wit and wisdom stories

O nce upon a time there was a good old woman who lived in a little house. She had in her garden a bed of beautiful striped tulips. One night she was wakened by the sounds of sweet singing and of babies laughing. She looked out at the window. The sounds seemed to come from the tulip bed, but she could see nothing. The next morning she walked among her flowers, but there were no signs of any one having been there the night before. On the following night she was again wakened by sweet singing and babies laughing. She rose and stole softly through her garden. The moon was shining brightly on the tulip bed, and the flowers were swaying to and fro. The old woman looked closely and she saw, standing by each tulip, a little Fairy mother who was crooning and rocking the flower like a cradle, while in each tulip cup lay a little Fairy baby laughing and playing. The good old woman stole quietly back to her house, and from that time on she never picked a tulip, nor did she allow her n...

D id you know that an eagle knows when a storm is approaching long before it breaks? The eagle will fly to some high spot and wait for the winds to come. When the storm hits, it sets its wings so that the wind will pick it up and lift it above the storm. While the storm rages below, the eagle is soaring above it. The eagle does not escape the storm. It simply uses the storm to lift it higher. It rises on the winds that bring the storm. When the storms of life come upon us - and all of us will experience them - we can rise above them by setting our minds and our belief toward God. The storms do not have to overcome us. We can allow God's power to lift us above them. God enables us to ride the winds of the storm that bring sickness, tragedy, failure and disappointment in our lives. We can soar above the storm. Moral of the story- Remember, it is not the burdens of life that weigh us down, it is how we handle them

O nce a huge oak tree stood on the bank of a river. It was well nourished by the water of the river. Naturally, it was very strong and had a thick stem. Just nearby, grew some reeds with thin but flexible stems. They stood almost half in water and had flourished well too. One day, strong winds blew. The tree, though huge and strong, broke from the middle and was thrown across the stream just among the reeds. On the other hand, the tree was very surprised to see that the reeds suffered no harm at all. The oak could not make out the reason of the safety of the reeds and asked them, "How is it that, you being frail and slender, managed to face the gale without any harm. But I, strong enough, have been broken." The reeds replied, "You were proud of your strength and refused to bend. So, you broke while we bowed and yielded to the gale and were spared." Moral of the story - BETTER BENT THAN BROKEN 

A n elderly carpenter was ready to retire. He told his employer-contractor of his plans to leave the house-building business to live a more leisurely life with his wife and enjoy his extended family. He would miss the paycheck each week, but he wanted to retire. They could get by. The contractor was sorry to see his good worker go & asked if he could build just one more house as a personal favor. The carpenter said yes, but over time it was easy to see that his heart was not in his work. He resorted to shoddy workmanship and used inferior materials. It was an unfortunate way to end a dedicated career. When the carpenter finished his work, his employer came to inspect the house. Then he handed the front-door key to the carpenter and said, "This is your house... my gift to you." The carpenter was shocked! What a shame! If he had only known he was building his own house, he would have done it all so differently. Moral of the story So it is with us. We build our liv...

O nce there was a bee-keeper who had developed a good apiary. He used to take good care of the bees and they gathered a lot of honey in the hives. Once the bee-keeper went to the market for some urgent work. The bees had also gone to collect honey and the apiary was left unguarded. Unfortunately, a thief came there and broke into the apiary. Seeing no one over there, he stole all the honey and made for his house. When the bee-keeper returned, he was upset to see all the bee-hives empty. Just then the bees returned with more honey in their mouth. Seeing their hives overturned, they assumed the bee-keeper as the robber as he was standing very much there. So, they attacked him and stung him hard. The bee-keeper cried, "You should have spotted the thief before punishing me."   Moral of the story- SPOT YOUR FOE BEFORE YOU HIT 

" A son and his father were walking on the mountains. Suddenly, his son falls, hurts himself and screams: "AAAhhhhhhhhhhh!!!" To his surprise, he hears the voice repeating, somewhere in the mountain: "AAAhhhhhhhhhhh!!!" Curious, he yells: "Who are you?" He receives the answer: "Who are you?" And then he screams to the mountain: "I admire you!" The voice answers: "I admire you!" Angered at the response, he screams: "Coward!" He receives the answer: "Coward!" He looks to his father and asks: "What's going on?" The father smiles and says: "My son, pay attention." Again the man screams: "You are a champion!" The voice answers: "You are a champion!" The boy is surprised, but does not understand. Then the father explains: "People call this ECHO, but really this is LIFE. It gives you back everything you say or do. Our life is simply a reflect...

