The Arrogant Turtle

The Arrogant Turtle – Ricky Chang

Once there was a turtle named Rover.

In comparison to his peers, Rover was exceptionally talented.

Rover was faster than his friends and he was smarter than his friends.

He was confident that he would lose in nothing.

He had friends but he felt he deserved better than them because he was more talented than them.

Eventually, his friends left him because Rover taunted them.

One day, they reunited and Rover mocked them upon seeing his friends.

His friends challenged him in a race and surprisingly Rover lost.

Rover was at a lost because he couldn’t picture himself being inferior to anyone for any aspect.

It is too bad Rover will not overcome his pride to maximize his use of his potential.

The Lioness her Cub



One sunny day, a lion sat with her cub. The cub marveled at how fast the other female lions were, how fast they ran, and how they seemed to know the zebra's next move.  As the cub studied the other lionesses every move, its mother scolded it. The mother lioness told her cub, "why do you watch the other lionesses so?", the cubs cried out "mother I wish to be as fast as them one day!", to which the mother replied, "then watch the zebra







Moral: You can learn from the mistakes of others more than from their successes.

Sleepy Cocker Spaniel

     Sleepy Cocker spaniel would always go to bed with the sunset, and wouldn't wake up until between 9 or 10 am. If the exact time was an even number, he would quickly get up and happily run to the streets to play in the snow with his hood friends, the french poodles. Everything seemed so perfect, so shiny, so exciting.
     The other days, he would wake up witha burning sensation in his throat that would make him so sick to the point of even hating the idea of going outside. He would only look from his window and all he would see were wolves fighting against each other in the middle of a cold winter storm. Then he'd claim how fed up he was with the artic.
     Funny thing is, I visited him once. His neighbors were some Boxers, Pugs, a Maltese and a couple of German Sheppards who recently moved into the area. All I saw were a bunch of houses that looked very similar, streets, sidewalks, pavement, lights, and finally, a  tiny bit of snow left from a few weeks ago.
    "You make your life what you want it to be"

The Wolf and the Sloth

Long ago, there lived two separate nations, one ruled by a wolf, and the other ruled by a sloth. The wolf's nation was filled with savage killers who hunted relentlessly. The most heralded members of the nation were those who could kill the most innocent animals. The sloth's nation was the opposite. The most respected members of the nation were those who were best able to promote peace and those who could forage the most herbs. One day, tired of the wolf's often senseless killing of the members of his nation, the sloth decided to confront the wolf. The sloth first asks,"Why do you insist on murdering those in my nation when we do nothing but mind our own business?" Instead of responding, the wolf kills the sloth and harvests its organs to sell. With no leader, the wolf declares himself the leader of what had been the sloth's people. A great parade and feast is organized in honor of the wolf's imperialistic conquest. 100 years later, the grandchildren of the sloth's nation commit murders just as only the wolf's nation originally would.

The moral of this story is that morality is subjective and often changes over time.

The Penguin and His Fish

The penguin had a difficult time acquiring food during the middle of the year. There were fewer fish around this time, making it difficult for him to eat on a daily basis. So, before the middle of the year came around he decided to gather and stash away a large amount of fish in order to prevent the struggle. He had thought the spot he chose to hide his food was perfect and impervious to being exposed. Right when he started to accumulate enough food to get through the fish scarcity, he had returned to his stash only to find it raided and empty.

Moral: Don't put all your eggs in one basket

The Boy and his Kingdom

There once was a boy who was the only heir to his parents kingdom. His parents gave him everything he laid his fingers on. He had servants working for him day and night. He was spoiled to a point where he didn't even walk himself anywhere but was rather carried by his servants. 

One day his parents had a huge feast at the palace. Everyone from the village was invited. The tables were covered with food.Everyone was quite enjoying themselves. The prince was getting bored. Even being the richest and most important person didn't help him get friends because to him no one was more important or worth wasting his time on then himself. 

While walking around he laid his eyes on the most beautiful girl in the kingdom. He couldn't help but stare. He was absolutely mesmerized. He thought to himself that he got everything he wanted so why would this be any different. He went up to the girl and said that he liked her and wanted to keep her here at the palace. The girl smiled politely and said that she couldn't and walked away This made the prince furious so he called off the feast.. He realized then that being rich and powerful doesn't mean you could have everything you wanted. 

