Ancient Wisdom

Once a Corn-crake made a nest in the meadow late in the year, and mowing time his Mate was still sitting on her eggs. Early in the morning the peasants came to the meadow, took off their coats, whetted their scythes, to put it down in rows. The Corn-crake flew up to see what the mowers were doing. When he saw a peasant swing his scythe and cut a snake in tow, he rejoiced and flew back to his Mate and said: "Don't fear the peasants! They have come to cut the snakes to pieces; they have given us no rest for quite awhile." But his Mate said: "The peasants are cutting the grass, and with the grass they are cutting everything which is in their way, -the snakes, and the Corn-crake's nest, and the Corn-crake's head.  My heart forebodes nothing good: but I cannot carry away the eggs, nor fly from the nest, for fear of chilling them." When the mowers came to the nest of the Corn-crake, one of the peasants swung his scythe and cut of the head of the Corn-crake'

In the heart of a dense forest, a man embarked on a mission. With the sun peeking through the foliage, he selected a sturdy tree and began his work. The rhythmic sound of his saw slicing through the wood echoed through the woods. He skillfully elevated the tree’s end onto a stump, straddling it, and resumed his task. With precision, he drove a wedge into the sawed split, continuing his work. He then removed the wedge, driving it further down the split. High above, a curious monkey perched on a tree branch, her eyes fixed on the man. Intrigued by his actions, she decided to mimic him. As the man succumbed to the lull of sleep, the monkey seized the opportunity. She positioned herself astride the tree, attempting to replicate the man’s actions. However, when she removed the wedge, the tree snapped back, trapping her tail. Caught in an unexpected predicament, the monkey began to tug at her tail, her cries piercing the tranquility of the forest. The man, awakened by the commotion, found th

  A Person sees with his eyes, hears with his ears, smells with his nose, tastes with his mouth, and feel with his fingers. One person's eyes see better, another persons' see worse. One hears from a distance, and another is deaf. One has keen senses and smells a thing from a distance, while another smells at rotten egg and does not perceive it. One can tell a thing by a touch, and another cannot tell by touch what is wood and what paper. One will take a substance in his mouth and will find it sweet, while another will swallow it without making out whether it is bitter or sweet. Just so the different senses differ in strength in the animals. But with all the animals the sense of smell is stronger than in person. But when a person wants to recognise a thing, he looks at it, listen to the noise that it makes, now and then smells at it, or tastes it; but, above all, a person has to feel a thing to recognise it. But nearly all animals more than anything need to smell a thing. A hors

Once a Duck was swimming in the pond, trying to find some fish, but she could not find one in a whole day. When night came, she saw the Moon in the water; she thought that it was a fish too, and plunged in to catch the Moon. The other ducks saw her doing it and laughed at her. It made the Duck feel so ashamed and bashful that when she saw a fish under the water, she did not try to catch it, and so died of hunger. 

Why does a spider sometimes make a close cobweb, and sit in the very middle of its nest, and at other times leaves its nest and start a new spider-web? The spider makes its cobweb according to the weather, bot the present and the future weather. Looking at a spider, you can tell what kind of weather it is going to be: if it sits tightly in the middle of the cobweb and does not come out, it means that it is going to rain. If it leaves the nest and makes new cobwebs, it is going to clear off. How can the spider know in advance what weather it is going  to be? The spider's senses are so fine that as soon as the moisture begins to gather in the air,- though we don not yet feel it, and for us the weather is clear,- for the spider it is already raining. Just as a naked man will feel the moisture, when a man in his clothes does not, so it is already raining for a spider, while for us it is only getting ready to rain.

I In olden days there was a shepherd whose name was Magnes . Magnes lost a sheep. He went to the mountains to find it. He came to a place where there were barren rocks. He walked over these rocks, and felt that his boots were sticking to them. He touched them with his hand, but they were dry and did not stick to his hand. He started to walk again, and again his boots stuck to the rocks. He sat down, took off one of his boots, took it into his hand, and touched the rocks with it. Whenever he touched them with his skin, or with the sole of his boot, they did not stick; but when he touched them with the nails, they did stick. Magnes had a cane with an iron point. He touched a rock with the wood: it did not stick; he touched it with the iron end, and it stuck so that he could not pull it off. Magnes looked at the stone, and he saw that it looked like iron, and he took pieces of that stone home with him. since then that rock has been known, and has been called magnet. II Magnet is found