E very creature, be it animals or human-beings, have some good and some bad points in itself. Once there was a weasel that lived near a house. The owner of the house had a poultry farm and obviously there were a large number of hens. So, the weasel could always get a good meal. He used to feed on all insects present in the house like mice, lizards and other small insects. And if he got none, he would sneak away with some fowl or steal away the owner's meat. The owner of the house decided to catch the weasel and kill it and one day he was able to lay hand on it. He was about to kill it when it begged, "Spare me, Sir! I am so useful to you. I clear your home of all the harmful insects. The man said, "I agree with what you say. But the harm you do me is much more than the good you do me. You steal away with my fowls and eat them up. Moreover, steal my meat to enjoy it among the bushes. So, you must be punished and die here and now." Moral of the story - KEEP YO...

A young and successful executive was traveling down a neighborhood street, going a bit too fast in his new Jaguar. He was watching for kids darting out from between parked cars and slowed down when he thought he saw something. As his car passed, no children appeared. Instead, a brick smashed into the Jag's side door! He slammed on the brakes and drove the Jag back to the spot where the brick had been thrown. The angry driver then jumped out of the car, grabbed the nearest kid and pushed him up against a parked car, shouting, "What was that all about and who are you? Just what the heck are you doing? That's a new car and that brick you threw is going to cost a lot of money. Why did you do it?" The young boy was apologetic. "Please mister ... please, I'm sorry... I didn't know what else to do," he pleaded. "I threw the brick because no one else would stop..." With tears dripping down his face and off his chin, the youth pointed to a s...

O nce there was a farmer who owned a large garden with variety of fruit-trees. But one mango tree got barren. Though, it no longer had any fruits, it provided shelter to many birds. Finding the mango tree useless, farmer decided to fell it. The moment, he was about to cut the tree with his axe, the birds living on the tree begged him, "Spare this tree, sir! If you fell it, we will become homeless and have to go elsewhere. Moreover, it will deprive you of our merry notes when you are here at work." But the farmer turned a deaf-ear to the plea of the birds and struck at the tree with his axe. A few strokes of axe discovered a hollow in the tree-stem containing a large honey-comb inside it. Delighted at his find, the farmer thought in his mind, "This tree is really worth keeping. If not mangoes, then honey can make me money. So, I must not fell it." The farmer was very clever. Finding the tree to be useless, he decided to get rid of it but the moment he came ...

A farmer had some puppies he needed to sell. He painted a sign advertising the pups and set about Nailing it to a post on the edge of his yard. As he was driving the last nail into the post, he Felt a tug on his overalls. He looked down into the Eyes of a little boy. Mister," he said, "I want to buy one of your puppies." "Well," said the farmer, as he rubbed the sweat off the back of his neck, "these puppies come from fine parents and cost a good deal of money." The boy dropped his head for a moment. Then reaching deep into his pocket, he pulled out a handful of change and held it up to the farmer. "I've got thirty-nine cents. Is that enough to take a look?" "Sure," said the farmer. And with that he let out a whistle,"Here,Dolly!" he called. Out from the doghouse and down the ramp ran Dolly followed by four little balls of fur. The little boy pressed his face against the chain link fence. His eyes danced with...

O nce a flock of sheep was grazing in a field of grass. Suddenly, a deer came there and began grazing there. Some sheep saw it and began to bleat. Hearing his bleat, the shepherd got alert and looked at the flock closely. Seeing the deer, he went up to it and lifted it in his arms. He then carried it to a butcher. The deer seeing that it's death was near started barking out of terror and struggled to be free. The sheep saw the deer making a fuss and rebuked it saying, "Why this to-do, after all? Our master often catches us like that and drags us off too. But we never make any fuss. " The deer replied, "You don't know what this to-do is for? Your master catches you only for wool but I have been caught for my flesh." Never make light of the danger others are in   Moral of the story- NEVER DISPARAGE OTHERS DANGERS 

J upiter, the chief of gods, was getting married. He decided to celebrate the event by hosting a reception. He invited all the animals living on land and in water to attend the banquet. All the animals came to attend the feast but the tortoise didn't come. Jupiter was surprised at his absence. After few days, Jupiter came across the tortoise and asked him, "Why didn't you attend the banquet held in honour of my marriage? Were you all right?" The tortoise retorted, "I am a stay-at-home type of an animal and never care to attend petty affairs. Why should I trouble myself when there is no place like home?" Though, the tortoise said something very true, but the way he said it was very hurting. Jupiter felt pinched and cursed the tortoise, "Now, you will always carry your home on your back and never be able to unload it." Till today, every tortoise carries his home with him. Moral of the story- SAY THE TRUTH BUT DON'T HURT ANYONE'S F...

