How Did Evil Fox’s Tail Get Cut?

Once Bhanu, Shanu, Kaju and Biju went to their favorite forest. In the forest lived their animal friends in a small hut. All kinds of animals lived there together. They always looked forward to the arrival of Bhanu, Shanu, Kaju and Biju. On some weekends, after finishing their home work, Bhanu, Shanu, Kaju and Biju would go to the jungle to meet their friends.

When they went to the forest hut of their animal friends this weekend, they carried with them their fishing rods. They knew that their friends liked to eat the fish lots. So, they decided to catch fish for their friends and to have a grand party. There was a river nearby and it contained lots of fish.

So, they reached the forest and knocked at the door of the hut. One of the animals living there opened the door and was very happy to see Bhanu, Shanu, Kaju and Biju. He announced to the other animals their arrival. All of them came out running and greeted Bhanu, Shanu, Kaju and Biju with big smiles on their faces. All of them hugged each other and also, shook hands with each other. They all got excited and started chitchatting with each other. That made quite a big noise.

An evil fox stayed alone next to the hut. He too owned small little hut for himself. But this fox was not friendly with other animals. He was selfish and cunning. And he was evil too. Also, he was very lazy. He would not work at all and used to steal all the food from the other animals’ hut. The animals always used to wonder as to how the stock of their food went down? Was there someone who stole away their food- the food they used to collect by putting in lots of work and efforts?

Listening to the big noise in the neighboring hut, the fox got curious and came out and peeped into the hut of his neighbors. He also heard them saying, “So, Bhanu, you and your brother and sisters are going to catch fish today for us and give us a grand fish party. Wow! Thanks lots.”

Listening to this, the cunning evil fox thought in his own mind, “That will be great. They will have lots of fish today for dinner and I will sneak into their house and grab a great number of fish for myself. Then, I will come home and have a fish party without doing any work.” So, he kept making plans.

As decided, Bhanu, Shanu, Kaju and Biju went to the nearby river with their animal friends. The animals went on chattering with excitement all the way to the river. When they reached near the river, they shut up all of a sudden since they knew that if they went on making noise, the fish will go away from them. They would not be able to catch any fish.

Now, Bhanu had his own fishing rod, Shanu had his own. Also Kaju and Biju had their own small fishing rods. In just one hour’s time, Bhanu caught 40 fish, Shanu caught 30 fish, Kaju caught 20 fish and Biju caught 10 fish. So, in all, they caught 100 fish. That was sufficient for all of them. The animals helped them by collecting all the 100 fish in a big basket with a lid on it so that the fish would not jump outside.

Then, all of them went home. They cooked the fish in a barbecue. All of them ate till their stomachs were full. Still lot many fish remained in the basket. The animals were very scared of their neighbor, the cunning fox. They told Bhanu and his brother and sisters, “This fox will definitely come today to steal our fish. But he is so cunning, we will never know as to when and how he stole them.” Biju always was the first to look forward to such detective work. She said, “All of us will keep a watch all the night turn by turn. While all of us sleep, one of us will be awake and catch the fox red-handed.” Everyone agreed.

So, everyone took turns to guard the hut. When it was mid night and it was Biju’s turn, she heard some sound of someone’s footsteps and then a dark figure appeared. She pinched the hand of Shanu who was sleeping next to her. Shanu woke up with a jolt and he understood what was happening. He went on pinching others and all of them woke up and caught the fox just at the point of time when he was picking up the fish from the basket. He was thus caught red-handed.

The fox had no alternative but to accept his crime of stealing. He asked them to pardon him this time and he promised never to repeat the act. But he begged for some fish. He said, “I am very hungry. I don’t do any work and steal others’ food. Just give me some fish. Now onwards I will do the work and earn my food by putting my efforts. Please teach me how to catch fish.”

Bhanu knew that the fox was very cunning and he was telling lies. He will not leave his habit of stealing unless he is taught a lesson. So he said, “You will not get a single fish right now. You will have to catch them yourself. You should go to the river and dip your tail in the river water. The fish will be attracted to your tail and as they stick to your tail, pull them all out and grab them.”

