Story

Raindrop – Snowflake

Once upon a time there was a little drop of water who dreamed of becoming a snowflake and turning the landscape white. Years passed, and then there was a great drought which evaporated the little drop from the lake where he lived. When he reached the sky, he became part of a small cloud. As soon as the weather turned cold, the little drop looked for a nice bit of countryside where he could fall, and help cover the place in snow.

But only a little bit of snow fell, and as soon as it touched the ground, it melted. And there the little drop had to remain, waiting for the sun’s rays to shine again, and send him back up to the clouds. When the sun shone, the little drop ascended once more, turned to snow again, and down he fell. Again, just after landing, he melted.

This happened several times. Finally, the little drop went and joined a great big cloud, where millions of other drops had crowded together. Despite being gigantic, conditions in that cloud were rather uncomfortable. A few of the drops were ordering everyone else around, making them squash up together, amid a great racket.

”Biggest drops at the bottom! Smallest drops at the top! Come on, come on! There’s no time to waste…”

Our little drop wasn’t keen on all this, and he considered falling down to Earth again, but a nice, friendly drop next to him managed to talk him out of it.

”Where are you going?! You don’t want to take part?”

Seeing how surprised our little drop looked, the friendly drop explained they were preparing for a big snowfall.

”All of us here love being snow, and covering the land for days; that’s why we’ve all gathered together here. Years ago I would try doing it on my own, but I learned I couldn’t manage it without help. I found this nice cloud, where we all help each other a little. And thanks to our teamwork, we’ve made some of the best snowfalls ever!”

A little later, both drops were flying down through the sky as snowflakes, surrounded by millions and millions of other flakes, turning the green fields white.

And with great joy, our little drop realised that when everyone worked together they could achieve what had at first seemed impossible.

Story

The Singing Birds

When we have a disagreement with others we can usually sort it out by talking about it and helping each other to find a solution. (An answer)

Long, long ago, all the birds sang very loudly because they were so happy. Each bird thought his song was the best and each bird sang louder and louder. “Peeu, peeu! Ask father, ask father! Cark, cark! Twitter, twitter! Tweet, tweet! Warble, warble!” Oh, there was such a loud noise all day and all night! None of the birds could sleep! At last the sparrow and the cuckoo said, “We must do something about this!” “Yes, yes!” said the dove and the crow. “Let’s go and talk to the owl. He is very wise.” All the birds went along to the owl’s tree and found him sitting on a branch with his eyes closed. “Excuse me, Mr. Owl” said the sparrow, very politely. “May we talk to you?” Mr. Owl opened one eye but did not say anything. “Excuse me, Mr. Owl,” said the cuckoo. “We birds have a big problem. We have come to you because you are very wise.” “What is the problem?” asked the Owl. “This is the problem,” said the sparrow. “All the birds were very happy and we began to sing louder and louder. Now we are singing so loudly, day and night that we can’t get any sleep!” “Why don’t they just do what I do when I’m happy? I whisper “Hoo-hoo” and I don’t disturb anyone.” At that the birds sang their own songs again. What a noise! “Stop! Stop!” said the Owl. “Now I know what the problem is. All the birds are very happy so they want to sing, but everything has its time and place. It’s fine to sing during the day when everyone is awake, but you must stop singing at night so the you can sleep. That is except for the nightjar and me. We sing at night but we sing so quietly that we don’t disturb anyone. Hoo-hoo.” So from that day to this most birds sing in the daytime, except for the owl and the nightjar, who sing very quietly at night.

Just as the birds sorted out their problem, God wants us to get together to solve our problems by talking things through and not by quarreling with anyone. God is with us all the time. He knows and understands our problems. He is sad when He sees us quarreling. He is happy when He sees us working or playing happily together.

Story

The Greedy Cloud

Once upon a time lived on a cloud that was grown up over a very beautiful country. One day, she saw another much bigger cloud and she felt so much envy, than the cloud decided that in order to get bigger and grow more, her water would never abandon her, and will never start raining again. Indeed, the cloud grew up, while his country was getting dried. First, rivers dried up, then people, animals, plants, and finally, the whole country became a desert. The cloud did not care much, but she also did not realize that by being over a desert there was no place where she could obtain new water to keep growing. So slowly, the cloud began to lose size, and was unable to do anything to stop it .

The cloud then realized her mistake, and that her greed and selfishness were the cause of her vanishing;but just before evaporating, when she was just a sigh of cotton, there started blowing a gentle breeze. The cloud was so small and weighed so little that the wind took her far away, to a faraway beautiful country, where once again she recovered her original size.

Having learned this lesson, our cloud remained small and modest, but she became so generous when raining, that her new country became even greener, giving away to all people there the most beautiful rainbow in the world.

Story

Unity is Strength

Once upon a time, there was a flock of doves that flew in search of food led by their king. One day, they had flown a long distance and were very tired. The dove king encouraged them to fly a little further. The smallest dove picked up speed and found some rice scattered beneath a banyan tree. So all the doves landed and began to eat.

