The story of the seven fish

Told in English, Telugu.

Once upon a time, in a little kingdom by a river, there lived a king who had seven sons.

One sunny morning, the seven princes went down to the river to catch fish. Splash! Splash! Each prince caught one shiny fish. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven fish! Can you count them with me?

The princes carried the fish home. They laid them in a row on a big flat stone, out in the warm sunshine, to dry.

The sun shone all day long. By evening, six fish were dry and crisp. But the seventh fish was still wet!

The youngest prince bent down and asked, "Fish, fish, why didn't you dry?"

The little fish said, "A bundle of grass was lying in the way. It hid me from the sun."

So the prince walked to the bundle of grass. "Grass, grass, why did you hide the sun?"

The grass said, "The cow did not eat me. If she had eaten me, I would not be here."

So the prince walked to the cow. "Cow, cow, why didn't you eat the grass?"

The cow said, "Moo! The cowherd boy did not take me out to graze."

So the prince walked to the cowherd boy. "Boy, boy, why didn't you take the cow to graze?"

The boy rubbed his tummy. "My amma did not give me my rice today. I was too hungry to go."

So the prince walked to the boy's mother. "Amma, amma, why didn't you give your boy his rice?"

The mother sighed. "My little baby was crying and crying. I could not cook at all."

So the prince went to the baby. "Little one, little one, why were you crying?"

The baby sniffled. "An ant bit me!"

So the prince knelt down very low and found a tiny ant. "Ant, ant, why did you bite the baby?"

The tiny ant stood up tall and said, "Naa bangaaru puttalo velu pedithe kuttana?"

Do you know what that means? The ant said, if someone pokes a finger into my golden little home, won't I bite? You see, the baby had pushed a finger right into the ant's sandy anthill!

The prince laughed softly. He picked up the baby and said, "Little one, the ant has a home, just like you. Let us leave it alone." The baby smiled and said sorry to the ant. The ant went happily back inside.

Now listen to what happened next.

The baby stopped crying. So Amma cooked hot rice. So the boy ate his rice and felt strong. So the boy took the cow out to graze. So the cow munched up the bundle of grass. So the warm sun shone on the seventh fish.

And the next day, the seventh fish was dry at last!

The youngest prince clapped his hands. He ran to tell his six brothers the whole long story, from the fish all the way to the tiny ant.

And the king laughed and said, "Who knew that one little ant could keep one little fish wet?"

So, my dear, when you see an anthill, what will you do? Yes. You will let the ants live happily in their golden little home.