The Mango And Cuckoo

The sweet Mango..!! Hardly there is anyone who does not like or relish mangoes!

And Mango trees are associated with the Indian bird named Koyal (Cuckoo). There was a dense forest near Nuagaon village in Odisha (Orissa) next to the banks of river Mahanadi. There were a lot of Cuckoos in the forest. They had the sweetest voice and used to sing the kuhu kuhu tune. The forest animals used to enjoy the honey coated voice and the forest used to echo with this enchanting voice.

Everything was fine. One fine day, one Cuckoo named Kokila went flying and flying and reached the outskirts of the forest and came near Nuagaon. She became curious and wanted to see the village. She went on roaming in the village. She started singing "kuhu kuhu". All villagers saw Kokila singing and started discussing about this new bird. They liked her pleasant voice. A villager named Damodar saw this new bird and liked the voice. He got a selfish idea to trap Kokila because he wanted to listen to the voice and did not want others to listen to Kokila. Slowly he laid down a net and caught Kokila.

Kokila got scared and lost her voice due to the shock. Before Damodar could hide Kokila, another villager named Ghanshyam saw him and informed the Village Head Rajaram. Rajaram was a very considerate person. He immediately came to Damodar's house and took the bird as Kokila was kept inside a big cage. And now Kokila needed treatment. Rajaram told that he will put a heavy fine on Damodar for troubling an innocent bird and making people lose the pleasure of a singing bird. Meanwhile, the forest animals and Kokila's friends were searching for Kokila and assumed that she is lost. But Kokila had a very dear friend named Kaberi. She did her best to search for Kokila but in vain. However, Kaberi did not lose her patience.

Damodar apologized and told that if he is able to bring back the voice of Kokila, he should be let free of the punishment in the form of financial penalty. Rajaram and all villagers agreed. Damodar came daily to Rajaram's home and gave Kokila honey, different fruit juices, sweet water, normal water, milk, etc to drink so that Kokila can come out of the shock, but months passed by without any positive result.

Then came the Summer and with it came the Nature's gift of sweet ripe mangoes. Damodar had some five to six varieties of mango yielding trees. So, he brought all different, sweet ripe mangoes which were plucked from his orchard. He selected the best of them and took out the juice and gave it to Kokila. As if it worked, Kokila started chuckling a bit. It was big news for villagers and now Damodar requested all villagers to bring the juice of whatever ripe mango varieties they had in their gardens.There were Banganapalli, Subarnarekha, Akhurasa, Dasheri, Lengda, Neelam, Chaunsa,Totapuri,Raspuri and other varieties. All the villagers helped from their side as much as possible. Everyday, Kokila was given the freshly made sweet mango juice without any mix of water or sugar . A month passed. Damodar daily prayed Lord Jagannath wholeheartedly for the well-being of Kokila. Lord Jagannath is the presiding deity in Odisha and people share all their feelings with Him. And finally the day arrived ! The prayers for Lord Jagannath got answered ! Slowly Kokila regained her voice and finally She began to sing Kuhu Kuhu !!!

 

It was an amazing day for Damodar, Rajaram, and other villagers. Damodar repented for his selfishness and learned a big lesson not to trouble innocent animals or birds. He had turned into a very good man. Rajaram with the consent of all villagers relieved Damodar from all charges. Damaodar thanked Lord Jagannath for solving his problem.

Meanwhile, one fine day Kaberi finally found Kokila and told her to come back to the forest. Kokila told the whole story and told Kaberi that she may not be able to come as the villagers, Damodar and Rajaram like her very much. But still, Kaberi told, there is a big difference between life in a forest and that in a village. Her Friends were missing her a lot. So, Kokila agreed and told Rajaram about this. Now, Kokila had learnt the Odia (Oriya) language in which the villagers conversed. Villagers told that Kokila should come for sometime in a year atleast and spend time in the village. Kokila promised that She and her other cuckoo friends will come to the village as and when the mango trees start flowering and will be there in the village till the Mango fruit season is over.

The villagers became happy and by the month of July that year, Kokila and Kaberi left for the forest. Kokila's friends in the forest listened to the whole experience and thought of tasting the sweet mango. The month of March of next year came. Mango trees started flowering. Kokila informed Kaberi and other friends to move to the village and enjoy the mango season. They all went to the village and started flocking the mango trees with their pleasant voice. The villagers were just amazed and too happy. All the Cuckoo friends stayed in the village for tasting the sweet mango juice daily and this becomes a yearly affair.

 

That is why every year, Cuckoos are seen on Mango trees during the Mango flowering season and give pleasant music as well as the sweet mango.

 

Moral of the Story: Accept the mistake and rectify the mistake.Never trouble any innocent living being. Because every living being is created by Mother Nature to give something good to this world like the sweet mango or the sweet voice of Cuckoo.