1. Short Stories onOHS
1. A fir tree said boastingly to the bramble bush growing in its shade:
“You are useless. Nobody wants you. I am everywhere used for roofs and
houses. Men can’t do without me."
“You’re so right," said the bramble. “Here’s a man coming to you with an
axe, right now. Farewell."
2. A dog spotted a rabbit and started chasing him, but the rabbit got away.
Seeing this, a goat stopped to gloat.
"Too fast for you, wasn't he?" he sneered.
"Why are you surprised?" said the dog. "I was chasing him for fun; he was
running for his life."
3. Once upon a time, a king went on a tour of a neighbouring country. There,
he found that the land was fertile and rich crops stood in the fields. He
wished to own that beautiful and fertile country.
There was a rich man in the same country. He used to be too busy to go out
for a walk or joyride. He had a vast business, scores of servants and a big
house to live in. He also set out on that day for sight seeing and saw a very
beautiful palace.
The rich man thought, “What a beautiful palace! Its pillars are works of
some great artist. I wish I were the owner of this palace too!"
A beautiful princess lived in that very palace. On that day she was standing
at her window. Down below, a handsome Youngman riding his horse passed
by. The princess saw him and she wished to marry that Youngman.
A dog also lived in that palace. It used to see other dogs run freely around
on the road. It also wished for freedom to roam and run around outside like
other dogs.
A cat sat in the verandah basking in the winter sun. She was enjoying the
warmth. Just then she saw a mouse run by. The cat ran after it. But the rat
dodged it and dashed into its hole. Cat sighed, ‘I wish I had caught the rat
to eat it lazily under the warm sun!"
The rat ran into the kitchen and saw loads of colourful sweetmeats behind
the glass panels of the shelves. It drooled and wished to eat those lovely
treats.
2. On that day a very kind fairy was passing through the sky of that place. She
heard all those six wishes. She thought, "let us grant all these creatures
their wishes and make them happy ‘ And so she did.
After granting wishes, the fairy went back to her fairyland. Sometime later
the fairy happened to pass over the same place. She was shocked to find
the creatures she had granted wishes no happier then before. In fact they
were troubled by more desires.
The king wanted to own more kingdoms. The rich man desired more money
and palaces. The princess desired many things for the future of her husband
and child. The dog wanted to return to the palace. The cat wanted more rats
to eat. Only the rat did not suffer from more desires after eating the
sweetmeats. Because as the result of the cat's wish it had gone into cat's
belly. The death had ended all its desires.
The fairy now realised that a living creature keeps giving birth to new
desires all the time It never ends till its death. She gave up the idea of
granting any mere wishes to anyone. And the fairy flew away on her
journey.
4. Once there lived a family of ducks that consisted of Mrs. and Mr. Duck and
their six ducklings. The last of the ducklings named Sam was a very active
and energetic one. When he was just a few days old he had accidentally
fallen into the pond nearby and had almost drowned. Sam had to be rescued
by his mother for he was too weak to swim. Ever since then Sam refused to
get into the water and while all his brothers and sisters swam around and
had fun, Sam would watch from the banks and not go into the pond.
No amount of persuasion helped and Sam was happy chasing the butterflies
and playing with his friends, baby rabbit and baby tortoise. Mrs. Duck was
very worried about Sam and asked his friends the rabbit and tortoise to
persuade him to try swimming. But Sam was adamant and refused to go
swimming like all the others in the family.
One day the three friends were playing around with a wood apple and
having a rollicking time. Suddenly baby rabbit tripped and fell into the pond.
It did not know how to swim and was struggling to stay afloat. Alarmed on
seeing this, baby tortoise quickly slipped into the pond to save baby rabbit.
Fear gripped Sam as he quacked loudly calling others for help. But no one
seemed to be around.
Love for his friends overcame his fear of water and without a second thought
Sam quickly jumped into the water to lend a helping hand to baby tortoise
to pull baby rabbit out of the water.
The two of them managed to pull baby rabbit out and heaved a sigh of relief
that he was safe. It was only then that Sam realized that he had actually not
drowned and had indeed saved his friend’s life by swimming excellently.
3. Sam realized that all along his fear of water had been unfounded and he had
allowed one bad experience to block his mind. The three friends cried out in
joy and danced in celebration. When Mrs. Duck came to know of it she was
extremely happy that her son had at last got over his fear of the water.
5. Long ago in China, at a time when girls were expected to stay at home and
learn household work while the boys went to school, a girl named Zhu
conceived a desire to study.
Her family was wealthy and Zhu was pampered but her father did not want
to go against tradition. When she pestered him he told her if she got
admission into a school he would not stop her from studying. He was
confident that no school would admit a girl.
But Zhu was resourceful. She disguised herself as a boy and managed to get
admission into a school in the city of Hangzhou, where her aunt lived.
Every morning she would put on her disguise and go to school.
There was a boy named Liang in her class. The two were drawn to each
other, and in course of time became good friends. As the months and the
years passed they became inseparable companions, and Zhu realized that
she was in love.
She wanted to stay with Liang the rest of her life. She thought of a plan.
She told Liang that when they finished school, and he had got a job he
should come to her house and ask her father for her sister’s hand.
Liang readily agreed. He too did not want to lose Zhu. If he married her
sister they could continue to meet.
After finishing school, Liang lost no time in taking up a job, and when he had
saved enough to get married he hastened to Zhu’s house.
Zhu saw him coming, and was overjoyed. It was a year since they had
parted and she had missed him terribly. Unable to restrain herself she
rushed out shouting, “I’m your friend, as you can see I’m a girl, I cannot live
without you!"
Liang was dazed by the revelation, but soon recovered and caught Zhu in a
warm embrace. Suddenly everything had fallen into place. Now he knew
why he had felt such a strong love for Zhu.
Zhu took him to her father who listened attentively to what Liang had to
say, but when the young man asked for Zhu’s hand, he shook his head
We thinkwe couldhelpthisprojectbecause we are veryexperience increatingshortstories
and we couldhelpdeveloping the awarenessof differenttypesof texts. Alongthe course the
analysesof differenttextswill contribute tothe knowingof differentculturesandmoral
standers.
