Once upon a time there lived a husband and wife who were very poor and had nothing at all in their house. The wife, who was pregnant, gave birth to a son at ten o'clock at night, but she had nothing with which to wrap the tender babe. The poor father...
Lo-Sun was a blind boy and, like many others thus afflicted in China, he had no home, for his hard-hearted parents had driven him forth to beg his living. From morning till night he wandered along the city streets and country lanes, always carrying with him a blind...
There are places in China where the mountains reach all the way up to the clouds. High up on one of these mountains lived a wise old man. His name was Tian, which means “heaven.” There among the clouds lived Tian’s friends, the cranes. Tian fed them and...
A Jewish Tale: A pair of rabbis set out to raise some funds for a worthy cause. They approach a wealthy man whose generosity has become blocked, and one of the rabbis knew how to help him unstop it. How is receiving just as important as giving, in cultivating generosity in others and ourselves?
The song of the birds is a salute to life and in each song is a message of love.
Happy are they who can understand the notes trilled so clearly by the beautiful birds.
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One evening Vanyusha (Johnny) was sitting with his grandfather, and asked his grandfather: “Whence comes it that bears' paws are like our hands and feet?”
His grandfather replied: “Listen, Johnny. I will tell you what I have myself...
A Tale from Asia: A young man grows up to be a harpooner on a whaling ship. One day he suddenly discovers himself to be a whale—the very one he was setting out to kill. After this experience Eizo gives up whaling and becomes a Zen priest. If we could fully imagine the lives of animals we hunt and kill, (or raise and slaughter) would we not change our attitudes towards living beings?
Once upon a time, a very long time ago indeed, there lived a King who had made a vow never to eat bread or break his fast until he had given away a hundredweight of gold in charity.
So, every day, before King Karan—for that was his name—had his breakfast, the...
Soon after the events that are recorded in the previous story a great drought visited the country. There was no rain, and all the dams and rock holes became dry. The porcupine and the emu tribes did not know what to do, because among their members there were many...
Long ago the kangaroo was grooming her joey on the bank of a brook. They liked to listen to the water burble as the mama combed her baby’s fur. On this day, an old wombat staggered toward them.
“Oh dear,” the kangaroo whispered to her baby...
