The Big Leap   
 
Two frogs fell into a deep pit, and though they tried very hard they could not hop out. Their comrades peered down from the top and croaked in sympathy.
"We feel for you," they shouted, " but there's no way you can get out from there!"
On hearing this, one of the frogs lost heart, and died of fear. The other frog was deaf. He thought his comrades were shouting encouragement. Emboldened by their faith in him, he gathered up all his reserves of energy in one great jump that landed him out of the pit.

Whining & Dining 
 
Mosquito spotted Iguana basking near the pond. She flew up to him and said, "Hey, Iguana, I just saw a farmer digging up potatoes that were as big as me!" Iguana was annoyed at being disturbed and snapped, "What's a mosquito compared to a potato? I'd rather be deaf than hear such nonsense!" And he stuck twigs in his ears and stomped off. When Python saw Iguana pass by, he said a friendly 'Hello'. Iguana seemed not to hear. "Iguana is angry," thought Python. "I better hide," and quickly slithered into Rabbit's hole.
Rabbit was so startled she jumped out of her burrow and hared away. Crow saw her and cawed loudly in alarm. Monkey heard Crow and leaped from branch to branch, shrieking disaster. Crack! A branch broke under Monkey's weight. It fell into Owl's nest, crushing one of her babies. When Owl returned, she was overcome by sorrow and stopped hooting. The Sun did not rise the next day as he depended on Owl's wake-up call.
Lion summoned all the animals. He asked Owl why she hadn't woken the Sun.
"Monkey killed my owlet," she said sadly. "I am in no mood to awaken the Sun."
When Monkey was questioned, the entire chain of events was revealed. It was Iguana who had caused all the trouble! Iguana, of course, didn't hear a thing because he still had twigs in his ears. Lion pulled them out, chuckling.
"Now, Iguana, what's all this? Python says you snubbed him this morning."
"What! I never…I never even heard him!"stuttered Iguana."It was Mosquito! She narrated a tall tale that spoiled my whole morning!"
When Owl heard they'd found the culprit, she let out a loud hoot. The Sun rose and the animals cheered.
"That's better!" said Lion. "But where is Mosquito? She must be punished!" All the animals looked around eagerly. But Mosquito was nowhere to be found. She had been eavesdropping all the while and felt so wretched, she dared not show her face. To this day, she suffers a guilty conscience. She buzzes and whines in people's ears, even as she dines on their blood: "Zeeee, zeeee…Is everyone still angry with me?"
And an irritated slap is all she gets for an answer!

— Adapted from an African folktale retold by Verna Aardema. This story was made into a 9-minute animation film in 1984 and is used in classroom projects all over the USA.

Tiger's Cub  
 
A magician was demonstrating his tricks at a country fair, on an open-air stage. He got loud applause when he took out a rabbit from his hat.
Unknown to the magician and the spectators, a tiger was watching the show from behind some bushes, nearby. Later that night, the tiger waylaid the magician as he was going home.
"I saw you pull a rabbit out of your hat," he said. "Pull out a cub for me!"
"The rabbit was in the bag all the time," blurted the magician, trembling from head to toe. "I cannot create animals out of thin air!"
"Produce a tiger cub if you know what's good for you!" snarled the beast.
"All right, all right!" said the magician, thinking fast. "But it'll take some time. A month at least."
"I can wait!"
"There's another thing," said the magician, a plan forming in his mind. "You'll have to stay on a diet of milk and rice during the entire period!"
"Milk and rice!"
"Otherwise the trick will not work."
"All right," said the tiger, finally. " I'll live on milk and rice."
He went away and returned a month later.
"Now let me have the cub," he said, in a barely audible voice, his diet having made him extremely weak.
The magician called the whole village to witness the magic trick.
"This is a special show for our guest here," he announced. "So instead of pulling out a rabbit from my hat I'll pull out a young member of his family."
He muttered some mumbo-jumbo, passed his hands over the hat several times, and then with a loud cry plunged his hand into the hat and pulled out a small cuddly animal.
"A kitten!" guffawed the spectators.
The kitten meowed.
The tiger was not amused. He let out a mighty roar, or at least he had intended to roar but in his weakened state the sound that emerged from his mouth was a loud
"MEEEEE-OOOWWW!"
The villagers rocked with laughter. The tiger felt so ashamed that he leapt out of his seat and ran away, and was never seen again.