Fox was miserable now. He did not get any fish by begging and he was very hungry. So he went to the river. He dipped his tail in the river water and waited for the fish to stick to his tail. By this way, he caught some 5 fish. But he was very greedy. He wanted more and more. So he kept his tail dipped in the water.

As the night grew, it started getting very cold. Because of the cold, the river water froze into ice. Fox’s tail was still in the water. He was greedy. He wanted more fish. But now, as the water froze into ice, fox’s tail got jammed into the ice. Ice became very hard around his tail. He started feeling cold and sneezed lots. Now he wanted to leave that place and go home. So, he pulled his tail out. But since the tail was tightly fixed into the ice, it would not come out. So he applied lots and lots of force. Because of the enormous force, his tail got cut inside the ice. He felt a lot of pain and felt humiliated about his tail being cut. He thought that he would be booed by all other animals when they would see him without a tail.

In any case he had learnt his lesson. He decided that in future he would work and earn his food. He would not remain lazy and would become active. He would not be greedy any more. He also decided to shift to another jungle where no one would know his past evil habits and thus he will get a chance to improve himself.

With the fox now gone, the animal friends of Bhanu, Shanu, Kaju and Biju had no fear of someone stealing their hard earned food any more.

You may like to read "Funny (and Not So Funny) Short Stories" at http://funny-shortstories.blogspot.com/

Bhanu, Shanu, Kaju and Biju Teach the Big Bad Wicked Wolf a Lesson

Bhanu, Shanu, Kaju and Biju are brothers and sisters and they also are very good friends of each other. Yet, they are more like a strong baseball or soccer team. They support and help each other a lot all the time.

Bhanu being the oldest of all is physically stronger. So, he is kind of protector of his two younger sisters Shanu and Biju and his brother Kaju. Bhanu is 10 years old; sister Shanu is 8 years, brother Kaju is 6 and the youngest sister Biju is 4.

Once, on their holiday, they went to a nearby park. They informed their parents that they were going to the park. The parents said, “OK, take care and return before evening.” Their mom packed for them some cheese sandwiches, boiled eggs, fruits and water for lunch.

They reached the park on their tiny bikes. Park was full of trees, bushes, flowers, small lakes, jogging tracks, lawns and small hills. There were birds of different colors in the park everywhere. They also saw lots of butterflies and they were colorful too.

And then, all of a sudden, Biju shouted, “Hey, look that rabbit there.” Bhanu, Shanu and Kaju could not see the rabbit. They said, “Biju, you are always imagining things. We cannot see any rabbit.” Biju said, “It’s there. It is behind the bush. It’s color is white. And I am not imagining.”

She held her index finger and pointed towards the direction of the bush. Bhanu, Shanu and Kaju saw in that direction and yes, there was a white rabbit. They could all see him. Bhanu suggested, “Why not make friends with the rabbit. We can also tell him to call his other rabbit friends. We will then play together. It will be lots of fun. But let us not scare him. I will speak with him.”

He spoke very politely with rabbit, “Hey Mr Rabbit, we have come to the park and want to make friendship with you. Will you like to become our friend? We have some nice fruits, eggs and sandwiches with us. Our mom gave us. We will share with you.”

Rabbit looked at them and said, “I will be happy to become your friend but on one condition. A wicked big bad wolf that also stays in this park bullies my rabbit friends and me a lot every now and then. If you and your friends can teach him a lesson, we will be very happy and will like to be your friends for ever. And you need not address me Mr Rabbit, simply call me Bunny.”

Bhanu said, “Bunny, thanks a lot for agreeing to become our friend. We will do something for the big bad wicked wolf so that he does not give you trouble any more. Done, OK?. Let us shake hands now.”

