Once upon a time, there lived a big mango tree. A little boy loved to
come and play around it every day. He climbed to the tree top, ate the
mangoes, and took a nap under the shadow… He loved the tree and the tree
loved to play with him.
Time went by… The little boy grew, and he no longer played around the
tree. One day, the boy came back to the tree with a sad look on his
face. "Come and play with me," the tree asked the boy.
"I am no longer a kid, I don’t play around trees anymore." The boy
replied, "I want toys. I need money to buy them." "Sorry, I don’t have
money… but you can pick all my mangoes and sell them so you will have
money."
The boy was so excited. He picked all the mangoes on the tree and left
happily. The boy didn’t come back. The tree was sad. One day, the boy
grown into a man returned. The tree was so excited. "Come and play with
me," the tree said.
"I don’t have time to play. I have to work for my family. We need a
house for shelter. Can you help me?" "Sorry, I don’t have a house, but
you can chop off my branches to build your house." So the man cut all
the branches off the tree and left happily. The tree was glad to see him
happy but the boy didn’t come back afterward. The tree was again lonely
and sad.
One hot summer day, the man returned and the tree was delighted. "Come
and play with me!" The tree said. "I am sad and getting old. I want to
go sailing to relax myself. Can you give me a boat?" "Use my trunk to
build your boat. You can sail far away and be happy."
So the man cut the tree trunk to make a boat. He went sailing and didn’t
come back for a long time. Finally, the man returned after he had been
gone for so many years. "Sorry, my boy, but I don’t have anything for
you anymore. No more mangoes to give you." The tree said.
"I don’t have teeth to bite," the man replied. "No more trunk for you to
climb on." "I am too old for that now," the man said. "I really can’t
give you anything… the only thing left is my dying roots," the tree said
with sadness. "I don’t need much now, just a place to rest. I am tired
after all these years," the man replied. "Good! Old tree roots are the
best place to lean on and rest. Come sit down with me and rest."
The boy sat down and the tree was glad and smiled.
Moral: The tree in the story represents our parents. When we are young,
we love to play with them. When we grow up, we leave them and only come
back when we need help. Parents sacrifice their lives for us
A holy man was having a conversation with the Lord one day and said,
"Lord, I would like to know what Heaven and Hell are like." The Lord led
the holy man to two doors. He opened one of the doors and the holy man
looked in.
In the middle of the room was a large round table. In the middle of the
table was a large pot of stew which smelled delicious and made the holy
man’s mouth water.
But the people sitting around the table were thin and sickly. They
appeared to be famished. They were holding spoons with very long handles
that were strapped to their arms and each found it possible to reach
into the pot of stew and take a spoonful, but because the handle was
longer than their arms, they could not get the spoons back into their
mouths. The holy man shuddered at the sight of their misery and
suffering. The Lord said, ‘You have seen Hell.’
They then went to the next room and opened the door. It was exactly the
same as the first one. There was the large round table with the large
pot of stew which made the holy man's mouth water. The people were
equipped with the same long–handled spoons, but here the people were
well nourished and plump, laughing and talking.
The holy man said, "I don’t understand."
"It is simple" said the Lord, "In this place the people have learned to
feed one another."
