Mouna M

Drama

2  

Mouna M

Drama

Gifted Birds

Gifted Birds

7 mins
3.2K


The two birds flew high in the sky chirping and talking to each other. Talking?? yes, in their own language and, of course, they had this curse or so to say, a boon from one of the saints when they had disturbed his deep meditation state. He had cursed them to be born as human beings, but the birds were clever enough to understand that it was great to be reborn as birds than as human beings. So, they had asked for a concession in their penance, to which the saint had agreed and had blessed them with a boon, which no one else knew apart from these birds.


The birds were very happy and came and sat on a tree. Beneath the tree, there was a fruit vendor, who used to buy fruits from the farmer directly and sell them in the city. Every day, the birds used to see him paying less to the farmer and making more money in the city. Now, with the help of the unique boon from the saint, they could understand human language too. So, they thought they would make the best use of it by providing justice to the farmer.


The birds flew back to the village and waited for the fruits vendor near the farmer's field. The farmer was arranging all the fruits in the carton boxes so as to deliver it to the vendor. As soon as he came, the farmer told him to pay a little higher as it was summer season and he could not get the expected yield this time. As usual, the vendor refused and started loading the fruit boxes into the van. The farmer was tired of this vendor, but there was no other go for him as he was the one who would come to his doorstep to buy the fresh fruits. The farmer went inside to get a tender coconut. The birds were eagerly looking for the right opportunity to help the farmer. When the farmer came out and offered the tender coconut to the fruits vendor, the birds spoke to themselves as to how inhuman of him to drink the tender coconut and not even offer a penny for that. The farmer took the money, which was in fact, very meager, just Rs. 500, for a cartload of fresh fruits and kept it in his turban on the head and walked off. The fruit vendor drove his van off to the city. On the way, he stopped by a tea shop to have tea. After finishing his tea, he was holding the cup in one hand and took out the purse from his pants on the other hand. One of the birds flapped its wings right in front of his eyes, which made his vision blurred and both the teacup and the purse fell down, out of which the other bird took two 500 rupees notes and flew off. All this happened within a flash of a second. By the time he opened his eyes, appalled at himself, picked up the glass pieces and paid both for tea and the glass. He promised himself not to stop at the tea stall next time.


The birds then flew back to the field where the farmer was walking through and cleverly put the notes in his turban and poked on his head lightly with its beak, which caused the turban to fall. Unaware of all the happenings, the farmer shooed the birds away. The birds were happy seeing the farmer opening his turban and picking up the money from the floor. The farmer counted and kept on counting. He could not believe his eyes, there were only one 500 rupees note that the fruit vendor had given, now it's not two, but three 500 rupees notes. He thanked the fruits vendor and scolded himself for not counting the money properly and marched briskly towards his home. The birds chirped happily away looking at the farmer's cheerful face.


The fruit vendor came to the shop and unloaded the carton box of fruits. He arranged the fruits and opened the shop. The birds sat on the tree beneath the shop. The fruit vendor was talking to one of his customers and while he was packing, he dropped two fruits into the carton box when that customer was looking somewhere else and gave him the cover with 2 fruits less. The birds became quite angry at him. The fruit vendor took the money from the customer and opened his purse to give him the change back. He counted and kept on counting. As he was a genius in math, he could make out that the two 500 rs notes were missing. He searched in his shirt pocket and all over, but could not even find a penny. He gave the change back somehow. The birds were somewhat happy about seeing his face. The birds thought that at least now he had learned a lesson and weigh fruits properly and honestly while delivering it to the customer. The fruits vendor was recollecting the events that had happened in the morning and could not get to know as to where and how he had missed the two 500 rs notes.


One other customer came into his shop to buy the fruits. He was somewhat upset that he had lost 1000 rs and was frustrated too. He weighed the fruits and was again putting few fruits back into the carton while the customer was picking up some other fruits. One of the birds flew down and poked his hand sharply. Ahhh! came out the fruit vendor's voice, to which the customer asked as to what had happened, unable to answer his query, due to pain in his hand, he had to drop back the fruits into the cover that he had thought of putting it back into the carton box. The bird felt happy that this had served him right. Alas!, the fruit vendor could learn a lesson from this, but no, the greedy man that he was, he tried to replace the fresh fruits with the stale ones for the next customer in line, but this time the birds had gone in search of food, he was saved.


As soon as he went home, his wife served him the food. Since he had not eaten anything from the morning, he started to hog the food. His children were watching him eat like never before. One of his children complained of finding a worm in his plate, to which he scolded him, but then when the child had got the plate near him, he could see few dead worms on his plate and scolded his wife for not cleaning it properly. He told them to have fruits, instead, and sleep. The children went happily to get the fresh fruits and told their mother to cut it for them. When she cut it open, there were live worms in it too. She called out for her husband and showed it to him. On seeing this, he threw the fruit away and picked a better fruit for his children, which was also spoilt. The children slept crying in hunger. The fruit vendor was about to hit the bed and felt sad about the day's happenings and could not sleep.


He opened the shop in the morning and threw away all the stale fruits into the garbage and kept fresh fruits for sale. The birds were surprised to watch this. They were alert when he was weighing too and one of the birds was ready to fly and poke his hand, but to the bird's surprise, he weighed and gave the entire set to the customer without putting him any fruits back into the carton box. The birds felt happy and started singing. On hearing this, he came out and offered few fruits to the birds also, which they happily ate and were happy that the fruits vendor had slowly realized his mistake that whatever he had done to the farmer and the other customers, he was getting it back.


The birds were happy being birds and flew high in the sky thanking God for the reformation of the farmer.


Rate this content
Log in

Similar english story from Drama