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All for a Paisa
Illustrated By: Tristan Liu

There lived in the valley a very wealthy merchant who was not at all
happy with his only son. The boy showed no signs of intelligence or
creativity, much less any willingness to work. His mother always thought
the best of him, however, and was constantly making excuses for him.
When the lad reached the age to marry, his mother begged the merchant
to seek a proper wife for him. The merchant, however, was too much
ashamed of his lazy son, and in his own mind had fully decided never to
have him married. But the mother had set her heart on this. It was the
one thing that she had been looking forward to for years. To have her son
remain a bachelor all his life would be unthinkable. She simply would not
agree to this for a moment.
And so she urged excuses for her son. She claimed to have now and again
noticed extraordinary qualities of wisdom and intelligence in him. Her
speaking in this way only annoyed the merchant.
"Look here," the merchant said to his wife one day, when she had been
praising her son, "I have heard this many times before, but you have
never once proved it. I do not believe there is a particle of truth in
anything that you say. Mothers are blind. However, to satisfy you, I will
give the fool another chance. Send for him, and give him this one one
small coin, this paisa. Tell him to go to the bazaar, and with this one paisa
to buy one item. That one item must be something to eat, something to
drink, something to chew on, something to plant in the garden, and some
food for the cow."
The mother told the boy those instructions, gave him the paisa, and the
boy left.
When he came to the river, he became alarmed and wondered, "What
can be bought for only one pàisa -- to eat and drink and do all the other
things my mother asks for? Surely this is an impossible task!"
At that moment the daughter of an ironsmith came up. Seeing the lad's
unhappy expression, she asked him what was the matter. He told
everything his mother had ordered him to do.
"I know what you can do," she said.
"Go and buy a watermelon with one paisa," said the girl. "It provides
something to eat, something to drink, something to chew upon,
something to plant in the garden, and some food for the cow. Give it to
your parents, and they will be pleased."
And so this is exactly what the boy did.
When the merchant's wife saw the cleverness of her son she was very
glad.
"Look," she said to her husband as soon as he came home, "this is our
son's work."
"Actually, mother," said the boy, "the daughter of an ironsmith advised
me to do this."
Nevertheless, the father was impressed that the lad had found such a fine
solution. And so they invited the family of the ironsmith to their house
for dinner. Both parents were pleased to see love bloom between the two
young people. And so the daughter of the ironsmith married the
merchant's son, and the lad became a hard-working young husband, and
they all lived happily ever after.
The Pumpkin in the Jar
Illustrated By: Sarah Frank

ONE DAY IN A LONG TIME AGO, King Adoveneis went out into the plains
to hunt for deer, and he accidentally became separated from his
companions.
Wandering about, the king saw a hut that was surrounded by a garden.
Tending the garden was a beautiful young maiden.
The king spoke to the maiden and said, "Tell me, lass, what plants are
you growing here?"
She replied, "I am raising pumpkins and melons."
Now, the king happened to be thirsty, and so he asked the maiden for a
drink. "We were hunting in the heat of the day," he said, "and I felt a
terrible thirst come over me."
The maiden replied, "O illustrious king! We have water to be sure, but
only an old, crude jar in which to serve it. Surely it is not right or worthy
that your Majesty should drink from such a crude jar! Now if we had a jar
of pure gold, in which we could pour water from a crystal clear fountain,
then that would be a proper offering for your Majesty."
The king replied to the girl, "Never mind the jar: I'm terribly thirsty! I
care not if the jar is old, provided that the water is cool."
The maiden went into the house, fetched the jar, and filled it with clear
cool water. Presently the king drank his fill.

