A cat and a dog lived together with a family. The cat was kind and loved her home, but the dog was a trickster. He did not like the cat and was always trying to get rid of her.

One day, the dog saw the family putting boxes into their car. He did not know they were moving. He thought they were just going somewhere for the day.

Then he got an idea.

“My dear Cat,” said the dog, pretending to be nice. “Why don’t you hide in the back of the car? Then you can go with the family wherever they are going.”

The cat thought this sounded fun, so she climbed into

the car and hid behind some blankets.

The dog smiled. His trick had worked.

Then the dog hid too. He wanted the family to leave without him so he could finally be free.

Before leaving, the family searched everywhere for the cat and dog. The little boy was very sad when he could not find them.

“Goodbye, Dog and Cat,” he cried. “I’ll miss you.”

Then the family drove away.

“Yes!” shouted the dog. “I’m finally free!”

But later, the cat popped out from behind the blankets. The family was so happy to find her, and she went with them to their new home.

Back at the old house, the dog quickly learned that being alone was not so great. He was hungry, cold, and missed his family.

“They’ll come back tomorrow,” he thought.

But they never did.

That was when the dog realized the truth. His trick had saved the cat, while he had been left behind.

Moral: A trick meant to hurt someone else can sometimes hurt you instead.

There once lived a lemon known as the Sour Lemon. He had a hard life, and many fruits had treated him badly. Because of this, he became sour and harsh and pushed away anyone who was kind to him.

One day, Sweet Grape came walking down the road.

“Hello, Sour Lemon! My name is Sweet Grape. Would you like to be friends?”

“Go away!” snapped Sour Lemon. “I have no need for friends.”

“All right,” said Sweet Grape. “Have a wonderful day.”

That night, Sour Lemon could not sleep. He thought about how lonely he was and how Sweet Grape had been

kind to him.

The next morning, he went looking for her, but she was gone.

Sour Lemon told his mother what had happened.

“My Sour Lemon,” she said, “some actions cannot be undone. Do not push away kindness when it comes to you.”

From that day on, Sour Lemon tried to be a little less sour.

Moral: Do not push away kindness, or one day you may wish you had accepted it.

One day, a hungry fox came out of the forest and spotted a beautiful, fat chicken.

“My sweet dear Chicken,” said the clever fox, “would you like to come into my forest and pick berries with me? We have the sweetest berries you could ever imagine.”

The chicken knew this was a trick. She also knew the hungry fox would not give up easily.

“My dear Fox, what a wonderful idea! Sadly, I cannot come. But I have berries right here that may be even sweeter than yours.”

The chicken found some poisonous red berries near her fence.

“Come closer,” she said. “Try one, Fox. You look quite hungry.”

The fox, thinking he had tricked the chicken, quickly ate one.

Soon his stomach began to hurt.

“Ugh! I feel sick. I don't even feel hungry anymore!”

Later that day, the fox died from the poisonous berry.

The chicken had beaten the clever fox at his own game.

Moral: Those who try to trick others may find themselves tricked instead.

There once were twin ravens who were separated when they were very young. One went to live in the city with their dear father, while the other lived in the country with their dear mother.

When the ravens turned sixteen, they decided it was finally time to meet. After some thinking, they chose to meet in the country.

The City Raven was quite rich and lived in a huge house near the center of the city. The Country Raven was poor and lived in a tiny house so far in the country that she could barely see the tops of the city buildings.

When the City Raven arrived, the sisters stared at each

other in amazement.

“My dear sister, we look exactly alike!” said the Country Raven.

“We certainly do!” laughed the City Raven.

They spent the whole day together. At first, the City Raven loved the peaceful fields and beautiful trees.

But that night, the Country Raven had no extra room, so her sister had to sleep on a pile of hay.

“This is terribly uncomfortable,” thought the City Raven. “There is no point in living in the country!”

The next morning, she invited her sister to visit the city.

As soon as the Country Raven arrived, she stared up at the enormous buildings, bright lights, and beautiful

houses.

“How wonderful the city is!” she cried.

That night, she slept in a huge, comfortable room in her sister’s house. But as she tried to sleep, she heard buzzing, honking, shouting, and all sorts of noises outside.

“Oh, this is far too much for me!” she thought. “I could never live in the city.”

The next morning, the sisters told each other how they felt.

“The country is the place for me,” said the Country Raven.

“And the city is the place for me,” said the City Raven.

“But we must visit each other sometimes!”

The sisters hugged goodbye, both happy to return to the homes they loved.

Moral: What is perfect for one may not be perfect for another.

There once were five zebras who wanted to create a great invention. Each zebra had a different idea, and each believed his idea was the best.

“My dear zebras,” said their leader, “we must choose one idea and one idea only.”

At once, the zebras began arguing.

“My idea is better!”

“No, mine is!”

Soon their small disagreement became a terrible argument.

Then the smartest and most cunning zebra spoke.

“My fellow zebras, I have a solution. Why don’t each of

you tell us your idea? Then we can choose one and let everyone else create something different.”

The zebras agreed, not realizing they had been tricked.

One by one, they explained their ideas. The cunning zebra listened carefully and remembered every word.

The zebras then went their separate ways and spent years creating their inventions. Sadly, none of them worked very well.

But the cunning zebra secretly took the best parts of every zebra’s idea and combined them into one amazing invention.

A few years later, he returned as a very rich zebra.

“How did you create something so wonderful?” the

others asked.

The cunning zebra only smiled.

They finally realized that while they had been too busy arguing over whose idea was best, they had given all their ideas to the one zebra clever enough to use them together.

Moral: Be careful what you reveal, for a clever listener may make better use of your ideas than you do.