, “Why do I have to eat more, Mommy?”
The mother polar bear replied, “In the Winter, there is going to be a lot of snow and ice.
It’s going to be very cold and windy. We can’t go and catch fish. So, eat a lot now and
we both can sleep in the winter.”
Poloo asked, “If you show me how to catch fish, I’ll catch one every day and eat a whole
fish by myself.”
Mommy said, “That’s a good idea. Let’s go to the ocean and I’ll teach you how to catch
fish.”
They went into the ocean. Mommy said, “Be quiet and look under the water. Keep
looking. When you see a fish, jump and grab with your teeth. Keep the hands ready to
grab the fish if it tries to get away.”
Poloo became totally quiet and waited for a fish to come. A fish came close and Poloo
jumped at it with mouth wide open. He hit the fish with his nose, but the fish got away.
Poloo said, “Oh, I almost had it. I hit it with my nose, but it got away.”
Mommy laughed and said, “No problem. Try again. This time bite it with your teeth and
not hit with the nose.”
Poloo waited for another fish. He saw a big fish coming towards him. Poloo opened the
mouth wide and was ready to jump at it. But the fish turned around and disappeared.
Poloo waited again.
It was getting boring to just wait and wait. Poloo said, “Mommy, I'm bored. Why don’t
you catch the fish and I'll just eat?”
Mommy said, “Listen, it takes time. You’ve got to be patient and keep trying every time
you see a fish. You have to catch a fish today; you are big enough for that.”
Poloo said, “OK, Mommy” and waited and waited.
Suddenly, he saw a fish coming towards his feet. Poloo dived quickly and tried to bite
the fish. The fish was big and slippery; it was slipping away. Poloo grabbed it with his
claws and put it in his mouth and bit it hard. Then, with the big fish in his mouth, he
swam to the shore and dropped it on the ground.
He said, “Mommy, Mommy, look. I caught a huge fish.”
The mother polar bear came and said, “Bravo Poloo! You did it! Now, eat it.”
Poloo tore the fish in two pieces and said, “This is for you, Mommy.”
Mommy hugged him and said, “Thank you Poloo. It’s so nice of you to give me your
fish.”
Poloo said, “Of course, Mommy. You always give me fish when you catch one. So, I
have to share with you when I catch one, right?”
The mother polar bear smiled and said, “That’s right. We should always share food.”
They ate a lot of fish, and then went on a big rock to dry in the sun and sleep.
Every day, Poloo and her mother went into the ocean, caught fish and ate. They
were becoming chubby and getting ready for winter. One night it snowed a lot. It was
looking very beautiful all around. White snow covered all the rocks and the beach. Poloo
was so happy to see the snow. He remembered, last year when there was snow, he
was just a small baby and he could drink only mother’s milk. Now he is bigger and can
already catch fish. Poloo rolled in the snow, threw snowballs at Mommy from behind the
trees, and ran here and there. He was white just like the snow and it was difficult to see
him.
The mother bear called, “Poloo, where are you? Come with me. Walk carefully
behind me and don’t slip. Let’s go, catch some fish and eat as much as we can. Soon
we won't find any more fish. The winter will set in.”
They walked to the shore and jumped into the ocean. They caught two big fish, dragged
them to the shore and started to eat them slowly. The fish was fat and tasty.
Suddenly, Poloo saw at a distance, a little white snow fox was looking at them. The
snow fox looked thin, weak and small. She had tears in her eyes and looked scared.
Maybe, she was a baby too.
Poloo looked at his mommy and said, “Mommy, I think that snow fox is hungry. She
wants some food. Can I ask her to eat some fish with us?”
The mother looked at the fox and looked at Poloo, smiled and said, “Sure!”
Poloo called out loud, “Hey little Snow Fox, do you want to eat some fish with us?”
The snow fox was surprised. She didn’t expect that these big polar bears would invite
her to share fish with them. Her eyes lit up, she wagged her tail, slowly came close and
said, “Thank you very much polar bear. I haven’t eaten anything in two days. Can I
please have some fish?”
Poloo said, “Sure, here you go,” and gave her half of his fish.
The little snow fox was very hungry. She ate and ate and chewed on the fish bones
and finished it all. Her belly was full and she burped. She said, “Sorry!”
Poloo laughed and said, “That’s okay. Sometimes when I’m full, I have to burp too.”
The mother Polar bear asked, “What’s your name?”
The snow fox replied, “I’m Cutie. I'm 2 years old. I live far away in the forest. A couple of
days ago, I came here with my family, and I fell asleep in a foxhole. They all went away
somewhere for hunting and forgot about me. Now I'm alone here. I have to wait till they
come back looking for me.”
The mother Polar bear said, “I'm Mama and this is my son Poloo. Don’t worry, Cutie.
You can stay with us till your family comes back and finds you.”
Poloo said, “Yes, that would be fun. You and I can play in the snow. I'll catch fish and
we both can eat.”
Cutie the snow fox said, “Thank you very much. I really appreciate it.”
They walked to the nearest cave and slept there. Poloo and Mama took care of the
snow fox, fed her fish every day and soon Cutie became healthy and strong. Poloo and
Cutie played every day. Cutie loved to watch Poloo swim in the ocean and catch fish.
Once in a while she jumped in the water too, but came out quickly.
One night, it snowed again. Mama said, “Now it has become very cold. Poloo and I'll
be hibernating from tomorrow; do you want to join us?”
Cutie asked, “What’s hibernating?”
Mama said, “Well, in the winter, when it gets very cold, we go into a cave and sleep for
months.”
Cutie said, “Oh, I see. But, I'm a snow fox. I don't hibernate. I can dig a foxhole in the
snow and stay there till my family returns.”
Poloo said, “OK. Let me catch some fish for you. You can keep them in the foxhole and
eat whenever you are hungry.”
Poloo went into the ocean, caught a lot of fish and gave it to Cutie.
Cutie gave him a hug and said, “Thank you, Poloo.”
They dragged the fish near the Cave. Cutie dug a hole in the snow and dropped the fish
in there.
Mama said, “OK Cutie. You take care. We're going to hibernate for months.”
Cutie said, “Happy hibernation, Mama. Happy hibernation, Poloo.”
Mama and Poloo went into the cave to hibernate and Cutie crawled into her foxhole.
A few days later the family of the snow foxes returned. Cutie heard them and ran to
them.
Cutie’s mother licked her face, and said, “Oh, I missed you so much, my baby. Are you
alright?”
Cutie said, “Yes, Mommy. The polar bears took care of me.”
Cutie’s father said, “Polar bears! Are you sure? I thought they did not like us.”
Cutie said, “Shh! They are hibernating in that cave. Don’t wake them up. Yes, at first, I
was afraid of them too, because they are so big. But then, Poloo, the baby polar bear,
gave me his food and we became friends. Mama polar bear likes me too.”
The grown-up (adult) foxes said, “Oh, nice polar bears! We're impressed.”
Cutie and her family headed toward the forest. Every year before winter, Cutie
returned to see Mama and Poloo. They played together and shared food. When the
polar bears went to hibernate, she waved and wished them, “Happy hibernation, Mama
and Poloo.” The polar bears said, “Good night, Cutie.”
We should always share our food with children who are hungry.
11. The Hard-Working Ants Build a Smart City
Work hard together and you can create great things.

