The bird said, "Tell them I sit full of sorrow in a cage singing my captive song. Day and night, my heart is full of grief. I hope it will not be long before I see my friends again and fly freely through the trees. Bring me a message from the lovely forest, that will set my heart at ease. Oh, I yearn for my Beloved, to fly with Him, and spread my wings. Until then there is no joy for me, and I am cut off from all of life's sweet things."

The merchant travelled on his donkey through the dense forest. He listened to the melodies of many birds. When the merchant reached the forest where his bird came from, he stopped, pushed his hood back, and said, "O you birds! Greetings to you all from my pretty bird locked in her cage. She sends tidings of her love to you and wants to tell of her plight. She asks for a reply that will ease her heart.

My love for her keeps her captive with bars all around her. She wants to join her Beloved and sing her songs through the air with a free heart, but I would miss her beautiful songs and cannot let her go."

All the birds listened to the merchant's words. Suddenly one bird shrieked and fell from a tree brunch to the ground. The merchant froze to the spot where he stood. Nothing could astound him more than this did. One bird had fallen down dead!

The merchant continued on to the city and traded his goods. At last he returned to his home. He did not know what to tell his bird when she asked what message he had brought. He stood before her cage and said, "Oh, nothing to speak of "no, no,"

The bird cried, "I must know at once"

I do not know what happened," said the merchant. "I told them your message. Then, one of them fell down dead."

Suddenly the merchant's bird let out a terrible shriek and fell on her head to the bottom of the cage.

The merchant was horrified. He wept in despair, "Oh, what have I done?" He cried, "What Have I done? Now my life means nothing. My moon has gone and so has my sun. Now my own bird is dead."

He opened the cage door, reached in, and took her into his hands gently and carefully. "I will have to bury her now," he said; "poor thing is dead."

Suddenly, the moment he had lifted the bird out of the cage, she swooped up, flew out of the window and landed on the nearest roof slope. She turned to him and said, gratefully, "Thank you, merchant master, for delivering my message. That bird's reply instructed me how to win my freedom. All I had to do was to be dead. I gained my freedom when I chose to die."

"So now I fly to my Beloved who waits for me. Good-bye, good-bye, my master no longer." "My bird was wise; she taught me secret," the merchant reflected.

If you want to be with the ones you love, you must be ready to give up everything, even life itself. And then, by Allah, you will win your heart's desire.

Then the man decided to help the butterfly, so he took a pair of scissors and snipped off the remaining bit of the cocoon. The butterfly then emerged easily. But it had a swollen body and small, shriveled wings.

The man continued to watch the butterfly because he expected that, at any moment, the wings would enlarge and expand to be able to support the body, which would contract in time.

Neither happened! In fact, the butterfly spent the rest of its life crawling around with a swollen body and shriveled wings. It never was able to fly.

What this man in his kindness and haste did not understand was that the restricting cocoon and the struggle required for the butterfly to get through the tiny opening were nature's way of forcing fluid from the body of the butterfly into its wings so that it would be ready for flight once it achieved its freedom from the cocoon.

Sometimes struggles are exactly what we need in our life. If nature allowed us to go through our life without any obstacles, it would cripple us. We would not be as strong as what we could have been. And we could never fly...

The roosters loved to eat ants. Thus, every cat had a purse hung round its neck, which it filled with ants for the king of the roosters.

The cats did not like the situation. They wanted to rid themselves of the king so that the food they gathered through hard work and great difficulty would be their own. But they were afraid of the roosters.

The roosters had told the cats that rooster's combs were made out of fire and that the fire of their combs would burn anyone who disobeyed them! The cats believed them and therefore worked from early morning until night for the roosters.

One night, the fire on the house of Mrs. Cat went out. She told her kitten, Fluffy, to bring some fire from Mr. Rooster's house.

When Fluffy went into the house of the rooster, she saw that Mr. Rooster was fast asleep, his stomach swollen with the ants he had eaten. The kitten was afraid to wake the rooster, so she returned home empty handed and told her mother what had happened.

Mrs. Cat said, "Now that the rooster is asleep, gather some dry twigs and place them near his comb. As soon as the twigs catch fire, bring them home."

Fluffy gathered some dry twigs and took them to the rooster's house. He was still asleep. Fluffy fearfully put the dry twigs near the rooster's comb but it was no use, the twigs did not catch fire. Fluffy rubbed the twigs against the rooster's comb again but it was no use they would not catch fire. Fluffy returned home without any fire and told her mother, "The roost's comb does not set twigs on fire."

Mrs. Cat answered "Why can't you do anything right! Come with me I'll show you how to make fire with the rooster's comb." So together they went to the house of Mr. Rooster.

He was still asleep. Mrs. Cat put the twigs as near to the rooster's comb as she could. But the twigs did not catch fire. Then, shaking with fear, she put her paw near the rooster's comb and gently touched it. To her surprise, the comb was not hot, it was very cold, and it was just red colored.

As soon as Mrs. Cat realized that the roosters had lied to the cats about their combs, she joyfully went out and told the other cats about the rooster's tricks. From that day on, the cats no longer worked for the roosters.

At first, the king of the roosters became very angry and said to the cats; "I will burn all of your houses if you do not work for me!"

But the cats said, "Your comb is not made of fire. It is just the color of fire. We touched it when you were sleep. You lied to us.

When the king of the roosters found out that the cats knew that he had lied to them, he ran away. Now, whenever roosters see a cat, they scurry away, because to this very day they are afraid of cats.