Stories have an important effect on children of all ages.

They allow our imaginations to get to work, and they are a way of putting the pictures that are inside our heads inside the heads of others. I hope you like these pictures

JUNE 2000

TWO DOGS.

The story is told of an American Indian chief who was unable to receive advice or encouragement form anyone of his tribe. Though he was richly endowed and had all that a man in his position could ask for.

He had many a beautiful loving wife and many children. Yet he found himself continually isolated and depressed. He would spend much time brooding about the things that might have been and rehearsing the few difficulties that he had to face in the past.

Eventually he was persuaded to visit the wise man of the tribe. The wise man listened patiently was silent for a time and then told the following story, There was once a chief who had two dogs. One dog was white the other black. They were fine big hunting dogs and had been kept separate from birth because of their amazing ferocity.

A new wise man was visiting their village and so the chief thought to try him out with a question that could be tested out with a practical illustration So he brought out the two animals and asked the question, If I allowed these two dogs to fight which of them would win ? The wise man paused and looked him straight in the eye before replying, The one you feed the most .

JULY 2000

DONKEY EGGS.

From the Xhosa people of Southern Africa comes this vivid tale of the donkey, the hare and the pumpkin. It is an example of the seed of an idea being developed and growing into a most wonderfully complete construction

It so happened that a town boy, Wonsamu was visiting his cousin, Xhante in a remote country village. Since Wonsamu appeared to be a bit of a 'know all' Xhante decided to take him down a peg by playing a trick on him. He was looking out for a good opportunity when he noticed a donkey cart, travelling up the road towards them. "What is that", asked Wonsamu never having seen a pumpkin before, far less a donkey. "Why that is a cart full of donkey eggs" going to be hatched. "Would he give us one ? ", he asked eagerly. ""I'll see what I can do," said his cousin, and entered into a brief whispered conversation with the man leading the donkey cart. The man gave a slow smile then reached into his cart and handed down a nice ripe pumpkin. "There you are,:" said Xhante." your very own donkey egg. Now if you go to the top of that hill and sit on it for 24 hours you will be able to hatch out the donkey." Wonsamu went to the top of the hill and sat done patiently waiting for the wondrous event to take place, while his cousin went home giggling to have a good night's sleep. Now 24 hours later nothing seemed to be happening and so Xhante got up from the pumpkin and gave it a gentle poke. It began to rock, topple then, before he could do anything about it, slowly roll over and over down the hillside. Now near the foot of the hill was a bush with a hare hiding in a safe place underneath it. Where should the pumpkin end up but right in the middle of the bush ? There it broke in two with a loud 'plop'. At this the hare took fright and raced off down the hill long ears flopping along its brown back. Wonsamu cried out ,"come back, come back my baby donkey.'

AUGUST 2000

Firstly a modern story which uses the same joke as the following Jewish story, but without the application.

A man fairly well on in years married. His wife was no spring chiken either. On the wedding night she went into the bahroom to prepare for bed, while he loosened his cummerbund, took out his false teeth and laid his toupee on the bedside table. Meanwhile she was loosening her consets, and cleaning off her make up, removing the coloured contact lenses and slipping the supports out of her shoes.

When she opened the bathroom door and they saw each other .......

they both screamed !

A FATHER'S WISE ADVICE.

A wealthy merchant had an only son who led a wild and frivolous life.
On his deathbed his father called his son to him and said," Son, I don't want to scold you or give you any trouble but I have three pieces of advice for you that I want you to promise me to take."
The son agreed and the merchant went on.
"My first piece of advice is do not go drinking till at least 2.00 in the morning.
My second piece of advice is; never go and see a woman after ten o'clock in the morning.
And my third piece of advice is: if you are angry in the evening, do nothing about until the next day."
The merchant died and his son remembered his advice. When the mourning time was over he waited till two in the morning before going to the inn to drink with his friends. When he arrived he found them all is such a state of disgraceful intoxication that he decided from that moment never to waste his time there again.
The next day he felt like visiting one of his attractive lady friends. At ten o'clock in the morning, he knocked on her door. She let him in and brought him to her boudoir - and discovered that the night time beauty he admired so much owed all her good looks to the lipstick, rouge, mascara, eye shadow and henna that she applied to herself. If the cold light of day she was quite grey, wrinkled and flabby.
One look at her was enough to make him turn round and leave her house for good.
After a while he married and soon after the wedding left on a long trip that took him round the world. Meanwhile his wife gave birth to a baby boy.
On his return to his home, which happened to be late at night, he sought to surprise his wife; but when he reached home he heard his wife in the bedroom talking to someone. He was most angry, but remembered his father's third piece of advice and left immediately. In the morning he rose early and went back to his home.
Entering the house he saw his wife with a baby on her lap.
"Woman who is this child" he demanded.
"My husband," she replied," this is your son who was born when you were away."
"and where does he sleep at night?" asked the merchant's son.
"In my bedroom," she replied.
Then the man realised that he had heard his wife talking to his son last night and thanked his father from the bottom of his heart.

