Ali Baba And The Forty Thieves ( Folktale from Arabian Nights)

This is the story of a poor woodcutter named Alibaba.He lived in the land of Arabia.Alibaba was simple and hard working man.
One day when Ali Baba was cutting the wood in the forest he heard  the sound of running horses. The sound came near and near. Ali Baba thought that there must be a group of robbers, he climbed up a tree and hid himself behind the leaves.
His suspicion was right, it was a group of thieves who were forty in number and each of them had bags with them which were supposedly filled with stolen goods . They stopped near a cave.The captain of the thieves stood  in front of the door of the cave.

''Open Sim Sim'' , he said in a loud voice.The door opened and the thieves went into the cave with their bags.
Ali Baba was astonished to see all of this, he couldn't believe his eyes. He stayed there to see what would happen next. 
At Last the thieves came out, this time the captain of the thieves said, ''Close Sim Sim'' and the door got shut.
When the thieves got away from there , Ali Baba came down and said ''Open Sim Sim'' standing in front of the cave. The door opened and Ali Baba entered the cave.
There in the cave was a big treasure of  gold,silver, pearls and diamonds.Which the thieves had stolen and collected there.
Ali Baba took a bag full of gold coins and came out from the cave. He made the cave's door shut by saying 'Close Sim Sim' and left the place.
 Ali Baba's wife became so happy to see the bag full of gold coins   when he reached home. Ali Baba asked his wife to go to his brother's home and borrow scales from his sister in law to weigh the coins. 

Ali Baba's brother Qasim was a wealthy but cunning and greedy man. His wife was just like her husband. She put a blob of wax in the scales to find out what Ali Baba and his wife were going to weigh with the scales.
When Ali Baba's wife returned the scales, Qasim's wife found a gold coin sticking to the scales and she told her husband about that.
Under pressure from his brother, Ali Baba was forced to reveal the secret of the cave.
Next day Qasim himself went into the cave to take as much wealth as possible. In the excitement of getting the treasure he forgot the magic words and failed to open the door of the cave.The thieves found him in the cave and they killed him.
When Qasim did not return home his wife asked Ali Baba to get him back.Ali Baba found his brother's dead body cut into many pieces at the door of the cave.He brought his body home. Everybody  got struck with grief.
There was an intelligent slave girl Morgiana from Qasim's household. Alibaba entrusted Morgiana with the task of making others believe that Qasim died a natural death.

Morgiana knew an old tailor who was expert in stitching, his name was Baba Mustafa.She offered him a good number of gold coins for stitching a dead body. Baba Mustafa agreed, Morgiana led him to Qasim's house with a blindfold over his eyes.There he stitched the pieces of Qasim's body back together. 
Ali Baba and his family gave Qasim a proper burial without anyone knowing that what had happened with Qasim. Ali Baba did not want to leave his brother's family alone in this difficult time so he and his family moved into Qasim's house to look after his late brother's family and his business. 

On the other hand, the captain of thieves realized that there must be another person who knows the secret of cave when he found the dead body gone.
He sent one of the thieves to the town to track that person down. 

There in the town that thief came across the tailor Baba Mustafa. He became friendly with the tailor. While talking with him Baba Mustafa mentioned that he has just stiched a man's dead body back together.
The thief offered him some gold coins if Baba Mustafa would lead him to that house where he stitched the body.
The tailor was blindfolded again and managed to retrace his steps and found the house.The thief marked the door with a symbol so that when he come back with other thieves at night he would be able to recognize the house and kill everyone in the house.

The clever girl Morgiana noticed that symbol and made the similar marks on the door of other houses too.In the night the thieves came and could not identify the correct house. Now the captain of thieves himself went into the town and and memorized every single detail of the house.

 The captain went to that house pretending to be an oil merchant who wanted to make a business deal with Ali Baba. He brought mules with him loaded with oil containers, one filled with oil and in the others, thieves were hiding with weapons.Their aim was to kill each person in the house.The captain of thieves requested Ali Baba  to let him stay in his house for one night as he was very tired from his long journey.Kind hearted Ali Baba allowed him to stay there.

