Being on Time

You should be on time for whatever you have to do and wherever you have to go. When we do not do so we trouble others. Even if one child comes late to class, the whole class is disturbed. If we do not keep time we cannot finish anything we start. When all our work is half-done it is of no use to anyone. If you are late to class and the story is half over can you enjoy it? Even when you eat ice-cream you have to keep time. If you eat it too slowly, what would happen? It would melt and drip all over your clothes!

Story

Have you seen the tail of a Hippopotamus? He has a very thin, tiny tail? Doesn’t that tiny tail look funny on his huge body? Do you know why his tail is so small? Here is the story.

A long time ago, animals did not have tail. They had great trouble with insects, mosquitoes and flies since they could not keep them off. They could not sleep as the insects kept on disturbing them.

So all the animals went to their king, The lion to seek a solution. Lion said even I am finding it difficult to keep the insects and mosquitoes away. Don’t worry I will get a solution to this problem.

He prayed To God very sincerely to help them. God appeared before him and gave him a tail. Lion asked for tails for all animals. God was very happy to see that the Lion King wanted to help all the animals in his kingdom. So he gave tails of various sizes, shapes, colours to Lion and asked him to distribute it to all animals.

Lion announced all animals to assemble near his den the next day early morning . All animals came near Lion’s den on sunrise. They wanted to know whether the king had a solution to their problem. The Hippo was a lazy fellow and decided to eat, rest and then go to the king. Lion told them that God has given them all tails to solve their problem. The lion had a huge heap of tails for the animals to choose from. The animals rushed forward to get their tails.

The first animal to reach the lion was the fox. So he picked the finest, bushiest tail. Then came the squir30 rel, the horse, the wolf. They took the tails they liked from the heap. One by one, all the animals chose a tail each.

By the time the hippo got up from his long sleep, it was evening. Seeing all the insects around him, he remembered that he had to hurry.He rushed to the Lion’s den. There was only one tail left. It was a thin,tiny tail that no other animal had wanted.

All the animals were chasing away insects with the tails they had chosen. The Hippo’s tail was too small to chase insects away. All the insects went after Hippo. He rushed into the river and sat in it.

Even today the Hippo sits in water most of the time with his tiny tail – all because he was not on time to choose his tail.

Silent Sitting

• I will get up early. I will do my homework in time. I will not be late for school.