The Lion and The Little Mouse

Life is short but the life of friendship is supposed to be long and everlasting. This short friendship story makes you understand what friendship is and what you should keep in mind when someone offers you his or her friendship. You must already be familiar with this short story about friendship. But you are advised to go again through this short friendship tale. It will make a fact about friendship clearer for you. You may find in this short story related to friendship an important truth that you had not paid much attention to till now. 

A short story on friendship 

Go through this short friendship story that tells much about the meaning of friendship. 

Once upon a time a Lion was sleeping in his den when a little Mouse began running up and down upon his body. This soon wakened the Lion. 

Greatly angered, the ferocious beast placed his huge paw upon him, and opened his big jaws to swallow him. 

"Pardon me, O King," the little Mouse begged for forgiveness: "let me go this time. What will you get if you kill me? Besides, who knows but what I may be able to help you when you meet some crisis someday?" 

The Lion was amused at the idea of the little Mouse being able to help him. He lifted up his paw and let the mouse go. The little mouse thanked the lion and ran away as fast as he could. 

Soon after this encounter, the Lion was caught in a trap laid by some hunters. He tried and tried to free himself from the terrible net of ropes that he was caught in. But all his efforts proved futile. He roared and roared in anger and helplessness. He knew that death was imminent. At the first light of the dawn, the hunters would arrive and carry him off to the King. 

When the little Mouse heard the lion's cries, he immediately understood that the king was in some great danger. He ran fast in the direction where the lion's cries were coming from. Soon he arrived at the spot where the lord of the jungle was trapped. Seeing the sad plight in which the Lion was, the mouse went up to him and soon gnawed away the ropes that bound the great beast. 

The mighty lion understood that even the smallest creatures can be of help if the need arises. That day on, the lion and the mouse became the best of friends. They were always there for each other. 

The Good Brother

Once upon a time three princes set out in search of adventures. The two older brothers made fun of their kind-hearted younger brother, who was called Simon.

On their way, they came across an anthill. The older brothers wanted to destroy it, but Simon would not let them do so. After a while, they wanted to kill the ducks swimming in the lake. Again, Simon stopped them from doing so. A little later. they came to a tree with a big beehive. “Let’s build a fire. This will suffocate the bees and we can get their honey,” suggested one brother. Again. Simon spoiled their plan.

Finally, the princes reached an enchanted castle. “If you want to deliver the castle from enchantment. you have to perform three tasks. You have to collect a thousand pearls lying below the moss. By sunset, even if one pearl is missing, you will be turned into Stone,” said the quaint little man at the castle door. “The key to the princess’s chamber lies at the bottom of the lake. Once the chamber is open you must pick out the youngest princess.” The older brothers failed and were turned into Stone.

When it was Simon’s turn, the ants he had saved, collected all the pearls. The ducks brought the key of the princess’s chamber from the water. The queen of the bees recognised the youngest princess for Simon, by tasting her lips. The princess had had honey before falling asleep.

Simon was very happy. He married the princess and became the king.

Beauty and the Beast

Once upon a time there lived a wealthy merchant and his three daughters.

One day, the father was to go to a far-off place and he asked his daughters what they wanted on his return. The first and the second daughter asked for lovely dresses. But the third daughter, whose name was Beauty, said, “Father, I only need a rose plucked by your hand.” The merchant, on his way back, had to cross through the deep forest. It was dark and the merchant tried to find a place to sleep. He suddenly found a huge castle and went inside to find nobody. There was       a huge table with delicious food and he ate it all. Then the merchant went into the bedroom and slept on a soft and fluffy bed. The next day, too, the merchant did not find anyone in the castle. He saw a beautiful rose bush growing in the lawn and remembered Beauty’s gift. He plucked a red rose from the bush.

Suddenly, a ferocious looking beast sprang out of the bush. He was wearing fine silk clothes and roared, “I gave you food and a bed to sleep in! And now, you are stealing my roses!” The merchant was frightened and told the Beast about Beauty’s gift. The Beast decided to let him go only if he promised to send Beauty to this castle. The merchant agreed and ran back home. He cried and told his daughters about the Beast. But Beauty loved her father a lot and agreed to go stay with the Beast.

The Beast treated Beauty with a lot of kindness. He was never rude to her. He let her stay in the biggest room and let her roam in the beautiful garden. Beauty would sit near the fireplace and sew while the Beast kept her company. At first, Beauty was afraid of the Beast but slowly, she began to like him.

One day, the Beast asked Beauty to marry him, but she refused. She was still afraid of his fearful-looking face. The Beast still treated her kindly and with a lot of love. Beauty missed her father a lot. The Beast gave her a magic mirror and said, “Look at the mirror and you can see your family. Now you won’t feel lonely anymore.

One day, Beauty looked in the mirror and saw that father was very ill and dying. She went to the Beast and pleaded and cried, “Please let me go home! I only want to see my father before he dies!” But the Beast roared, “No! You promised you would never leave this castle!” Saying this, he stormed out of the room. But after some time, he came to Beauty and said, “You may go to stay with your father for seven days. But you must promise to return after that.” Beauty was very happy and agreed. Then she left and went to stay with her father. Her father, on seeing Beauty, felt very happy and soon recovered. Beauty stayed with her family for seven days and more. She forgot the Beast and his castle. But one night, she had a terrible nightmare in which she saw the Beast was very ill and about to die. He was crying, “Beauty, please come back!”

Beauty woke up and went back to the castle because she did not mean to hurt the Beast. She cried and said, “Please don’t die, Beast! I will live with you forever!” The Beast miraculously changed into a handsome prince. He said, “I was under a curse all these years and could only be relieved when someone fell in love with me. I am now cured of the curse because you truly love me.” And then, Beauty and the Beast were married and together they lived happily ever after.

Rapunzel

A long time ago there lived a young couple, a man and his wife, his wife was expecting their baby. She wanted a plant that only grew in her neighbor's garden, she wanted it so much. She even intended to steal it herself, but later on, she sent her husband to steal it.

Unfortunately, mother Gothel, the owner of the garden, caught him doing it. She was a witch. Then, mother Gothel forced the couple to give their first baby to her.

A few months later, the baby was born. It was a girl and named Rapunzel. Soon, this baby was taken away to live with mother Gothel. Rapunzel grew to be a beautiful young girl with her long golden hair. At first she was cared for in a normal way. When she reached puberty, she was locked in the forest. It could only be entered by climbing on Rapunzel's long hair. To cheer herself up, she loved to sing.

One day, a young prince was out hunting. He stumbled upon the tower. He heard Rapunzel's beautiful voice. He decided that he must meet her. He spied and, by watching Mother Gothel, learned the words he has to say to have Rapunzel drop her hair. The Prince visited her often and the two fell in love.

Then, Rapunzel; made a plan to escape from the tower. She wanted to be with the prince. She asked the prince to bring her a skein of silk each time he visited. She might weave a ladder for her escape. Unfortunately, Mother Gothel caught on Then, she banished Rapunzel to the desert. She prince blind and he marred the earth searching for his love.

Eventually, they found each other, and prince's eyes were healed by Rapunzel's tears of happiness.