THE GAMBLER AND THE KING

One day a king came out from his palace for the morning walk surrounded by his soldiers. A man who was standing outside the palace wanted to meet the king. The king's soldiers took him to the king . The king asked " Why did you want to meet me?''
"O' respected king , you are so lucky for me. I have gambled in your name and I have won a big amount of money, so I bought a chicken for you please accept it, my heart will break if you will not take it." King was flattered by what the man said about him and he accepted the gift ( the chicken ).

After few days after that man again came to the king and said, '' O my king how lucky you are for me , today I have again gambled in your name and I won a very big amount of money , I am so grateful to you and I want to gift you a goat. The king became very happy and he accepted the goat.

The very next day the gambler came crying and said ,"O' king yesterday I gambled in the name of you and I lost my cow. What do I do now? I get my earnings by selling cow's milk.Now my wife and children will die with hunger. Please help me''. 
The King had to behave like a king so he gave the man a cow, but he learned a lesson that never get flattered by any one's sweet talks and never accept a gift from a gambler. 
                         - Indian folktale Retold by Aunt Mary 

The Crazy Old Woman And The Sky (Indian Folktale)

                                               

A very long time ago sky was not so high like it is now, in fact people could touch it from the roof of their houses . The sky was happy and so were the people.
There lived a crazy woman in a small, old, dusty village.The old woman lived alone in a cozy mud- hut. She had nothing to do but for sweeping, dusting, rubbing her hut and her household things. 

One day a big dust storm came and there was dust everywhere. Dust on the roofs, dust on trees ,dust in the fields, dust in houses,dust everywhere.

The old woman got crazier to see so much dust and she started sweeping the dust . The sweeping made the dust to flow up and it went into the eyes of sky. Tears came in the eyes of sky because of dust particles and those tears dropped on the ground.

The crazy old woman got so angry with the sky to make her place wet and she poked the sky with her broom-stick . Poor sky got hurt and cried more with pain. The cruel woman again poked the sky. No other way was left for sky except going up. It went up and up and               "That is why the sky is so high."

                                                 -Indian folktale retold by Aunt Mary

Why the sun and the moon live in the sky ( African folktale )

 Long, long ago the" Sun "and his wife "Moon" lived on the earth.

Water was a very good friend of Sun. The Sun often paid a visit to water .They spent good time with each other . One day the Sun said to Water, "O my dear friend, I regularly come to visit you and meet you but you never visited me , please come to my place some day It would be great pleasure for me and and my wife to have you as a guest". Water said, " Look , you are my friend and I do not want to trouble you and your wife, when I will visit your place my  people will also come with me and you and your wife will have to drive out. I can visit you at only one condition if you build a very big compound ". Sun assured Water that he would build a very large house with a very big compound for Water and his people .
                                       

 Sun returned to his home and asked his beautiful wife Moon
"O beloved, will you help me to build a large place so that my friend water and his people could visit us ." Moon answered, "Why not ? I will help you my dear." They started building a large compound.

When the compound was built Sun invited Water .Next day Water went to Sun's place and before entering he asked the Sun "Can I come in, are you sure ?" "Yes ! my dear friend please come in.", Sun said to water.Water entered in the compound and with him all the water animals and fishes also entered.
"Do you still want me to keep coming will it be safe for you?" Water asked . "Yes please come .",Sun said. Water continued flowing in with all fishes and animals . Soon the water level reached up to the neck of Sun and Moon . "Now what do you think ? Should I still keep coming ?". "Yes , please!" ,Sun said . More water flowed in.
Sun and his wife went to the top of the house.Again Water asked the same question and got the same answer by the Sun.Water overflowed the top and there was no place left for sun and moon. They had to go into the sky and are still there.   
                                         African folktale retold by -Aunt Mary