Spokenez

  When Adversity Knocks: Mary was a young girl. She used to get annoyed with everything. She had a negative attitude towards life. Once, when she felt that life was unbearable, she asked her father what to do. She told him that if she was able to manage and solve one problem, another one followed quickly. Her father consoled her and took her to the kitchen. He asked Mary to take a potato, an egg and two spoons of tea leaves. Mary was surprised, and asked her father, "Do you want me to cook?" "No," her father said. He then took three vessels and poured one cup of water in each vessel. The vessels were placed on the stove. Once the water started to boil, he dropped the potato in a vessel, egg in the second one and the tea leaves in the third one. "Why are you doing all these things?" Mary asked, really annoyed with her father. "Just wait fifteen minutes," said her father. The impatient daughter managed to wait for around 15 minutes. Father removed

Real Vs Fake: Minnu was a sweet, lovable and beautiful girl, aged six years. She was an adorable kid as she always obeyed her elders. Minnu's parents loved her for her amazing behaviour. One day, Minnu's mother took her for grocery shopping. As they passed the shops, Minnu noted a cute plastic pearl necklace in dazzling pink! She asked her mother to buy her the necklace. Her mother told her that it cost quite a few pennies. She asked her to do some chores, so that for every completed piece of work Minnu would get some money and she could buy the pink necklace. Minnu prepared a to-do list and assisted her mom with all the chores. Her mom was very happy, and she paid enough money to buy the pink necklace. Minnu happily purchased the necklace and wore it just everywhere, every time, except while taking bath. Her mother said that her neck would turn pink and the pearls would lose their sheen if she wore it while bathing. But all other times, Minnu wore it, even while sleeping. Minn

  Don't desire to walk when you have wings to fly : Once upon a time, there lived a generous and kind-hearted king. He was fond of birds and animals, and had a huge bird sanctuary in his kingdom. He disliked harming the animals and birds. He did not kill them even for meat. In appreciation of his generosity and kindness towards birds, the king was gifted two beautiful falcons by a businessman. Those two falcons were used to different climatic conditions. The king thanked the businessman and ordered the Head bird trainer to provide all the facilities to those beautiful falcons and make them feel comfortable in their country. The Head trainer took care of the birds. Gradually, the birds got adapted to the country's climate. One day, the king wanted to see the falcons fly as he had heard that one of those falcons could fly to great heights at very high speed. The bird trainer let the falcon out of the enclosure. It flew very high, very quickly, and came down to the enclosure withi

The Hidden Treasure: Once, there was an old man who had four sons. All four of them were very lazy. One day, the old man fell sick and was counting his last days in bed. He worried a lot about his sons' future as the young men hesitated a lot to work. The sons believed that luck would favour them. The old man's health deteriorated every day and he decided to talk to his sons about their future. However, his sons did not listen to him. Finally, the old man decided to play a trick to let his sons realize the importance of work. He called all his sons and let them sit near him on his bed. He said that he had a treasure box with gold coins and expensive gems for them and wanted to share the treasure equally among the four of them. The young men were very happy and asked where his father had placed the treasure. The old man replied, "I cannot exactly remember the place where I have hidden the treasure. However, the treasure box is buried in our land. I'm really not sure abo

  Health is Wealth: Once upon a time, there lived a generous and kind-hearted king. But the people weren't happy with their king because the king was very lazy and would not do anything other than eating and sleeping. He spent days and weeks and months in his bed either eating something or sleeping. The king became a potato couch and the people started to worry about the king. One day, the king realized that he couldn't even move his body, not even his foot. He became very fat and his enemies made fun of him, calling him 'fatty king', 'bulky king' etc. The king invited expert doctors from various parts of his country and offered them generous rewards to make him fit. Unfortunately, none could help the king gain his health and fitness. The king spent enormous amounts of money but everything went in vain. One fine morning, a holy man visited the country. He heard about the ill-health of the king, and informed the minister at the palace that he could easily cure th