O nce upon a time three sons were engaged in merchantile business under the supervision of their father. They were very rich. Each son was proficient in his own department. If one was good in sales, the other one was competent in purchases and similarly the third one in finance. Unluckily, one day the father got bed ridden and the sons decided to divide the business under the fallacy that each of them were experts in their own way and can handle their individual business solely. The father was glum and grumpy with their decision but was helpless and unfortunately the separation took place. As a result three of them became each other's competitors. With the passage of time, they started having huge losses in their respective businesses. They tried all possible ways to succeed but the situation became worse. Then they came to their father for a piece of advice. The father said "when you all were doing the business jointly, the business ran successfully. But it was no...

R obert got a job in a landlord's house. Once, a landlord's friend came to his house. The landlord called Robert and asked him to bring his binocular. Robert quickly went to the landlord's room and brought the binocular. After the friend left, the landlord called Robert and scolded, "You should have asked me which binocular to bring, the one from England or the one from London. It would signify how rich I am." Robert nodded his head. Few days later, another friend of the landlord came to his house. The friend saw a lion skin and asked the landlord who had killed it. The landlord said that it was his father. The landlord then called Robert and asked him to bring his father's photograph.  At this Robert asked, "Which one sir- one of England or one of London?" Moral of the Story- Variety is in our foolishness

O ne day, Peter's father gave him money to buy a clock from the market. So, he went to a showroom and bought a beautiful clock. When he got back home, it was 12 o'clock in the afternoon. So, one hand of the clock was over the other. The whole family including Peter thought that the shopkeeper had given him a defective piece. So, he went to the shop for replacement. By that time, two hands had been separated and were visible. When Peter realized his folly, he felt embarrassed and returned home. When his family members came to know about their foolishness, they also felt very embarrassed. Moral of the story - wait for experimenting things not known

A certain man planted a rose and watered it faithfully and before it blossomed, he examined it. He saw the bud that would soon blossom, but noticed thorns upon the stem and he thought, "How can any beautiful flower come from a plant burdened with so many sharp thorns? Saddened by this thought, he neglected to water the rose, and just before it was ready to bloom... it died. Moral of the story -  So it is with many people. Within every soul there is a rose. The God-like qualities planted in us at birth, grow amid the thorns of our faults. Many of us look at ourselves and see only the thorns, the defects. We despair, thinking that nothing good can possibly come from us. We neglect to water the good within us, and eventually it dies. We never realize our potential. Some people do not see the rose within themselves; someone else must show it to them. One of the greatest gifts a person can possess is to be able to reach past the thorns of another, and find the rose within th...

P eter shifted to a new house with his parents. The neighbours told them that the house was haunted but the family didn't believe them. One day, when Peter was sleeping in his room, he heard some noises from the next room. He got scared and shouted in fear. His parents quickly came to his rescue. Peter told them that there was a ghost in the other room. When they went there, they saw a mouse running here and there. Seeing this Peter laughed and his parents made him understand that there is nothing like ghosts in this world. Moral of the story - the ghost is actually the mouse

T he Pencil Maker took the pencil aside, just before putting him into the box. "There are 5 things you need to know," he told the pencil, "Before I send you out into the world. Always remember them and never forget, and you will become the best pencil you can be." "One: You will be able to do many great things, but only if you allow yourself to be held in Someone's hand." "Two: You will experience a painful sharpening from time to time, but you'll need it to become a better pencil." "Three: You will be able to correct any mistakes you might make." "Four: The most important part of you will always be what's inside." "And Five: On every surface you are used on, you must leave your mark. No matter what the condition, you must continue to write." The pencil understood and promised to remember, and went into the box with purpose in its heart. Now replacing the place of the pencil with you. ...

