How Yasara lost and found Kiri...

“Kiri”, “Kiri”, “Kiri”.Little Yasara was calling her new pet, a tiny star tortoise. Yasara was fond of all sorts of animals.

She already had three dogs, one cat and one squirrel. To this little zoo, her father had brought a tiny tortoise. Everyone in the household, mum, dad, her two sisters and brother were worried that the dogs will attack the tortoise. But little Yasara was confident that nothing will happen.

As if she was a well-experienced animal trainer, she took command of the affairs of the little zoo.

Bazaar called a meeting of her mini zoo. The cat had gone for a walk and couldn’t be found. “Tanny, Tinny and Minny, come here,” she ordered the three dogs as if she was the queen herself.

All three dogs came along, wagging their fluffy tails, anticipating that Yasara was planning to share her evening snacks with them. It was obvious that they came rushing from some mischief. All of them were panting like nothing. “Sit down,” again the commander ordered.

Obedience was displayed and Yasara had three earnestly listening dogs. They still believed that there must be some crumbs or a piece of something hidden in her hand.

“Now listen carefully, we have a little tortoise here.” She showed the little tortoise to Minny, the mildest of the three. Minny sniffed and sniffed and sniffed, as if she cannot fathom what this tiny thing was and why it is so silent unlike the cat in the house, which responds with constant “purrs”.

“Now you must understand, she has come to stay. You cannot harm her, OK?” Yasara detailed the terms of co-habitation. She offered Kiri for Tanny and Tinny to sniff and Tinny, the most uncontrollable of the three, raised a paw at Kiri.

“Tinny, behave”, ordered Yasara. Tinny got hurt since his friend shouted at him, but understood that it’s because he had disobeyed the little mistress. He came over and licked her whole face and sniffed Kiri again. No more growling, no more pawing.

Things were in order, so far. Now Yasara wanted to know whether Kiri will be safe when she was not there to protect her. Though the dogs obeyed rules, they needed constant reminding. How can she look after Kiri all the time? she had to go to school.

Yasara was worried. She went to dad, who always had a solution to such problems.

“Let us find her a place where she can remain hidden, as they usually do, during day time,” that was daddy’s suggestion.

“But where?”

“Hmm, what about behind our big mango tree? There is a clear patch of grass there and we will keep a small cage there and get her used to go into that.”

“But how?”

“We will leave something she likes to eat, something like kankung”. Yasara was overjoyed with the idea. She ran to find mum, who was in the kitchen. “Mummy, can you give me some kankung?”

“I thought you don’t like kankung, what’s the sudden change?”

“No, no, not for me, for Kiri”

“There are some in the vegetable basket,” mother said. She was too busy, so Yasara found the kankung and fled to find Kiri.

“Kiriyo, let us go and settle down in your new home.”

Yasara carried Kiri as if she was a little baby. Daddy placed the cage and kankung and let Kiri enter through the small entrance. Kiri found her new home comfortable.

Time passed and Kiri got used to the household. She came out when called and at other times she rested in her cage which was open. But the entrance was small so that the dogs could not put their head in it.

One day, Yasara returned from school and called Kiri. No response. She called again. Still, no response. Yasara ran over to Kiri’s cage. Then she saw a snake slithering over a branch of the mango tree.

“Mummy, mummy, mummy”, her shouts brought out people from all adjacent houses.

“What’s wrong?”

Her mother came running first.

“Kiri is not there, and I saw a snake going up that tree”, she was crying now. She was sure that the snake had eaten the little tortoise.

“No, no don’t worry. The snake won’t eat your Kiri”, mummy said just to pacify Yasara, but she too was not sure. “Then where is she?”

“We will find out, don’t cry”.

The neighbours dispersed after a while, promising little Yasara that they would look for little Kiri.

It was late evening and still there was no sign of Kiri though Yasara called out several times. No one brought any news about her. She was so worried now. She had forgotten all about the history test she was to get the next day.

Then daddy came home. When he was stepping into the house, he tripped over something like a stone. He would have fallen if not for the tall brass vase he was able to hold onto.

“Who kept a stone here? I would have fallen.” Daddy demanded an answer from everyone in the house. No one was in a mood to answer. “What’s wrong, Chooti?” Daddy called Yasara Chooti since she was the youngest in the family, and his pet child. Yasara started to cry again.

It was mummy who spoke. “We can’t find Kiri, there was a snake on the mango tree, we are worried whether it had eaten Kiri.”

“No, I don’t think so,” while talking he switched on an extra light that illuminated the doorstep. He picked up the stone and turned it upside down. It did not really look like a stone now. He put it down and tapped the top. Out came a tiny head and then four little paws. “Thanks daddy, you found Kiri” Yasara hugged daddy.

“No Chooti, she would have been hiding here all the time you were searching for her. You said that a snake was there, so, for her safety, Kiri would have come in and hidden behind the door, and none of you looked there.” Everyone was puzzled.

“Then why didn’t she come when I called her?” “Perhaps she was tired after walking fast, fell asleep and started dreaming about the snake.” No one argued that a tortoise could not dream.

Sent by Dr. (Mrs) Sujeewa Gunaratne