The Lion and the Mouse

In one of the forests, there lived a lion. One day, the lion had a heavy meal and fell asleep under a tree. After falling into a deep sleep, a mouse came and began playing on top of the lion. Suddenly, the lion woke up in great anger and looked for what was disturbing his beautiful sleep. He found a small mouse trembling with fear. The lion pounced on him and tried to kill him. The mouse asked the lion to forgive him. The lion felt pity and let him go. The mouse then ran far away from the lion.

One day, the lion was caught by a hunter’s net. The mouse came to help the lion and tore the net with his teeth. Thus, the mouse saved the lion, and they became friends, living together happily in the forest.

The City Mouse and the Country Mouse

The city mouse and the country mouse were friends. One day, the country mouse invited his friend to come and meet him at his home in the field. The city mouse came and they had dinner together, eating barley and plants that had a different country flavor. The taste of the food was not to the city mouse’s liking, so he shouted at his friend, saying: “My dear poor friend, you live here like an ant. You must see what I eat in the city, where there is every delicious food. So you must come and live with me, and I promise you will live a better life than here.”

When the two friends returned to the city, the country mouse went with him and showed him the pantry where he ate from. It contained flour, oats, figs, honey, and dates.

The country mouse had never seen anything like this, so he sat down to enjoy the quantities his friend had provided. But before they could begin eating the food with care, someone opened the pantry door. The two friends were frightened and rushed to hide inside a narrow, uncomfortable hole. After a while, the atmosphere became quiet and everything was still. They ventured to come out of the hole again, but someone else opened the pantry, and they were forced to enter the hole a second time. This was exhausting for the country mouse, so he said to his friend: “Goodbye, I’m leaving. You live in luxury, I can see that, but you’re surrounded by dangers. In the country, I can enjoy a dinner that’s not as fancy as your food, but I eat roots and corn in peace. Living in peace is better than eating the finest food.”

The Wise Frog

Deep within a forest, there was a pond where many fish, crabs, and frogs lived. They lived a happy and safe life. Among them were two beautiful fish named Biata and Patti. They were larger than the other fish swimming in the pond and were very proud of their distinctive appearance and intelligence.

In the same pond lived a frog with his wife named Frogy. The fish and frogs were close friends and lived together a quiet life. But one day, two fishermen were returning from the river in the forest after fishing. They passed by the pond. It was late in the evening, and as usual, all the fish and frogs were playing together. Biata, Patti, Frogy, and others joined the game, jumping high in the air and chasing each other. When the fishermen saw this beautiful scene, they were amazed and stopped walking.

  • One fisherman said: “How beautiful the fish and frogs look!”
  • The other said: “Yes, and there are many of them too.”
  • The first fisherman said: “The pond doesn’t seem deep to me. Let’s catch some of them.”
  • The second fisherman said: “It’s already late, and we have many heavy items to carry over long distances. Let’s return tomorrow and catch some of them.”

Frogy turned to the fish in the pond and said to them: “Didn’t you hear what the fishermen said? We must leave this pond and go to a safer place.” Patti said to him: “Just because two fishermen said they would return tomorrow to catch us, you want us to leave our pond and flee? They might not return, and even if they do come to catch us, I know a thousand tricks to escape from them.”

Biata added: “Even if I fail at a thousand ways, I know a hundred different ways to escape. We won’t let the fishermen take us away from our pond. I’ll make an agreement with everyone in the pond.” Then Frogy said: “I know only one trick, and that is leaving the place before any danger happens.” Frogy and his wife then left the pond to look for a safer place. All the fish, crabs, and frogs laughed as they left.

The next day, the fishermen returned to the pond and threw their net to catch them. Biata and Patti screamed. Biata said: “This net is very thick for me to tear through.” Then Patti shouted: “As for me, I don’t know how to tear it either. I’m just trying to get out of it now, and I can’t do anything else.” They started screaming, saying: “We should have listened to Frogy. Now we’re all doomed to be caught.”

The fishermen caught them all and put all the fish, frogs, and crabs inside a large basket and took them far away. Frogy turned around, hiding behind a rock with his wife, and said to her: “If we hadn’t escaped in time, we would be with them in that basket too.”

The Wise Crab

A sad man lived near a large lake. He used to catch fish and eat it, but he grew old and could no longer catch fish as he used to. He went without food for several consecutive days.

He said to himself: “I must find a plan, otherwise I won’t live long.” The sad man thought and said: “I must find a clever plan.” He then sat by the water, depressed and confused.

In the same lake lived a friendly and wise crab. The crab noticed that this man looked sad and asked him: “Why do you look depressed, my friend?”

The man answered with a sad voice: “What can I say? Something terrible is about to happen to me.”

The crab asked with anticipation and fear: “What is this matter?”

The man said: “When I was on my way here this morning, I heard an astrologer say that no rain will fall in these regions for the next twelve years. As a result, the lake will dry up and we will all die. I am old, so it doesn’t matter if my life ends, but all of you are still very young and have much of life to see and enjoy.”

The crab hurriedly went to the fish in the lake and told them what he had heard from the sad man. They were all afraid and asked the crab: “What should we do?”

The sad man said to them: “There is a very large lake at a distance from our lake. I can take you all there, one after another.”

All the fish felt relieved and agreed to this proposal to be transported to the larger lake one by one.

Every day, the sad man would transport the fish one by one, carrying each one very carefully between his hands. But instead of taking them to the alleged lake, he would put them on a rock at a distance and eat them. Then he would rest until evening and return to the lake in the morning.

After a few days, the crab asked the man: “When will you take me to the lake with my friends?”

The sad man said to himself: “I’m tired of eating fish. Crab meat might be a nice change.”

The man agreed to take the crab to the other lake, but the crab was large, so the sad man couldn’t carry him. So the crab climbed onto the man’s back and they began the journey. After a while, the crab got bored and asked the man: “How far is the lake?”

The man laughed and said to him: “You fool, I’m not going to take you to any lake. I’m going to eat you on that rock, just as I did with all those fish.”

The crab said: “I’m not foolish enough to let you kill me.” The crab then grabbed the sad man’s neck with his strong claws and strangled the evil man to death.