Friends Are Forever

In a blooming forest, surrounded by nature’s beauty, there lived a variety of animals and birds. There were lions, tigers, elephants, deer, monkeys, and many more animals. There were also many parrots, doves, mynahs, owls, various other species of birds. Along with them all, there dwelt a flock of peacocks and peahens too.

There was one peacock in the lot named Taushi (in Swahili, a peacock is called Tausi), who was very handsome but also very vain. He would keep fluttering his beautiful feathers to show how attractive he was. All the peahens, and even female birds of other species, were in awe of him, and he had a huge female fan following.

He would prance around all day without a care for his other friends. His celebrity status made the other male birds jealous, and his pride made his friends feel bad. After all, he would look down upon and neglect everyone, even his friends. He would only think that his beauty was his greatest asset, and that there could be no one like him.

One day, while he was strutting around as usual, showing off his gorgeous plumes to the peahens, he fell into a hunter’s trap. However hard he tried, he was unable to free himself. In his desperate attempts to come out of the trap, his feathers got more and more entangled. His beautiful wings were badly bruised and damaged.

Seeing blood oozing out of his body and his plumes tearing off, Taushi became frightened and started crying loudly for help. His female fans who were hovering around him before he fell in the trap, saw his plight and instead of coming to his help, ran away lest they should meet the same fate. He kept crying, but none of them even looked back.

But his pitiful cries were heard by some of his friends. They hurried to where Taushi was trapped and put in their whole effort to rescue him. They were finally successful in their attempts. He sustained injuries in his leg which permanently ruined his ability to dance. His plumes had all fallen off, making him a very ordinary-looking bird.

As his female fans all changed their loyalties and turned their attention elsewhere, his male friends supported him and helped him throughout the ordeal as he slowly recovered. Taushi has realized at last that beauty is a very temporary asset. It doesn’t last forever. The only valuable assets in life are good friends and true friendship!