In the rainforests of Amazon in South America, there was a large colony of ants.
There were many thousand worker ants, baby ants, ant eggs, and a queen ant in that
ant colony. One day, the queen ant called a meeting of all ants and said, “We're going
to make a good city for ourselves where everybody is smart and hard-working.”
All the ants cheered, “That’s a great idea, Queen! We are with you! Long live our
queen!”
The queen said, “We're going to choose a tree with a hole, and inside the tree and
under the roots, we're going to build a smart city.”
One young ant named Minoo said, “I know a tree with a hole, I saw it once.”
An adult ant said, “Be quiet and listen to the queen.”
The queen looked at the little ant, recognized her and said, “Let Minoo speak. I think
she is very smart. Come near, my dear, and say what you have to say.”
Ants moved and made way for the little ant, Minoo. The little ant came close to the
queen and said, “Well, when I was going through the rainforest with the other ants, I
saw a big tree. That tree has a hole from which a very nice smell was coming. I think,
there is good food inside that tree.”
“Oh, really?” said the queen, and then turned to the crowd and asked, “Alright, who is
the fastest ant here? Can you please go and check out that tree?”
One hundred ants came forward and said, “I'm the fastest! I'm the fastest!”
Queen said, “OK, OK. All of you will be the scout ants. Now, go around and find that
tree. Then come back and tell us what’s inside the hole in the tree.”
The scout ants bowed to the queen and ran around in the forest looking for that tree.
After some time one scout ant returned panting and said, “Yes, I found that tree.
Minoo is right; there is a sweet smell coming from the hole in the tree. I went in and saw
there was a big place inside. And on the walls, nice smelling sweet juice was dripping
like the fountains. I brought a drop for you, Queen. Here it is.”
The queen smelled the drop, took a little on her finger (the front leg) and licked it. All
ants were waiting to hear what the queen says.
She said, “Yum-yum! It tastes so sweet.”
She looked at the little ant and asked, “Minoo, do you want to try some?”
Minoo also licked it and said, “Yummy. This is the best food I’ve ever tasted.”
The queen said, “So, you are right. You found a good place to build our city. You are
really smart, Minoo.”
Then, the queen announced, “From today, Minoo will be our Information Minister.”
All the ants cheered, “Congratulations, Minister Minoo!”
The queen ant continued, “We are going to build a smart city for all of us inside that
sweet tree and under its roots.”
All the ants cheered, “Yay! Let’s go!” and they rushed pushing each other.
The queen ant shouted, “Wait! You cannot just rush like that. To build a smart city, you
must be disciplined, plan together, work together, know your job, and do things right the
first time. To build a smart city, first you must be smart. Now, just sit down and listen.”
All ants turned back and sat down.
The queen ant turned to Minoo and asked, “Minoo, what do you think? How can we
build this smart city?”
Minoo got up, looked at the thousands of ants, cleared her throat and spoke aloud,
“Ladies and gentlemen. As our dear queen said, we have to plan and work in a
disciplined and organized manner to finish building this smart city before moving there.”
All ants became totally quiet. They were surprised that such a little ant could speak so
well.
Minoo continued, “First, we need a strong security. Who are the strongest among you?
Please come forward.”
Twenty big and strong ants came forward. Minoo said, “Good. You are going to be the
security guards. You must guard that hole and make sure, only we can get in and no
one else. Now, you may go and guard the hole in the tree.”
The guard ants said, “but, we don’t know where that tree is.”
Minoo replied, “You have to think! The scout ants must have left a trail to that tree. You
have to simply follow that trail.”
The guard ants agreed, “Yes, we'll follow that trail to the tree and guard the hole.”
They saluted the queen and Minister Minoo and left to do their duty.
Minoo said, “Now, Scout number one. You are very smart. Your job is to train all the
scout ants to find food for us. The sweet food in the tree will not last forever. We must
find other sources of food. When you find it, you have to tell the worker ants to carry the
food to our city.”
The queen encouraged the young minister, “I'm very impressed with your plan, Minoo.
Please carry on.”
All the adult ants also agreed, “Yes, please carry on, Minister Minoo.”
Young Minoo was very happy that the queen and the other ants were appreciating her
ideas of a new and organized society to build the smart city.
So, she spoke even louder, “Now, the worker ants need to do their work in a
coordinated and organized manner. For that, we need to make teams of workers with
team leaders. All team leaders will get the information about the food and tell their
teams how to get it. It’s their responsibility to see that their teams walk in a file and do
their work efficiently. No pushing or hitting each other or overtaking. Safety first!
Understood?”
All worker ants said, “Yes, Minister.”
Minoo continued, “So, we need a thousand worker ants. Those who work smart
would become the team leaders.”
A thousand ants volunteered to become the worker ants to carry and store food for all.
Minoo was very happy to come up with such great ideas so quickly. She imagined what
can go wrong and how to solve any problems that may come up.
She said, “If someone is carrying a lot of food, one or two worker ants should help. This
is not a competition; this is building a civilized society and a smart city for the benefit of
the entire ant colony.”
All the ants got up, clapped and cheered, “Great, minister!”
Minoo said, “Wait! I'm not finished yet. We must remember that the children are the
most important part of our society. We need nurses to take care of them. The nurses
will take care of the injured ants and the old ants as well. We need volunteers to
become nurses.”
A hundred ants raised their hands to become nurses. The old ants were very happy with
this decision.
Minoo continued, “There would be troubles: rain, flood, attacks by the armadillos and
giant anteaters. We must defend ourselves. If we are strong and united, we can win.
Some years, there may be a shortage of food and water. So, we must learn how to grow
our food. We can grow mushrooms and we can learn to preserve food and water for the
bad times. We need one hundred very smart scientists to think about what problems we
may face, find solutions and teach all of us about it.”
Many older and experienced ants became the scientists and teachers.
They said, “We're happy to help the younger generation learn from our experiences. We
do not feel useless anymore. Thank you, Minister Minoo.”
A friend of Minoo, another young ant, asked, “If so many of us live in a city, it’ll get
really dirty. Who’ll clean the city?”
Minoo smiled and replied, “That’s a very good question. Now, you tell me who’ll make
the city dirty.”
The ant replied, “I guess, all ants will make the city dirty.”
Minoo said, “Right! So, all of us are responsible for cleaning the city.”
Minoo took a deep breath and continued, “As I said earlier, all of you have to do your
work sincerely. You are not doing it for yourself, but for the entire community and for the
future generations of ants. Finally, always remember, that tree is our home. If the tree is
so kind to us to give us shelter and sweet food, we must respect the tree and protect
her. Now, do you all take an oath to do your best to build a great ant society?”
All ants including the queen stood up, raised the right hand and said, “We the ants take
an oath to build a great ant society.”
Thus, a new ant society was formed, everyone did their job, helped each other and
everyone worked hard and smart. Soon the smart city was built inside the tree and
under the ground. All the ants of the colony moved there and the ant society has been
living there happily for a hundred million years.
Good to know: Ants are nearly as old as the dinosaurs. They live in large colonies and
have a smart social structure. The reasons they have survived and flourished over 100
million years are their organized and united society, clearly assigned tasks and hard
work towards the benefit of the entire colony and the environment where they live.
We, the modern human beings, are only 200 thousand years old. We can learn many
things from the ants such as taking care of the environment and preserving our natural
resources, so that we can also live happily for a hundred million years or longer.
Those who work hard and smart together with others can create great things.
12. Eagles, the Rulers of the Sky
Be brave and you can learn to fly.
In the mountains of Montana, there lived two large eagles—a male eagle called
Whitehead and a female eagle called Grace. They made a nest in a safe place at the
crack of a big red rock high up in the mountains. One day, Grace laid three eggs and
gently sat on them to keep the eggs warm. The eagles never left the eggs unattended.
When Grace was hungry, she flew far away in search of food and Whitehead gently sat
on the eggs. When Grace returned, she sat on the eggs and Whitehead flew down into
the valley to find food.
A month passed. Both Whitehead and Grace were waiting for the eggs to hatch and
the baby eagle chicks to come out. One day, one of the eggs started to shake a little.
Grace was quite excited and said, “Whitehead, look! This egg is shaking. I think the
baby is ready to come out.”
They saw a crack in the egg. Grace gently picked on the egg shell and made a hole and
Wow! There was an eagle chick. Whitehead opened the egg shell very carefully and the
baby eagle came out. She was a pink little bald baby, but looked very cute.
Then the second egg started to shake and cracked. Whitehead gently opened the egg
and again, Wow! Another baby girl eagle came out.
Then the third egg cracked. Whitehead gently opened the shell and a very small boy
baby eagle came out. Now, the eagle family looked full - three pink little eagle chicks in
the nest with their eyes closed and beaks open, crying and making noises.
Whitehead was so happy; he hugged Grace and said, “Congratulations! Now you are
the mommy of three baby eagles.”
Grace smiled and said, “Thank you and congratulations to you too. You are the daddy
of three baby eagles.”
Whitehead felt very proud. He said, “Thanks. The babies are surely very hungry. You
wait here and I'll quickly get some food,” and he flew down to the valley to get some
food.
Within five minutes, he was back with a fish. The chicks were very hungry; they opened
their mouths and cried. Grace and Whitehead quickly took some fish in their mouths,
chewed and fed the chicks. The chicks ate as much as they could, and then fell asleep.
Grace and Whitehead kept them warm under their wings.
Every day, Whitehead brought food for the babies also for Grace. The chicks started to
grow bigger and bigger. They could open their eyes and see their mommy, daddy, the
sky, the mountains and the valley.
Grace, the mommy eagle, told the baby eagles, “You have to stay in the nest till you
grow up, OK? Be careful not to fall off the nest. Daddy and I'll take care of you.”
The eagle chicks said, “OK, Mommy. But how long do we have to stay here? When can
we go with you and Daddy?”
Grace replied, “First, you have to eat whatever we give. You’ll grow feathers like ours.
You have to exercise, get strong, and then we'll take you with us.”
After about two weeks, all chicks started to grow beautiful black feathers. The boy baby
was a little smaller than the others and had some white feathers on the head, just like
their dad Whitehead. They used to clean their feathers every day and clean the nest
too.
One day, Whitehead returned with a lot of food.