SEPTEMBER 2000

THE FIFTIETH SLAP.

The following tale includes an allusion to the teaching of Jesus regarding the frequencey of forgiveness, and how this might be misunderstood if treated too literally.

" A villager asked the little monk; "My neighbour slapped me. Should I forgive him?"
"Yes," answered the monk.
" How many times should I forgive my neighbour ?"
the villager asked, "How many times did he slap you ?
" Once" came the answer.
" Then forgive him once." said the little monk.
"But what if he slaps me fifty times ? " the villager asked.
" Then you should forgive him forty-nine times," came the reply.
" Why only forty-nine times when he slapped me fifty times ?" the villager asked.
The little monk said, " Freely accept the fiftieth slap. You deserve it for being such a fool to allow yourself to be slapped the first forty-nine times."

From The Little Monk by Harry Farra Paulist press N.Y. USA.

OCTOBER 2000

BLACK AND WHITE.

Once upon a time, a beautiful young maiden was being courted by a rich and cunning knight whom she did not really like. Eventually, in order to settle the matter she agreed to the following way of deciding the matter.
Three black stones and three white stones were put into a bag and she would draw three stones. if they were all white that would be the end of the matter but if they were all black she would agree to marry the knight forthwith.
Now during the preparations she noted the knight
stoop to the pathway and gather up not three white and three black but instead six black stones. To make a fuss would simply continue the confusion so she had quickly to find a way out, and she succeeded.
Putting her had deep into the bag she took hold of three stones tightly in her fist and pulled them out. As she began to open her hand however she gave a shriek as if someone had poked her and dropped the stones on to the path way where they lay undistinguishable from the thousands of others.
Apologising for her peculiar behaviour and the fact that she had dropped the stones she had chosen she then said as if the idea had only just occurred to her. "I know what we can do to see what colour they were. Let's look at the colour of the ones that are left in the bag. "
Three Black stones were drawn out"
"Oh" she exclaimed innocently, "Then I must have chosen the three white stones don't you see."
"It was clear that the old knight did see, that this woman was too clever for him to pursue her any longer and he left without further comment."

NOVEMBER 2000

THE ANSWER LIES IN YOUR HANDS

The boy had spend many many days trying to out fox a wise old man, asking him every kind of question to try to trip him up or prove that he, the boy, was smarter.
Finally, he hit upon the ideal way. He went to the market and bought a small bird in a cage. Taking the bird, hidden in his cupped hands to the wise old man he asked.
"Is what I have in my hands alive or dead?"
Now his plan was as follows.
If the wise man were to answer, "Dead" then he would open his hands and let the bird fly away, but if he answered that it was alive, he would quickly crush his hands together killing the bird thus proving the old man wrong whichever way he answered.
So when he approached the wise old man and triumphantly put his question he was greeted with a sad smile. Looking him straight in the eyes the old man said,
"The answer lies in your hands".

DECEMBER 2000

AKI THE BEGGAR

In the following example in which Ken becomes a foolish / wise, Arab beggar. He strongly accented his voice and the story flows just as if a genuine beggar had approached a new arrival in the market place.

