Mungo Park was born on 11th September 1771 in Selkirk, Scotland and he died in January 1806 (aged 35 years) in Bussa, Nigeria. The first westerner to travel to find the source of the Niger River, Mungo wrote about this expedition which became very popular. On the journey he was held prisoner by a Moorish […]
Robert Edwin Peary was born on 6th May 1856 in Pennsylvania and he died on 20th February 1920 (aged 64 years) in Washington DC. Robert reached the Geographic North Pole with his expedition on 6th April 1909. Robert Peary made his first expedition to the Arctic hoping to cross by a dog-sled. He and a
Once, a group of monkeys lived near a temple in a village. One day, a carpenter was busy splitting wooden logs outside the temple.A young monkey was intrigued by the carpenter’s work. When the carpenter went for lunch, the young monkey wanted to split the wooden logs. His friends said, “Those tools look dangerous. Keep
A group of monkeys was relaxing in a forest, when they saw a woodcutter cutting a tree with an axe. After a while, the woodcutter went to have lunch. He covered his axe with a piece of green cloth and left it under the tree. Soon, a naughty monkey came there. He removed the cloth
In a forest, there lived four friends – a deer, a mouse, a turtle and a crow. Every day, they would meet by the lake. One day, the deer did not come. When the crow flew over the forest, he found the deer trapped in a hunter’s net. He came back and told the mouse
“Therefore, Sir, let us not imagine that Meghavarna, the Crow King, will be more loyal to you than he has been to King Silver Plume and the kingdom of Karpuradweepa,” said the wise old vulture, Doordarshi. “I think you are right, Doordarshi,” said the King, thinking over everything that he had heard, “I had thought
‘I will love the youngest and most beautiful one more than my other wives,’ he dreamt, ‘They will be jealous of one another and will try to please me. They will want me to love each of them more, so each one will try to do something special to look after me! I shall be
He dreamt that he was selling the pot of barley in the market and got ten cowries for it! Then he was buying more earthenware and selling them. He was getting richer with each new dream. The dreams got bigger and bigger. When the Brahmin had dreamt that he had sold the pots, then he
There was a poor farmer. Although he worked hard, his fields were barren. One day, while resting under a tree, he saw a snake in a hole in the tree. He thought, ‘This snake must be the guardian of the field. If I serve him, my field will become fertile.’ The next day, he brought
Devasharma was a Brahmin who lived in a town called Devakota. It was the custom among prosperous families to invite Brahmins on festive days for a feast and then give them gifts–sometimes grain, sometimes a goat or a cow. Once, Devasharma was invited during the festival of Maha-Sankranti for a feast. After the festivities and
“So you see, Sir, even if we were to make Meghavarna a viceroy, we should not expect that he will send us the taxes we demand. After all, he did deceive King Jewel Plume, posing as his friend,” said Doordarshi. “It is no use dreaming of what will happen in the future as we will
A crab who lived in the lake saw the crane taking the fish one by one to safety. He too wished to get away from the danger that he thought was hanging over the lake. so one day, he requested the crane to take him to the new lake. The crane was delighted. ‘Ah, ha!
The crane was just waiting to be asked. So he said, “I can fly. So, it will be possible for me to ferry you in my beak one at a time to a new lake if you wish.” The fish were very excited. They discussed it among themselves. “We can be safely transported and go
Therefore, Doordarshi told him the story of the Crane, the fish and the Crab. In the kingdom of Malwa was a beautiful lake full of lilies. In it, there lived many fish and water creatures, like crabs, frogs, toads and tadpoles. A crane also lived there. The crane was old and feeble and found it
Once, there lived a merchant in a village. One day, he left for the town to start a new business. Before leaving, he requested his friend to keep a heavy iron balance until he returned. After a year, the merchant visited his friend and asked for his iron balance. The friend said, “There are many