The Bees Get Stung

One day, deep in the jungle, a swarm of bees started building their hive on a big tree right next to the river. The river was the place where the mighty lion, the tall giraffe, the quick gazelle, the ever alert deer, the restless monkeys, in fact all animals, big and small came to quench their thirst.

Now the bees were actually a swarm of rogue bees. They did not like anyone coming near their hive. Any animal or bird that came that way got buzzed and chased by the bees. No one dared to stand up to the bees for everyone knew a bee sting could be very painful. The bees even drove away the birds and monkeys who had made the tree their home. All this meant that animals on this side of the river neither could walk up to the river for a drink nor rest under the giant tree in the hot afternoons.

The monkeys and parrots who got driven away from the tree decided to go and meet Arjuna, the king of the forest. 

Arjuna was perched on his throne when Bhadra, his minister, brought the monkeys and parrots to him.

“Greetings, my king” said the monkeys and parrots.

“Tell me, what brings you here?” Arjuna asked.

Kapila, the head of the monkeys said "My lord, we live on the big tree on the river bank. Recently a swarm of rogue bees have made their hive on the tree. They have driven all of us away from the tree”.

“Yes, my lord” said Mithi, the leader of the parrots. “Not only have we been driven away from the tree, the animals on our side of the jungle have not been able to use that route to drink water from the river. The bees chase and sting anyone who comes that way.”

“That is very arrogant of them” said Arjuna “I will send two of my soldiers right away to teach those bees a lesson”.

The monkeys and parrots came to the tree accompanied by the king’s soldiers who were two giant bears. Now we all know there is nothing that a bear loves more than fresh honey. As soon as the bears saw the hive, they started attacking it to get the honey out. The bees flew all over them buzzing furiously and stinging them but the bears had such thick skin that the stings did them no harm at all. In a short while, the hive was ruined and all the honey eaten. The bears smacked their lips and rubbed their tummies happily.

The bees were flying around not knowing what to do when all of a sudden they were drenched by big sprays of water. All the animals who had gathered to watch the bears turned around to see where the water had come from. They clapped and cheered as they saw the herd of elephants fill their trunks with water and spray the bees. The bees tried to fly away but they could not fly very far with their wet wings. They soon collapsed on the ground exhausted. 

Kapila, the monkey chief, came forward and said to the bees “If you cannot live here in peace, then you should better go away from here. If all the animals in this jungle turn against you, you would be no match against them”.

The bees realized that they had been very foolish. They apologized to all the animals around them and promised to live and let live. All the animals once again started using that way to come to the river to drink water and rest under the shade of the tree. 

In a matter of days, the bees had once again rebuilt their hive and filled it with delicious honey. The bears could often be seen sitting under the hive with their tongues out to catch the little drops of honey dripping from the hive.


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The greedy bug bites Mini and Moni

One day Mini and Moni were swimming about in the warm afternoon sun when Moni said “Hey, let’s go in a little further today”.

“Ok” said Mini and they swam further into the ocean until they were very far from the places they normally visited. 

They were just about to turn back when they saw some wooden chest lying on the ocean bed. Curious Moni immediately swam up to the boxes to have a closer look. It was apparent the boxes had been lying around for some time. The wood had rotten and the metal had rusted. Some of the boxes were open. Of those that were open, most were quite empty. But Mini and Moni soon found a box that was full of gold coins, precious stones and jewels. There were necklaces, bangles, rings, earrings. And all were studded with what Mini and Moni felt sure were the priciest of precious stones. Mini and Moni’s eyes opened wide in surprise. 

 

They could hardly believe what they so clearly saw in front of them.

“Oh my God” said Mini “What splendid jewels”.

“Yes” agreed Moni “Such beauty. This must have fallen out of a sunken ship”.

“So this belongs to nobody??” asked Mini.

“Well, it now belongs to us since we are the ones who found it” said Moni.

“Really? So all this belongs to us??” asked Mini overjoyed.

“Yes” said Moni “But we need to keep quite about this for some time”.

“Ok” said Mini.

They spent the next couple of hours trying the bangles, necklaces and earrings one by 

 

one.  