" Greetings stranger.
Welcome to the market place. My name is Aki, and I am a beggar.
All around you you see people pushing and shoving, buying and selling, Eh ?
But I sit here and I beg. Maybe you wonder ?
Why is Aki sitting here and begging ?Do you wonder that ?
It is a good wonder. I will tell you.
Aki is a beggar because it is his path.
Everybody has a path and Aki, he has a beggar's path.
It is not a bad path. I have worked hard for many years, studied with the masters. Oh yes, there are master beggars you know....
Raoul, he could beg life into a dead baby, and Souliman, he could beg rain upon the desert...... but Aki, he is just a beggar not a master beggar.
Why do we beg ?
Because of the dance..... Oh yes the dance.
We move our prayers and we move our hopes as other people move their feet.
But there are some people who are afraid of the dance.... Yes....
They cling to life, they cling to property, they are weighed down... like camels in the market place....only more than the camels, yes...
That dance.. Oh they will no let themselves be blown away and they cannot move... stranger, even here there are people who cannot dance....
and so we have beggars.....
We say give us a piece of bread or give us a coin.
You see when they give us coin or a piece of bread their pockets are lighter..they can move their feet..... they can dance.
You think, Aki, you are playing with us Eh?
You just want the food for yourself ?
Oh, I ask you , what do you think we beggars do with your bread ?
Do you think we eat it? We give it to the birds.... yes... and your money ?
Your money, what do we want with your money ?
Aman, every holy day he collects all of the coins you give him and he goes to the Euphrates and throws them in the river to listen to the splash....
That is his weakness the splash.... it is also his prayer.
Then me Aki ? Every day, when the sun is at its height ,I climb the holy mountain and take a fistful of coins and throw them at the sun....
and watch them glisten, and listen to them sing as they dance down the mountain...
It is my weakness.......it is my prayer.
The dance is our bread and our wine... It is enough, but you camels. you camels out there in the market place....when will you learn to dance ?
Oh, you feel so righteous when you look at the beggar, but I tell you I am just following my path, what is your path ?...... What are you doing ?
And so you see one day... one day...everyone will be dancing ........Oh that will be a holy day...on that day, you, you stranger you come to the market place and look, you will look for the beggar, you will not find him, his path will be over.
You will see his bowl , you will see his rug and his rags but he will be gone and she will be gone, because the dance will be in us.
Oh yes...that will be the day... but I fear that day is far away....and so we must sit here and we must beg. It is holy work.
Let me tell you stranger, you remember this when you see a beggar again, when a beggar comes to you and asks for alms....You feel your pockets, and ask yourself 'can I dance today' and if you cannot .Why you must give your bread and your coin away it will go to the river and the mountain.
Do not fear that, the beggar does not want to be a camel... like you ...it is what we must do...
Well I am taking too much time talking to you.. I have work to do ...holy work ...I have a path to follow...why should I talk when I must beg ?
Go your way stranger, find your path and follow it.
But...... before you go.......
Can you spare a coin for a piece of bread for a poor, hungry, beggar ? "

story told by Ken Feit on local radio in California, U.S.A.
in the 1970's.

JANUARY 2001

GOSSIP

Story of Philip Neri ( saints day 26th May.)
" A woman came to Philip Neri in confession and said that she had been gossiping. For her penance, he told her to go and buy a chicken. When she brought it to him, he told her to pluck it on the streets of Rome.
When she had done that he told her to go and gather up all the feathers.
This he explained to her that gossip was like those feathers. "

this same saint would go around with only half a beard to shock people.

FEBRUARY 2001

BIRD IN COWPAT

Once there was a man walking a deserted country road in the middle of winter. It was very icy and the snow was beginning to thicken, and the man, wearing only a thin coat, was shivering violently.
Engrossed as he was in the task of getting home, he just happened to spy a little bird lying on the road, seemingly frozen solid. The man's heart went out to it. " we are birds of a feather," he thought, as he picked the bird up and put it down his trousers in the hope that his own body heat would revive it. Half an hour later, the man felt a flutter between his legs and was very happy that the bird was still alive. But he knew that what was needed was real heat, something the man just could not provide.
Right at that moment a cow in a nearby pasture voided itself of a big steaming load. Realising that this could provide the warmth the bird so desperately needed the man walked over and stuck the lucky creature into the steaming pile. He walked away, happy that he had saved its life.
And sure enough, very soon the bird was revived. Happy to be alive, it started whistling notes of pure joy. But a fox happened to be nearby heard the song, followed it to its source and ate the bird.
This typical Russian fable has three morals one, it's not only your enemies that get you into it;
two it's not always your friends who get you out three, if you're in it up to your neck, don't open your mouth."
(Russian moral tale)

MARCH 2001

A BUNCH OF FLOWERS

An old man got onto the bus carrying a bunch of flowers. Just across the isle there was a small girl with her mother. Every so often the little girl would let her gaze dirt across to look at the flowers and just and the old man turned to catch the girls eye she would look away quickly.
Finally as he got up he turned to the girls and her mother addressing them both. "Excuse me, I noticed how much you admired these and I'm sure my wife would want you to have them".
Before either the girl or her mother could make any protest the man got of the bus.
Their last sight of him was as he slowly crossed the road to enter the cemetery gate.

