Fiona Famous
Fiona Famous was a very popular girl at school. She was clever and fun, and
got on well with everyone. It was no accident that Fiona was so popular. From
an early age she had made an effort to be kind and friendly to everyone. She
invited the whole class to her birthday party, and from time to time she would
give presents to everybody. She was such a busy girl, with so many
friends, that she hardly got a chance to spend time with individual friends.
However, she felt very lucky; no other girl had so many friends at school and
in the neighborhood.
But everything changed on National Friendship Day. On that day, at
school, everyone was having a great time, drawing, painting, giving gifts. That
day in class everyone had to make three presents to give to their three best
friends. Fiona enjoyed the task of choosing three from amongst all the dozens
of her friends.
However, when all the presents had been made and shared out among
classmates, Fiona was the only one who had not received a present! She felt
terrible, and spent hours crying. How could it be possible? So much effort to
make so many friends, and in the end no one saw her as their best friend?
Everyone came and tried to console her for a while. But each one only stayed
for a short time before leaving.
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This was exactly what Fiona had done so many times to others.
She realized that she was a good companion and acquaintance, but she had
not been a true friend to anyone. She had tried not to argue with anyone, she
had tried to pay attention to everyone, but now she had found out that that
was not enough to create true friendship.
When she got home that night , created quite a puddle with her tears, and
Fiona asked her mother where she could find true friends.
"Fiona, my dear," answered her mother, "you cannot buy friends with a smile
or a few good words. If you really want true friends, you will have to give
them real time and affection. For a true friend you must always be available, in
good times and bad".
"But I want to be everybody's friend! I need to share my time among
everyone!", Fiona protested.
"My dear, you're a lovely girl," said her mother, "but you can't be a close friend
to everybody. There just isn't enough time to be available for everyone, so it's
only possible to have a few true friends. The others will by playmates or
acquaintances, but they won't be close friends".
Hearing this, Fiona decided to change her ways so that she could finally have
some true friends. That night, in bed, she thought about what she could do to
get them.
She thought about her mother. Her mother was always willing to help her, she
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put up with all of Fiona's dislikes and problems, she always forgave her, she
loved her a great deal...
That was what makes friends!
And Fiona smiled from ear to ear, realizing that she already had the best
friend anyone could ever want.
Peggy’s Talking Pets
Peggy Pigtails was a good girl, and she was quite quiet and reserved. Not
many words passed her lips, partly due to shyness, and partly because she
sometimes felt she had nothing interesting to say.
But that all changed when Peggy and her family moved houses.
On arriving at the new place, she discovered a huge attic full of old junk. In
one pile she found a big chest containing all kinds of strange things. Under
them all, she found something special. It was an old book with a great heavy,
thick cover, with gold writing on it. But what made it truly special was how it
shone in the darkness of that attic, and in the most magical, fantastical way.
What's more, the book was actually floating in the air. Peggy could find
nothing holding it up.
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She took the book down to her room and hid it there until nighttime, putting
her puppy on guard duty over it. That night, when she was sure no one would
disturb her, she sat with her doggy and started reading the book. It was a
storybook, but Peggy could hardly get any of it read. She had only just started
when her dog started speaking to her:
"What an interesting book you've found! It seems to have some lovely stories!"
Peggy couldn't believe it, but the puppy continued talking, telling her all sorts
of things, and asking a thousand questions. After some time, Peggy regained
her composure and asked,
"So how come you're talking?"
"I don't know," answered the dog. "Instead of just thinking things, now I'm
saying them too... it hasn't changed much for me; I guess it was the book that
did it, though."
Peggy decided to investigate the matter, and she thought she would show the
book to some other animals. One after another, the animals all started talking,
and, before long, Peggy was chatting - in the most friendly manner - with a
dog, three cats, two doves, a parrot, and five lizards. All the animals spoke as
though they'd been doing so all their lives, and all of them had some pretty
interesting tales to tell!
"Sure, babe!" Lemmy the lizard told her, "we all lead pretty incredible lives!"
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Peggy Pigtails spent the next several days nattering with her new friends, and
really enjoyed it. One day, though, unaware as to why, the book disappeared;
and with it went the animals' voices. Peggy looked everywhere, but couldn't
find that book.
Within a few days, she was missing the chats with her new animal friends so
much that she could hardly think of anything else.
Then she remembered what Lemmy the lizard said to her, and she realised
that she hardly spoke at all to her classmates or other children, and they
probably had incredible lives too!
So, from that day, little by little, Peggy started talking more to her
schoolmates, trying to find out about their lives. In the end, without realising
it, she came to have more friends than anyone else in the whole school. And
never again was she short of someone to have a good old natter with.
Two Kinds of Justice
A Greek philosopher was walking along one day, thinking about things, when
he saw two very tall women towering away in the distance; they were the size
of several men placed one on top of another. The philosopher, as wise as he
was fearful, ran to hide behind some bushes, intending to listen to their
conversation. The huge women came and sat nearby, but before they could
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start speaking the King's youngest son appeared. He was bleeding from one
ear and shouted pleadingly towards the women:
-"Justice! I want justice! That villain cut my ear!"
He pointed to another boy, his younger brother, who arrived wielding a
bloody sword.
-"We will be delighted to give you justice, young Prince,"
replied the two women,
-"That's why we are the goddesses of justice. Just choose which of the two of
us you would prefer to help you."