                             
                             
At night the captain was discussing the plan of killing the family with other thieves, Morgiana heard them talking.Later in the night, Morgiana killed all the thieves in their jars by pouring hot,boiling oil on them.

                                                                          
  The captain managed to escape from there.Ali Baba was so impressed with the loyalty and bravery of Morgiana, he set her free and let her stay in the house as a family member. 
After a few months in order to take his revenge, the leader of thieves established himself as a diamond merchant.He befriended Ali Baba's son who was now taking care of Qasim's buisness. Ali Baba's son invited him home for the dinner.However the thief was recognized by Morgiana. She performed a sword dance and killed the thief with her sword. At first Ali Baba got angry with Morgiana for what she had done, but when he came to know the truth he was extremely grateful and rewarded Morigana by marrying her to his son.
Now only Ali Baba knew the secret of the  treasure in the cave and he decided that he would use the treasure for the welfare of poor and needy people of his town.     
                                                                        Arabian Folktale 
                                                         Re-told by-Aunt Mary

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Much wants more loses all ( Moral Story)

Once there was a dog who found a good big piece of cheese. The dog was so happy to get such nice food for his lunch. '' I should go to a nice and calm place and enjoy the cheese'', he thought.

He carried the piece of cheese in his mouth and went on. While he was going beside a stream the dog saw his reflection in the stream's water. 

Oh! There is another dog like me, he is also carrying a piece of cheese. I will have two pieces of cheese if I get that piece too.''
Thinking that he opened his mouth to catch the piece in the water, and as soon as the dog opened his mouth ,the piece of cheese that he held fell into the water. 

Ah! Due to his greed and the urge to get another piece the greedy dog lost his piece of cheese too.   
As they say '' Much wants more loses all.'' 
                        
                                  

                                           An Aesop's fable re-told by-Aunt Mary

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Help Stop Pollution (Poem)

                                 
                                  Pollution on streets 
                                  and in the air..
                                  So sad.. we see,
                                  pollution everywhere.
                                  we can prevent it...
                                  by doing our bit..
                                 to stop the pollution,
                                 that is the solution.
                                 By less use of cars..
                                 they pollute air
                                 for reducing pollution
                                 carpools are better.
                                 Riding the cycle
                                 is good option..
                                 it does not 
                                 create the pollution.
                                 By putting off the lights
                                 when we don't need..
                                 it saves electricity
                                 that's good indeed.
                                 By reusing goods..
                                 and recycling waste.
                                 planting more trees 
                                 is always the best.
                                These are the ways,
                                we should follow always
                                to stop the pollution
                                to help our nation.
                                                          -Aunt Mary

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William Tell (A Swedish Folktale)

                                  
Many years ago there lived a man beside the lake Lucerne  in Switzerland. His name was William Tell. William was a brave and strong man, he was a crossbow expert too.
 Gessler the mayor of the town near William's house was a cruel and  arrogant man.People were afraid of him and did not like him.Gessler hung his hat on a pole under the linden tree of town and ordered that all the townsfolk must bow before his hat. 
One day William and his young son, Walter visited the town and passed by the linden tree. There,William refused to bow before Gessler's hat. As a result ,William and his son got arrested by Gessler's men.
''Bow to my hat , otherwise I will kill you.'',angry Gessler shouted.
''I won't. Do whatever you want to .'',William said fearlessly.
''Alright, I give you a chance to save your life..... if you shoot an apple off the head of your son in a single attempt, I will set you free.'',said the cruel man. Gessler's men made little Walter stand under the tree and put an apple on his head.
William split the apple with an arrow from his crossbow. 
 Gessler noticed that William took out two arrows from his quiver,not just one.
''Why did you take out another arrow?'',He asked William.
''I would have used it to shoot you if my son had got killed.'' ,William replied.
 ''Guards,take him to my castle he will spend his whole life in the prison.'' Gessler said angrily. His men brought William to the boat.
When the boat was moving on it's way to the castle, there arose a big storm on lake Lucerne.
''Please, allow us to remove William's shackles, he can save us, he can steer the boat.'' The frightened soldiers begged Gessler. 
Gesslers allow them to do so.
While William was steering the boat, he saw that there was a rock in front of the boat,he soon jumped from the boat to that rock. Boat hit the rock and Gessler and his men fell into the water.
''What have you done !? I will not leave you and the people of town   alive.'' Crazy Gessler screamed in anger.
William Tell shot Gessler with one of his arrows. It was the end of  the life of cruel Gessler. 
                                      A Swedish folktale retold by-Aunt Mary 
   

