Read The Nick Klaus's Fables for Free Online Page B

at the puzzle. After a couple of laps, the
second one, who was the most disturbed by the remark added: “But
how are we going to find out, which of us has been losing the most
weight and is making all this annoying squeaking?”
    “It’s easy. It will be the lightest one,”
replied the first elephant, shaking his head in irritation. He
threw an accomplice glance to second elephant. The third noticed it
and got offended: “Being the lightest one does not mean losing the
most weight.”
    The elephants looked really pained at the
response. To avoid the heavy silence, punctuated by the irritating
squeaking noise, the first elephant stated:
    “We should all stop riding.”
    They debated for a while to decide who
should stop pedaling first, because the circus owner forbade them
from stopping pedaling. But the noise was too loud and grinding
their patience. Seeing no one around, they agreed in defiance to
stop riding at the same time.
    The squeaking noise vanished. They looked at
each other relieved with an expression saying: “You see, it wasn’t
me and my tricycle.” And to better convince each other, they rushed
to the water trough and vacuumed dozens gallons of water and then
ate pounds and pounds of hay. In fact they drunk and ate so much
that they felt heavy and way too lazy to ride again.
    “I’m too tired,” said the first elephant.
“Me too!” echoed the second and the third elephants. “Let’s wait a
couple of hours before riding again. Maybe by then the squeaking
would have gone.”
    “What do you mean by then? Has it not
already gone now?”
    The second elephant conceded that indeed the
squeaking was now gone.
    “He meant to make sure it does not return,”
added the third elephant.
    “But what are we going to do during two
hours?” protested the first elephant.
    “We have to take a nap,” said the third
elephant yawning. The second elephant gave a grave look at the
first elephant, waiting for his reaction. When he tensed and peered
at the other two in distrust, they straightened up, opening wide
their sleepy eyes.
    “That’s not possible because one of us
snores in his sleep,” stated the first elephant.
    They all agreed that taking a nap was not
for the best solution and half-asleep started to ride their
tricycle again. The grating squeaky noise returned straight away
and kept them awake.

The Prophet and the
Snails (#24)
     
    Not long ago a village of snails gathered in
the central square. They were humble hard-working snails, who
worried about the future, and for a good reason. They looked at the
sky and then at each other with grave expressions. The old snails
were ponderous, whereas the young ones appeared restless.
    “We need rain!” they shouted. “No leaves or
grass will ever grow without rain.”
    The old snails try to pacify the restless
young ones, having lived through similar situations a few times in
the past. The young ones listened and calmed down, but when no
cloud showed up in the sky the following days, and the following
weeks, and even the old snails started to show signs of impatience,
they call for another meeting. All the snails gathered once again
in the main square to vent their concerns. Everyone had something
to say but no one had a solution.
    A prophet who had spent many years in the
cave of a mountain happened to be sitting on a bench nearby. Upon
seeing how dry and crackling the ground was, and how unhappy and
worried the snails were, he said:
    “Come with me. I will take you up to a
mountain and show you a place where water abound and the grass
grows taller than your shell.”
    The young ones opened their eyes wide and
voiced their enthusiasm. The old ones exchanged suspicious,
sometimes even, mocking glances. They tried to pacify the young
snails but failed. The young were just too many. Soon the village
was abandoned, the old snails put in carts along with the children.
The young snails led the way, and off they followed the
prophet.
    They crawled and lugged up