Labh Lakshmi

Once, the people of The City invited Mulla Nasruddin to deliver a khutba.

When he got on the minbar (pulpit), he found the audience was not very enthusiastic, so he asked “Do you know what I am going to say?”

The audience replied “No”, so he announced “I have no desire to speak to people who don’t even know what I will be talking about” and he left.

The people felt embarrassed and called him back again the next day.

Once again he asked the same question – “Do you know what I am going to say?”

A bird Lily was flying home one evening. After a lot of effort she had finally found a delicious worm. It was late evening and her young ones would be waiting eagerly for their dinner. Suddenly Lily heard a shrill scream. It was Mr. Ant, calling out for help. He had fallen into a stream and was struggling to keep afloat.
Lily flew down to see if she could help Mr. Ant. She realized that she could save him. All she had to do was throw Mr. Ant a lifeline and haul him up to safety. But if she opened her beak to pick up a string, the hard-found worm would fall out. Besides it was getting late. On the other hand, if she left Mr. Ant in the stream, he would surely die.

Lily was in a dilemma now. She had to feed her starving babies, still she chould not let Mr. Ant die in front her. So in an instant she made the decision. She put the worm down broke a leaf from the nearest tree and placed it in the water nearest to Mr.Ant so that the ant could climb onto the leaf. Next she flapped her wings to guide the leaf to the shore. On reaching the shore Mr.Ant thanked Lily and promised that he would help her, if any need ever arised. Lily thought ‘what could a ant ever help her in’. However she politely smiled at Mr.Ant and flew away to find food for her starving babies. Many days later a hunter came to the forest. He saw Lily sleeping in her nest with her babies. He started to climb the tree to catch Lily. Mr. Ant was walking along when he saw the hunter climbing the tree to catch Lily. He ran up the tree and bit the leg of the hunter. The pain in the leg made the hunter scream, miss his footing and he fell down the tree. The commotion meanwhile aroused Lily who looked down to see a hunter slowly cursing and limping away. Mrs. Owl who lived in the next tree told Lily about the whole incident. Lily went to Mr.Ant and thanked him and praised him for his bravery. Mr.Ant told Lily that he was just repaying his debt for saving his life earlier.

There was a rich merchant who had four wives. He loved the fourth wife the most and adorned her with rich robes and treated her to delicacies. He took great care of her and gave her nothing but the best.

He also loved the third wife very much. He’s very proud of her and always wanted to show off her to his friends. However, the merchant is always in great fear that she might run away with some other men.

एक धनवान को अपने पैसों पर बडा घमंड था. उसने अपने परिवार वालों के लिये दुनियां भर की सुविधायें जुटा रखी थी. उसके घर में वह सब कुछ था जो आरामतलब जिंदगी के लिये आवश्यक होता है. वह चाहता था कि उसने जो सुविधाये परिवार वालों को दी है, उन्हें लेकर उसकी तारीफ करे और अहसान माने. लेकिन उस धनवान का बेटा अपने पिता के धन का महत्त्व ही नहीं समझता था.