Grace waved her wings and told the young ones, “Look, my babies. First, you have to
wave your wings like this. That’ll make your wings very strong. You need strong wings
to fly.”
All the baby eagles started to wave their wings like their mommy – first slowly, and then
faster and faster. It was a lot of fun but soon they got tired and hungry.
Mommy said, “OK, you can stop your exercise now and eat your lunch. Tomorrow, we'll
wave our wings again.”
Whitehead showed the babies how to eat on their own. After lunch, with a full tummy
(stomach) all three took a long nap.
The next day, again, they waved their wings in the air. It felt great, and it was easier
than the day before. So, they waved and flapped their wings for a long time. They ate a
lot and took a nap. In the afternoon, they flapped their wings again. After about a week
all three became very strong. When they flapped their wings, one could hear the sound
whoosh, whoosh, whoosh, whoosh and feel the air move.
Whitehead told them, “It looks like you are getting strong. Keep practicing. But hold on
to the nest very tight, not that you fly away.”
Another week passed and the eagle babies grew even bigger and stronger. They were
becoming impatient; they really wanted to fly with their parents.
On a beautiful sunny day, Grace talked to Whitehead outside the nest and then came
to the three babies and said, “Listen, you three. Today, we'll fly together into the valley
and come back.”
The babies cheered, “Hooray! We'll fly. We'll fly!”
Grace said, “Sure you will, but listen carefully. First, Daddy will jump off the nest and
open his wings, and you have to jump off one-by-one, just like him. Don’t be scared and
don’t close your eyes. As soon as you jump off, spread your wings and follow Daddy.
Do you understand?”
The babies said, “Yes, Mommy.”
Whitehead came back after checking if everything was fine in the valley and there was
not too much wind.
The babies were excited, at the same time, a little nervous too. It was a big day in
their lives.
The boy baby asked, “Mommy, if I get scared, what should I do?”
Whitehead replied, “Let me explain that to you. Those who are afraid, close their eyes
and fold their wings, can never fly; they fall down to the ground. Those who are brave,
spread their wings, learn to fly and rule the sky. So, you cannot be scared. Just tell
yourself, ‘I'm not scared, I'm not scared, I’m brave, I’m brave.’ Then, open your wings a
little, jump off after me and spread your wings all the way. Okay?”
All three said, “Yes, Daddy.”
“Then, let’s go. Just follow me,” said Whitehead as he opened his wings just a little,
jumped off the nest, opened his wings all the way and flew like the king of the sky.
Grace told one baby, “Now, you jump and spread the wings just like Daddy did.”
The baby eagle jumped and spread her wings and Wow! There she was, just behind her
daddy flying fast. She screamed in excitement, “Yippee!”
Grace told the next baby eagle, “Jump, spread the wings and follow Daddy.”
She jumped, spread her wings and there she was, flying just behind her daddy and her
sister. “Hooray!” she screamed in joy and thrill.
The third baby eagle with white feathers on the head was a bit scared.
Grace said, “Listen. Don’t be afraid; see how those two babies are flying. You can do
that too. Just jump and spread your wings and everything will be fine.”
He jumped and Grace jumped after him. The baby was falling and grace said, “Open
your wings!”
The baby eagle said, “I can’t, I’m scared. I’m falling.”
Grace was diving just behind him and she shouted, “Yes, you can! You can! Just spread
your wings. Now!”
The baby eagle pushed open his wings with all his strength and he felt strong force on
his wings, he was not falling anymore. He opened his eyes and Wow! He was soaring in
the sky. He could see the mountains and the valley, the rivers and the trees, the cows
grazing far down in the fields and fish swimming in the lakes. He could see a huge
world, a beautiful world.
He said, “Mommy, Mommy, look. I'm flying!”
Grace was flying just below him and said, “Yes, my baby, you are flying. Now look to
your left. See where Daddy and your sisters are? Follow them.”
The baby eagle and the mommy eagle flapped their wings gently and they went
higher. They flew toward Whitehead and the two baby eagles and caught up with them.
They were gracefully flying round and round and moving up.
Whitehead said, “Feel how the hot air is pushing us up. This is called a thermal. See
how we're going up and up. Just keep flying round and round.”
Slowly, they went very high up above the mountains, and then above the patches of
clouds. It looked so beautiful—blue sky above them and the shiny white clouds painted
with little rainbows below them. Through the gaps between the clouds, they could see
the valley; the houses looked very small from up there, everything looked like a beautiful
toy world.
They soared for a long time, screaming in joy and thrill.

