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| Sunday, 3 July 2005 |
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'Crow-owl' animosity Sunday parable by by Sunanda Mahendra 'The humans have a king and so do the beasts. It is only the birds, who have still not selected their king', said the parrot who seated himself as the chairman of the selection committee. Then, he added, as there was silence among the birds, who gathered in the forest, "I propose that our wise old owl should be made the king of the birds."
Some birds flapped their feathers in merriment while others remained silent as if they had no comment to make. "Do you really mean that the owl is wise?" Asked a rebel crow. The owl was watching what was going to happen. "Proceed," said the parrot and the crow continued. "I observe, honourable chairman, the owl is still fast asleep to our great dismay. You should understand that the leadership is a unique position. He or she who holds the position of leader should be unshaken by trivial matters and should be a steady personality. But look at that face. It looks wooden. He shows no feelings to anything around him. It has a fearful look. If the face looks like that at this moment, you could imagine how it is going to be when he is selected as the King of the birds..." The crow could not continue any more as the owl scowled and dashed on the crow as if to kill him in anger, while the other birds were fear struck. The crow flew faster. But the owl followed him. They were seen fighting and the other birds came to the rescue of the crow, who was seriously injured. The parrot never visualised turmoil in the capacity of chairman. So he felt extremely sorry. Followed by this dispute the crow clan and the owl clan were seen fighting with each other continuously. The greatest of the sufferers happened to be the crow clan for they were harmed more by the owl clan in the night. The owls could fly at night but the crows could fly only during day time. "If this continues there will be no crow clan," said one of the wise crows. "So we have to find some means of eradicating this disaster. Any suggestion?" "I have a plan of action," said one of the crows in the rank and file. "Do present it to the audience." "Perhaps this is hardly the time to reveal all that as there may be an owl spying on a tree top." Then the crow spoke softly. "All you should do is to drive me out of the clan right at this moment, abuse me as much as possible. When I am on the ground you all should fly as fast as possible to a place far away to the mountain range, and hide in one of the large trees. I will look after the rest. Be quick and do as I tell you." But the crow king kept silent as he could not grasp the plan of the other strategist crow. While the king was silent, the strategist crow spoke loudly. "You are a good for nothing crow, can't you understand what I say, you bastard?"Asked the strategist crow loudly. "Don't speak like that to His Majesty," said another crow, who was seated near His Majesty. Paying no heed or respect to any other, the strategist crow went on speaking ill of His Majesty. Then the supporters of His Majesty went on pecking and harming the strategist as much as they could. The strategist fell down and the others flew to the other side of the mountain range. The spy owl who, was watching all these informed this to the members of the owl clan. The spy owl said "I see that there is a split among the crow clan. One fellow is trampled by the others. This may be the right moment to act out our part." All the owls came to the spot where the fallen crow was seen panting. "Look at this fellow, he is all alone and a sufferer, while the others have gone out of sight. Let's put an end to this fellow and teach him a good lesson." All the owls were looking out in search of crows. But there was not a single crow to be seen. "Nothing but a pack of cowards," said the leader owl looking around to see whether there were any crows. Then they wanted to kill the crow fallen beneath the tree. "Don't harm him for he may be our enemy but he is not in a position to be killed or harmed. So leave him alone and ask him what happened." The crow murmured in agony "Please don't kill me. I am suffering as a result of trying to support you all, the owl clan." "What did you tell, your own clan about us." Said the owl leader. "Oh, I said that the owl clan is so strong that we will never be able to fight them. So it is better to give up the battle and surrender by giving the owls the victory and support. I told them that we should openly declare that the animosity is over and there is a need to settle down peacefully. But they were angry with me and I was punished for saying all that. The owl leader wanted to invite the fallen crow to his cave residence. But there was a wise owl who objected to the move and declared that it would be rather dangerous to take him to the cave dwelling of the owls. So we must not take a chance by showing him kindness. It is better to kill him here." But the owl leader disagreed by saying that "the fallen enemy should be treated". The others had to give up. The fallen crow was ushered into the cave residence of the owl leader where the other owls too lived in clusters. "Make yourself comfortable," said the owl king allowing him to share his residence. "Will it be possible for me to make a nest of my own, as that is our cultural heritage. Though I remain to be a friend of yours I still remain a crow by birth," said the crow. "Yes you may build your own nest." The fallen crow who showed signs of friendship went on collecting dry leaves and twigs from withered branches of trees and heaped them up at the door of the cave dwelling of the owls. From time to time, the fallen crow who had by now showed signs of recovery, flew to the other side of the mountain range and informed the crow clan about the second part of his strategy. "Just listen to me. All of you should try and get a fire brand made out of a dry twig. Follow me when I signal you. Fly as fast as possible straight over to the cave dwelling of the owls. See that each one of you place the fire brand on the heap of dry leaves and twigs at the entrance to the cave dwelling, which I collected for such a long time. This should be done as soon as the owls enter their cave dwelling at the crack of dawn." The crows listened to him carefully and followed his instructions. The owls who roamed about at night in the forest in search of food flew into the cave dwelling at the crack of dawn. When all the owls entered the cave dwelling the strategist crow signalled the retinue to perform their act. The owls were trapped and they failed to see anything during the day time. Though the crows won over the battle temporarily, the battle never ceased
completely. It continued, the hatred went on and on up till today. A saying
sprung up in Sinhala villages on hearing the story which goes as kaputu
bakamunu vairaya vagei (it is like the animosity or the hatred of the crows
and owls). |
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