• The king’s portrait

    Once upon a time, there was a kingdom. The king there only had one leg and one eye, but he was very intelligent and kind. Everyone in his kingdom lived a happy…

  • The wet pants

    There was a nine-year-old kid sitting at his school desk and all of a sudden, there was a puddle between his feet and the front of his pants got wet too. He…

  • The old fisherman

    Our house was directly across the street from the entrance of a popular hospital in the city. We lived downstairs and rented the upstairs rooms to out-patients at the clinic. One summer…

  • Blind to failure

    Scaling Mount Everest requires the enthusiasm and boosterism of a physical-education teacher combined with the survival instinct of a Green Beret. You have to want that summit. Erik Weihenmayer, 33, wasn’t just…

  • Night and day

    Rabbi Isadore was a wise teacher. A student asked, “How is one to know the precise time when night ends and day begins?” One student volunteered, “It is when one can distinguish…

  • Don’t be afraid to make mistakes

    This story is about a famous research scientist who had made several very important medical breakthroughs. He was being interviewed by a newspaper reporter who asked him why he thought he was…

  • The greater treasure

    There is a Sufi story told of how a poor farmer had journeyed to Delhi to beg for some financial help from the great Sufi saint Hazrat Nizamuddin Aulia. After some days…

  • Five monkeys and a ladder

    A group of scientists placed five monkeys in a cage, and in the middle, a ladder with bananas on top. Every time a monkey went up the ladder, the scientists soaked the…