Grace said, “Now, we're going to fly home, just follow me.”
Grace led and the babies followed. Whitehead flew behind them just to make sure all of
them were flying fine and heading home.
On the way, Grace explained to them how to find their home, “Now look ahead. Do you
see two mountain peaks? Look between them, do you see a big red rock with a nest in
its crack? That’s our home. That’s where we're flying now. We are flying home.”
The eagle family flew back to their nest safely. The babies were very happy that they
could fly with their parents; they had a big smile of success on their faces.
Whitehead and Grace hugged the babies, kissed them and said, “We are very proud of
you. You were all very brave and flew well. From today, you are the rulers of the sky.”
Be brave! You can achieve anything you want. You can become an astronaut and fly in
space, even go to Mars.
13. The Lion Pride and the Baboons
Be strong, be good, and be proud.

Near the deserts of Africa, there was a hill surrounded by thick forests. It was a
wonder of nature that such a green forest could exist close to the desert. There lived
many kinds of animals: rabbits, deer, donkeys, zebras, foxes, hyenas, baboons,
buffaloes, and giraffes. On the top of the hill, in a cave, lived a lion pride: a daddy lion,
mommy lioness, and their three little cubs: Malaika, Nairo, and Leo. Leo was the
smallest, but very brave. Mommy lion always had to watch over them, especially Leo.
She told them many times, “Never go to the forest alone. Go only with your daddy or
me. If you want to go anywhere, tell us and we'll walk you there.”
The lion babies (cubs) always stayed near the cave and did not go far.
One day, when Mommy and Daddy lions went to get food, a baboon came there and
told Leo, "Come to the forest with me, I'll give you lots of good food, cookies, candies,
and chocolate."
Leo said, "No! My mommy told me not to go to the forest alone."
"Alone! We are not alone, I'm with you,” said the baboon, “I go to the forest every day.
It’s so beautiful, and there are so many things to eat: candies, chocolate, cookies. Come
with me."
Leo got tempted, but he was afraid and said, "Mommy will get upset if I go there."
The baboon said, "Don't be a chicken. We'll just go there, eat some candies and
chocolate and come back before your mom finds out. Come!"
Leo went with the baboon. First, they tiptoed outside the cave, then quickly ran down
the hill and disappeared into the forest. It was dark in the forest and hard to see.
Leo asked, "So where are the candies and chocolates?"
The Baboon showed him a small heap of grass and leaves and said, "They are all in
there, just jump in.”
Leo was so excited, he jumped on the heap. But the heap of leaves was a trap; there
was a big trapping pit (a hole in the ground) under the heap of leaves and grass. The
poor lion cub screamed, "Mommy, help! Daddy, help!" as he fell into the trapping pit.
When he landed at the bottom of the pit, he hurt his front leg and it was bleeding.
He remembered his mommy said, "If you ever get wounded, hold there tight so blood
does not flow out. When it stops bleeding, lick and clean around the wound."
So, Leo pressed his wound tight and slowly the bleeding stopped.
Leo looked up and screamed, "Mommy, I'm here in the forest, I fell into a trapping pit.
Please come and get me out!"
He was not sure if his mommy could hear him from this far. But he saw, many hyenas
were looking at him from above the pit.
One hyena laughed and said, "Ha ha, look who is here, the little lion prince."
Another hyena said, "My poor little lion. He looks scared. Have you guys ever seen a
scared lion?” and all the hyenas laughed.
Leo said to himself, "I'm not scared. I'm not scared of anything. I'm a lion prince."
The third hyena looked around and announced aloud, "Hey, animals! Come and see.
The little lion is in the hole."
The bad baboon jumped around and said, "I tricked him, I tricked him. I said I would
give him candies and chocolates, and he fell for it. I tricked him! I tricked him!"
Then came many baboons, donkeys, zebras, giraffes, and buffaloes to see the lion in
the trapping pit (hole). They all laughed at Leo and said, “Now you cannot come out.
You are trapped. Now the hunters will come, catch you and sell you to the circus."
Surprisingly, Leo did not cry or get scared. He just ignored these animals' comments.
He knew he had to preserve his strength to get out of the pit. If he cried and shouted
back, he would lose his strength. So, he kept quiet and kept looking all around the pit to
see how to come out. He slowly licked around his wound and cleaned it.
Then a donkey looked into the hole, laughed and said to Leo, "If you were a donkey,
you could scream hee-haw, hee-haw until your mommy came here. But you cannot do
hee-haw, can you? What are you going to do, meow-meow?" and they all laughed.
The giraffes and buffaloes did not like that so many animals were teasing the little lion.
One buffalo said, "You all should stop teasing the little lion. What has he done to you?"
The hyenas, baboons, and donkeys replied, "We're having fun. What's your problem?"
and all the animals went back to where they lived.
Then it got dark and slowly the moon came up in the sky. The forest became quiet and
all animals went to sleep. Leo was not afraid; he did not cry. He watched the moon for a
while and quietly slept in the pit.
The next day, the animals came again and teased the little lion. Every animal tried to
out-do the other in their hurtful comments. Finally, came the bad baboon with his little
brother Bobby and both peeked into the trapping pit.
The hyenas saw the bad baboon and said, “Hey look. That’s the cunning baboon who
tricked the lion.”
The bad baboon felt good that the animals thought he was very clever.
The bad baboon told his little brother, "Bobby, look. That’s what is called a lion. Lions
are supposed to be the kings of all animals. I lured him with candies and trapped him."
Bobby the baby baboon wanted to take a closer look at the lion and he leaned into the
pit. Oops! He slipped into the pit too.
All baboons screamed, "Oh, no! Bobby fell into the trapping pit. Someone, help!"
One hyena said, "That's too bad. Now the lion will surely hurt the baby baboon."
Another hyena said, "Yes. He has sharp teeth and claws, sharper than ours."
The bad baboon was nervous; he didn’t know what to do. His baby brother was in the