Safety in Numbers  
 
A fly was flying around a web but it seemed reluctant to land, so finally the resident spider poked its head out and invited it in.
"No, thank you," said the fly. "I was looking for other flies but I don't see any. I only feel safe in a crowd."
The fly streaked away. Presently, it came across a large number of flies sitting on a large piece of paper.
"Don't land!" warned a bee flying past. " It's flypaper. All those flies are stuck to it!"
"What nonsense," retorted the fly. "They're enjoying themselves! See they're dancing!!"
"They're not dancing! They're trying to free themselves!!" yelled the bee, but the fly wasn't listening.
It settled on the flypaper, and got stuck.

Moral: 'Safety in Numbers' may be a good slogan, but it's not always true.

 
Tug of War  
 
There was a rabbit who enjoyed playing tricks on other animals.
One day as he was walking in the woods, near the sea he came across a huge elephant pulling out and eating leaves from a tree.
"How are you, Mr Elephant?" he called out. " My, how much you eat!"
"That's because I'm so big," replied the elephant. " Small animals like you don't need much food, but large and powerful animals like me need a lot!"
"Large you certainly are!" said the rabbit, "but powerful…?"
"You don't think I'm powerful?" asked the elephant, sounding surprised, and also a little annoyed.
"I'm sure you are, " said the rabbit." But are you more powerful than me?"
The elephant thought he had not heard right.
"Powerful? You?"
"Yes, me."
The elephant doubled up with laughter.
"You're laughing because you don't know how strong I am," said the rabbit. "If you let me tie a rope around your middle, I'll drag you into the sea."
"Drag me into the sea?!" laughed the elephant. "Hoo-hooo – hoooo!! Well, go ahead! Tie a rope around me and let me sea how far you can pull me!"
The rabbit tied a thick rope around the elephant's body.
"When you feel a tug on the rope, be ready to pull," he said, "or you'll be dragged into the sea before you know what's happening!"
"Please don't pull too hard," mocked the elephant.
The rabbit ran to the seashore with the other end of the rope.
He saw a whale swimming some distance away, and called out to it. When the whale drew near he said, "Mr Whale you're so big but are you strong?"
"I'm the strongest animal on earth!" bellowed the whale.
"I'll show you how wrong you are," said the rabbit." Let me tie this rope around your middle."
"And then?"
"I'll drag you ashore."
The whale doubled up with laughter.
"All right, go ahead," he giggled." Tie your rope around me and pull me out!"
The rabbit tied the rope securely around the whale's middle. Then he ran ashore and rushing into the woods, hid behind a tree and shouted, "PULL!"
The elephant, intending to throw the rabbit high into the sky to frighten him, wrapped his trunk around the rope and gave a mighty heave upwards. The whale countered with a tug that almost brought the elephant to his knees. The two animals, hidden from each other's sight by the trees in between, marveled at the strength of the rabbit. They pulled and heaved and exerted their strength to the utmost, but neither could get the better of the other. Finally the rope broke and the two animals fled in opposite directions.
From then on whenever the elephant saw the rabbit he would quickly hide himself or run away, to the great amusement of the rabbit.

 
The Fairest of them all  
 
An eagle once promised an owl in return for a favour, that he would never ever harm the owl's chicks.
"But do you know what my chicks look like?" asked the mother owl doubtfully. "How can I be sure that you won't mistake them for some other bird's?"
"Well," said the eagle. "Describe them to me, so that I can recognise them."
"Actually, they cannot be mistaken for any other bird's," said the owl, her chest puffing up with pride. "They are soft, fluffy, and by far the prettiest young ones you could ever see."
One evening, the eagle came upon a nest filled with screeching fledglings, their red mouths agape. He paused, then thought, "Surely these are not the owl's chicks. She said they are very beautiful, but these chicks look hideous." And he swooped down without a second thought and ate them all.
Returning to her nest, the mother owl found it empty save for a few bloodied feathers.
"How could the eagle have forgotten his promise?"she wailed. "I told him my chicks were the most beautiful in the world!"

Moral: Every mother thinks that her own children are the best.
(Adapted from a fable by the 17th-century French writer, Jean de la Fontaine)