-"What's the difference?"
the victim asked,
-"What would each of you do?"
-"I,"
said one of the goddesses, who looked the more weak and delicate,
-"will ask your brother what was the cause of his action, and I will listen to his
explanation. Then I will oblige him to protect your other ear with his life, and
to make you the most beautiful helmet to cover your scar and to be your ears
when you need it."
-" I, for my part,"
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said the other goddess
-"will not let him go unpunished for his action. I will punish him with a
hundred lashes and one year of imprisonment, and he must compensate you
for your pain with a thousand gold coins. And I will give you the sword and
you can choose if you're able to keep the ear or, on the contrary, you want both
ears to end up on the ground. Well, what is your decision? Who do you want
to apply justice for the offence?"
The Prince looked at the two goddesses. Then he put his hand to the wound,
and on touching it his face gave a gesture of undeniable pain, which ended
with a look of anger and affection for his brother. And in a firm
voice, addressing the second of the goddesses he gave his answer.
-"I'd rather it was you who helps me. I love him, but it would be unfair if my
brother doesn't receive his punishment."
And so, from his hiding place in the bushes, the philosopher saw the culprit
get his comeuppance, and watched how the older brother was content to make
a small wound on his brother's ear, without seriously damaging it.
A while passed and the Princes had left, one without an ear and the other
served justice, and the philosopher was still in hiding when the least expected
thing happened. In front of his eyes, the second of the goddesses changed her
clothes and took her true form. She wasn't a goddess at all, but the powerful
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Aries, the god of war. Aries bid goodbye to his companion, with a
mischievous smile:
-"I've done it again, dear Themis. Your friends, mankind, can barely
distinguish between your righteousness and my revenge. Bwahahaha! I will
prepare my weapons, a new war between brothers is approaching ... ha, ha,
ha, ha."
When Aries had left and the philosopher was trying to quietly make off, the
goddess spoke aloud:
-"Tell me, good philosopher, would you have known how to choose correctly?
Did you know how to distinguish between the past and the future?"
And with that strange greeting began many long and friendly talks. And that's
how, from the very hand of the goddess of justice, the philosopher learned
that true justice lies in improving the future, moving it away from past
wrongs, while false justice and vengeance is incapable of forgiving and
forgetting past wrongs, and doing so fixes the future, it always ending up
being just as bad.
The Evil Goblins
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Langa Tokyo traia un vestit samurai care ii indruma pe cei tineri in budismul
Zen. Se spune ca, in ciuda varstei inaintate, el putea infrange orice adversar.
Intr-o dupa-amiaza, un luptator, cunoscut pentru lipsa lui de scrupule, a ajuns
in localitatea unde traia batranul samurai. Era cunoscut pentru tehnicile lui de
a provoca la lupta: astepta pana cand adversarul facea prima miscare si, apoi,
contraataca cu viteza.
Tanarul luptator nu pierduse inca nici o lupta. Auzind de reputatia
samuraiului, a decis sa-l invinga pentru a-si mari faima. Toti studentii erau
impotriva luptei, dar batranul samurai a acceptat provocarea. S-au adunat toti
in piata din centrul orasului, iar tanarul a inceput sa-l insulte pe samurai. A
aruncat cateva pietre in directia lui, l-a scuipat in fata, i-a aruncat toate
insultele ce exista sub soare, i-a insultat pana si stramosii. Timp de cateva ore a
facut totul pentru a-l provoca pe maestru, dar batranul ramanea impasibil. La
sfarsitul dupa-amiezii, simtindu-se obosit si umilit, razboinicul a abandonat si
a plecat.
Deceptionati de faptul ca maestrul primise atat de multe insulte si provocari,
studentii l-au intrebat:
– “Cum ai putut rabda atat de multa umilinta? De ce nu ti-ai folosit sabia,
chiar daca stiai ca ai fi pierdut, in loc sa-ti expui lasitatea in fata tuturor?”.
– “Daca cineva vine la tine cu un cadou si tu nu il primesti, cui apartine
cadoul?” a intrebat batranul samurai.
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– “Celui care a vrut sa ti-l ofere.” a replicat unul dintre discipoli.
– “La fel se intampla si cu orice manie, insulta sau invidie.” spuse maestrul.
“Cand nu sunt acceptate, continua sa apartina celui care le-a purtat.”
Once upon a time, there was a gang of evil goblins who lived in a forest. They
spent a lot of their time making fun of a poor old man who could now hardly
move, see, or hear. They showed no respect for his age.
The situation became so extreme that the Great Wizard decided to teach the
goblins a lesson. He cast a spell, and from that moment, every insult they
directed at the old man made the old man better, but had the opposite effect
on the goblin who was doing the insulting. Of course, the goblins knew
nothing about what was happening. The more they called the man an "old
fool", the younger and sharper of mind he became, while the goblin who had
shouted at him aged rapidly, and became a little more foolish.
As time went on, those evil goblins were becoming terribly old, ugly, stupid,
and clumsy... without even realising it. Finally, the Great Wizard allowed the
goblins to see themselves, and, terrified, they saw that they had turned into
the disgusting creatures we now know as trolls.
They had been so busy picking on the old man, that it had made them
incapable of noticing that their own acts were turning them into monsters.
And when they finally realised what they had done, it was too late.
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