trapping pit.
One donkey looked at him and said, "Hey Baboon, you were playing too clever with the
lion cub. Now your brother is trapped too. What are you going to do now, Hee-haw, hee-
haw?"
Another donkey said "Hey, donkeys. Keep the donkey babies away from that trapping
pit, they may fall in there,” and all animals moved away from the trapping pit.
The little baboon was crying inside the pit, he was very scared of the lion and sat in a
corner shaking and shivering.
Leo the lion cub looked at him, and asked, "Are you alright?"
The baboon baby replied, "No, my hand hurts a lot. I think I broke my hand, it really
hurts. Look, I have a cut and blood is coming out,” and he started to cry again.
Leo said, "Cover and hold the cut tightly with the other hand and stop the bleeding."
Bobby the baby baboon pressed the cut tight and the bleeding stopped.
Leo the lion said, “Don’t be scared. I won’t hurt you. I'm a real prince.”
Bobby looked at Leo. Leo didn’t look scary at all. In fact, he looked like a baby too. That
calmed Bobby down and he stopped crying. Then they talked softly and discussed how
to get out of the pit. At night, they watched the moon, held each other and fell asleep.
The next day, a baboon mother came crying, "Oh, my baby has fallen into the
trapping pit. Can't you fellows save him? Do something!" she asked all animals for help.
Then she dropped a long stick in the pit and said, “Now my baby, climb up the stick and
come out. The lion cannot, he has no fingers to grab onto the stick. Come out. Come
out before the lion hurts you."
The baby baboon cried, “I can’t, Mommy. I broke my hand!”
There was a lot of commotion outside the trapping pit. All animals gathered there
again. Everyone was talking loud, giving advice and blaming each other.
One said, “Well, the bad baboon that created this problem should go down and get the
baby baboon out.”
The bad baboon got scared to go into the pit. So, he hid himself in the bush.
The buffalo told the baboons, “You orangutans, it’s totally your fault. You guys always
create trouble wherever you go.”
Baboons got angry and shouted back, “Don’t you ever call us orangutans. We are
buffoons, okay?”
The giraffe corrected them, “I think, you mean baboons. Well, you do act like buffoons.”
So, there were a lot of noisy arguments outside the pit.
But Leo the baby lion ignored them all, stayed calm and kept thinking how to come out.
Leo looked at the wound on his leg. It looked much better today. It did not hurt as
much as yesterday. He got up, yawned and stretched. Then he went to one corner of
the pit and started to dig his rear paws into the ground as if he wants to take one big
leap out of the pit.
The baby baboon cried, “Are you trying to get out, leaving me here alone?”
Leo looked at him and had pity. He said, "Alright, sit on my back and hold my tail with
one hand; hold tight.”
The baby baboon did just that. He sat on the lion and held the tail tightly with one hand.
The animals saw that and laughed again, "Ha ha! Look, a baboon is riding a lion just like
in a circus. That's really funny!”
One of them said, "Maybe, he is trying to jump out. He won't make it. It’s impossible."
Leo, the baby lion had just one chance. If he fell back into the pit, he would not have
enough strength to give it a second try. He had not eaten anything for two days and had
no water to drink either. He had to take the biggest leap of his life with all his strength.
He looked at the edge of the pit. He must jump higher than that. He could see nothing
else; he focused only on the edge of the pit. His eyes glowed like two stars in the dark.
He pulled back, all the way back, took a deep breath, made a loud sound “Hoop!” and
jumped high, very high. He made it. He was out of the pit with the baby baboon on his
back and both fell on a bush on the ground.
“Ouch!” screamed the bad baboon; Leo had landed exactly on him with his sharp claws.
All the animals were shocked and moved far back; now they were all scared of Leo.
Leo got up, looked at the bad baboon under his paws, looked at the baby baboon who
got off his back, didn’t say a word to any animal and then, slowly walked through the
forest toward the hill where he lived. He was weak and limped because his leg was
hurting. But he did not show any pain on his face.
The animals had never seen anyone walk bravely like that in front of so many hyenas,
baboons, and donkeys.
The mother baboon grabbed Bobby the baby baboon, hugged him and kissed him.
Then, she looked at the other animals and shouted, "Now you understand why Leo the
little lion cub is the prince and you all are just animals. He has self-respect and respect
for others, and you don’t."
The hyenas, baboons, and donkeys hung their heads in shame.
They said, "Yes, you are right. What we did was wrong. We're sorry!" and quietly walked
away with their heads down.
The bad baboon was so ashamed of himself that he promised his mother never to pull
tricks on others again and decided to become a good baboon.
Leo climbed up the hill, went to his cave and saw his mother was sitting there with a
sad face. He ran to her and said, "Mommy, I'm home."
His mother gave him a big hug, kissed him and said, "I love you, my baby. We were
looking all over for you. The next time, don't go anywhere without telling us."
Leo replied, “I'm sorry, Mommy. I'll not do that again. I'll always tell you when I go
somewhere.”
“And what else did I teach you?” asked the mother lioness.
Leo thought for a second and said, “When someone says, ‘Come with me, I'll give you
candies, chocolate or a toy’, I should say ‘No’ and call Mommy or Daddy for help.”
Mommy said, “Right! Remember that. Always tell Mommy or Daddy before you go
somewhere. Also, never take anything from others or go anywhere with others, unless
we say it’s okay.”
She put some medicine on the wound on Leo's leg. Daddy lion, sister Malaika, and
brother Nairo came back running, licked Leo’s face, and kissed him. Leo felt very happy
that his family loves him so much. Mommy gave them food and then they went to sleep.
The lion pride was happy to have the little lion Prince Leo back with them again.
“When a lion falls, baboons, hyenas, and donkeys laugh. But the lion ignores them
and does what is right. That’s the difference between a hero and the losers.” - DRRS
14. The Rhinos and Parrots of India
Scream for help when in danger and someone will help.

