The red and blue coat
Once there were two boys who were great friends, and they were determined to remain that way forever. When they grew up and got married, they built their houses facing one another across a small path.
One day, a trickster from the village decided to fool them. He dressed himself in a two-colour coat that was divided down the middle. So, one side of the coat was red, and the other side was blue.
The trickster wore this coat and walked along the narrow path between the houses of the two friends. They were each working opposite each other in their fields. The trickster made enough noise as he passed them to make sure that each of them would look up and see him passing.
At the end of the day, one friend said to the other, "Wasn't that a beautiful red coat that man was wearing today?"
"No", the other replied. "It was a blue coat."
"I saw the man clearly as he walked between us!" said the first, "His coat was red."
"You are wrong!" said the other man, "I saw it too, and it was blue."
"I know what I saw!" insisted the first man. "The coat was red!"
"You don't know anything," the second man replied angrily. "It was blue!"
They kept arguing about this over and over, insulted each other, and eventually, they began to beat each other and roll around on the ground. Fighting, in other words!
Just then, the trickster returned and faced the two men, who were punching and kicking each other and shouting, "Our friendship is OVER!"
The trickster walked directly in front of them, and showed them his coat, laughing at their silly fight. The two friends saw that his coat was red on one side and blue on the other.
The two friends stopped fighting and screamed at the trickster saying, "We have lived side by side like brothers all our lives, and it is all your fault that we are fighting. You have started a war between us."
"Don't blame me for the battle," replied the trickster. "I did not make you fight. Both of you are wrong, and both of you are right. Yes, what each one of you saw was true. You are fighting because you only looked at my coat from your own point of view and didn’t consider the point of view of your friend."
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2:54
Hercules and the lazy man
Hercules and the lazy man
A man was once driving a heavy load along a very muddy way in a cart. Finally, he came to a part of the road where the wheels sank half-way into the mud, the more the horses pulled, the deeper the wheels sank. So, the man threw down his whip, knelt down, and prayed to Hercules the Strong. "Oh Hercules, help me out of this mess." He said. But Hercules appeared to him, and said:
"Tut, tut, man, don't lie there grovelling and begging for help. Get up and put your shoulder to the wheel! Help those horses with your own effort!"
And, the moral is.
The gods help those that help themselves.
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1:28
Aesop's Fables-The Dog and the Reflection.
The Dog and the Reflection.
A Dog had got a piece of meat and was carrying it home in his mouth so that he could eat it in peace. Now, on his way home he had to cross a plank of wood lying across a running brook(小溪). As he crossed, he looked down and saw his reflection in the water beneath(在水底下). Thinking it was another dog with another piece of meat, he made up his mind to have that meat as well as his own. So, he tried to snatch(一把抓起) the tasty morsel(一块食物) from the reflection in the water, but as he opened his mouth, the piece of meat he had fell out of his mouth and dropped into the water, never to be seen again.
And, the moral is.
Beware, in case you lose something real while desiring an illusion.在你渴望幻觉中的东西时,却失去了真实的东西
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1:45
Aesop's Fables- The Wind and the Sun
The Wind and the Sun
The Wind and the Sun were arguing over which of them was stronger. They saw a traveller coming along the road, and the Sun said: "I see a way to settle this argument. Whichever of us can cause that traveller to take off his cloak will be the stronger one. You begin."
So, the Sun hid behind a cloud, and the Wind began to blow as hard as it could upon the traveller. But the harder he blew the more closely the traveller wrapped his cloak around him, till at last the Wind had to give up in despair. Then the Sun came out and shone in all his glory upon the traveller, who soon found it too hot to walk with his cloak on, and so he took it off.
And, the moral is.
Kindness and gentleness are more effective than aggression and anger.
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2:03
The Man Who Never Lied
The Man Who Never Lied
Once upon a time there lived a wise man by the name of Mamad. He never lied. All the people in the land, even the ones who lived twenty days away, knew about him.
The king heard about Mamad and ordered his subjects to bring him to the palace. He looked at the wise man and asked:
" Mamad, is it true, that you have never lied?"
" It's true."
"And you will never lie in your life?"
" I'm sure of that."
"Okay, tell the truth, but be careful! The lie is cunning and it can get on a person’s tongue easily."
Several days passed and the king called Mamad once again. There was a big crowd: the king was about to go hunting. The king held his horse by the mane, his left foot was already on the stirrup.
"Go to my summer palace and tell the queen I will be with her for lunch tomorrow. Tell her to prepare a big feast. You will have lunch with me then." Commanded the King.
Mamad bowed down and went to tell the queen. Then the king laughed and said:
"We won't go hunting and now Mamad will lie to the queen. Tomorrow we will have a laugh at his expense."
But the wise Mamad went to the palace and said:
"Maybe you should prepare a big feast for lunch tomorrow, and maybe you shouldn't. Maybe the king will come by noon, and maybe he won't."
"Tell me will he come, or won't he?" - asked the queen.
"I don't know whether he put his right foot on the stirrup, or he put his left foot on the ground after I left."
Everybody waited for the king. He came the next day and said to the queen:
"The wise Mamad, who never lies, lied to you yesterday."
But the queen told him about the words of Mamad. And the king realized, that a wise person never lies, and says only that which is seen with their own eyes.
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