Suddenly a net fell over them and they were all trapped. They saw a hunter approaching carrying a huge club. The doves desperately fluttered their wings trying to get out, but to no avail. The king had an idea. He advised all the doves to fly up together carrying the net with them. He said that there was strength in unity.

Each dove picked up a portion of the net and together they flew off carrying the net with them. The hunter looked up in astonishment. He tried to follow them, but they were flying high over hills and valleys. They flew to a hill near a city of temples where there lived a mouse who could help them. He was a faithful friend of the dove king.

When the mouse heard the loud noise of their approach, he went into hiding. The dove king gently called out to him and then the mouse was happy to see him. The dove king explained that they had been caught in a trap and needed the mouse’s help to gnaw at the net with his teeth and set them free.

The mouse agreed saying that he would set the king free first. The king insisted that he first free his subjects and the king last. The mouse understood the king’s feelings and complied with his wishes. He began to cut the net and one by one all the doves were freed including the dove king.

They all thanked the mouse and flew away together, united in their strength.

Moral: When you work together, you are stronger.

Activity

• Any activity on team work

Story

The Greedy Mouse

A greedy mouse saw a basket full of corn. He wanted to eat it. So he made a small hole in the basket. He squeezed in through the hole. He ate a lot of corn. He felt full and was very happy.

Now he wanted to come out. He tried to come out through the small hole. He could not. His belly was full. He tried again. But it was of no use.

The mouse started crying. A rabbit was passing by. It heard the mouse’s cry and asked, “Why are you crying, my friend?”

The mouse explained, “I made a small hole and came into the basket to eat the corn. Now I am not able to get out through that hole.”

The rabbit said, “It is because you ate too much. Wait till your belly shrinks.” The rabbit laughed and went away.

The mouse fell asleep in the basket. The next morning his belly had shrunk. But he wanted to eat some more corn. He forgot all about getting out of the basket. So he ate the corn and his belly was really big again.

After eating, the mouse remembered that he had to escape. But obviously, he could not. So he thought,“Oh! Now I will go out tomorrow.”

The cat was the next passerby. He smelt the mouse in the basket. He lifted its lid and ate the mouse.

Love is a magic key that opens the door to happiness. Just locking up a lot of love in your heart is of no use to anyone. To open the door of happiness, you must put the key of love into a keyhole of action and turn it. This is called “love in action”. Love in action is showing your love for others by acts of kindness and helpfulness. When you give your love to those around you, you get a lovely feeling inside. The person you love is also happy.

There are many ways to show your love to others. There are many forms of service that you can do.

You can help at home in many ways – do some of your work on your own, help your parents, brothers, sisters in little things.

You can show your love for your school by doing your classwork and extra-curricular activities well, and being obedient to your teachers, by keeping your class and school clean and also not damaging the school articles.

Service to the poor is a wonderful way for you to show your love to them. There are hundreds of people for whom life is a daily struggle because of handicaps, illness or poverty.

Love in action also means not troubling or disturbing others. It means speaking softly, politely to others and behaving in a way that pleases others.

John Appleseed is remembered all over America for his service to nature. He spent many years of his life sowing apple seeds in large parts of America. These grew into huge apple orchards and gave the people there much wealth. The orchards also made the plains rich and beautiful.

Chipco movement – When traders began to cut down trees without any thought of the future, the people in the area embraced the trees to prevent them from being cut down. They even stayed up all night to guard their life-giving trees.

Story

Sharing with Love

Rory had been listening to the teacher as she was talking about doing service for poor children. As it was soon approaching Christmas, the teacher suggested that they might have a toy collection as a project.

Rory decided that he too would be kind and bring in a toy for the poor children’s collection. One by one, Rory went through his toys that afternoon. There was his favourite game and he thought, “I cannot give this away. I play with it all the time and I really love it.” One by one Rory felt that he could not part with the things, he loved. Finally, he came upon an old, broken-down truck that he had for many years. “Oh, I’ll bring this in,” he thought. “Those poor children don’t have anything, so I am sure they’ll be pleased with this. After all, it might be old, but it still works.”

So, very pleased with himself, Rory set out for school the very next day. In a bag was his old truck, ready to be given to the teacher. On his way to school, he met Jimmy and Rory was quick to tell him that he had looked through his toys and was bringing one to school for the poor children. Jimmy listened quietly and said, “I have something too.”

After some lessons had been taught, the teacher said, “Has anyone brought toys for our Christmas collection?”

Many hands went up, among them Rory’s. The teacher called up the children, one at a time. She showed the class each of the toys as they were given. Rory began to get nervous. “Every toy looks almost brand new,” he thought.

Jimmy too got up and showed the class a beautiful truck, saying that he had currently received it as a gift but felt that it was his way of sharing. On seeing all this Rory really felt ashamed.

Then Rory could hear the teacher saying, “Rory, you had your hand up. Would you like to bring up your gift now?”

