"Pardon, O King!" cried the little Mouse, "Forgive me this time. I shall never repeat it and I shall never forget your kindness. And who knows, I may be able to do you a good turn one of these days!”

The Lion was so tickled by the idea of the mouse being able to help him that he lifted his paw and let him go.

Sometime later, a few hunters captured the lion, and tied him to a tree. After that they went in search of a wagon, to take him to the zoo.

Just then the little mouse happened to pass by. On seeing the lion’s plight, he ran up to him and gnawed away the ropes that bound him, the king of the jungle.

"Was I not right?" said the little mouse, very happy to help the lion.

MORAL: Small acts of kindness will be rewarded greatly.

Once there lived a brother and sister- Vasya and Katya. They had a cat. Once, in the spring season, the cat was lost. The children could not find it anywhere, though they looked for it everywhere.

One day, they heard many soft meows from the roof of the barn, while they were playing nearby. Vasya climbed onto the roof, and found to his great joy that their cat had given birth to four five lovely kittens. He screamed in delight, to Katya, “I’ve found her! It’s out cat..and she had five kittens..They look so sweet. Come here, quick!”

Katya and Vasya visited the roof of the barn everyday. They fed the mother cat very well so that she will have enough milk to feed her babies. The barn roof had become the home of the cats.

The five kittens grew very fast. Whey they were big enough to crawl, Vasya and Katya took one of them with them to their house. It was grey and had white paws. The children’s mother gave the other kittens away to her friends, but let Vasya and Katya keep the grey kitten.

One day, the children decided to take the kitten to the meadow in front of their house, to play with it. The tall grass was stirring in the wind and the kitten happily played with it. Then Vasya and Katya saw some strange-looking leaves and began to pick them, forgetting all about the kitten.

Suddenly, they heard some sounds. Someone was shouting, “Come back, come back!” They saw a hunter riding a horse, and his two dogs were running ahead in the direction of the kitten. The dogs were getting close, and the kitten, instead of running away, stiffened and crouched, ready to face the dogs. It looked so tiny in front of the big dogs.

It was a fine summer morning, perfect to be outdoors. Two sisters had been out mushroom picking, and were on their home with heavy baskets full of mushrooms. They sang songs on the way, and played with each other.

Soon they reached a point where they had to cross a railway track. They did not think twice about crossing it since there was no train coming, and they could not hear any whistle. They slowly climbed the embankment to cross the track, taking care not to drop the baskets. They were very near the track and the little sister was about the cross it, when they heard the distinct horn of a train.

The older sister got frightened and ran back. She thought that the young one was following her. She turned back and was shocked to see her little sister still crossing the track. “Come back here, run back fast,” she screamed.

It seemed that the little girl could not hear her sister. She was still concentrating on stepping over the track with her little feet, and holding on to the basket. Then she tripped and fell on the track, scattering her mushrooms around. She sat down and began picking them up and putting in her basket.

In the meanwhile the elder sister had become hysteric. She cried and screamed, calling her little sister to leave the mushrooms and run back, but it seemed as though the little one could not hear her.

The engine driver panicked on seeing the girl and blew his whistle with all his might, but she appeared not to hear the whistle. Her sister was now crying loudly, overcome by panic, as the little sister crawled between the tracks on her hands and knees, to pick the rest of the mushrooms.

The engine driver was helpless as it was not possible for him to stop the engine suddenly. He blew the whistle as hard as he could, but the engine rolled over the little girl. The older sister clasped her face with her trembling hands and cried bitterly. The passengers too panicked at the thought of the sight they would have to witness. The guard ran down to the end of the train to see what happened to the little girl. When the train passed, everybody saw her lying very still between the tracks with her face down.

Then she raised her head, sprang to her knees and began gathering the remaining mushrooms.

The big sister ran towards her, tears streaming down her face. They hugged and kissed each other, crying out of happiness, tears of joy flowing down their little cheeks. Never were two souls so happily united as at that moment. She promised her little sister that thereafter she would hold her hand tightly while crossing the railway line.

The two sisters then picked all the remaining mushrooms, and hand in hand, solemnly walked back home. They were indeed two souls who had become wiser than their years, in the span of a few minutes.

One day Vanya's mother bought some plums from the market. She washed them and left them on a big plate in the centre of the dining table. Mother wanted to give the plums to the children after dinner. It was not every day that plums were bought.

Vanya had not tasted plums all his life and was very curious about it. First he sniffed the fruit, wrinkled his nose at the pleasing smell, and decided that he liked the fruit. Dinner time was still a long way off and he did not have the patience to wait. He just could not resist his temptation. “No one will notice if I take one,” he said to himself.

As soon as he was alone in the room, he seized a big plum and ate it quickly. Vanya exclaimed, "Hmmm.. plums are very delicious indeed!"

When it was time for dinner, his mother counted the plums and found that one was missing. She informed her husband about it. The whole family sat around the table to eat and in the course of the meal, father enquired, "Well children, have any of you eaten a plum without your mother's knowledge?" Each child answered in turn, "No." Vanya’s heart began to beat very fast and he blushed. He lied that he did not eat the plum.

Suddenly, somebody from the deck called out, "Shark! Shark!"

Then father said, "It is wrong to steal a plum, but that's not all. You see, plums have small stones and if you swallow a stone, you will die the next day. That's what really bothers me."