After he had finished, the king handed her back the jar. Then, suddenly,
the maiden struck the jar against the staircase. It was shattered to bits.
The king wondered at this strange act, and in his heart he thought that
the maiden had no manners at all.
He cried, "You see that I am a noble king, and you know that I hold the
crown. For what possible reason did you shatter that jar, received from
my hands?"
The maiden replied, "The reason I broke the jar, which has been kept for
many years by my mother, O king! is that I should not like to have it used
by anyone else after you, your majesty, has touched it."
Upon hearing that, the king made no reply. In his heart, he marveled at
the actions of the woman and determined that she was a good, virtuous
maiden after all. As he returned toward the city, a thought began to grow
on him. He wondered whether the maiden was as clever as she was
virtuous.
After some time, the king one day ordered a soldier to carry to the
maiden a new jar, one with an opening at the top not much more than
one inch across. The soldier's orders were to tell the maiden that the jar
was from the king, and that she was to put an entire pumpkin inside the
jar. The soldier was also to tell the maiden that she should not break the
jar under any circumstance. Both the jar with the small opening at the
top and the pumpkin must remain whole.
The maiden returned a message to the king that she was certain she
could do what his majesty ordered, but that such a task might take some
time. Indeed, it was several months before the maiden arrived at the
palace. In her hands she held the same jar, and sure enough, an entire
pumpkin sat inside of it.
When the king closely examined the jar, he confirmed that the jar was
the same one that he had delivered. What's more, he saw that both the
jar and the pumpkin were completely undamaged. He asked the maiden
to marry him on the spot, as she was as clever as she was virtuous, and
she gladly accepted.
Later, in their royal chambers, when his new wife revealed her secret,
the king laughed long and hard.
She had placed a pumpkin bud, one that was still attached to a vine in the
ground, inside the jar through its small opening. Over time the pumpkin
bud grew into a full-sized pumpkin. When the pumpkin filled the jar, she
simply cut off the stem and delivered the jar with the pumpkin to the
palace.
Weighing the Elephant
Illustrated By: Stella Wei

A long time ago, people who lived in China knew that a strange,
amazing beast called an elephant lived in a faraway land, but no
one had ever seen one. One day, a ruler came to see the Emperor
of China. He brought a gift, and that gift was a real, live elephant!

Never in China had anyone seen anything like it. As soon as the
royal guest left, it was all anyone at court could talk about.
“This elephant is bigger than a water buffalo!” said one mandarin.
“Are you kidding?” said a second. “It’s bigger than a rhino!”
“You must be joking,” said a third. “This elephant is bigger than
TWO rhinos!”
One day the Emperor said to his mandarins, “I want to know how
much this amazing elephant weighs. Who can tell me how to
weigh it?”
“I can!” said the first mandarin, who used to be a merchant. “We
will just put it on a scale.”
“Not likely,” said the Emperor. “There is no scale that could hold
the weight of an elephant without breaking.”
“I can tell you!” said the second mandarin, who used to be a
tailor. He said, “We will measure the elephant.”
“No,” said the Emperor with a sigh. “Even if you measured all the
different parts of an elephant, you would still not know how much
it weighs.”
“I can tell you!” said the third mandarin, who used to be a
baker. “We will cut up the elephant and cook it. Then we will
know.”
“We will surely NOT do that!” roared the Emperor. “Is there NO
ONE who can tell me how to weigh the elephant?”
Then a small voice said, “I can.”
 All eyes turned to the voice. It was the Emperor’s son!

“Son!” said the Emperor. “You should be in bed.”

“But I know how,” said the boy. “And we won’t need to cook it
first.”
“Very well,” said the Emperor with a smile. “Tell me how to weigh
the elephant.”
The boy described what to do.
Here is what the boy said. “You put the elephant in a big boat and
take the boat out on the water. Draw a line on the side of the boat
where it meets the water, at the watermark. Then bring the boat
back to shore and take the elephant off the boat. Put rocks on the
boat, one by one. When the boat sinks to the same watermark line
it had when the elephant was in it, bring the boat to shore again.
Take out the rocks and weigh them, one by one. That is how you
can tell how much the elephant weighs!"
"Wonderful! Wonderful!" shouted everyone.
“It will work!” called out the first mandarin.
“What a clever plan!” said the second.
“Who knew this child would know?” said the third.
And the fame of Emperor's son traveled far and wide.
The Painting & the Cat
Illustrated By: Tristan Liu

Once upon a time an artist painted a small and very beautiful picture. He
hung it on the wall across from a mirror so that he could see its reflection
in the mirror. Said the artist, "This doubles the distance and softens it,
and it's twice as lovely as it was before."

