The Gold Chain

Once upon a time, there was a poor fisherman who always dreamed of becoming rich. He wished to become a millionaire, and so did his wife. He had heard from some old men before, that several ships loaded with diamonds and gold had once sunk in the nearby seashore. Because of this, for a long time he kept searching that whole area for this treasure.

One day, while he was sitting on the boat daydreaming, he suddenly felt that the fishing rod was being weighed down by a heavy object. He excitedly pulled hard at it, and what he saw made him exclaim, “Wow! A big, shiny gold chain!” He pulled hard at the gold chain to get it into the boat, but there seemed to be no end to it. His boat started to get over-loaded and the sea water filled his boat.

However, he had begun dreaming of a big house, a big piece of land and buying horses and cows…He kept pulling in the chain though the boat kept sinking. The boat was finally submerged and he struggled to stay afloat. Unfortunately his feet were entangled in the gold chain and he drowned.

The Candle That Can’t Be Lighted.

Don’t cry because it is over, smile because it happened.

A man had a little daughter-an only and much-loved child. He lived for
her-she was his life. So when she became ill. He became like a man
possessed, moving heaven and earth to bring about her restoration to
health.

His best efforts, however, proved unavailing and the child died. The
father became a bitter recluse, shutting himself away from his many
friends and refusing every activity that might restore his poise and
bring him back to his normal self. But one night he had d dream.

He was in heaven, witnessing a grand pageant of all the little child
angles. They were marching in a line passing by the Great White
Throne. Every white-robed angelic child carried a candle. He noticed
that one child’s candle was not lighted. Then he saw that the child
with the dark candle was his own little girl. Rushing to her, he
seized her in his arms, caressed her tenderly, and then asked, “how
is it, darling, that your candle alone is unlighted?” “daddy, they
often relight it, but your tears always put it out.”

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Digging a way out

There’s a man who has been by himself in a prison cell with a dirty
floor, crude stone walls, and there’re two windows one of which looks
out towards the ocean. He hears a scratching noise, and he looks down
at the ground that is furthest away from the window facing the ocean.
He sees the ground moving, and he starts to think he’s losing his
mind. But soon the ground breaks, and up pops a head with long hair
and a beard… it’s a prisoner.

And the prisoner says, “Ssh. Listen. A group of us have been
tunneling for about six years, and we’ve finally reached your cell.
We have ways to cover up my entrance into this, but now it’s all on
your shoulders, man. All you have to do,” he said while pointing out
the window towards the ocean, “you just start digging here and go
down about six feet and about 75 feet in that direction and there is
freedom, and we’re out of here!”

“Oh, I love that! That’s great; I want to be free!”

“Okay, I’ll check back with you in a few weeks.”

Two weeks later, the prisoner returns to check on his friend’s
progress, and his friend nods back with great affirmation, “Yeah, I’
ve done it.”

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A good knight’s sleep

There was a tavern, located somewhere in the State of Apathy, where knights and damsels, wizards and monks, could all eat and drink together and escape the evil outside, which was depressing and bewildering, to say the least. No one had the desire to do anything about anything in the State ofApathy, except escape the reality that they lived day after day and the only place to do that was the tavern.

The tavern was owned and operated by the government and the drinks were free. The government did not want the people to concern themselves with the unjust wars they were fighting, the innocent civilians that were being killed. With the townspeople so focused on their own lives, the government of the State ofApathycould do its entire evil works under the cloak of darkness, while the people made merry.

The townspeople were mesmerized by the steady flow of lies they were receiving from their dark government and the tedium of their own lives.

The knights, who could have uprooted the evil government, were living it up in the tavern, drinking, laughing and making merry and no one seemed to care, until the day.

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The biggest secret of success

Once there was a young man who came to ask Socrates how to learn philosophy. Socrates said nothing but took him along to a river. He suddenly pushed him into the river forcibly. At first the young man thought Socrates was kidding so he didn’t take it to heart. But Socrates also jumped into the river and pulled his head into water desperately. At this time the young man was really scared, his instinct of living made him use all his strength lifting Socrates and climbed to the bank.

The young man asked Socrates with puzzle why he did that, Socrates replied: “I just want to tell you whatever you do, do it with a determination to be unexpectedly rescued from a desperate situation. Only like that can you make a genuine achievement.”

The heart of a mouse

A mouse was in constant distress because of its fear of the cat. A magician took pity on it and turned it into a cat. But then it became afraid of the dog,

So the magician turned it into a dog. Then it began to fear the panther, so the magician turned it into a panther. Whereupon it was full fear for the hunter.

At this point, the magician gave up. He turned it into a mouse again, saying, “Nothing I do for you is going to be of any help, because you have the heart of a mouse.”

Do not listen to prairie chicken

A boy found an eagle’s egg and he put it in the nest of a prairie chicken. The eagle hatched and thought he was a chicken. He grew up doing what prairie chickens do — scratching at the dirt for food and flying short distances with a noisy fluttering of wings.

It was a dreary life. Gradually the eagle grew older and bitter. One day he and his prairie chicken friend saw a beautiful bird soaring on the currents of air, high above the mountains.

“Oh, I wish I could fly like that!” Said the eagle.

The chicken replied, “Don’t give it another thought. That’s the mighty eagle, the king of all birds — you could never be like him!” And the eagle didn’t give it another thought.

He went on cackling and complaining about life. He died thinking he was a prairie chicken. My friends, you too were born an eagle. The Creator intended you to be an eagle, so don’t listen to prairie chickens!

Covering the sun with one’s hand

A disciple went to a master.

“I shall not continue with my studies of sacred texts.” he said. “I live in a small house with my brothers and parents and never have the ideal conditions for concentrating on that which is important.”

The master pointed to the sun and asked the disciple to place his hand over his face in order to hide it. The disciple obeyed.

“Your hand is small, yet it can completely cover the power, light and majesty of the great sun. In the same way, the small problems manage to give you the excuse you need in order to hinder your progress.”

Just as your hand has the power to hide the sun. Mediocrity has the power to hide your inner light. Do not blame others for your own incompetence.”

The three fish

Seize the opportunity to take immediate action to make a smart fish.

This is a story of the lake and the three big fish that were in it, one of them intelligent, another half-intelligent, and the third, stupid.

Some fisherman came to the edge of the lake with their nets. The three fish saw them.

The intelligent fish decided at once to leave, to make the long, difficult trip to the ocean. He thought, “I won’t consult with these two on this. They will only weaken my resolve, because they love this place so. They call it home. Their ignorance will keep them here.”

The wise fish saw the men and their nets and said, “I’m leaving.” The half-intelligent fish thought, “My guide has gone. I ought to have gone with him, but I didn’t, and now I’ve lost my chance to escape. I wish I’d gone with him.

He mourns the absence of his guide for a while, and then thinks, “What can I do to save myself from these men and their nets? Perhaps if I pretend to be already dead! I’ll belly up on the surface and float like weeds float, just giving myself totally to the water. To die before I die.”

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