The Man and His Two Sweethearts

A middle-aged man, whose hair had begun to turn gray, courted two women at the same time. One of them was young, and the other well advanced in years. The elder woman, ashamed to be courted by a man younger than herself, made a point, whenever her admirer visited her, to pull out some portion of his black hair. The younger, on the contrary, not wishing to become the wife of an old man, was equally zealous in removing every gray hair she could find. Thus a time came when he had no hair at all on his head. 

Moral: Those who seek to please everybody please nobody.

A Tip

Back in the '30s, in the days when an ice cream sundae cost much less, a 10 years old boy entered a hotel coffee shop and sat at a table. A waitress put a glass of water in front of him.

"How much is an ice cream sundae?" the little boy asked.

"Fifty cents," replied the waitress.

The little boy pulled his hand out of his pocket and started to count the coins he had. "Well, how much is a plain dish of ice cream?" he inquired.

By now, more people were waiting for a table and the waitress was growing very impatient. "Thirty-five cents," she brusquely replied.

The little boy counted his coins again. "I'll have the plain ice cream," he said.

The waitress brought the ice cream, put the bill on the table and walked away. The boy finished the ice cream, paid the cashier and left. When the waitress came back, she began to cry. As she wiped down the table, there placed neatly beside the empty dish were two nickels and five pennies. He couldn't have the sundae because he had to have enough money to leave her a tip.

The Goatherd and the Wild Goats

One cold stormy day a goatherd drove his goats for shelter into a cave, where a number of wild goats had also found their way. The goatherd wanted to make the wild goats a part of his flock; so he fed them well. But to his own flock, he gave only just enough food to keep them alive. When the weather cleared, and the goatherd led the goats out to feed, the wild goats scampered off to the hills.

“Is that the thanks I get for feeding you and treating you so well?” complained the goatherd.

“Do not expect us to join your flock,” replied one of the wild goats. “We know how you will treat us later if some new strangers should come as we did.”

-Based on Aesop' fable

The Power of Investment

One day, a man got lost walking in the desert. The next day, he was still lost. After two days under the scorching sun, he was very thirsty. All of a sudden, he saw a little wooden shed. He ran to it, thinking of only one thing - Water! When he arrived there, he saw an old, rusty water pump sticking from the ground. He gripped the handle and began pumping like a mad man. But nothing came out. Disappointed, he stepped back and thought about how to make it work. Looking around, he saw a jug covered with dust. When he grabbed it, he saw a piece of paper stuck on it. The message read, “Open this jug and you’ll find water. Don’t drink it. Pour it instead on the pump and you’ll have all the water you want.”

He popped the cork.

True enough, the jug was filled with water - lovely, thirst-quenching water.

The thirsty man had not drunk water for two whole days. His mouth was so dry; his tongue was sticking to the roof of his mouth. He was literally dying of thirst. And he was now holding a jug full of water. But the message said that he should throw it away!

For a moment, his heart was torn. 

What if the message was a joke? A cruel prank? What if he poured the water on that rusty pump and nothing happened?

But the man chose to take the risk.

He closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and poured the water. He held the handle and pumped like crazy. A few seconds later, torrents of water gushed out. Indeed, he had more water than he could ever need!

He drank to his heart content. He also found water containers to take with him in his journey and filled them up to the brim. But before leaving the place, he filled the jug with water and underneath the sign attached to it, he scribbled, “I tried it. Believe me, it works." 

The Oxen and The Butchers

Once all the oxen gathered and decided to attack the butchers, for they were the ones who slaughtered the oxen. The oxen sharpened their horns to attack the butchers. At that time, a wise old ox said, "It's not a good idea to hurt the butchers. True that the butchers slaughter us, but they do it skillfully. Even if we kill all the butchers, men will not stop killing us for beef. In that case untrained killers will kill us, which will be much more painful."

-Based on Aesop's fable