The animals out in the woods heard of this through the artist's housecat,
who was greatly admired by them because he was so learned, and so
refined and civilized, and so polite and high-bred, and could tell them so
much which they didn't know before, and were not certain about
afterward. They were much excited about this new piece of gossip, and
they asked questions, so as to get at a full understanding of it. Their first
question was what a picture is, and the cat explained.
"It is a flat thing," he said; "wonderfully flat, marvelously flat,
enchantingly flat and elegant. And, oh, so beautiful!"
That excited them almost to a frenzy, and they said they would give the
world to see it. Then the bear asked:
"What is it that makes it so beautiful?"
"It is the looks of it," said the cat.

This filled them with admiration and uncertainty, and they were more
excited than ever. Then the cow asked:
"What is a mirror?"
"It is a hole in the wall," said the cat. "You look in it, and there you see the
picture, and it is so dainty and charming and ethereal and inspiring in its
unimaginable beauty that your head turns round and round, and you
almost swoon with ecstasy."
The donkey had not said anything as yet; he now began to throw doubts.
He said there had never been anything as beautiful as this before, and
probably wasn't now. He said that when it took a whole basketful of
adjectives to whoop up a thing of beauty, it was time for suspicion.
It was easy to see that these doubts were having an effect upon the
animals, so the cat went off offended. The subject was dropped for a
couple of days, but in the meantime curiosity was taking a fresh start,
and there was a revival of interest. Then the animals assailed the donkey
for spoiling what could possibly have been a pleasure to them, on a mere
suspicion that the picture was not beautiful, without any evidence that
such was the case.

The donkey was not troubled; he was calm, and said there was one way
to find out who was in the right, himself or the cat: he would go and look
in that hole, and come back and tell what he found there. The animals felt
relieved and grateful, and asked him to go at once--which he did.
But he did not know where he ought to stand; and so, through error, he
stood between the picture and the mirror. The result was that the picture
had no chance, and didn't show up. He returned home and said:
"The cat lied. There was nothing in that hole but a donkey. There wasn't
a sign of a flat, beautiful thing visible. It was a handsome donkey, and
friendly, but just a donkey, and nothing more."
The elephant asked:
"Did you see it good and clear? Were you close to it?"
"I saw it good and clear, O Hathi, King of Beasts. I was so close that I
touched noses with it."
"This is very strange," said the elephant; "the cat was always truthful
before--as far as we could make out. Let another witness try. Go, Baloo,
look in the hole, and come and report."
So the bear went. When he came back, he said:
"Both the cat and the donkey have lied; there was nothing in the hole but
a bear."
Great was the surprise and puzzlement of the animals. Each was now
anxious to make the test himself and get at the straight truth. The
elephant sent them one at a time.

First, the cow. She found nothing in the hole but a cow.
The tiger found nothing in it but a tiger.
The lion found nothing in it but a lion.
The leopard found nothing in it but a leopard.
The camel found a camel, and nothing more.

Then Hathi the elephant declared he would have the truth, if he had to go
and fetch it himself. When he returned, he abused his whole subjectry for
liars, and was in an unappeasable fury with the mental blindness of the
cat. He said that anybody but a near-sighted fool could see that there was
nothing in the hole but an elephant.