The Dog and The Cat

                                

                                                  The Dog and the Cat

                                                  
                                                  Written By Clarence McClain

     
       “I got your ass now!” screamed the dog.  "This pussy is too fast for u" replied the cat, as she evaded the dog. An owl watching from above asked the two of them, "Why are dogs and cats always fighting? You two can't be mad at each other because this is the first time you guys have seen one another." The dog replied first saying, "I just don't like cats, I'm big and she's small, she meows I bark, and I'm chasing her because she's running.” The cat said to the owl "I hate dogs, dogs are dirty and we cats are clean, you are loud and stupid, and I'm quiet, calm and smart." The owl shook his head as the chase continued through the woods.
         After running for what seemed like forever, the cat and dog were captured by hunters. Surprisingly while in captivity the cat was the one who was loud. The cat screamed and panicked while the dog stayed calm and quiet, smartly waiting for an opportunity to escape. When the hunter turned his back the two escaped. The cat and the dog went their separate ways in deep thought, trying to understand why what they thought they knew about each other didn't hold true. On their way back through the woods they each saw the owl that questioned them earlier and the owl said to the cat and the dog “I told you don't know enough about one another. Next time make sure you read the book before you throw it away, don't just look at the title.

Moral is you don't know someone until you know them. Don't prejudge or assume,take the time to learn a person before you decide to love or hate a person

The Dog And The Cow by Nelina Huang

There once was a dog and a cow that lived on opposite sides of a road. This road was built on a large hill. The cow could not see the dog’s farm from his side of the road, but the dog was able to run back and forth across the road to see the cow. One day the cow was eating his grass and says to the dog “I’m so lucky I have all the grass I can eat.” The dog says” you should come live on my farm; the grass is much taller and much sweeter on my farm.” After the dog leaves the cow can’t stop dreaming of the taller sweeter grass that the dog is going home to so the cow goes to the farmer and tells him he wants to go to dog’s farm.  The farmer says “if you go you do not have a home here.” The cow decides to cross the road to find dog playing in a field of corn. 

 

Nelina Huang 

Ants and a cup

Long time ago, a group of ants was caught into a cup by a hunter. They fell over each other to climb, but the cup wall is too slippery. None of them can climb out by themselves. They are desperate. At this moment, an ant said:” we can lift up each other, and make up a ladder. Then we can get out of here.” So they came together, and make up a ladder, one by one to climb out.

Moral is that unity is strength. Sometimes, our own abilities are not enough. We need to learn how to cooperate. Our power is greatest when we are together. Also it tell us never give up.

The Lazy Cat

A cat, a bear, a dog, and a mouse all coexisted on a beautiful island. The animals did everything together and each contributed what they could to maintain the liveliness of their close-knit community. One day while they were preparing for their annual festival the cat became ill  “ I don’t feel well guys” the cat announced to the other animals “ don’t worry” they all said “ we’ll bring the festival to you, you won’t have to lift a finger.” In the back of his mind, the cat knew just how much each of the animals cared for him, he knew they would share with him regardless of how much he helped them. From that day forward the cat told himself he would sit back and be rewarded without doing the hard work “they won’t mind” he thought. Every time the animals got together to build, or cook, or clean, or plant the cat pretended to be sick or busy – the animals still made sure the cat got to benefit from all their hard work even thou he didn’t contribute. One day the Bear came running back to the island screaming frantically “ A horrible storm is coming, we have to prepare.”  The animals, being no strangers to hard work began planning and preparing for the big storm.  Just after they finished their planning the cat rolled onto his back dramatically “ ouch ouch, it hurts! “ I the cat screamed grabbing his stomach “I can’t move, I can’t help, I’m so sorry, I feel so bad!”  The animals helped the Cat back to his house and assured him they’d get the job done.  They worked tirelessly through the night gathering wood for the boat, cooking and storing food, and boarding their homes. All of the animals toiled away exhausting themselves while the Cat danced around in his house without a care in the world.  During a short break Mouse decided to check on Cat and make sure he was ok, he walked pass Cat’s window and saw him jumping around and twirling. He couldn’t believe what he was seeing; he ran back to tell the other animals as quickly as his little feet would allow him to. The creatures were devastated, they felt stupid and used, and how could they not have noticed they were being played? They decided they would have the last laugh so they devised a plan to leave the cat stranded without saying a word to him. The storm came, and the wind blew hard and strong, the rain was pouring and the animals set out to board the ship. The cat came running behind them “wait for me, don’t leave me, “ he said. The Cat watched in horror as the Bear rolled up the gangplank.  “ You don’t work, you don’t sail “ the Bear said sharply.  The storm worsened and swept away the island and the Cat.

