The Crows, the Koel and the Snail
The Snail glided along the branch of a tree on a warm April morning. Perched at the edge of the same branch were two Crows. They looked somewhat sad. “What’s wrong?” asked the Snail, “why would anyone be so sad on a beautiful day like this?” The Crows replied, “We feel sad because our nest is now empty!”
“Why is it empty? What happened?” the Snail wanted to know. “One of our babies flew away to build a new nest because he’s all grownup now!” replied Mr. Crow. “But the other one…” said Mrs. Crow and sighed.
“What happened to the other one?” the Snail asked curiously.
“She chased him away!” said Mr. Crow angrily.
“Well, I did that because we found out that he was not ours!” replied Mrs. Crow.
“But we brought him up!” argued
Mr. Crow, “you too loved him when he was a little chick!”
“Well, I couldn’t control my anger and now I do repent!” said Mrs. Crow sadly.
“Now it’s too late!” said Mr. Crow angrily.
“Excuse me! Will you two stop arguing and can someone please explain what happened?” said the Snail, who couldn’t understand head or tail of this argument.
“We had two eggs in our nest. They hatched into two beautiful chicks. We took turns feeding them. But one day
the younger one cried differently!”
said Mr. Crow.
“He was a chick of that lazy Koel’s. She always lays eggs in other’s nests!” continued Mrs. Crow.
“But you shouldn’t have pecked him away! He was like our adopted son you know…” said Mr. Crow sadly.
Mrs. Crow agreed saying, “I wish we could tell him that we are sorry and that we love him!” “But we may never see him again!” said Mr. Crow and both Crows looked down sadly.
The Snail felt very sorry. “Why don’t you adopt me?” he asked the Crows. “You miss your sons and I don’t have parents!”
The Crows looked at the Snail doubtfully, but finally decided that there was nothing really wrong with it. “He may never fly but he still could be our adopted son, you know?” Mr. Crow said and Mrs. Crow agreed saying, “Welcome to your new family, son!”
The Snail, who never had a family, felt very happy hearing this. “You may come to our nest whenever you want to. Our home is now your home too!” invited.
Mr. Crow. So the Snail and the Crows met often and were happy keeping each other company.
One day when the Snail was slowly moving on a branch he noticed something. Among the shade of the leaves were two blood red eyes staring at him. The Snail stopped in horror and asked, “Are you a monster?”
“Shhh…” said the owner of the scary eyes, “don’t shout or they’ll hear us!” The Snail went a little closer and heaved a sigh of relief after realizing that this was only a bird. The bird was as black as a shadow.
“Who are you so afraid of?” asked the Snail. “The Crows,” replied the Koel, turning his ruby-red eyes towards the sky. The Snail stared in absolute surprise. “So this was the other adopted son of the Crows, the Koel. No wonder the Crows were fooled,” thought the Snail,
“he looks just like them, except for the red eyes and different looking beak!”
“Brother!” shouted the Snail in excitement, “You are my brother!”
“Excuse me?” asked the Koel, thinking the Snail was mad.
“We are both from the same family. You see, the Crows adopted me as a new son!” explained the Snail. “Well congratulations on that!” said the Koel sarcastically, “Wait till they suddenly start pecking and chasing you off.”
“About that,” said the Snail, “your adoptive parents are very sad about the way they reacted, when they found out that you were not…their baby! But now they want to make peace. They want you back!”
“Are you sure?” asked the Koel looking doubtful.
“Yes,” the Snail replied, “they were very sorry about what happened. They miss you. Take me to the nest and let’s meet them!” The Koel disagreed at first but the Snail managed to finally make him agree. So they went near the tree where the nest was. “Father, Mother, look who I found,” shouted the Snail in excitement. The Koel felt scared but he went near the Crows. The Crows were delighted to see their son, the Koel, back.
The Crows apologized to the Koel about their sudden temper and thanked their other son the Snail for finding him for them. “When our other Crow son comes to visit us, our family will be whole again,” said Mr. Crow. “What a wonderful son you are, little Snail. You found your lost brother,” said Mrs. Crow.
The Crows felt happy that they got their son back and got a chance to apologize. The Koel felt happy that he was back with his family again. The Snail was the happiest of the lot. Not only did he have a family and home now, he was also a hero for reuniting the Crow family.
The sky was bright and beautiful and the day was sunny and warm. The trees were all heavy with fruits. The smell of flowers drifted through the air. “What a beautiful time of the year,” thought the Snail, “to forget all bad that took place and to start afresh.”