A nice story for children

A nice story for children

Babri, The Little Tiger
By Golafshan Hassan Zadeh Moghimi
Tehran, Iran

In a deep dark part of a jungle a little tiger was living with his
parents. His name was Babri. His den was among thick bushes and he lived
there happily with his mother and father. Babri's only friend was
Roobi, a little fox who was their neighbor.

It was really a beautiful jungle; full of different colorful flowers,
thick planets, and very big tall trees. A great variety of animals lived
there. The sun brightened the jungle in a dreamful way at daytime.
Different birds lived and sang among the branches. At night the birds,
frogs, and crickets sang a lullaby gently to the animals. Babri loved
all of the animals and their sounds and enjoyed living there. He and
Roobi played together all day long.

One day Roobi became sick and couldn't come to play. Babri's mum and dad
were out and he was alone. He got bored and said to himself "This is a
very big jungle with lots of animals. I'll go out and find new friends."
So he went out in the jungle and was walking along when he heard
laughing and singing. He looked through the bushes and saw lots of baby
animals, such as rabbits, fawns, monkeys, and squirrels, playing
together. He became very happy and jumped out of the bushes to play with
them. But when they saw him, they screamed and ran away! He was
surprised and called to them. But nobody came.
He looked up and saw the baby monkeys and squirrels in the trees. "Why
did you run away?" he asked. "My name is Babri and I want to play with
you." A monkey said "Go away. We don't want to play with you. You are a
hunter and will eat us. We can not be your friend. Go home."

Babri became very sad. He ran home crying. When he reached home his
parents were there. They were worried about him. His father wanted to
punish him for going out without permission, but when he saw that Babri
was crying, he decided not to make him sadder.

"Where were you? What's the matter?" his mother asked. And Babri told
his parents what had happened and added "I don't want to be a hunter. I
don't want to kill animals for food. I want to be a vegetarian. I'm very
sorry that I'm your son; the son of a tiger."

"Don't think that way. Most of the animals are hunters." His father
continued, "Frogs hunt insects. Birds hunt worms and fish. Big animals
hunt little animals. It is nature's law. Let me give you an example: If
we don't hunt rabbits, they will multiply and soon they will not be able
to find enough food. If theyl eat all the plants, what will the other
vegetarians do for food? So you see that being a hunter and a carnivore
is not bad as long as your never hunt more than you need."

Babri stopped crying. He was very proud of his father and thought he was
very wise. He didn't forget his father's words as he grew up. Babri
loved all the animals and together they shared the delicate balance of
nature within the beauty of the jungle.