O ne day, Ricky's dog got seriously ill. So, he took it to a veterinary doctor. The doctor examined the dog and declared it to be dead. Ricky felt very sad and asked the doctor, "Doctor, are you sure that my dog is dead? Kindly perform some tests and confirm it to me." The doctor agreed and asked his assistant to bring a cat. The cat sniffed the dog and went to the other room without any reaction. Thus, it was confirmed that the dog was dead. When Ricky asked for the bill, the doctor demanded two hundred dollars. When Ricky asked why the bill was so high, the doctor replied, "Cat scan is really very costly." Moral of the story- THE CAT SCAN is costly

A story tells that two friends were walking through the desert. During some point of the journey they had an argument, and one friend slapped the other one in the face. The one who got slapped was hurt, but without saying anything, wrote in the sand: "TODAY MY BEST FRIEND SLAPPED ME IN THE FACE." They kept on walking until they found an oasis, where they decided to take a bath. The one, who had been slapped, got stuck in the mire and started drowning, but the friend saved him. After the friend recovered from the near drowning, he wrote on a stone: "TODAY MY BEST FRIEND SAVED MY LIFE." The friend who had slapped and saved his best friend asked him, "After I hurt you, you wrote in the sand and now, you write on a stone, why?" The other friend replied: "When someone hurts us, we should write it down in sand where winds of forgiveness can erase it away. But, when someone does something good for us, we must engrave it in stone where no wind can ...

O nce there were two sisters named Annie and Jenny. One day they were cycling. Suddenly, Annie lost her balance and fell down and started crying. Jenny helped her in getting up and took her home. At home, their mother bandaged her and asked their father to take Annie to a doctor for a tetanus injection. On hearing the name of injection, Annie immediately went to the kitchen and took out an apple from the refrigerator. Just then Jenny came into the kitchen and asked Annie whether she was scared of injection. At this Annie replied, "Yes, I am afraid of injection. That's why I am eating this apple. Didn't our teacher say that an apple away keeps the doctor away?"   Moral of the story - KEEPING THE DOCTOR AWAY 

A young man was getting ready to graduate from college. For many months he had admired a beautiful sports car in a dealer's showroom, and knowing his father could well afford it, he told him that was all he wanted. As Graduation Day approached, the young man awaited signs that his father had purchased the car. Finally, on the morning of his graduation, his father called him into his private study. His father told him how proud he was to have such a fine son, and told him how much he loved him. He handed his son a beautifully wrapped gift box. Curious, but somewhat disappointed, the young man opened the box and found a lovely, leather-bound Bible, with the young man's name embossed in gold. Angry, he raised his voice to his father and said "With all your money, you give me a Bible?" and stormed out of the house, leaving the Bible. Many years passed and the young man was very successful in business. He had a beautiful home and wonderful family, but realized h...

O nce a pair of oxen was yoked to a cart that was heavily loaded. They were exerting hard to draw it without complaining against the heavy load. But as they heaved at the card, its axle began to creak aloud. It went on groaning terribly at a stretch. The oxen couldn't make out why the axle was doing so. The oxen tried to divert their attention from the axle's creak, but its bitter groan didn't cut down at all. So, they were feeling highly irritated. At last the oxen stopped, turned their necks and said to the axle angrily, "Why are you crying like that when you are doing no work at all. It's we who are drawing the heavy cart and still not complaining. So, you better shut up and follow us silently."   Moral of the story- LEAST SUFFERERS COMPLAIN MOST 

O nce there were three trees on a hill in the woods. They were discussing their hopes and dreams when the first tree said, "Someday I hope to be a treasure chest. I could be filled with gold, silver and precious gems. I could be decorated with intricate carving and everyone would see the beauty." Then the second tree said, "Someday I will be a mighty ship. I will take kings and queens across the waters and sail to the corners of the world. Everyone will feel safe in me because of the strength of my hull." Finally the third tree said, "I want to grow to be the tallest and straightest tree in the forest. People will see me on top of the hill and look up to my branches, and think of the heavens and God and how close to them I am reaching. I will be the greatest tree of all time and people will always remember me." After a few years of praying that their dreams would come true, a group of woodsmen came upon the trees. When one came to the first tree he...

I t was hot summer. A lion went to a pool to drink water. Just then a pig also came there to quench his thirst. Both of them wanted to drink first. They looked at each other with blood-shot eyes and attacked each other with so much anger that soon they started bleeding. Feeling tired, both stopped for a while to be fresh. Suddenly, they heard the screams of vultures. They saw that a large number of vultures were looking at them with longing eyes. In no time, both the beasts understood that the vultures were waiting for one of them to be killed by the other so that they might feed on his dead body. So both of them became friends, quenched their thirst and went away. Thus, their friendship saved their lives. Moral of the Story - FRIENDSHIP IS A STRONG WEAPON