when at night he fell into an exhausted sleep, he dreamt about . . . you guessed it, pink elephants.
Moral: Just let go. The harder you try to get rid of some ideas or people, they more they hang around.
The Wood Thrush’s Song
The wood thrush was very scared and quite hungry, so he let out a cry that other birds might hear. The note split the air with its harshness. All the other birds flew away.
One day the wood thrush saw a sunflower growing so high that it touched the branch on which he was perching.
“What a magnificent show,” he said to himself. “I must do something to show my appreciation!”
He tried clapping, but there was no sound. He flapped his wings, but he only managed to stir the air around him.
Suddenly, without thinking, he felt within himself a deep joy he had never felt before, so he let it rise from within until he couldn’t help but release it. And one of the most beautiful sounds he had ever heard echoed across the woodlands. He thought it was the song of angels, until he realized that when he stopped, so, too, did the song.
“It’s me! I am the songbird!” The wood thrush looked down at the sunflower and sang again a song of great praise.
MORAL: Joy may be brief, but it is worth living for such moments.
The Crocodile’s Dilemma
Most forest creatures consider the crocodile to be the meanest of all who inhabit their world.
Mothers often will tell their children never to go near the water for too long and especially not to wade too deep into rivers where the crocodiles might live or else a monster could leave teeth marks in their necks.
One day a baby bunny was told never to get too close to the water, but when he heard about the monsters he was curious, not afraid. One day he ventured close enough to the edge of the water to speak with a crocodile.
“You are an amazing creature,” said the bunny, “but I am smart and won’t get any closer because I know you would eat me.”
“A wise warning,” said the crocodile, whose eyes were peering at the bunny.
“But I am better at something than you are,” challenged the bunny.
“And what could that possibly be?” bellowed the crocodile, convinced that such a harmless creature could do little better than he could.
“I will challenge you to do something after I do,” said the bunny, “and if I win, you have to promise never to eat me.”
“You’re on,” said the crocodile.
The bunny paused and then spoke: “All you have to do is say something I say and pronounce it correctly: The thunder thrashed against the tiny tigers.”
“That’s not hard,” said the crocodile, as he tried to say the sentence. But no matter how hard or how long he tried, he just couldn’t repeat the sentence correctly.
The bunny repeated the sentence correctly.
“Tell me, bunny,” said the crocodile, “how did you know I would not be able to say this sentence?”
“Easy,” replied the bunny. “I was told by other creatures that you cannot move your tongue, and I figured you’d never be able to say ‘the thunder thrashed against the tiny tigers.’”
The crocodile laughed and swam away, but not before saying: “A deal is a deal. I won’t eat you.”
Moral: Sometimes knowledge is better than brute strength.
The Skunk’s Kingdom
All the creatures of the forest had gathered to vote on who would be king for the year.
As with humans, so with animals—in crowds they sometimes argue and have to be stopped from hitting one another.
The lion argued that the strongest should rule, for, he said: “If we are ever attacked, I will lead our troops into battle!”
The beaver responded that he had a better idea; he would build a dam around the forest so that no one could get in. The wasp replied that his army would sting any invaders before they set foot in the kingdom.
The animals took a vote and it was split. No one had a clear majority of the votes. The monkeys even claimed the voting was fixed; the elephants replied that they would never forget this day of injustice.
After a tenth vote, the animals were restless. Finally, the skunk spoke out: “My friends, I have only a few words, but I will illustrate what might happen if anyone entered out kingdom to hurt us.” At which point, he lifted his tail and released a tremendous fume of ill smelling fluid. All the animals scattered. The skunk found that he was now alone.
“I cast a vote that the skunk rule for a year,” he said. And then he voted before declaring: “The vote is unanimous. I rule.” He chuckled and went on his way.
Moral: In politics, as in life, it is not always what you say, but how you say it that wins the crowd.
Pigeon Control
The humans were at it again, trying to find a way to rid themselves of pigeons who often dropped their you-know-what on anyone below them.
The humans tried loud noises with high frequency waves, but still the pigeons stayed.
The leaders were embarrassed; the people were angry and wanted action.
At one night meeting, they leaders were about ready to appoint a team to shoot the pigeons from their perches, until one person stood up and suggested a better way. Someone in the back said it made sense to try something different before resorting to violence.
The next day the human found a pigeon on his window sill and said to him: “We will train you to go out to sea to find people who are lost, if you will agree to find perches outside the city.”
The pigeon went back to his group and said this was a good deal for everywhere, far better than other deals. All this pigeons flapped their wings of approval, and the agreement has lasted to this very day.
Moral: You don’t have to resort to violence to resolve most disagreements; sometimes, all you need do is talk.
The Tiger’s Hunger
My mouth is bigger than yours,” bragged the tiger to the hummingbird hovering in front of him. Secretly the tiger thought to himself that even a small bird might silence his hungry tummy.
“That’s true,” replied the hummingbird, “and, I suppose, if you wanted, you could eat me in a second. I also suppose you have a very big stomach and a tiny morsel such as me would not have made a dent in your dinner menu.”
“Quite right!” growled the tiger, as he walked away to find a bigger meal.
The hummingbird breathed a sigh of relief as his heart slowed down to 1,400 beats a minute.
Moral: It’s all how you perceive things.
The Grand Ant
The ants were meeting to select their new leader, but no one wanted the job.
Though many ants knew it would be an honor to lead, most of them were used to working together and didn’t want the job which mainly required the leader to take criticism, eat, and grow fat.
The meeting had gone on for hours until one small ant said he would tackle the job if others would lead with him. The other ants had never heard of such an arrangement, but after a vote of many legs, the decision was made with everyone voting in favor. No ant decision is ever made without everyone approving. The other ants said they would help, but also that they would call the leader “The Grand Ant.”
Many ant