In the valley of the Himalayan Mountains, there is a dense jungle. The jungle has tall
trees, thick grass, springs, and beautiful lakes. Many animals and birds live in that
jungle. A big white mother rhino and her baby named Ryna lived near a lake in the
middle of the jungle.
The mother rhino had a big horn and a small horn above her nose and the baby rhino
had no horns yet. The mother Rhino was very strong and she loved her baby and
protected her day and night. Ryna, the baby rhino, was always with her mother and
followed her around. When the big mother rhino walked, it made a loud boom, boom,
boom, boom sound, the entire ground shook, all the snakes and crocodiles moved away
and stayed clear her path. When she munched on grass, it made a so much noise that
all grasshoppers and frogs jumped away. All animals and birds respected the big white
mother rhino.
Ryna, the baby rhino, drank mother’s milk and once in a while, ate some soft grass
too. The mother rhino taught her what kind of grass is good, what leaves are good to
eat and what kind are poisonous that one should not eat, and so on. Ryna started to
grow fast and she had a small horn on her head above the nose.
The mother rhino said, “Ryna, you are growing a horn. How nice! I'm sure you’ll have a
long, beautiful horn.”
Ryna was very happy and she wanted to test her little horn. She jumped around, ran
fast and hit a tree with her horn and said, “Ouch! It hurts.”
The mother said, “You shouldn’t hit the tree for no reason. Trees also have life in them
and they feel hurt. If you hurt a tree, you get hurt too.”
Ryna turned to the tree and said, “Sorry, tree. I won’t hurt you again.”
The mother rhino checked Ryna’s horn and said, “You are fine, nothing happened.”
The next day the mother said, “Now, we'll quickly go into the lake, but not too deep.
You have to always stay close to me, okay?”
The baby Ryna said, “Okay, Mommy.”
They slowly went into the lake. The mother rhino was going in very slowly, step-by-step.
Ryna suddenly said, “Mommy, I can’t put my feet on the ground.”
Mommy said, “Oh, you are floating. Now move your legs and swim.”
They swam for a while. The lake water was cold. So, they came out to the shore to
warm up in the sun.
Ryna said, “Mommy there is something green on your back. It just came from the sky
and sat on you.”
Mommy asked, “Really, I don’t feel anything.”
Rhinos have very thick skin. They do not feel small things.
Ryna looked at it and it spoke, “I'm a parrot, I can say whatever you say.”
Ryna was surprised, “Wow, Mommy! It can talk.”
“Wow, Mommy! It can talk," repeated the parrot, "By the way, I'm not 'it', I'm a she, a girl,
just like you.”
Mommy laughed and said, “Yes, that must be a parrot. Parrots are nice, beautiful and
fun. They can speak like any animals and people too.”
Ryna said, “Hi parrot, I'm Ryna. What’s your name?”
The parrot replied, “Hi Ryna, I'm Parry.”
Ryna asked, “Where do you live, Parry?”
Parry said, “Well, remember the tree you hit yesterday? I live in a hole, high up in that
tree. I live with my husband and three babies.”
Ryna said, “I'm sorry. I didn’t know there were baby parrots on that tree. I'll never hit any
tree again.”
Parrot said, “Thanks! Nice meeting you, neighbors. See you again,” and she flew back
to the hole in the tree.
Ryna watched her fly and said, “Bye neighbor. See you again.”
Then she turned to her mother and said, "Parry seems to be a nice and friendly
neighbor. I wish I could fly like her."
The mother smiled and said, "but you can swim. She cannot."
Ryna was growing and learning more and more about the jungle. The jungle was
huge and there was so much to see and learn. Her mother allowed her go around here
and there, but never too far.
One day, some strange people came to the jungle with saws and axes; they were
looking for a tree to cut. They came to the tree where the parrots lived and one said,
“Yes, this one looks like a good tree. We'll cut this one first.”
Another one said, “Yes, we'll cut one tree every day.”
Ryna heard them; she was scared that these people will destroy the trees and their
beautiful jungle.
The parrots were very worried; they didn’t know what to do. How could they save their
babies and their home? They started to make noise and cry for help.
Ryna ran back to her mother and said, “Mommy, Help! Some bad people are cutting
our neighbors’ tree. What’ll happen to the baby parrots? Come soon and help!”
Mommy said, “What people? I'll see to it that they do not cut any trees in our jungle.”
She ran toward the tree and the ground shook. Her footsteps could be heard Boom,
Boom, Boom, Boom from miles away. Ryna followed her mother, she also ran fast to
save the parrots and the tree.
Those people asked each other, “Hey! What’s that sound? Why is everything shaking?
Is there an earthquake or something?”
Then, one of them saw the rhinos coming charging at them and he screamed, “Run!
Run! A big white rhino and a fast little-rhino are coming. Run! Run!”
They ran for their lives. They ran through bushes, dirt, and rocks and fell in the mud
where the rhinos went to toilet. They got up and looked really funny, covered in dirty
mud and rhino dung. The rhinos were coming fast, so they ran again, crying for help,
but no one wanted to help these illegal loggers (lumberjacks).
The mother rhino and Ryna chased those people all the way outside the jungle. Then
the mother rhino said, “Now they are all gone. They’ll never come back to our jungle.”
Ryna said, “Wow, Mommy! You really scared them.”
The mother rhino said, “I'm very happy that you screamed for help, Ryna. That’s what
one must do. Whenever you have a big problem, scream for help. I or some other
animal, some good people, the police or the forest officers will come to help you.”
Mommy and Ryna slowly walked back to that tree to see if the parrots were alright.
All animals cheered, “Bravo! You saved our jungle from those tree loggers. Bravo!”
Ryna felt very happy. Parry the parrot and her husband said, “Thank you very much,
Mrs. Rhino. You saved our home and our babies”
The mother rhino said, “Well, it’s Ryna who screamed and called me for help.”
“Oh, really!” said the parrots, “That's very brave. Thank you, Ryna.”
Suddenly, three little parrots put their heads out of the hole and said, “Thank you,
Ryna.”
Ryna looked up and giggled, “Look Mommy, three baby parrots. How sweet!”
Mommy rhino, smiled and said, “Well, if you ever need any help just let us know.”
The three baby parrots repeated, “Well, if you ever need any help, just let us know.”
All the animals laughed and said, “Aww, how sweet!”
Months passed and Ryna grew quite big. The three parrot chicks also grew and could
fly well. They flew to far away fields with their parents. They flew all over and saw many
things: towns, cities, streets, shops, people, noisy cars and trucks. Every time they met
Ryna, they told her what they saw. Ryna listened and wondered, “It’s so peaceful here
in the jungle. So many trees, flowers and animals; I would never go to the noisy cities.”
One day, when the parrots were flying, they saw some men in camouflage clothes
were coming toward the jungle.
One man said, “We'll first catch the baby rhino, and then the mother rhino will come to
help her. Then, we'll catch her too.”
Another said, “Then we'll put them on a truck, take them to another country and sell
them.”
The parrots got worried. The father parrot whispered, “Those are poachers, very bad
guys. You three sit on top of that tall tree and watch where they are going. Mommy and
I will fly to the rhinos and tell them to run far away. Then we'll come back to get you,”
and they flew off to warn the rhinos.
The three young parrots were thinking what they could do to help Ryna and her
mother. Suddenly, they got a great idea. They started screaming very loud like human
babies, “Poachers are coming! Poachers are coming! Help, help, help! They’ll hurt the
rhinos. Help, help, help!”
The police and the forest rangers heard the babies cry for help. They understood right
away that the rhinos are in danger. They got in their Jeeps and followed the sound of
the “human babies” crying for help. They saw some poachers were running into the
jungle trying to hide. The police and the forest rangers chased them, caught them and
tied them with chains and ropes.
They told the poachers, “It is wrong to hurt rhinos. It is against the law. You will be
punished. You will be put in prison forever.”
Then they threw the poachers in the back of their Jeep and started to drive back.
The parrot parents returned and saw that the police and forest rangers tied the
poachers and took them away. The young parrots told them how they called for help
aloud in human baby voice and the police and rangers came to help.
The parrot parents said, “Oh, that’s great! You three are not only pretty, very smart too.”
They were all very happy and flew back to the jungle. They saw that the rhinos were still
running away.
The parrots quickly flew over them and Parry said aloud, “It’s all over. You can relax
now. The three young parrots called for help and the Police and Rangers came and
caught the poachers. No more danger for you.”
Ryna and the mother rhino stopped, they panted and felt relieved. They looked at the
parrots and said, “Thank you, neighbors. You saved our lives. Thank you!”
All the animals of the jungle cheered, “Hooray! The parrots got the poachers caught!
The parrots got the poachers caught!” and danced around in joy.
Then all the animals returned to their homes and there was peace in the jungle once
again.
“When you are in trouble, you should ask for help. There are many good people
who will help. Similarly, when someone is in trouble, please help him or her.”
15. Monkeys on the Banana Island
Do not waste; save our planet.

