TALES FROM READERS

• A Parrot and A Crow NEW
• Speaking Garden and Speaking Well NEW
• The Mysterious Voice NEW
• Be Helpful
• When Trees stopped speaking
• Gujarati Dhokala
• Village Leader and the Fallen Berries
• Lucky Pandit Tida Joshi
• The Coconuts story
• A Dream Saved the King!
• Lazy Pigeon
• A Scary Cold Water Drop
• Intelligent Merchants
• A Clever Old Woman
• Father, Son and a Crow
• The Mystery of Twin Town
• Miracle
• Bhola Bear Gets Honey
• Fear of LIZARD
• Rinku Rabbit Teaches A Lesson
• Every Tiger Has It's Day
• Mrs. Squirrel's Beachy Holiday
• Bella, Billu And The Billi
• A Suitable Match
• Chimpu- The Jungle Detective
  The Case of The Hidden Treasure
• Daring Sia and The Theft of The Twisted Candles
• Chimpu-The Jungle Detective
  The Case of The Stolen Honey
• The Princess of the Blue lotus
• Inspiration
• A Better Place to Live
• Sid And The Pirates 1
• Sid And The Pirates 2
• Sid And The Pirates 3
• Rinku
• Tula Wants To Grow Up!
• Shining In The Dark
• The Guru
• O.D.D.
• The Girl With X-Ray Eyes
• An Eerie Experience
• Scared Speechless!
• The Haunted House
• The Lily Pad(dle) Boat
• Little Tom And His Pets
• Deepa And The King of The Ocean
• Magic Rose
• Charlie's Pet Lion
• The Three Princesses
• The Ring
• Traitors You Can't Sustain!
• Friends And Enemies
• Bruno, The Sheep Dog
• Roses And Cacti
• Hardwork Pays
• No Pain, No Gain!
• The Magical Pond
• Everything For Something
• The Eavesdropper
• The Crow That Boasted
• The Golden Bird
• Asha And Aadesh In Frogindom!
• Moon's Magic
• Baby Tree Wants Ice Cream!
• Jackal And Birds
• Roll Model
• When The Teacher Became The King
• The Blind Beggar
• A Night of fun in the Desert Village
• The Blind Woman
• The Pirate's Mistake
• Team Work Wins
• Bobby Turns Brave
• The Two Princess
• God Everywhere
• The Mongoose And The Snake
• The Missing Sweetmeat
• The Mule
• The Wishing Tree
• The Magic Potion
• King And The Three Sons
• An Old Lady And The Lamp
• The Kindhearted Villager
• Christopher's Encounter With The Aliens
• The Mysterious School
• The Coconut Tree
• Count The Blessing Not The Curses
• Wonderful X'mas Gift
• Tikku and the Rats
• The Magic Hole
• A Mysterious Memory
• The Lost Ball
• Gundu and Mithu
• Home Alone
• Holidays
• Sleepovers
• The Secret of Work
• Little Friend
• Mr. Twinkle Transforms
• April Fool
• The Call
• The Thief Caught Atlast
• The Monkey And The Dolphin
• Toko Castle
• Elephant, Croc And Toad
• Vice of Dice!
• Laughter Is The Best Medicine
• My Meet With God
• The Impossible Magic!
• Encounter with the Friday Ghost
• The Last Wish
• A Fearful Event
• A King's Costly Mistake
• The Clever Pussy Cat
• The Dangerous Silky Bed!
• The Magical Ink
• The Magic Of The Map
• The Stormy Night with my Cousins

When The Teacher Became The King

When Hasta, the King left earth for ever, everybody started asking. "Who will be the next king?"
His wife died long ago and they had no children.
Only person alive in the royal family was his elder brother Devan.
When their Father decided to make Hasta the king, Devan became angry and left the court. He became a teacher in a remote village.
Now is my chance to become the king. He thought and went straight to the palace.
"I will be the next king" he declared on reaching the palace.
"I have the royal blood" Devan claimed.
"But once you were disqualified for the post", reminded the ministers.
"Believe my word; everybody has the ability to perform. After all one will learn everything on the job" He defended his claim for the king's post.
The ministers had no other option but to agree. After all he has the royal blood.
As we all thought, Devan never became a good king. He made many reforms to improve, but everything landed in disaster.
"One must be able to perform different tasks." declared the king one day, "Don't allow a person to hold the same post all his life. Transfer them to other sections too."
"We have too many soldiers, select from them whenever there is a vacancy in the palace" that was another disastrous decision.
Life in the palace became miserable and talented people started leaving the palace.
One fine morning the king found that his royal dresses were washed very badly and also torn in many places.
"Your Majesty, Our washer men all left the court. So we appointed the soldiers as washer men" said one minister.
"Everybody has the ability to perform. After all they will learn it on the job", Second minister said.
The king said nothing and went for breakfast.
The breakfast was so horrible. The king cannot eat a single piece.
"Your Majesty, Our cooks left the court. So we appointed the soldiers as cooks" said one minister.
"Everybody has the ability to perform. After all they will learn it on the job", Second minister said.
The king said nothing and left with out eating.
He sat in the horse cart to go to the durbar.
The cart took off with a jerk and the king got thrown out of the cart.
He fell on the ground and broke his leg.
"Your Majesty, Our cart man left the court. So we appointed a shepherd as cart man" said one minister.
"Everybody has the ability to perform. After all he will learn it on the job", Second minister said.
The royal doctor came to treat the king's broken leg.
He applied some liquid on the king's swollen leg and started squeezing it with great force.
"Stop this nonsense" Shouted the king who was whirling with pain.
"Your Majesty, Our Royal Doctor left the court. So we appointed a washer man as doctor" said one minister.
"Everybody has the ability to perform. After all he will learn it on the job", Second minister said.
"Bring the palanquin and take me to the hospital in the next county." ordered the king.
The palanquin came, the king sat inside, the bearers lifted it and started moving.
Unfortunately the royal palanquin bearers had already left the court and the work was assigned to the court dancers.
They started moving with dancing steps and the palanquin was swaying very badly.
The very next moment the King fell down from the palanquin.
Lying on the ground, the king looked around for some one to lift him from the ground.
He saw a very strong man standing nearby and asked him to lift the king.
The man came forwarded, lifted the king with both hands, raised him above his head, held there for a second then put him down on the ground and went back to his position.
The two ministers came running and one said
"Your Majesty, he was the royal weightlifter. Recently got appointed as your body guard".
"Everybody has the ability to perform. After all he will learn it on the job", Second minister said.
"Stop all this. From now onwards appoint only very talented and experience people" ordered the king.
"But Your Majesty, you ...", the second minister wanted to repeat the royal statement but the king interrupted him and said, "Yes. Yes. I know. Immediately find an able and efficient man" and started walking towards the palace gate.
On his way he added "He will be your next King. I am off."

Contributed by Sarootty