The Family   A TRAVELLER in Morocco noticed that in the evening when the flocks of ewes and the flocks of lambs were brought together after having been separated all day, the good creatures ran eagerly here and there as if they were looking for something. In fact, each ewe was looking for its lamb, each lamb was looking for its mother.         A monkey had young ones and she loved them, but her love was like a fountain, giving drink not only to her own children, but pouring out on all. She found other little monkeys and was kind to them. Not only that, she took puppies and kittens with her as if she had adopted them. And when she had food to give, she shared it between her own lit

Prudence   "GOOD shot!" the cry rang out as the young Indian let fly his arrow and hit his mark.   "Yes," someone said, "but it is broad daylight. The archer can see his target. He is not so skilled as Dasaratha."   "And what does Dasaratha do?"   "He is Sabdabhedi."    "What is that?"         "He shoots by sound."    "What do you mean?"         "Well, he can shoot in the dark. At night he goes out into the jungle and listens, and when he has judged, from the sound of wings or footsteps, what kind of game he has encountered he lets fly his arrow and hits it as surely as if he had shot by day."         Thus the reputation of Dasaratha,

  APPENDIX             Stories not published in previous editions of   Tales of All Times Page-91

Cheerfulness   ONE afternoon, in a large town in a rainy country, I saw seven or eight vehicles full of children. That morning they had been taken into the country to play in the fields, but the bad weather had made them return home early in the rain.   And yet they were singing, laughing and waving merrily to the passers-by.   They had kept their cheerfulness in this gloomy weather. If one of them had felt sad, the songs of the others would have cheered him. And for the people hurrying by, who heard the children's laughter, it seemed that the sky had brightened for a moment.   ⁂   Amir was a prince of Khorasan, and he lived in a grand style. When he set out

Order   MEN in ancient India had a very poetic idea about the earth and the world — an idea intended to express order.         The land inhabited by men was called Jambu Dvipa and it was surrounded by a sea of salt. Then came a ring of land and then a sea of milk. Another ring of land, and a sea of butter. More land, and a sea of curds. Land again, and a sea of wine. More land, and after that a sea of sugar. Still more land, and at last, the seventh and final ring of pure water: the sweet, the sweetest of all seas!         If you look at a map of the world like the ones we now use in schools, you will not find the sea of sugar, or the sea of milk, or the others. Nor did the Indian

Right Judgment   CHOOSE a good straight stick and dip it halfway into some water: the stick will appear to be bent in the middle. But that is an illusion, and if you were to think that the stick was actually bent, your judgment would be wrong. Pull out the stick and you will see that in fact it is still straight.         On the other hand, it is possible for a stick that is actually bent in the middle to appear straight if it is carefully placed in a particular way in the water.         Well, men are often like sticks. If you look at them from a certain angle, you may not see them as straight as they are, and sometimes too, they may have a deceptive appearance and seem

    THE MOTHER     Tales of All Times           SRI AUROBINDO ASHRAM PONDICHERRY First Edition 1951 Fifth Edition 1980  Eighth Impression 2003           Rs. 40.00 ISBN 81-7058-026-9   © Sri Aurobindo Ashram Trust 1951, 1980 Published by Sri Aurobindo Ashram Publication Department  Pondicherry - 605 002 Website: http:// sabda. sriaurobindoashram.org          Printed at Sri Aurobindo Ashram Press, Pondicherry  PRINTED IN INDIA

Self-control   A WILD horse can be tamed but one never puts a bridle on a tiger. Why is that? Because in the tiger there is a wicked, cruel and incorrigible force, so that we cannot expect anything good from him and have to destroy him to prevent him from doing harm.   But the wild horse, on the other hand, however unmanageable and skittish he may be to begin with, can be controlled with a little effort and patience. In time he learns to obey and even to love us, and in the end he will of his own accord offer his mouth to the bit that is given to him.   In men too there are rebellious and unmanageable desires and impulses, but these things are rarely uncontrollable like th

The Conquest of Knowledge         THE great Rishi, Bhrigu, shining in splendour, sat on the summit of Mount Kailas, and Bharadwadja questioned him:    "Who made the world?   How wide is the sky?         Who gave birth to water? To fire? To the wind?   To the earth?   What is life?   What is good?         What is there beyond the world?"       And so on. Great were the questions and great must be the Rishi who could answer them all!         But Bharadwadja mind was the mind of a man who asks and asks ever and again, and never knows enough.         The child is the supreme questioner, he is always asking, "W