{"id":413,"date":"2020-08-09T16:44:15","date_gmt":"2020-08-09T11:14:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thetoad.in\/?p=413"},"modified":"2020-08-09T16:44:15","modified_gmt":"2020-08-09T11:14:15","slug":"two-little-birds-wicked-jackal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thetoad.in\/index.php\/2020\/08\/09\/two-little-birds-wicked-jackal\/","title":{"rendered":"Two Little Birds & Wicked Jackal"},"content":{"rendered":"

A myna and a sparrow were friends for a long time. A little distance from their homes was a garden where they would go to play every day.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

The garden was beautiful. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"
Illustration: Neha Kumari<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

It had fruit trees where the two birds would eat, and a stream of fresh water from which they would drink. Colourful flowers lined the patches of grass.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

All was going well for the two friends and there was nothing to be scared of, until a jackal showed up in the garden from the nearby jungle.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

One morning when the birds came to the garden, they spotted the jackal near the stream. At first, they decided to ignore him, thinking he was just a one-time visitor and would go away soon. But the jackal had other plans.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

As the birds touched down near the stream, the jackal turned towards them and asked, \u201cWhat are you doing here?\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"
Illustration: Neha Kumari<\/span><\/strong><\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cThis is my garden. You are not supposed to be here,\u201d he told them.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

The birds were scared but at the same time shocked to hear the jackal lie through his teeth. They knew the jackal was making a false claim.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Mustering some courage, the myna said: \u201c<\/span><\/span>T<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span>his has always been our playground. We have never seen you here before.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

The jackal said he had been away for some time.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cNow, I have returned, and I don\u2019t want to see you in the garden anymore,\u201d he commanded.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

The birds were heartbroken.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Sad, the two little birds flew home, but they hoped that the jackal would be gone before the sunrise.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Next morning, when the birds flew to the garden, they found out that the jackal had not gone. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

This time, they did not dare to land in the garden.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt is all over,\u201d the sparrow said, shattered. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cMaybe, we have lost our garden forever.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

The myna seemed to be in a deep thought.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cMaybe, we haven\u2019t lost the garden,\u201d she said to the sparrow\u2019s surprise.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

The sparrow thought they were too small to fight the jackal and regain their garden.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

The myna had in the meantime thought of a plan and explained it to the sparrow in detail.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

At sundown, they flew quietly into the garden.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

The myna hid behind a tree and the sparrow adjusted herself on the tip of a bough. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

As it grew darker, the myna used the gift of her voice to speak in a husky tone and the sparrow started to vigorously shake the branch. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Together, they created an effect and made it sound like it was the tree speaking.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cYou, the jackal,\u201d the myna called out in a dreadful voice.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

On hearing the rumbling voice, the jackal was taken aback. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

He had never before seen a tree speak.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI am the master of this garden. I am the one who decides who comes here or leaves. Those little birds were my friends and I had allowed them to play here. You are a wicked creature, you turned them away. You will pay for this,\u201d the voice said.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI will crush you. I will ask all other trees here to teach you a lesson. You are not welcome here.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

The myna made a reverberating sound. The jackal thought the voice was coming from all the trees around him.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

The sparrow shook more branches for to make it look scarier.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI am sorry,\u201d the jackal pleaded.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cPlease do not harm me. I will go back to the jungle and leave the garden to the birds. I will be gone by morning.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

The myna ordered the jackal to leave right away. The jackal was terrified and could not dare to say no. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

He was gone in no time.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

The myna and the sparrow were happy that their plan had worked out. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

They celebrated their victory. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

It was all over, they had their garden back. The jackal had been defeated by the two little birds with little abilities.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A myna and a sparrow were friends for a long time. A little distance from their homes was a garden where they would go to play every day. The garden was beautiful. It had fruit trees where the two birds would eat, and a stream of fresh water from which they would drink. Colourful flowers…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":414,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[25,24,9,10,15,11,8,26],"class_list":["post-413","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-stories","tag-birds-and-jackal","tag-birds-story","tag-children-stories","tag-fairy-tales","tag-inspirational","tag-kashmir","tag-kids-stories","tag-story-of-courage","enable-dropcap"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thetoad.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/413"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thetoad.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thetoad.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thetoad.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thetoad.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=413"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thetoad.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/413\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thetoad.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/414"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thetoad.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=413"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thetoad.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=413"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thetoad.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=413"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}