Folktale

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Ten Important Reasons To Save Trees

                                                         
Trees are among the most precious and valuable gifts given to us by nature and we need to save them.Saving trees is one of the biggest needs of today.It is important to save trees because life exists on the earth due to them,  all living things on the planet earth are directly or indirectly dependent on trees for their survival.
Besides providing shelter and food for mankind and for other living creatures there are so many reasons to save trees and here are a few important reasons out of those :-

1. Trees produce oxygen- As we all know that we can't breathe without oxygen and trees provide it for us. One tree produces two hundred and sixty pounds of oxygen every year on an average. Two mature trees can produce enough oxygen for a family of four members.

2.Trees clean the air-Trees play an important role in cleaning the air by removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and by intercepting the airborne particles like fog, dust and smoke.Trees also absorb odors and the harmful pollutant gases like sulfur dioxide , carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxides and bad ozone. They improve the quality of air by filtering out pollution particulates, they trap them on their leaves and barks.

3.Trees bring rain-Trees help to increase rainfall due to the process of transpiration.The leaves, stems and flowers of trees release water as water vapor in the air. This water vapor adds moisture in the air and makes it saturated and then the rainfall occurs.

4. Trees prevent soil erosion-Trees protect the soil against the ravages of wind and rain.Strong roots of trees hold the soil in place and prevent it from getting washed or blown away due to water or air respectively. Thus , trees protect the soil surface . By this way trees help to counter any long-term damage to our environment.

5.Trees reduce the heat and boost air conditioning-Trees help to reduce the temperature of air by blocking the sunlight. As mentioned above a tree releases water as water vapor in the air through the process of transpiration. This conversion of water to water vapor helps to remove heat energy from the air.
Trees also work as a natural air conditioner .A single tree can produce the cooling effects of 10 room size air conditioners. Trees can reduce the air-conditioning needs by at least 30 percent if we place them properly around buildings.

6.Trees save water -Trees can save water as the shade provided by them slows down water evaporation.They prevent the slow loss of water by increasing the atmospheric moisture.Trees slow down water runoff and help to recharge groundwater.According to the experts, trees with deep roots can help ground water recharging during monsoon season.

7.Trees control flood-Trees can trap a large amount of water with the help of their roots.They prevent water runoff during heavy rain fall that can cause flooding. 

8. Shade of trees protect us from ultra-violet rays-The shade of trees protect you from the harmful effects of the sun's ultra-violet rays,these rays  can cause the skin cancer.Trees could reduce the risk of skin cancer by providing protection against sun exposure.They can reduce the UVB exposure by about 50 percent.

9.Trees increase the value of property-Trees add beauty to a place.Researches say that people love to buy a house or a property surrounded by green trees.Trees around a property can increase its value by more than 15 percent.

10. Trees provide medicines- Trees have always been an important source of a wide variety of medicines.Today about 50,000 plant species are used to make medicines.The extract of leaves, barks, roots ,seeds, wood and flowers of different trees have been used to make medicines to cure different types of diseases.In fact trees provide a wealth of useful remedies for human race.
These are only a few reasons among uncountable reasons to save trees but are enough to help us to understand the importance of saving trees. If we want to save our future we must Save Trees.

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