Once there lived a happy cobbler who passed his days in working and singing. A rich neighbour of his was a banker who one day said to him, "How much a year do you earn?" The cobbler did not know what to say in reply to such a question. He lived from hand to mouth. Everyday he would sit under the banyan tree of the village market and could earn very little repairing and polishing people's shoes. In the evening, he would return home buying necessaries he could manage to buy with his small income. And he was contented and thus happy with that life. He never counted or even thought of counting his yearly income. "I never thought that way", he replied to his rich neighbour. "I just can manage two meals a day for my family and I do not have any savings." The banker felt pity for the cobbler. He brought one thousand rupees for the cobbler the next day." Take this rupees and have a nice and happy life," he said to the cobbler. The cobbler became very glad getting the money. He returned his home with a joyful mind. He told everything to his wife. She felt a deep respect in her heart for the kind neighbour. There came the night then. And what happened afterwards was quite pathetic. The cobbler and his wife soon discovered that their thatched house was not safe for keeping the huge amount o! money. They also could not find any safe place or trustworthy person to keep the money. They were much worried thinking that their money could be stolen or snatched. That night they could not sleep. Thus their peace of mind disappeared. They realized that money can not bring happiness.

Once the house of a rich man was infested with rats. The house became like the town of Hamelin. There were rats everywhere. The rats were so big and fierce that they fought the dogs, killed the cats and bit the babies in the cradles. In no way the rich man could protect his belongings from the attack of the rats. So, the man along with his family was leaving his dwelling place. In this situation, the chairman of the union paid an occasional visit to the man's house and observed the situation. Then the chairman called a meeting of the elite persons of the village to talk about the problem and way outs. The meeting went on for a long time but there was no result. At that time, a strange man with a colourful flute in his hand appeared before the meeting. He declared that he would drive the rats from the house. He demanded Tk. 20,000/- for the job. The chairman and the people present there did not believe him. But at last, the chairman decided to give the strange man a chance. He also agreed with his demand. Then the strange man went on the road. He started playing his flute. Hearing the sound of the flute, the rats jumped out to the roads in thousands. The man started walking and the rats followed him. He suddenly stopped by the bank of the nearby river of the village. But the rats did not stop. They jumped into the current of the river and all drowned. After the solution of the problem, the strange man demanded his taka for his job. The chairman kept his promise and then the man left the village.

AN HONEST WOOD CUTTER

There lived a wood cutter in a village. One day he was cutting wood in a jungle. There was a river nearby. There was strong current in the river. Suddenly his axe fell into the river. The wood cutter did not know how to swim or dive^ So, he was sitting there with a heavy heart. He was very poor and he had not the money tfi buy another axe. The axe was his onlj means of earning livelihood for himself and his family. Without the axe how would ht support his family? He would not be able to cut wood in the forest and they all would have tc starve. Thinking all these, he got very depressed and was blaming his lot. Suddenly, he hearc a voice and saw a fairy before him. The fairy asked him why he was crying. He told he everything. The fairy took pity on him. She dived into the river and came back with a goldei axe. She asked the wood cutter if it was his axe. The wood cutter replied in the negative. then again went into the water and returned with a silver one. This time also the wood-cutte refused to take it. Besides, the fear of not getting back his exe began to take a firm position ir his mind. He was a little bit disheartened since the fairy also failed to find out his axe However, the fairy noticed the pensive mood of the wood cutter and dived into the river with L smile in her face. Finally, she brought the axe of the wood cutter from the water. The wood cutter was delighted to get back his iron axe. The fairy became very pleased with the honesty and simplicity of the wood cutter and gave him the two valuable axes as reward. Honesty is thus always rewarded.