Many centuries ago, there were millions of monkeys in one land. The monkeys were
quite intelligent and wanted to change everything around them. They were destroying
the trees and the forests to make flat land and playgrounds. So, there were not many
fruit trees left. Slowly, they were running out of food and the monkeys were hungry and
unhappy. They constantly complained how bad the life there was.
One day, the monkey king and queen announced, “Who is smart among you and can
find food for all of us? We'll make him our adviser and reward him.”
No one knew how to find food for so many hungry monkeys. They became quiet and
scratched their heads. Finally, one brave and intelligent monkey came forward and said,
“My name is Lumbo. I know of a faraway island where there is plenty of food for all.”
All monkeys were very surprised. Some did not even believe that there can be such an
island where there was plenty of food for all.
Some asked, “What’s the name of this island? How big is it?”
Lumbo calmly replied, “It’s called the Banana Island and it’s much bigger than our land.”
The king and the queen were very happy. They stood up, clapped and said, “Wonderful!
Then take all these monkeys there. What are we waiting for?”
All the hungry monkeys shouted, “Yes! Take us there, now!”
Lumbo the smart monkey said, “Well, we have to cross the sea to reach that island. We
need to tie wood to build the rafts and sail for the Banana Island. I need a thousand
strong monkeys to build the rafts.”
The king and queen announced, “Yes, a thousand strong monkeys come forward and
do whatever Mr. Lumbo says. Build those rafts as soon as possible.”
A thousand strong monkeys worked day and night to build big rafts out of wood, put
sails made of big leaves and put a few long poles and paddles on the rafts. In about a
month, they were all ready to go to their dreamland, the Banana Island, where there is
plenty of food for all.
One morning, thousands of monkeys came and boarded the rafts. They brought
whatever food they had with them. Some monkeys did not want to go; they came to the
sea shore just to see their relatives off. The monkeys on the rafts waved goodbye and
sailed off. The wind was blowing strong and hitting the sails. The rafts sailed through the
waves of the blue sea. It was so much fun; the monkeys were laughing, singing and
dancing. Lumbo was constantly looking at the sea and the Sun to make sure they go in
the right direction. At night when the monkeys slept, Lumbo looked at the stars to make
sure they were heading to the Banana Islands.
After a few days, some monkeys were getting impatient. They asked, “How many
more days do we need to reach the Banana Island?”
Some others said, “We have hardly any food and water left. What are we going to do?”
Lumbo calmed them down and said, “Just a few more days. Save whatever food you
have. Share with all and eat very little. Do not waste any food or drinking water.”
One monkey said, “Are you sure, we are not lost in the sea?”
Some monkeys joined in, “Yeah, are you sure you know where this Banana Island is?”
Obviously, they were getting scared, impatient and frustrated.
Lumbo said, “Just calm down and help me to find the Banana Island. I'll look to the front;
you all look left and right. As soon as you see the Island let me know, we'll have to row
the rafts there.”
One morning, Lumbo screamed, “There, there! I see the Banana Island!”
All monkeys cheered, “Lumbo is great!”
They rowed hard together shouting, “Lum…bo! Lum…bo! Lum…bo!”
As they were coming closer and closer to the island, they saw it was big, high and
green. They pushed the raft with the poles and landed it on the beach.
All the monkeys stood on the raft, looked at the island and said, “Wow!”
This was the most beautiful place they have ever seen—sandy beach and then the
green grass; and beyond the grass a beautiful lake of clean, sweet water and hundreds
of banana trees. This was like a dreamland. All monkeys’ eyes opened wide and their
mouths got watery as they saw thousands of golden bananas hanging from the trees.
They jumped off the rafts and ran toward the banana trees. They brought down the
banana bunches from the trees and ate and ate. They made loud noises and jumped
from tree to tree. They were happy because they had never seen so much food in their
lives. Then, one of the monkeys started breaking more banana bunches and throwing
them down. The others started aping him, throwing bananas at each other and laughing
aloud. All had pieces of bananas on their faces and looked very funny. They were
running on the bananas on the ground, slipping and falling, rolling on bananas and
laughing at each other. They were having so much fun that they went out of control.
Suddenly, a woman’s voice spoke from the top of the hill, “Listen! Do not throw
bananas. Pick only as much as you need and leave the rest of the bananas on the
trees.”
One monkey asked, “Who was that?”
Another replied, “I don’t know, must be some old monkey lady. Don’t worry about it, let’s
have fun.”
They continued picking and throwing bananas, screaming and howling loudly. Seeing
these crazy monkeys, all animals and birds of the island got scared and went deep in
the forest.
Lumbo said, “Listen, fellows. I don’t know who said that, but she is right. You should
respect the rules and laws of this Island. Do not waste food. Pick only as much as you
can eat.”
But no one listened. They played with bananas till they were exhausted. Then they
jumped into the sweet water lake with all the banana slime on their bodies and the water
turned dirty. They came out of the lake, looked at the lake which now looked filthy, and
said, “Oh, who cares! We're on the Banana Island.”
They found some nice places on the beach and fell asleep.
They did the same the next day, ate some bananas and picked and played with
many more. They did that every day until there were no bananas left on the trees.
The next morning, they looked around and said, “Hmm. Something is wrong with these
banana trees. They are not producing bananas any more.”
They ate some half-mashed bananas that were lying on the ground. The bananas had
turned brown, foul, and smelly. But they had no choice, they ate the foul bananas.
Rotten bananas made them burp a lot, feel dizzy and they all fell asleep and snored
aloud.
Lumbo went to the beach, looked at the sky and he was sad. He talked to himself, “I
wanted to help these hungry monkeys, but now they are not listening to me at all. They
are wasting food. What am I going to do?”
A woman’s voice came from the forest, “I don’t know. I'm very sad too. Now the other
birds and animals in the forest have nothing to eat.”
Lumbo looked and saw there was Mother Nature sitting under a tree and crying.
Lumbo cried too, and said, “Sorry mother. I'm very sorry that my fellow monkeys have
done this. Forgive me.”
Mother Nature got up and slowly walked back into the forest.
The next morning, the monkeys got up with a headache. They yawned, stretched,
scratched and looked around for food. There were no more bananas on the trees and
the ones on the ground had also disappeared, only the brown banana peels were lying
around and flies buzzed around them.
They looked at Lumbo and said, “And, now what? You said there are plenty of bananas,
where are they?”
Lumbo made a serious face and said, “I said, there was plenty of food to eat, not plenty
to waste. Since the day you arrived here, you have been behaving badly, wasting food,
polluting the clean drinking water, and did not listen to Mother Nature. Now all of you
must stay hungry.”
The monkeys cried, “No. Please give us some food. We are very hungry. We will not
waste food anymore.”
Lumbo looked at them. The younger monkeys looked very hungry and sorry. They
put their heads down and cried. Tears rolled down their cheeks and they rubbed their
eyes with little hands.
Lumbo had pity on them and said, “OK. I know there is a kind of wonder leaf one can
eat. But there is not enough for all. Only the monkey children will eat and the grown-up
monkeys must stay hungry.”
One big monkey said, “Why? What have we done?”
Lumbo replied in a serious voice, “You have no respect for your Mother Nature. You
wasted so much food and you did not teach the young monkeys not to waste food. Now
all animals and birds here are hungry because of you. So, you must stay hungry too.”
The older monkeys said, “Yes, we agree with you. It’s our fault and we must pay for it.
We'll stay hungry till the bananas grow again and we'll never pick more bananas than
we can eat, and never dirty the sweet water of the lake.”
Then, they hung their heads in shame and covered their faces with their hands because
they were sorry.
Lumbo took the young monkeys to the other side of the Banana Island. He showed
them how to plant banana plants and made them plant many on the ground and water
them. When they were very tired, he gave them some wonder leaves to eat. The leaves
were juicy and tasty. They all shared and ate the leaves and were not hungry anymore.
They prayed, “Thank you Mother Nature for giving us such wonderful food. We promise
to never destroy your land, water, air, trees, plants, or animals. We promise to share the
world with all and never take more than we need. We promise to be kind to you and
love you just the way you love us.”
Then, they wished Goodnight to each other and went to sleep.
The next morning, the young monkeys woke up and saw in awe that Mother Nature
had done a magic. There were just enough golden-yellow bananas for all, hanging from
the little plants they had planted. The young monkeys were very happy with the
surprise. Each ate one banana and thanked Mother Nature.
The Banana Island was once again peaceful and happy.
“We have to take care of the planet Earth. It is the only home we have.
We have to keep it clean, green and peaceful for the children.”
My story
I was an average and normal kid. I went to school, learned usual things, played games and I
had many friends. Over the years, I went through changes of neighborhood, environment,
schools, hobbies, interests, and friends circle. My parents were a happy middle-class couple,
working hard to ensure that their children got a good education and had a decent life.
When I was a teenager, I hung around a few “cool” friends and started to become like them.
It took me some time to find out that they were into substance abuse. Their parents had no idea
about it. That is often the case; parents have no idea who and what are influencing their children
from outside. There are way too many distractions and temptations around. One cannot see the
early signs of fall, and often, it is too late.
It was hard for an average teenager like me to leave my “cool” friends’ company and do
something great with my life. Then, my mother’s voice spoke. I heard her sweet voice telling me
to be strong and do what my heart says. It was not like a moral lecture, rather her simple stories
and messages. The rest is history. I have no idea how and where those “cool” friends are. I,
however, finished my college, finished higher studies, and today, I am a successful scientist
making my positive contributions to society. My parents are proud of me.
Everything I am today is because of my mother’s love and her simple stories filled with
values, ethics, wisdom, courage, and compassion that she read to me when I was a small child
and my mind was hungry for knowledge. These values are taught by the parents’ words and
action and cannot be replaced by any amount of money, luxury, toys, or technology.
Please do your children a favor, read pleasant stories to them every night. Tell them simple
stories about values, friendship, love, compassion, respect, courage, positivity, and success.
Someday, you will be proud of your children. Your children will not waste their lives in
loneliness, sadness, despair, depression, addiction, and emotional suffering. They will be
successful humans and will always love and respect you.
Thank you
Dr. R. S.
About the author:
Dr. Sinha is a scientist, an educator, and an author. He has written several books and
software for the students of science. He has traveled to more than 15 countries and learned
about different cultures and languages. He often volunteers to teach children and encourages
them to solve real-life problems through creative ideas. He believes in the infinite potential of
children and dreams of a peaceful world for them.
About the book:
Mother's Voice is a book-series for the Mother and the Child. This is Dr. Sinha and his team’s
humble attempt to help parents give their children a great evening. In just half an hour, learn
and teach about love, respect, compassion, friendship, positivity, courage, and success through
interesting stories narrated in the mother's voice leading to a happy mood of the children, and
hopefully, a good night’s sleep.
Pictures and Illustrations:
Linus (5) and Alexi (7)