The Three Cows: Once, three cows lived in a green and fresh pasture near a forest: a white cow, a black cow and a reddish-brown cow. The cows were kind to each other. They used to graze in the meadow together and sleep near each other. One day, a reddish-brown lion happened to take a stroll out of the forest onto the meadow. It was hungry and looking for a prey. On catching sight of the cows it became glad, but couldn't attack them, because they were together. So, the lion sat behind a boulder and patiently waited till the cows would separate from each other. However, the cows were too clever to separate from each other. They knew that if they were together, no predator could attack them. The lion lay in ambush nearby for two or three days. But the cows continued to remain together, and wouldn't separate from each other. The lion became impatient. It thought of a plan. It went towards the cows, greeted them and said, "How are you my friends? Are you fine? I have been busy

  The Tree and the Travellers: Once, there was a huge tree with a broad trunk and innumerable branches right in the middle of a dry land. The tree gave rest and shelter to hundreds and thousands of travelers. Being located near four towns, and many villages, the tree was an ideal meeting point for travelers. One day, two travelers reached the tree after a long time of walking. Their destination was one of the towns nearby. It was a hot and sunny day, and the travelers were very happy to take a rest under the tree. Exhausted, they slumped under the tree. They slept for a while, enjoying the cool shade and the soft breeze. After a while, one of the travelers got hungry. They had no food with them. The hungry traveler looked up at the tree, to see if there was any fruit. Finding none, he began to curse the tree. "Oh, this is just a useless tree and it has nothing to feed us, not even a fruit or even nuts! It is of no use!" The other traveler comforted him and asked him to stay c

  NUWARA ELIYA 165 KM (103 Miles) From Colombo- SriLanka Nuwara Eliya meaning "city on the plain or "city of light" is a town in the central highlands of Sri Lanka. It is one of the major tea producing areas in the world. The tallest mountain in Sri Lanka "Pidurutalagala" oversees this beautiful city. It is the most visited hill country. History Nuwara Eliya is said to have been founded by a couple of British officers who apparently got lost while elephant hunting. The British governor Sir Edward Barnes was notified about the town and he himself decided to reside at Nuwara Eliya and subsequently creating a health resort that was internationally renowned. The town was later the ultimate destination for English pastimes such as golf, fox hunting, polo, etc. Nuwara Eliya also has an archeological importance as well in which pre-historic human remains are found. The city is has a good reflection of the colonial period even new hotels are furnished according to the

  SIGIRIYA 169 KM (105 Miles) From Colombo, Sri Lanka Sigiriya also known as the Lion's Rock is a rock fortress and a palace located in the Matale district of Sri Lanka. This ruin is surrounded by gardens, ponds and other structures. Sigiriya was built by King Kassapa and it is included as a World Heritage site. Sigiriya is the best preserved city centre in Asia. History Earlier is was a rock-shelter mountain monastery which was donated by Buddhist devotees. Later King Kassapa renovated it by building gardens and palace. After his death it was again used as a monastery. Human habilitation in Sigiriya at its earliest was found to be nearly five thousand years during the Mesothilic period. Rock inscriptions are carved near the drip ledges on many of the shelters, recording the donation of the shelters to the Buddhist monastic order as residences. These have been made within the period between the third century B.C and the first century A.D. In 1831 Major Jonathan Forbes of the 78th H

  The Devoted Mother: A mother duck and her little ducklings were on their way to a lake one day. The ducklings were very happy following their mother and quack-quacking along the way. All of a sudden, the mother duck saw a fox at a distance. She was frightened, and shouted, "Children, hurry to the lake. There's a fox!" The ducklings hurried towards the lake. The mother duck wondered what to do. Then she began to walk back and forth dragging one wing on the ground. Short Stories - Devoted Mother 2When the fox saw her, he became happy. He said to himself, "It seems she's hurt and can't fly! I can easily catch and eat her!" He ran towards her. The mother duck ran, leading the fox away from the lake. The fox followed her. Now he wouldn't be able to harm her ducklings. The mother duck looked towards her ducklings and saw that they had reached the lake. She was relieved, so she stopped and took a deep breath. The fox thought that she was tired and he came