Then Bhanu, Shanu, Kaju and Biju shook hands with Bunny. Bunny took them near his burrow, his home. He whistled and nine more rabbits came out of the burrow. He told that they were his brothers, sisters, mom, dad and friends. He introduced them to Bhanu, Shanu, Kaju and Biju. All of them said “hi” and shook hands with each other.

All the eight rabbits played lots of games with Bhanu, Shanu, Kaju and Biju while Bunny's mom and dad were watching them play. Then came the lunch time. Since rabbits like and eat carrots, they gave lots of carrots to Bhanu, Shanu, Kaju and Biju who in turn shared their sandwiches and fruits with the rabbits. In all, they had lots of fun.

Now Bunny, the rabbit, reminded Bhanu, Shanu, Kaju and Biju to teach the big bad wicked wolf a lesson as per the promise. Bunny told that the wolf would come to their burrow any time now. He would come and hide behind the bush. If any rabbit came out of the burrow, he would jump on him and kill and eat him.

Bhanu asked Bunny and the other rabbits to go inside the burrow. He told them that he would take care of the wolf with the help of Shanu, Kaju and Biju. After a while, the wolf came in search of the rabbits as Bunny had told. He hid himself behind a bush and waited for any rabbit to come out of the burrow. While he was hiding behind the bush, Kaju and Biju played a trick on him. They threw some small stones at the wolf and the stones hit him hard. He got hurt and he got very angry. He looked around to find out as to who had thrown the stones at him. Then, he saw Bhanu, Shanu, Kaju and Biju. He ran behind them to catch them.

As you know, Bhanu, Shanu, Kaju and Biju had their bikes. So, they rode their bikes and rushed towards a cave that was built in a small hill in the park. They went inside the cave and wolf chased them. Cave was dark inside. Bhanu, Shanu, Kaju and Biju went behind a rock that was there inside the cave, got down from their bikes and sat silently behind the rock without making any movement. Wolf came searching for them. But since it was dark inside and they were hiding behind the rock, he could not see them.

He went ahead inside the cave thinking that Bhanu, Shanu, Kaju and Biju might have gone ahead. So, as he moved ahead in the cave, Bhanu, Shanu, Kaju and Biju rode their bikes and came out of the cave from the entrance to the cave. Wolf saw them going out and he took an about turn and started chasing them again. But before he could reach the entrance to the cave and come out of the cave, Bhanu, Shanu, Kaju and Biju closed the entrance of the cave by pushing a big rock in front of the entrance to the cave. Together they were very strong and were capable of pushing a big rock.

Now, the wolf got locked inside the dark cave and he was very hungry. He started banging at the rock that had shut the cave. But he just could not come out. After some time he started sobbing and weeping. He started requesting Bhanu, Shanu, Kaju and Biju to open the door of the cave. Then, Bhanu and Shanu said, “Big bad wolf, you are a wicked wolf and you bully the rabbits and also eat them. Therefore, we are punishing you now by locking you inside the cave. We will free you from the cave only if you promise not to give any trouble to the rabbits and become their friend.”

The wolf sobbed and promised not to give any trouble to the rabbits, not to bully them, not to eat them and become their friends. Bhanu, Shanu, Kaju and Biju made him to repeat his promise and then opened the door of the cave. As soon as wolf came out, he said, “I am very sorry for my bad behavior with the rabbits. I learnt my lesson today. I will become a good wolf now by making you and the rabbits my friends.”

They, then, went to the burrow of the rabbits. Bhanu, Shanu, Kaju and Biju called the rabbits out. The wolf was quite ashamed and begged rabbits to pardon him. He promised that he would never bother them again and would like to become their friend. He was really very sorry.

Rabbits had a conference among themselves. They agreed to excuse the wolf for all the wrong things he did in the past and extended their hand of friendship with the wolf. They also thanked Bhanu, Shanu, Kaju and Biju a lots. Before they bade the farewell, they invited Bhanu, Shanu, Kaju and Biju to come to park often and play with them.

You may like to read "Funny (and Not So Funny) Short Stories" at http://funny-shortstories.blogspot.com/