APRIL 2001

EDDIE AND THE DRAGON

An exotic resteraunt serving wealthy clientele was named "Eddie and the Dragon."
A beggar came to the back door one day and said to the woman who appear to being charge, " I haven't eaten in days. Could you spare some food ?"
"Get out of here," Yelled the woman,"We don't feed beggars."
The man left but returned a few minutes later. " What now?" the irritated woman asked
The beggar looking up at the name of the restaurant on a sign over the door, said, " Would it be possible to speak to Eddie this time? "

MAY 2001

KING MIDAS

King Midas was very wealthy indeed, but was also a terrible miser. He loved gold for its own sake: not for what he could do with it. He collected as much gold as he could, and some of the treasures in his palace were made of pure gold, and he was never tired of looking at them, and handling them, and wishing from his heart that he owned many more.
One day Midas found an old mythical creature, called Silenus and returned him to Bacchus.
Because of this act of kindness Bacchus told King Midas that he could have any gift he wanted. Midas instantly declared that what he wanted, above everything else, was more money and more treasure. So he asked Bacchus to grant him the gift of turning everything he touched into gold.
Bacchus smiled and told Midas he would grant his request. As soon as the excited king had left, Bacchus shook his head in resignation, wondering how long it would be before Midas felt very sorry indeed that such a gift had been presented to him.
On his way home Midas decided to put his new power to the test and reaching up to a nearby tree picked a small leaf.
Sure enough the leaf immediately turned to bright sparking gold, Midas picked another and another with mounting excitement, they too turned to gold. Further along the road Midas picked up two small stones and sure enough they too became pure gold. Putting them into the pocket of his robe - which had itself been quietly turning into gold all this time - he walked on till he came out of the woods and into a cornfield. He gathered one of the ears, and that too, instantly shone with a golden radiance in his fingers.
He continued until reached his own orchard and, plucking an apple, found himself with yet another treasure.
So it was that, laden with all these golden objects, King Midas came to his palace.
Tired and a little hungry and thirsty from his trip he ordered food and drink to be brought to him.
He took great delight in showing off to his courtiers how wonderfully he could turn the platters and the goblets into shining gold with the merest touch. But a horrible shock was in store. As soon as the wine, which had been poured for him, touched his lips it too became a stream of gold dribbling over the his chin. The bread which he picked up to satisfy his hunger also became gold.
Even worst was to follow. for who should rush to meet him but his little sons and daughters ?
In his excitement at seeing them and forgetting all that had just happened, he eagerly picked them up in his arms - only to find to his intense horror - his embrace had turned them into turn into golden statues.
That night the king lay on his golden bed with his golden pillow , between golden sheets and cried golden tears in great despair.
He came to see that there was only one possible way out. He got out of bed right away returned to the wood where Bacchus lived. Falling on his knees , King Midas begged Bacchus to take away this terrible gift from him. Bacchus told the king that he should go and wash at the source of a nearby river
Sure enough when the king plunged into the water, to his joy, the sticky gold was all washed off his clothes, body and mouth.
When he climbed to the river bank again, he knew that he was, once more, like other men.
But a strange thing had happened. The spell had passed on to the river itself.
A new glimmer shone ever after through the water - the sands ran yellow -and the flowers on the banks nodded golden heads, and dropped golden petals onto the golden grass. Even the corn sprouted golden ears from time to time.
King Midas was quite cured of his miserliness. Crying wet tears of joy he rushed home and his sons and daughters, now fully restored, ran to meet and embrace their father once again.

JUNE 2001

THE REAL COST

A businessman was totally frustrated because his manufacturing plant had broken down and no matter what the engineers tried they could not find out what was wrong. They sent for an expert from an well known engineering consultancy. When he arrived he looked over the machinery for a few minutes and then took a small hammer out of his pocket and tapped quite hard on a couple of the pipes.
The machinery began to work instantly. A few weeks later a bill for $5.000 arrived. The manager of the plant thought this to be somewhat excessive, and so sent the bill back asking for it to be itemised. The bill came back by return as follows.
For tapping the pipes fee $5.00
For knowing where to tap $495.00
A cheque for the full amount was sent by return of post.

bIf you would like to have more stories please email me at

and tell me which story you liked best. Bye for now.,

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