Short Story on Pride and Vanity
In a dense forest of Malnad area in Karnataka there were a bunch of trees. Malnad regions lies in the Western Ghats . The Western Ghats are a huge range of lush green mountains stretching the Western Coast of India. The Western Ghats fall in the states of Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Karnataka, Goa and Maharashtra The Ghats are covered in thick forests and deep rivers and are known for their biological diversity. The Ghats also a UNESCO World Heritage Site and are one of the 10 hottest biodiversity hotspots in the world.There are hundreds of thousands of species of trees and animals.
One tree among them was very beautiful. It was tall, green and had strong branches. Its beauty made it very self-centered. The tree would sing praises of itself through out the day! Even the birds had to seek its permission before they could build their nest. The tree would interview the birds and then decide whether the bird was eligible to build its nest or not.
Now, the forest was famous for medicinal herbs. A small seed from a famous medicinal plant came near out tree. The seed said that it comes from a very famous medicinal herb and it would grow into a creeper. Our tree wanted to have the creeper grow on it. The tree said that it was the most beautiful tree in the forest and birds also wait their turn to build their nests. On hearing this, the seed felt happy and decided to grow around the tree.. Soon, the creeper grew and spread everywhere on the tree. The tree looked more beautiful and attractive that ever. This increased the fame of the tree. The tree started being even more self absorbed and annoying. Every other tree around this tree was bored and annoyed of listening to its self –praise.
One day a team of people came to this part of forest in search of medicinal plants and herbs. They were delighted to see the medicinal creeper growing on the tree. One of them examined it and said that the creeper was very useful for making rare medicines. They decided to cut the medicinal plant out
One among the team members was a woodcutter. Seeing the beauty of the tree, he thought it would be ideal for his furniture. He decided to chop the tree too. Within no time he brought a machine and chopped the tree off.
Had the medicinal plant not grown on the tree, it wouldn’t have attracted the attention of the humans and it would still stand today.
Parenting takeaway:
We should learn to be humble and modest. Extreme focus on external appearances leads us to lose focus on other important aspects of life.
The tree in question was not kind; it had put beauty above kindness. It would even let a bird nest on it, if it didn’t think it would make it look pretty. It is wise to remember that nothing is permanent and taking pride and building an ego around these things is not a great thing.
Before you head to the next story, please check out our India map Animals Poster. It is a great way to point and teach all the states where the Western Ghats are present. It helps the kids in getting a visual idea about the place and helps them reinforce their learning.
Story on a farm adventure
Nancy, studying in grade 2 is all excited to go to the picnic from her school. All her friends are coming. The whole class is super excited and waiting for this event. From the day they announced till the D- Day! Finally, the day has arrived. Nancy dresses up in her favourite dress which she had bought to wear on the picnic day. She eats her breakfast and packs snacks for the whole class. She packs her swimming costume, keep everything ready and waits for the school van. As soon as the van arrives,her best friends Jacob and Niel wave at her. Everyone is thrilled.
They are all set to go a farm to spend a day. The farm is a huge piece of land which is spread across 3 acres! It has all the farm animals in it with a big lake and many ponds.
They reach the farm in one hour’s time. The guide at farm is ready to explain about the farm and show them different aspects of the farm.
The farm is very neatly maintained. There are small ponds made of cement which would fill up with water automatically during the feeding time of animals. Every animal has its own allocated spaces. Every place is well maintained.
Nancy and her 2 friends are roaming around in the farm. They go near a pond in the stable to observe how the ponds automatically fills up with water. Just then they see a small puppy sniffing around. It was too tiny. It accidently falls into a tiny muddy puddle. It is a really tine puppy and its feet are stuck and its not able to come out of the puddle..Niel runs to get the guide who could help them.. Nancy cannot wait until the guide comes. She walks straight into the puddle and without a care for her new clothes getting soiled, takes the puppy out of water.
Just then, her teacher and the guide rush there. Her teacher asks her to wash herself up. The guide takes the puppy in hiss hand and checks for its health. He thanks Nancy for helping the puppy
Parenting takeaway:
This is a great story about a spontaneous act of kindness. It is a simple slice of life story. It helps kids understand that they should help wherever they can even if it entails a little inconvenience.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Smitha Prasad is a budding writer who writes articles and short stories for kids. She believes that childhood is the right age to inculcate the right values in kids. It helps them to develop into confident adults. She designs and runs a kid’s magazine called A LITTLE MORE-An Engaging booklet, through which she tries to reach kids that helps kids stay away from screen, build conversations and build the right mindset in kids
