"He Who Pays the Piper Calls the Tune" by Ersin (Turkey)

One day Hodja Nasreddin was going to the bazaar. Some of the children ordered pipes from Hodja. Hodja said to them, “Yes, sure.” But just one of them gave him money for this order. Hodja came to the village at night. All of the children who had ordered pipes were waiting for Hodja. When Hodja came to the village, the children came up to Hodja and asked for their orders. Hodja drew a pipe out of his pocket and gave it to the child who had paid his money in advance. The others asked for their pipes, “Where are our pipes?” Hodja gave a short and concise answer to them, “He who pays the piper calls the tune.”

"Samera's Reward" by Tariq (K.S.A.)

There was an architect Samera, and he was intelligent. The president of his country told him to design his new house. Samera designed a smart model for the new president’s house, and when he designed, he made one block if you push it, the house would collapse. After Samera had finished the house, he was with the president on the new house roof, and told him about the secret. In addition, the president asked him if there is any one know that secret. Samera answered that there is no one know about this secret except him and the president. Suddenly, the president pushed Samera from the roof and Samera got killed, so the people always said “Samera Reward.”

"The Peasant's Dream" by Elchin (Azerbaijan)

Once upon a time, there was a peasant who lived in a village. He had only a small hut and a hen. One time the villager who was poor and jobless decided to sell his eggs in a bazaar. He collected all of the eggs and went on his way to the bazaar. He arrived there, and he put the eggs in front of him to sell. For one moment he began to dream of the future. He was talking to himself, “After selling the eggs, I will buy a kid (goat). Then I will feed it. It will grow up. After it grows up, I will sell it and buy a calf. I will raise cattle and begin to trade in livestock. Then I will become a rich merchant. The king will hear about me, and he will request that I marry his daughter, but I will decline his suggestion. When he goes down on his knee and begs me to do it, I will kick him with my foot on his chin.” When the peasant kicked, he wrecked all of the eggs. He returned without any benefit.

American moral: Don’t count all your chickens before they are hatched.

Azerbaijan moral: Don’t say opp! Before jumping over a ditch (or hole), “opp!” is what you say before you jump over something.

"The Grasshopper and the Ant" by Lea (Brazil)

Once an ant worked hard from sunrise to sunset building his burrow and accumulating supplies for the long winter that approached.

The grasshopper saw that and he thought, “That idiot! We can sing some songs and dance awhile.”

And the whole time he spent laughing heartily, singing and dancing. Then all summer the grasshopper spent having a wonderful time while the ant continued working harder and harder.

When the winter arrived, while the ant was warm and well-fed, the grasshopper had neither shelter nor food and went to the ant’s house and asked, “Can I have some wheat or any food? Without it, I will starve.”

“You danced last summer,” said the ants in disgust. “You can continue to dance.” And they gave him no food. Then he died.

Moral: Work hard! Be sensible and responsible because there is a time to work and a time to play.