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Friday, November 8, 2024

The Lost Pea

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Long, long ago when animals could speak, there was a sparrow who was distinctly spick-and-span in its habits. The bird would wake up early, go to find its food, and bathe before each meal. 

One day, fate gave some extra happiness to the clean bird. No sooner had it woken up than it saw a large pea. It exclaimed with joy, “Hurray! I don’t need to search for food today!” It quickly picked the pea and kept it in its nest. 

The sparrow went to the river to have its habitual bath. It was extremely delighted thinking about the fine meal it was going to eat. Its mouth had already started watering. Alas! How its eyes got wet with tears when it found, upon returning to the nest, that the pea was lost. “My pea!, My food!”, it started weeping. 

The sparrow had already so delved its thoughts into the pea that it couldn’t think of searching any other food. It had taken the pea as God’s morning grace and couldn’t let it go. So, it started searching the pea. For its ease, it also sought help from others. 

First, it saw a carpenter. “O Carpenter! Dear Carpenter! I have lost a pea seed. Please help me find it”, it said.  

The carpenter was about to open his shop. Thus, he said, “I can’t. I need to reach my shop quickly.”

The sparrow had only just observed the image of the carpenter fading when a soldier came towards it. 

“Soldier, would you please help me find my lost pea?” The sparrow pleaded.

“Are you crazy? I have duties to keep. I can’t waste my time.” The soldier shouted. 

The sparrow began flapping its wings and urging all the other passersby to aid in its search for the pea. Poor Sparrow! It was so hungry and now was about to relinquish all its hope, especially after its appeal was to no avail to even to a minister. 

However, the ravenous sparrow saw the king mounted on an elephant. A glimmer of hope shone in its eyes. Sadly, the king was no exception. Upon hearing its entreaty, the king only rebuffed the sparrow. 

An ant happened to see the sparrow talking to the king. 

“What happened, my friend? Why are you disturbing the king?” 

The sparrow outlined its story. The ant, out of pity for the sparrow, promised to help the bird. 

The ant said to the elephant, “Tell the king to help the sparrow find its pea, else I will crawl inside your trunk and bite you to death!” 

The elephant was so scared that it immediately threatened the king: “Help the little bird find its meal. If not, I will throw you off me.” This time, the king had no option but to listen to the appeal. 

He ordained the minister: “Minister, if you want your job intact, go help the sparrow.” The minister ordered the soldier: “You will have to lose your life, if you don’t find the pea.” The soldier, in turn, terrorized the carpenter saying that if he didn’t find the pea, the soldier would vandalize his shop. 

The carpenter searched for some time and found the pea. The sparrow thanked everyone, especially the ant, and soared back to its nest. The bird was elated to have its hunger satisfied and all the others were happy to have their lives saved. 

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