Rory turned red, began to shutter, “I … uh, I …. Thought I had it, but I must have left it home. I’ll bring it tomorrow.”

That afternoon, at home, Rory gave a lot of thought to what had happened in school. He realized that the pleasure of giving, the real part of sharing, was to give something you loved so that others could enjoy it too. So, gently and lovingly, after taking permission from his parents, Rory took his favourite game, wrapped it in lovely paper with a cute Santa Claus on top, ready to bring it to school the next day.

Rory fell asleep that night with a sweet smile upon his lips

Song

Peace, love , joy

I’ve got peace like a river, I’ve got peace like a river
I’ve got peace like a river in my soul (2)
I’ve got love like an ocean, I’ve got love like an ocean
I’ve got love like an ocean in my soul (2)
I’ve got joy like a fountain, I’ve got joy like a fountain
I’ve got joy like a fountain in my soul
I’ve got peace, love and joy like a river,
I’ve got peace , love and joy like a river
I’ve peace, love and joy like a river in my soul

Story

Borrowed Feathers

Once upon a time God called all the birds together. “I want to choose the best looking bird to be the king to rule over the birds,” he said. Each bird then started preening his feathers, fanning his tail and spreading his wings out wide to show off his beautiful feathers. The sparrow looked at his drab feathers and decided he would have to make a plan. He quietly hopped around the assembled birds, picking up one
beautiful feather here and another there. Then he stuck them in between his feathers until he became a rainbow of a bird, the brightest bird there!

At the appointed time all the birds gathered around God to hear what he would say. He passed in front of each bird. Then he stopped in front of the sparrow and was just thinking of naming him the king. Suddenly there was a flurry of wings and great twittering among the birds as they realised that that rainbow bird had in fact stolen their feathers. All the birds plunged down on him, each bird pecking off his own
feathers. This left nothing but a little brown sparrow who had tried to win by cheating!

Moral

• Don’t pretend to be better than others

Borrowed Feathers Draw some more birds sitting in the trees. Draw the buttersflies looking to see who has the prettiest feathers. Colour your picture.

Story

Crow & Peacock

A crow lived in the forest and was absolutely satisfied in life. But one day he saw a swan. “This swan is so white,” he thought, “and I am so black. This swan must be the happiest bird in the world.”

He expressed his thoughts to the swan. “Actually,” the swan replied, “I was feeling that I was the happiest bird around until I saw a parrot, which has two colors. I now think the parrot is the happiest bird in creation.” The crow then approached the parrot. The parrot explained, “I lived a very happy life until I saw a peacock. I have only two colors, but the peacock has multiple colors.”

The crow then visited a peacock in the zoo and saw that hundreds of people had gathered to see him. After the people had left, the crow approached the peacock. “Dear peacock,” the crow said, “you are so beautiful. Every day thousands of people come to see you. When people see me, they immediately shoo me away. I think you are the happiest bird on the planet.”

The peacock replied, “I always thought that I was the most beautiful and happy bird on the planet. But because of my beauty, I am entrapped in this zoo. I have examined the zoo very carefully, and I have realized that the crow is the only bird not kept in a cage. So for past few days I have been thinking that if I were a crow, I could happily roam everywhere.”

That’s our problem too. We make unnecessary comparison with others and become sad. We don’t value what God has given us. This all leads to the vicious cycle of unhappiness. Learn to be happy in what you have instead of looking at what you don’t have. There will always be someone who will have more or less than you have. Person who is satisfied with what he/she has, is the happiest person in the world.

What does “being content” mean? Being content means being happy with who you are and what you have. Each of you has different gifts One of you may be a good singer, another a good dancer and yet another may be able to paint very well. There are so many things (ask them to name a few..) we have to be about. There are many children who do not have enough food to eat or clothes to wear. Shall we say a simple prayer, thanking God for all the things He has given us? Shall we also ask God to give the poor children in the world the good things we have?

Sit straight, close your eyes and fold your hands. Repeat this simple prayer.

Dear God,
Thank you for your lovely gifts
It gives us joy, it does!
Please do give our poor friends,
All that you have given us.
Give them and us the power to pray,
And thank you for your love.
And may we always be happy
With all the things we have.

Story– The Camel and the Goat

One day a camel and a goat went for a walk. They passed over a grove of trees. Since the fence was very high, they could not go into the grove. But the camel saw many branches hanging over the fence.

Because it was tall, the camel munched up tender leaves from the branches till its stomach was full. The goat did not get anything. The camel laughed and said, “O friend Goat, it is better to be tall.”

They walked along. Soon, they reached a vegetable garden. This time the goat saw a tiny gate that was open. It rushed in and happily munched up plenty of fresh, juicy vegetables.

The camel could not squeeze through the gates.After eating to its full, the goat came out and said, “ O friend camel, don’t you think it is sometimes better to be small?”

Both understood that it was good to be as each is made.

Activity

• List some of the similarities and differences between you and your friend. Note write the ones you cannot see also.