Once upon a time, there was a seahorse who lived in a deep ocean somewhere. He was considered the smartest among his neighborhood’s fish and other creatures, but he had one weakness: he was a bit cowardly!

To be honest, this was only an impression among his friends. In fact, he never got a chance to show his bravery. Perhaps due to his shyness, others thought he was not brave enough.
The place where the seahorse lived with parents was very deep. So deep that if 10 giraffes were stacked on top of each other, they would all sink into it. 
The seahorse had learnt many things in his school, especially about humans. Once, his teacher told him that humans lived on the dry part of the earth. The teacher also explained that the earth was made up of three parts water, and one-part dry land! The seahorse often wondered how small the dry part might be and how could the humans live in such a tight space. Moreover, he found it strange that humans could survive without living under water. If seahorses were out of the water, they would die, but humans don’t even live in the water!
Then one day, during a “Sea Exploration” period, the teacher told them, “The lifespan of a turtle can exceed 100 years.” Upon hearing this, the seahorse’s desire to meet turtles increased. He thought that if he ever met an old turtle, he would ask him many questions. Such turtle must have explored every corner of the sea as he grew older. He had definitely seen humans, too. If only an old turtle would come this way, it would be so much fun.
On a Sunday morning, the mother of seahorse sent him to the nearby market to get some whale milk yogurt. She wanted to make qorma curry for dinner that night.
Now, you might be thinking that the seahorse’s mother made a mistake by sending it out so early in the morning to get things for dinner. However, the reason she did so was that seahorses were the slowest animals in the sea. They are even slower than children, and even if they try to move fast, they can only travel three to four feet in an hour. Therefore, getting the yogurt was not a matter of a few minutes, but a whole day’s work.
Anyway, the seahorse had barely left its neighborhood when a giant group of fish suddenly appeared in his path. These fish always traveled from one place to another in groups. The seahorse was interested to see them so he stopped and watched the group pass by. This was the seahorse’s mistake.
Suddenly, a big tent came down from above and started collecting hundreds of fish under it. This tent was actually a very large iron net that was put in the sea to catch fishes. Normally, seahorses never get caught in the fishing nets because their size is very small, only a few inches. And our seahorse was just a baby, only an inch long. Instead of getting caught in the net, he could easily come out of its hole, but because of the crowd of hundreds of fishes in the net, he got stuck with them and got caught.
The net was slowly rising above the water. There was chaos in the net. Everyone was screaming. The seahorse was in the worst condition. He had learnt in school that humans hunt fish. “I hope they don’t make me their prey too,” his mind was thinking. “Fish is the food of humans, they will eat them, but I will be imprisoned ... ugh ... Oh God! I want to live a free life,” he muttered. 
In this state of helplessness and despair, the seahorse remembered a saying; his teacher had taught him, “When the two bulls fight, it is the grass that suffers.”
At that moment, he remembered something else the teacher had said. He had said that in difficult times, one should never loose courage. Instead, one should use all the strength to try to get out of the difficulty. It was just then that a great idea came to his mind. 
If they all use their strength to push the net downward instead of shouting and screaming, they could save their lives. He shouted out his idea to everyone in the net. Just then, he saw someone on his right side, and he was struck with amazement. The creature he was seeing had been his desire to meet since long time. 
“Hey, it’s a turtle!” he exclaimed, “He’s stuck in the net like me and the fish!”
The seahorse was watching the turtle with amazement but the turtle already heard what the seahorse just said to everyone. He quickly began to speak to the fish: “This child is absolutely right. You all know from my experience that if you want to save your life, then swim down with all you might.” 
Hearing the turtle’s words, all the fish began to swim down with great force. They all swam down together towards the bottom of the sea, and then there was a sudden crash – the net had broken!  
All the fish cheered with joy. They lifted the seahorse and the tortoise onto their shoulders and thanked them. When the fish had gone, the seahorse invited the tortoise to his home, which the tortoise happily accepted. Now, the two of them were chatting and walking towards the seahorse’s home.
The seahorse was trying to ask many questions to the turtle all at once. Seeing his enthusiasm, the turtle smiled and said: “I will answer all of your questions, but right now, I am very hungry. By the way, I must tell you that no one can cook like humans. I have even eaten chocolate made by humans, which is so delicious that I cannot describe it.” The seahorse was listening to the turtle's words in amazement. He was so engaged in the conversation that he even forgot that he didn’t buy yogurt.  So, children! Can you tell me how will the seahorse face the scolding from his mother? On the one hand, he was taking a guest to home, and on the other hand, he forgot to bring yogurt to prepare the dinner...!!! Have you ever done the same thing?