Have you seen porcupines? These are rodents with a round body and lot of long, needle-like hair with pointed tips on their back. These hair-like structures are known as quills, and are used to hurt other animals. Did you know one porcupine could have as many as 30,000 quills?

Now, the story on how the porcupines got their quills.

Long long ago, the forests were full of singing birds and all kinds of flowers.

There were lilys, jasmine, lotus, carnations, lavenders, wild violets and rose. The flowers would be in full bloom through the year.

All the animals liked to play with the flowers. And Rose was their favorite because he was very friendly with everybody…and never hurt anybody with his thorns.

Everyday in the evening, all the animals will meet and play hide-and-seek among the flowers. But they were very careful not to hurt the flowers. Because, they knew that the plants also had life.

There was one naughty porcupine, who used to come with his friends and play hide-seek among the flowers. In those days, porcupines did not have quills.

This naughty porcupine used to play hide-and-seek with his friends daily. One day, he noticed that the Rose was very friendly with everybody, and everybody liked him. Now, the porcupine was upset, because he wanted to be the most popular person in the forest.

Soon he was jealous of the Rose. He decided that during a game of hide-and-seek he would fall on the Rose plant and destroy it. That way, he could become the most popular person in the forest.

As planned, one day while playing hide-and-seek, the porcupine fell on the rose plant. But as soon as he fell, he shouted for: “help!” and ran out of the forest in pain.

The thorns in the rose plant had saved it. The thorns had entered the porcupine’s skin and would stay there forever. Ever since, all the porcupines were born with thorns on their backs. We call these thorns quills.

Because of these quills, no animal comes near a porcupine. And it is a very lonely animal. On the other hand, Rose is still the most popular flower in the forest.

Long ago in the woods of Sundarbans delta there lived a beetroot family. It was a small family with the Mother beetroot, the Father beetroot and a son beetroot.

While the mother beetroot and father beetroot believed in God and never told lies, the son beetroot was a very big liar. He used to lie for no reason. Even to his parents.

Because the son beetroot was a liar, the other beetroots in his school refused to become his friends. He tried to make friends with cucumber, but cucumber just liked to relax in the sun. When the son beetroot went to make friends with drumstick, it beat him up for being a liar.

With no friends in the school, beetroot did not feel like going to the school and stopped attending school.

Everyday, he would leave the house at eight in the morning and come back by four in the evening. He spent the whole day playing in the park. He lied to his mother beetroot and father beetroot that he was going to school.

One Sunday the son beetroot and the mother beetroot were going to the vegetable market. They met son beetroot’s schoolteacher and she immediately asked, “Son, why don’t you come to school?” At this the son beetroot could not say anything.

Then the mother beetroot asked her son, “I thought you were going to school?”

At this, the son beetroot was very ashamed. He was caught lying. He became red with shame. He became shy, and his face turned redder and redder and redder. He became even redder when his teacher asked him why he lied to his parents.

Soon, everybody in the vegetable market was asking him why he had lied. The son beetroot did not know what to answer. He decided that day, that he will never tell lies again.

As a punishment for telling so many lies he is still very red.

Still unconvinced? After your story, here is what your kid will go to his bed with –

1) A hero to look up to
2) Liking for adventures
3) A solution for every challenge
4) Love for you

What kind of stories?
To say it in a sentence, your stories need to have a good protagonist, who needs to embark on an adventure, meet up a challenge in neverland, and be back home after solving it, for a happy ending. Even before you start, keep in mind that all stories should have a happy ending, and only monsters and bad guys get killed.

Creative stories make for good listening and in the process also help your kid build a good memory. Not to mention all those life-lessons he would learn.

Before you walk into his bedroom, have the story blue print ready. Ensure that you have given your hero (and your son’s future role model) an easy-to-remember name. As much as possible, try to use “Once Upon a time” to begin your story. With these four words you transport your kid to the world of imagination. A place where the people, trees, animals, and even the colors are his own. He paints it according to his tastes, and waits for the next sentence.

You have nothing to fear because this is a World of his own creation, and a kids mind cannot be as corrupt as yours. Besides, he needs a break from this world of bricks and mortar.

You hero needs to be honest, funny and determined. Give him/her a name that is easy to remember…something like a Mr Hornbill or Mr Shadow or maybe Miss Sweet Lime. My father had created a few heroes for my sisters and me - Miss Goosebumps, Mr ShortHands and Mr Pick-a-boo. I have not forgotten. And believe me, neither would your son.

Your kid has to be impressed with the protagonist you conjure up, so articulate you voice when you are speaking for the hero. Crack a few jokes here and there. To make the narration interesting, you could use some of the things you find on your kid’s bed as props.

In fact, your hero need not necessarily be a human being. It could even be a rat, a fox or a tree. But make sure you kid associates with the being. Make sure your protagonist has no weakness, and even if there is a temporary glitch, ensure that the character fights his way out of the mess.

There is one thing that you might be tempted to fall back just when your son’s hero is n trouble and you have ran out of creativity. And that is magic. Refrain from stories where the hero’s problem is solved by magic or supernatural powers. Some day, your son might be waiting for the same magic to happen, not trying on his own.

Your stories should be memorable, yet should have values. Believe me, it would be fun when you hear your grown up kids tell the same stories to your grand children!

Since then, all the tortoises have a shell on their backs. This shell grows with the tortoise and is its home.

Both studied in the same class. And played together in the evening.

Cabbage was from a rich family and always had nice clothes to wear. Onion was from a poor family and did have good clothes to wear.

But the Cabbage liked his friend very much. So, he would give his new clothes to onion and onion would wear the clothes and be very happy.

But there was a small problem. Cabbage’s clothes were too big for the onion. Because the clothes were too long for the onion, sometimes he would stumble and fall and get hurt.

So the Cabbage was always a worried about his friend. Everyday in the night he would pray for his friend.

One day when the Cabbage was going to sleep a Goddess appeared in front of him.

The Goddess asked the cabbage, “Why are you always upset?”
The Cabbage replied, “My friend is always hurt. That is why I am always sad.”

Goddess: Why is he always hurt?
Cabbage: Because he keeps falling.
Goddess: And why does he keep falling?
Cabbage: Because he is wearing very loose clothes.
Goddess: And why is he wearing very loose clothes?
Cabbage: Because they are mine.
Goddess: And why is he wearing your clothes?
Cabbage: Because he is poor and does not have new clothes to wear. And I want him to always have new clothes to wear.

The Goddess smiled. This is a very small problem and I can solve it in no time, she said.

Since then, Onions have always had layers of new clothes. When one gets dirty, a new one comes out from within.

Because the Cabbage was so good to his friend Onion, the Goddess also gave him layers of new clothing. Ever since both cabbage and Onion have remained the best friends.