You can find in a text whatever you bring, if you stand between it and the
mirror of your imagination.
The Talking Fish

Once upon a time, a worker who was very poor found some work as a
fisherman's helper.He was paid a few fish a day, and this kept him and
his wife alive, though barely. One day the worker caught an especially
pretty little fish. As he turned it over in his hands, he thought, "Why,
what a marvelous fish this is!" Suddenly the fish spoke to him, in a
human voice.
"See here, brother man! Just moments ago I was playing with my
friends, and I got caught in your net. Now here I am in your hands,
suffering and probably dying! My parents and my playmates must be
searching for me and worrying terribly about me." Now the talking fish
was gasping. "Please have pity on me. Throw me back into the water!"
The worker gazed at the marvelous talking fish. Could it be true? Was
it possible that a fish lives a life filled with joys and sorrows, also? He
quickly threw the fish back into the water. "All right, my pretty little
fish, go along and play again -- I don't want your parents and friends
to worry any more about you!"
When the worker's boss, the fisherman, saw this, he became very
angry.
"You fool!" he yelled to the worker. "I hired you to catch fish, not to
throw them back into the water! You're a worthless fool! Begone with
you - I don't ever want to see you again!"
And the poor worker walked sadly home. "What shall I tell my wife?"
he wailed, dreading what would happen to them without his job.
He was walking along the road plunged in his unhappy thoughts, when
suddenly he saw a Monster in human shape coming toward him. The
Monster was driving a very fine cow before him.
"Good day, brother," said the Monster. "Why do you seem so sad?"
The worker told him his story.
"See here, my friend," said the Monster. "I'm going to do you a favor.
Do you see this cow? I'll let you keep her for three years. She'll give you
plenty of good milk every day, and you and your wife will never go
hungry. But listen carefully to this condition: When three years have
passed, I will come and ask certain questions of you. If you answer
them correctly, the cow will be yours. But if you don't, then I'll take
both of you along with the cow, and do whatever I want with you. So --
do you accept?"
The worker thought, "I suppose it's better to take the cow now than to
go hungry. At least we'll be able to sell the milk and live for three
years, and then we'll see what happens. Maybe we'll be lucky enough
to answer those questions." So he accepted the terms, took the cow
and went home relieved and happy.
Indeed, the cow gave plenty of good milk, enough for the worker and
his wife to drink and to sell, and in this way, provide the necessities of
life.
In the evenings, the worker and his wife would often sit together at
their door, thinking about the Monster. They tried to imagine what the
answers might be. But as they had no clue what sort of questions the
Monster would ask, they would always end their sessions with a sigh
and go to bed with troubled hearts. Day by day, the end of the three
years grew closer and closer.
One evening, a handsome youth came up to them.
"Good evening!" he said. "I am so tired, and it is getting dark. If you
please, may I spend the night under your roof?"
"Of course you may, only tonight you must know that something
terrible is going to happen to us! Three years ago, we took a cow from
a Monster. He told us we could keep the cow for three years, but at the
end of that time he could come and ask us some questions. If we
answer those questions correctly, then the cow will be ours to keep,
but if we can't then we will become the Monster's prisoners forever. So
if you stay with us tonight, be careful that no harm comes to you!"
"I see," said the youth. "Well, if it is all right with you, I'd just as soon
stay the night." And so he did.
Exactly at midnight, a loud knock was heard at the door.
"Who's there?"
"It is I, the Monster! Three years have passed. The time has come to
answer my questions!"
"We'll never be able to answer them!" wailed the poor worker and his
wife, clutching at each other's shoulders.
Suddenly, the youth stepped toward the door. He said to them, "Don't
worry, I'll answer for you."
"I'm here, waiting!" growled the Monster outside.
"And I'm here also," calmly answered the youth behind the door.
"Very well, then," said the monster. "Where are you from?"
"I'm from the other side of the sea."
"How did you get here?"
"Riding a lame flea!"
"Then the sea must have been very small?"
"Not at all. Even an eagle couldn't fly across it!"
"Then that eagle must have been a fledgling?"
"Not at all. The shadow of his wings would cover a whole city!"
"Then the city must have been very small?"
"Not at all. A hare couldn't run from one end of it to the other."

The poor worker and his wife were overjoyed. They and the youth
celebrated until dawn.
When dawn was breaking, the youth said it was time for him to take
his leave.
"If you must know," said the youth, "A kindness is never lost, even if
you throw it into the water. I am that little talking fish that you threw
back into the sea!"
Having said these words, he vanished.