Mother&#39;s Voice #1

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Mother’s Voice #1

Children's Bedtime Stories with Happy Endings

15 Stories of animals and birds from around the world

“There is nothing sweeter than the Mother’s Voice”

© Copyright 2017, Dr. R. Sinha

Mother’s Voice #1 Children's Bedtime Stories with Happy Endings............................................ 1

1. Huma, the First Ape to Stand, Walk, and Run .......................................................................... 5

2. Don the Donkey and Tiggy the Tiger ......................................................................................... 8

3. Cows, Horses, Sheep, Dogs, and Cats ................................................................................... 12

4. The Kangaroo Baby and the Koala Baby ................................................................................ 17

5. The Elephant and the Frog ....................................................................................................... 22

6. The Dinosaur Baby and Grandpa ............................................................................................. 26

7. The Butterfly and the Honey Bee ............................................................................................. 31

8. The Panda Bear and Her Baby, Pandu ................................................................................... 36

9. Happy the Whale and Dolly the Dolphin .................................................................................. 40

10. The Polar Bear and the Snow Fox ......................................................................................... 44

11. The Hard-Working Ants Build a Smart City ........................................................................... 49

12. Eagles, the Rulers of the Sky ................................................................................................. 54

13. The Lion Pride and the Baboons ............................................................................................ 59

14. The Rhinos and Parrots of India............................................................................................. 65

15. Monkeys on the Banana Island .............................................................................................. 71

Keep trying, and someday, you will succeed.

“Nothing is impossible. If you keep trying, you will surely succeed.”

Always smile and never be sad.

The tiger asked, "Are you a horse?"

"Always smile, and never be sad.

Be kind to all animals.

Then the horse asked, “Who is next?”

Love your sisters and brothers.

Be friendly with all, big or small.

“Big or small, love and respect all”

Listen to your mother, eat your vegetables.

You are beautiful, so is everyone else.

Brush your teeth twice a day.

Brushing teeth twice a day keeps you healthy.

Help the children if they are in trouble.

The daddy dolphin started moving closer to the baby whale.

Work hard together and you can create great things.

One day, Whitehead returned with a lot of food.

They soared for a long time, screaming in joy and thrill.

Be strong, be good, and be proud.

Scream for help when in danger and someone will help.

Do not waste; save our planet.

About the book:

Pictures and Illustrations:

Linus (5) and Alexi (7)

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