Moral: Never cross the people who got your back

            What you do in the dark, always come to light

            Don’t take advantage of others

            If you don’t work, don’t expect to get

The Fox and His Ways

There was once a fox who took a liking to the easier things in life. He always thought he could find an effortless way to get a task done. While his friends worked hard and long hours, the fox would always do the smallest amount of work and pretend to have done his best with whatever task he was given. One day the elders sent him and his friends on a task to find a rare fruit, and whoever could bring some back for the elders to taste would be noted as the bravest man in town. Early on, the fox and his friends encountered a fork in the road, and were a little troubled about which path to take. There were two signs, one read “Hard and tired-some road, but will lead you to your destination”, as the other read “ Shortcut road full of surprises.” The fox said to his friends, “Why go through the trouble of the hard and tired-some road, let’s take the short cut. Plus it’s full of surprises.” His friends weren’t afraid of a little challenge and took the other road, and they were even lucky enough to find the rare fruit in abundance to bring some back. They were going to be the talk of town. Meanwhile the fox took the shortcut, which was full of surprises. It led him to a path where a giant snake laid, and the poor thing was eaten by the snake and never to be found again.

The lesson learned from the misfortune of the poor fox -Do not be afraid of hard tasks and tough roads, as they build character. The only way for life to get easier as you go through your journey is to face it head on and not look for shortcuts-

A boy and the gumball machine

A boy and the gum-ball machine

      Once upon a time, there was a little boy and his parents took him out of the house to the mall for the first time in his life. He took this chance to explore, walked to the nearby gum-ball machine. He has never seen a gum-ball machine before, and of course has no idea what it is. He crawled to the machine slowly, fascinated by the multi-color balls that it contain. When the baby gets there, he couldn't wait to touch all over with his little hands. The machine is a whole new feelings to him because it, unlike all those toys he has at home, is cold and hard. The boy sat on his butt and laugh, scream, feeling so happy for meeting such a strange thing. So he told his parents what he saw and they gave him some quarter for the gum-ball. 

      Three boys walked up to the machine, the lead one put the same quarter into the machine and then says,"When I turned the thing, shake the machine really hard, maybe it will give us more than one." The other two smiled and did what was told to them. The lead one turned handle, and the other two rattle the whole gum-ball machine. Luckily, several gum-ball rolled out of the hole. They got really happy and left. So the little boy shake the machine just like the three other boys. Unfortunately, he has broken the machine, and his parents gets really angry. 

Moral: Do not follow the suit without thinking of the concequence, you might not get lucky. 

The Dog and the Coyote

Long ago a dog asked her friend, the coyote, to go deep into the field to play. But the coyote felt she was not in the mood. The next day, the dog went over to the coyote's place and invited her to swim in the river. Yet, again the coyote rejected her friend’s invitation. The dog in her last attempt to cheer up the coyote invited her to see the sunset to which the coyote replied, "Stop annoying me with your tiresome ideas; I have better things to do with my time." The dog turned around and left her alone. Sometime after, the coyote while seizing a flock fought a wolf that severely injured her eyes.” One day as the coyote struggled to get home she bumped into her old friend; and the dog without recognizing her friend's blindness said, “are you going up the hill to see the sunset now." "Oh, my dear friend, never in my life would I have wished to see the colors of a sunset more than I do now," the coyote cried.       

People don’t appreciate what they have until they are gone and it is too late, a well-known saying but many times barely applied in our lives. Sometimes the little things we don’t pay attention to are our most valuable possessions.