Short Stories for kids on importance of all creatures in nature

This is a folktale from Maharashtra on how man interacts with nature

At the beginning of time, there lived a couple at the edge of the forest. This was the time when men conversed with gods and animals and humans had the same language. 

The couple decided to build their own farm. They cleared out a portion of the forest and tilled the soil and waited for the monsoons to water the farm. All the prep work for the farm was done, but they didn’t have any seeds to sow. The wife thought for a while and told her husband that maybe the Gods would have some seeds and he should go to the heavens and collect the seeds.

The husband set out on a journey to heaven, with a song on his lips and sprite on his legs. He reached the heavens and met with the Gods. The Gods met him and offered him some wine. When he asked for some seed to sow, they said that they had none and that he should look for seed on earth.

The husband was shocked that the Gods didn’t have a solution to his problems. Worried about it a little, he started walking back to earth. On the way home, he saw an old Monitor lizard and asked him,” Dear Monitor lizard, you are old and you must have some seeds. Please give me and my wife some seeds.” The monitor lizard told him that young man that he lived among the rocks and had no seeds. The monitor lizard asked him to check with the crab that lived at the edge of the river.

The young man was worried that he still couldn’t find any solution to their problem. He walked to the edge of the river and asked the crab for seeds. The crab told him that he was a river dweller and didn't have any seeds and that he might have better luck with Raja the tiger.

The young man went down to meet Raja the tiger near the caves and Raja the tiger told him that he didn’t have the seeds and may be the man should try with the Super Squ the Squirrel. The man walked to the squirrel and asked for seeds. The Squirrel said,”Oh yes! I do have a lot of seeds. I have plenty of sunflower seeds.”  The young man explained to the squirrel that he wanted food grains and not seeds of flowers. The Squirrel said that she didnt have any food grains.

Overhearing this conversation a rat appeared in front of the man and he said that he had plenty of rice and corn seeds. The young man took the seeds and walked to his wife and they planted the seeds.

After some days the rat came to see the man, the wife got very angry and drove the rat away saying he had come to steal their plant. The rat turned to the man and said,"Young man, I helped you out of my goodwill and I received this treatment from you. I will receive my dues whether you like it or not.” From then on, whenever a human sows seeds, the rats descendents always get their share no matter what the farmers do to stop them.

Moral of the story:

This is a beautiful story with two morals. The first moral is that we seek solution for our problems from the powerful and often we don't get any resolutions and the regular people around us are more helpfulThe second moral is that man takes very easily from nature but does not give back to it as easily. 

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