When it was getting dark and it was time for them to go home, they started thinking how to get the treasure chest to their ocean bed.

“Moni, we cannot pull the chest to our home. We will need to move the jewels little by little every day” said Mini.

Mini and Moni quickly took a bangle, necklace and earring each.

“What if someone finds the rest of the treasure when we are not around? They might take it away or we might have to share the treasure with them” said Moni.

“Let us bury it under the sand” said Mini.

“Good Idea!!” said Moni and both started piling sand over the treasure chest until it was not visible at all. They then went off to their ocean bed and quickly hid the jewels they had carried with them between some rocks.

As night crept in, Tutella saw that Mini and Moni were very quiet and often peeped between the rocks near their beds.

“What’s going on? What is between those rocks?” asked Tutella.

“Nothing at all” Mini lied.

“You seem to be searching for something. Let me help you find it” said Tutella.

“Oh No! Please don’t. We are really not looking for anything” said Moni afraid that Tutella might come and discover the jewels.

“Well, something seems to be very suspicious” said Tutella and went back to sleeping.

Mini and Moni were very restless throughout the night. 

The next morning, Tutella asked them “Tell me truthfully, what are both of you hiding? I could hear you moving about and whispering to each other the whole night.”

“Nothing at all” Mini and Moni lied again, feeling very guilty for they were not used to lying to anybody and Tutella was such a close friend who had helped them several times in the past.

“Let me check” said Tutella “Just to satisfy my curiosity”. So saying she swam up to the 

rocks and peeped in. 

Tutella could hardly believe what she saw. 

   

“Oh my God! Where did you get these?” She asked.

Mini and Moni’s hearts grew heavy thinking that Tutella will now spread the word and they will have to share the jewels with everybody. 

“That will leave us with so little jewels” they sighed to themselves.

“Answer me” said Tutella “Where did you find these?”

“A little away from here” said Mini and Moni feeling downcast.

“You know jewels and other lost treasures mean trouble, right?” asked Tutella.

“No, why do you say that” asked Mini and Moni.

“Because they bring treasure hunters to the sea bed” said Tutella.

“Who are the treasure hunters” asked Mini and Moni.

“Treasure hunters are humans who search the ocean bed for lost treasures” explained Tutella. “The treasure hunters might come looking for treasures here and if they find these jewels, they will dig up the soil hoping to find more treasure and disturb all the sea folks here. And who knows, some of us might also get harmed”.

“Oh! We sure don’t want that to happen” said Mini.

“Yes, we just wanted those jewels because it makes us look, oh, so beautiful” said Moni.

“Yes, I am sure they will look very beautiful on you” laughed Tutella “But you should better go keep them back before they cost you your lives”.

Mini and Moni immediately picked up the jewels and swam back to the treasure chest. They almost cried a few tears as they kept the jewels back into the box.

That night, their hearts were heavy thinking about the beautiful jewels that they almost owned and then had to give up.

“Tutella, what do treasure hunters do with the treasures they find?” asked Mini.

“They sell them and make a lot of money” said Tutella.

“Then they must be very rich” said Moni.

“Yes, some of them are” said Tutella.

“I know how we can do something positive out of this” said Moni. “We should give those treasures to poor people who really need them. It will make a big difference in their lives”.

“Yes” agreed Mini. “And it will also help us to feel better about having to give up the jewels”.

Mini and Moni spent most of the night thinking how they could do this. Finally they decided to take the help of Sally the seal. 

They met Sally the next day and showed her the treasure. Like Tutella, Sally was also surprised to see the treasure. 

She said “Wow” and just examined each of the jewels one by one. 

Finally, she said to Mini and Moni “It is very large hearted of you to want to give it away”.

“To be honest, we were almost tempted to keep it all to us. But they are of very little value to us. They will more valuable to the poor folks living on the shore” said Mini.

“Will you be able to get them to the shore, Sally?” asked Moni.

“Sure. My friends and I will take this little by little and spread it across the shore where the poor fishermen live” said Sally.

“That would be great” said Mini and Moni.

From then on, for the next fourteen nights, Sally and her friends took the jewels and spread it across different parts of the shore the mighty ocean graced.   

