The Lazy Horse (Story Time)

In a very small town, there lived a man named Theo who was very hard working and known well for his honest salt trading business. Theo took in a horse whom he named Butter that he had intended to be his work horse. They worked well together for several months until Butter started to become very lazy and would try his best to avoid work.


Butter's job was to help Theo carry the sacks of salt from his home town to the neighboring towns for sale. It was quite often that Butter would have to cross a bridge over the river to make it to the next town.

One day, Theo loaded Butter's pouches with salt and sent him on his way across the bridge for a delivery. While the horse started trotting on his path, Theo began to prepare himself for the journey. Butter groaned at his situation when suddenly he slipped up on the bridge and fell into the river. As he climbed out on the other bank, the salt began to dissolve in the water, making the bags noticeably lighter. This gave Butter a mischievous idea.


By the time the trader had caught up to his horse, he realized he had only half of what he loaded was there so he sold what he could and felt it must have been a miscalculation on his part.

The next day, he loaded Butter and sent him ahead once more as he packed his food for the journey. As the horse came upon the bridge, he leapt into the river, again happy that his burden was lightened by the dissolved salt. Again, Theo only had even less salt to sale than the last time. This went on for days, each time, the salt being less and less.

Theo decided to follow Butter to see what could be happening to his salt. As they reached the bridge, Theo watched his horse leap into the river and his salt dissolving in the water. Theo decided to teach his horse a lesson. The next day, instead of salt, he filled the sacks with cotton and sent Butter on his way.


Like before, the horse leapt into the river in hopes to dissolve the salt and lighten his load. The cotton absorbed the water, making the load much heavier than before. The horse struggled, hoping the more he dipped, that the load would dissolve. He finally gave up and sat on the bank, panting in exhaustion.

Theo caught up to the horse and said to him "I take much pride in my work horse. It is not nice to play tricks on others just to avoid your work. I do not make excuses to avoid work."

The horse understood and from then on, took much pride in his deliveries and never again tried to fool his working partner.

The Forgetful Care (Story Time)

Recently, Steve had a minor car accident. He put his car in the garage to carry out the repair work. Since he still had to go to work, he decided that until the car is ready, he will travel by the metro train. One day, he noticed a homeless man at the train station and felt pity for him, so he gave him some change from his pocket.

The homeless man thanked him. The next day came and he noticed the homeless man at the same place. This time Steve went outside the station and brought him a meal. The homeless man thanked him for his kindness, but Steve was curious and asked him, “How did you get to this point?”

The homeless man looked up at him and with a smile, he said, “By Showing Love.”
Steve then asked him "What do you mean by that?"
The homeless guy replied “Throughout my whole life, I made sure that everyone was happy. No matter what was going right or wrong in my life, I always helped everyone.”
Steve asked him, “Do you regret it?” 

To which the homeless man replied, “No, It just hurts my soul that the very people I gave the shirt off my back to wouldn’t give me a sleeve of that same shirt when I was in need. Son, It is better to build your own house and invite someone in for shelter than to hand them your bricks while you are building yours. Because one day you will turn around and look at the spot where you had planned to build your house. It will be an empty lot. Then you are the one looking for bricks.”

Steve understood what the homeless man meant and thanked him for the good advice.

Moral: Helping others is not a bad thing, but sometimes, while we are helping others, we forget our own problems and needs. One must remember that sometimes sharing is better than giving away. You can do a lot more by being in a strong position instead of bringing yourself into a weaker situation.

Two Friends and the Bear (Story Time)

Two friends and the bear

Johnny and Andrew were two friends out enjoying the forest on a holiday. They were hiking along, taking in the view when Andrew suddenly heard leaves and twigs cracking behind them. As he turned, he happened to notice a bear was coming straight towards them!

Andrew shouted in paralyzing fear as the huge beast came barreling at them. There was no way he could see himself fending off this bear so he quickly turned and darted off before Johnny even had a chance to realize what was happening.

Andrew quickly climbed up the nearest tree, desperate to escape the bear, but did not think of Johnny who was left stumbling along behind him and incapable of climbing.

Though Johnny was terrified, he thought quickly and fell to the ground and played dead, hoping it would detour the bear from attacking him. The bear at sniffed him then whispered into his ear. Johnny trembled as the bear went on his way.

Andrew climbed down from the tree once the danger had passed and asked Johnny, 

"What did the bear whisper into your ear?"
Johnny replied, "The bear warned me to keep away from friends like you" 

then turned and he too, went on his way.

MORAL : Be careful who you allow to hold your trust. Not everyone will also provide a hand.

The Story of the Raven and the Hare

This is an old story about the Goddess Ostara. It can also be told as a pourquoi story - an origin of Easter, or the origin of Spring. Its a wonderful children's story and can easily be adapted to any religion or no religion at all! A little back story for those interested, Ostara is a neo-pagan holiday to celebrate the first calendar day of Spring. Another term often used to describe each of the 8 holidays on the wheel is "sabbat". Sabbats are known as the evenly spaced intervals throughout the year that signal the changes of weather. Not only are these seen in neo-pagan history, but can also be found mentioned in Farmer's Almanacs!