 

When the fishermen living across the shoreline woke up the next day, they saw the beaches scattered with jewels. That was the luckiest day for them. Some of them gave it to their loved ones, some sold them to meet their needs and some invested them wisely and grew rich over time. Whichever way the jewels were used, they brought smiles of joy and spread laughter and happiness in all the lives they touched. Which was all Mini and Moni wanted in the end.


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Jared learns a good lesson

One evening, Mini, Moni and Simy were spending some quiet time with each other talking about events that had happened lately in their lives.

“That was quite an adventure we had with the sharks” said Simy.

“Yes” agreed Mini “We put our lives in such a danger all because Jared wanted his pearl”.

“We should teach him a good lesson; one that will teach him to respect others lives” said Moni.

“That would be a lot of fun” said Mini smiling.

“I agree, but what can we do?? He is a crafty fellow. We’ll have to come up with a good plan to outwit him” said Simy.

The three of them sat for some time in silence thinking of a good plan.

Just then Tutella, the tortoise came back to her rock to retire for the night.

“What’s cooking??” said Tutella for she knew the three were up to something.

“We are thinking of an idea to teach Jared a good lesson” said Mini.

“Good. It’s about time he got one” said Tutella who did not like Jared at all.

                          

“We should put his life in danger just as he did to ours” said Moni.

“Well, we had to face the sharks. How will we do the same to him?” asked Simy.

“I know” said Tutella “We’ll get the help of my good friend Roxy and his friends to scare Jared”.

“Wow” said all. “That’s a very good idea”.

Now, Roxy was a very good natured dolphin. But, because he was so big, the sea folks who did not know him well were scared of him and his friends just as they were scared of the whales and the sharks.

The next day, Mini and Moni went to meet Jared. 

“What do you want?” Jared asked.

“Well, we know how fond you are of fish eggs. So, we thought you might be interested in knowing that the bed near Simy’s cave is full of fish eggs”.

“Really?” asked Jared, his mouth watering at the thought of having a sumptuous meal of fish eggs.

“Yes, really. But you should hurry before somebody else gets to them”.

“Ok. I am off”. So saying, he started swimming quickly towards Simy’s cave.

Mini, Moni, Simy and Tutella followed behind him without his knowledge.

When Jared reached the spot, he started searching for the eggs here and there. Instead of the fish eggs, he found Roxy and his friend waiting for him. Jared was scared out of his wits.          

He jumped back in fright and started swimming away as fast as he could. Roxy and his friend chased him. They would come close to him and yap at him and try to bite him which would make him swim even harder to get away from them.

Roxy and his friend kept chasing him and chasing him until Jared could swim no more. He fell down panting on the ocean bed. As Roxy and his friend came up to him, he started crying and screaming. 

“Please don’t eat me, please don’t eat me” he begged.

Seeing him cry, Mini and Moni said “It is time to put an end to this show”.

Mini, Moni, Simy and Tutella swam to Roxy and said “You can stop now, Roxy. Thanks for your help”.

“My pleasure” said Roxy. “We had a lot of fun scaring him”.

“Oh yes, we did, indeed” agreed his friend.

And both laughed so much and so hard that Mini, Moni, Simy and Tutella could not help laughing too.  

Jared just looked around bewildered as he was not able to follow what was going on.

After all had laughed to their full, Mini said “Jared, do you remember how you made us risk our lives for a silly little pearl?”

“You sent us to the shark territory to get a black pearl for you in return for the small favor you had done to us” said Moni.

“That was very mean of you Jared. So we thought we should teach you a lesson that you will not forget for the rest of your lives” said Simy.

“A lesson that says you should respect others lives just as you respect and treasure yours” added Tutella.

“So now you must be having a fair idea of what we went through when we had to brave the sharks” said Mini.

Jared felt very ashamed of himself.

“I am really sorry. Please forgive me, Mini and Moni” he said. “It was very wrong of me to ask you to risk your lives and get the pearl for me”.        

Mini and Moni were happy that Jared realized his mistake and was apologizing for it. They forgave him readily and all went back to their respective spots in the ocean bed.

At the end of the day, Mini, Moni and Simy were happy that Jared will never again take anybody’s life for granted. Tutella and Roxy were happy they had helped to teach Jared this lesson. As for Jared, he was definitely more wise and humble that he was at the beginning of the day.




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Mini and Moni give Jared his due

One day, Tutella the tortoise came searching for Mini and Moni. “Mini, Moni, Jared is searching for you. He has asked you both to go and meet him” said Tutella.

“What could it be about?” wondered Mini to Moni.

“Let’s go find out” said Moni who was getting curious as was her nature.

Off they went to the bed of little rocks where Jared lived. 

When Jared saw them, he said “Hello, I have been looking around for you for some time”.

“Hello Jared” said Mini and Moni.

Jared squinted his eyes, raised his chin and said “Remember how I once did you a favor by sharing my exquisite white light with you when you wanted to meet Simy the sea horse deep inside the cave”. [Click here to read the story]

“Yes, we remember, Jared” said Mini “After all, it was only a couple of days back” she added.

“I thought I will give you the opportunity of repaying my favor by letting you do me a favor” said Jared. 

“Oh Thank you. That is very kind of you” said Moni sarcastically.

“Hmmm. So this is what I want you to do for me. I want you to get me a black pearl” said Jared.

Mini and Moni eyes opened wide in fear.

“A black pearl??” they repeated just to confirm if they had heard Jared correctly.

 

“Yes, a black pearl” confirmed Jared. “I have wanted one for a long time now. Tell me how soon can you get one for me? I hope it’s not a very difficult task for you” he sneered.

“You know the black pearls along with the oysters that make them are guarded by the sharks day and night. We will have to risk our lives to get one for you” said Moni.

“We can get you any other pearl you want” said Mini.

“No” shouted Jared. “A black pearl is what I want. You have promised me that you will return my favor whenever I ask for it. Are you intending to break your promise”? He asked craftily.

“We always keep our promises and we shall keep this one too. We will get you a black pearl though we do think it is a very big favor in return for the very small favor you did to us” said Mini.

“A favor is a favor. Now, don’t play games with me. Tell me, will you get a black pearl for me or not??” asked Jared impatiently.

“We will, Jared” said Mini and Moni bravely though within their hearts they were very afraid at the thought of battling the sharks and getting Jared his black pearl.

Mini and Moni went back to their place in the ocean bed and started thinking of a way to get the black pearl and escape without getting eaten by the sharks.

A little while later Simy the sea horse came to visit them. He was surprised to see Mini and Moni looking very sad and deep in thought because they were normally were jolly and playful.

“What’s up, friends? Something seems to be bothering you” asked Simy.

Mini and Moni took turns explaining to Simy how Jared has asked them to enter the shark territory and get him the black pearl.

“He has asked for the black pearl in return for sharing his light with you?? Why, he is a very mean fellow” said Simy.

“Yes, so he is” agreed Mini and Moni.

“We are thinking of a safe way to get the pearl and come back alive” said Mini.

“There is no safe way of doing this. You can come back alive only if you plan it well. But, in order to plan it well, we need to know all about the shark territory” said Simy wisely.

“Who will know all about that” asked Tutella who had been resting on a rock nearby and had heard all the conversation between Mini, Moni and Simy.

“Dhrona the octopus, of course. He has never failed us in the past” said Mini and Moni.

So, off they went to ask Dhrona who was, as usual, reading a book.

“Hello, my friends” said Dhrona when he saw Mini and Moni. “I guess you need some information and that is what has brought you here”.

“You are right, O wise one” said Moni. “We have come to you to know more about the black oysters and the shark territory”.

“Oh! That is one area you should stay away from. It is in the darkest and deepest part of the ocean. The bed is full of rocks and it is on those rocks that the black oysters live. You know, the ones who make the black pearl. All around them are the sharks who guard the oysters. Anytime there will be 10 sharks guarding the pearls and the oysters while the others are out hunting. Any one who enters the area gets chased and eaten by these sharks” said Dhrona.

Mini and Moni were filled with fear on hearing this. They swam back to their bed in the ocean and discussed about it. 

Tutella said “You have to somehow distract the sharks guarding the pearls to get into the oyster bed. And you need to distract them again to come back safely.

 

“How will we distract them?” asked Mini and Moni.

Everybody thought for a long while and then Simy, the sea horse said “Leave that to me. I, along with my friends, will distract the sharks while you both slip into the oyster bed”.

“Oh! No” said Mini and Moni. “We cannot let you risk your life and that of your friends”.

“It is time for me to repay the kindness you have shown to me. If it were not for the both of you, I would not have the fame I enjoy today. Please let me do this for you” said Simy.

They sat and discussed the plan until late night. They decided to venture into the shark territory and oyster bed the next day when the sun was strong and they will have some light falling into the otherwise dark place.

Next morning, Mini, Moni, Simy and her friends set out on their mission.

When they arrived at the shark territory, they saw ten sharks swimming all around the oyster bed. Mini, Moni and the sea horses shivered with fear when the sharks opened their mouth and bared their sharp dagger-like teeth. 

They almost thought of turning back but the fact that they had to keep their promise to Jared meant that they had to go ahead with the mission.

As planned, the sea horses swam close to the sharks. As soon as the sharks saw the group of sea horses, they started chasing them. 

The sea horses were prepared for the chase; they scattered in different directions and started swimming very fast. 

With the sharks away from the territory, Mini and Moni swam quickly to the oyster bed. On one corner of the oyster bed was a big mound of black pearls. Hundred of oysters that created those pearls were sitting on small rocks. They were surprised to see Mini and Moni. 

“How did you two get inside?” They asked.

“Our friends have led the sharks away from here” said Mini and Moni.

“But why have you risked your lives to come to this place?” asked the oysters.

“We need a black pearl. Somebody who has done a favor to us in the past has asked us to bring him a pearl in return” said Mini and Moni.

“Oh, how bad of him to ask you to return his favor, that too by doing something so dangerous” said the oysters rightly.

“What about all of you? Have you nowhere else to live?” asked Mini and Moni.

“We are kept here by the sharks to make the black pearls for them. The sharks will eat us if we try to escape from here” said an oyster.

“They make us work hard day and night to make the pearls” said another.

“Oh, then you should use this chance to escape” said Mini and Moni. 

“What if the sharks catch us” asked the oysters.

“We should all escape quickly from here before the sharks come back. Just follow us. But before that we should grab a pearl” said Mini and Moni.

Unfortunately, just as Moni had grabbed a pearl in her mouth and was getting ready to escape along with Mini and the oysters, they heard water splashing all around them.

“Oh No” said Mini. “The sharks have come back”.

“Hunhh” grunted Moni for she had the pearl in her mouth and could not speak.

Mini and Moni hid behind a rock and the oysters quickly went back to their respective rocks. Everything appeared to be normal to the sharks.

Moni dropped the pearl down and said “We need to quickly think of a way to escape”.

Mini and Moni sat thinking for a long time until Moni’s eyes fell on the mound of pearls.

She said to Mini “Lets all push the mound of pearls down. The sharks will be busy collecting the pearls and hopefully will not notice us escaping”.

Mini, Moni and some of the oysters started pushing the mound of pearls. Down it came crashing and soon scattered to one side of the oyster bed. The whales were all caught in a mad rush trying to collect as many pearls as they could before they got swept away.

Moni again took one pearl into her mouth and she and Mini started swimming away quickly. The oysters followed behind them flapping their shells as fast as they could. 

Some distance away from the shark territory, Simy and the rest of the sea horses were waiting. As soon as Simy saw Mini and Moni, she hugged them in delight for she had got her friends back safely. The oysters climbed onto the sea horses and then, Mini, Moni and the sea horses along with the oysters swam to the safety of their ocean bed.

Once they were back to safety, they slept soundly till the next day for they were very tired from their adventure.

The next day, Mini and Moni went to give the pearl to Jared. Jared was very happy to see it and could not stop admiring it. He went around showing it to everybody but, alas, he found to his dismay that some of the other sea folks also had black pearls similar to his. For the water had carried a large number of pearls far and wide across the ocean.

Jared was very upset but there was nothing he could do about it.

As for Mini, Moni, Simy and her friends, they were just happy to be back safe. 


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