Manasi Hajare
Sundar Singh, the king of Shantinagar, was a skilled administrator. He always remained considerate for the well-being of his subjects. Many a time, he would roam around in town along with his ministers in the guise of an ordinary man, to take stalk of the ground reality of his kingdom.
Once, the king was moving in the town along with his ministers. The people were busy in their own tasks. No one had any grudge against the king.
When he had moved a little further, the king saw that a few people, along with their families, were living in huts built under trees. The king instantly asked one of his ministers, “We have orders to ensure that everyone has a home in our kingdom. Why, then, are these people living under trees?”
The minister went to the inhabitants of those huts to make an enquiry. In a while, he returned and said, “Your Highness! These are extremely poor people. They worked for others for a long time, and gathered some money. But now, they are not finding land to build houses on. They are therefore compelled to live under those trees.”
The king returned to the palace along with his ministers.
Another day, the king summoned his chief minister and said, “Four families in our kingdom have no land to build a house on. Arrange homes for them.”
The chief minister sent for his soldiers, and ordered them to find plots fit for building homes.
After two days, the soldiers returned to the chief minister. They reported that no home could be built in fields, and there was no other plot left for new homes.
The chief minister briefed the king about the situation. The king was worried. He wanted that not a single subject of his kingdom remained unhappy. Seeing the king worried, the chief minister said, “Your Highness! If you have orders, we can arrange homes for all the four families.”
“How?” enquired the king.
“We can fell the trees under which they have built their huts. We will get enough plot for the houses,” said the chief minister.
After thinking for a while, the king ordered them to cut the trees, and build the houses.
Soon the trees were felled, and new houses came up there, where there were trees. The four families that were allocated homes became quite happy.
One day, after a few months, the king went out as usual with his ministers to have a survey of his kingdom. He went straight to meet the families living in the newly-built houses.
The hosts took all care of their king. The king thought that now, no one in his kingdom was unhappy. As he was about to walk away in delight, he heard someone cry. He turned his eyes everywhere, not no one came to his sight. A river murmured nearby. The king went to its bank too, but there was no one around. But the cry continued periodically, and came at intervals.
The king told his ministers about the cry. The chief minister himself took a round, encircling the houses four to five times. The cries continued, but they could see no one across a long expanse of land. The chief minister was astounded. He went near to the king and pleaded, “Your Highness, allow me two more days. I shall find the source of the cry, and present before you.”
The same evening, the chief minister issued a decree to every family in the town, that whosoever resolved the riddle of the cry would be awarded by the king.
The next day, a boy named Bihang came to meet the chief minister. He expressed his interest in trying the royal order. The chief minister told Bihang, “If you present yourself at the palace day after tomorrow, and tell His Majesty and name of the crying man and the reason for the same, His Majesty will award you.”
Bihang did not say anything. The next day, he went near those houses, and roved all around. He also went near the river that flowed down from a close vicinity. He sat there for a while, and returned home in the afternoon.
In the evening, a soldier came to Bihang’s house and informed, “The chief minister wants you at the palace tomorrow.”
“Tell the minister not to worry. I have solved the riddle,” said Bihang.
The next morning, His Majesty the King Surendra Singh appeared at the royal court. The ministers showed their abeyance to him, and the king sat on his seat. He asked the chief minister to start the court proceedings.
The chief minister sent words to Bihang to present himself at the court. Bihang came in.
“Bihang, can we know who is the one crying around those newly built houses?” the king asked.
“Long live Your Majesty! The cry is not of the humans,” Bihang said.
“What do you mean, young man? Tell without hesitation.”
“In fact, the cry comes from the birds and animals that lived in those trees. Some cries are coming even today,” Bihang explained.
“But till this day, no one had heard birds and animals crying like humans,” the king observed.
“You’re right, Your Majesty. Other birds and animals never had any complaint against you. But…” Bihang stopped, before he completed the sentence.
“But…? Go on, young man,” the king ordered.
“Your Majesty, you are very kind. You ordered the felling of those trees, and gave homes to the homeless families living under them. But on every tree, right from the soil around the roots to the shoots up there in the air, there were homes of many plants and animal. Felling those trees has renders many of them homeless. Your order snatched their homes. The nests had many eggs; perhaps from some of them, chicks were about to hatch. They all have been destroyed. The cries are from such birds and animals; they are expressing their anger. Besides crying, they want to tell you something important.”
“What is that they want to tell me, Bihang?” asked the king, quite pathetically.
“Your Majesty, I passed all my childhood playing around trees. So, I learned the language of the birds, insects and animals living in and around tress. While building houses in future, do not wipe the homes of ants, worms, birds and animals living in or underneath the base of the trees. This is what they want to tell you.”
Everyone was silent at the court. They had never thought that felling a tree could have these many repercussions.
After a chilling silence that lasted for a while, the king spoke, “The young man has opened my eyes. I want the happiness of every single subject in the kingdom granted; but I don’t want to do so by bringing harm to any creature. Every living being has the right to a home. Let a ban be put on unreasonable felling of trees. If someone, for a certain reason, needs to cut a tree, he must plant two and raise them with care.”
The king’s words pleased Bihang. The king awarded him with a lot of prizes. He also assigned him the task of planting trees near the newly built homes.
[Hajare is an Indian storywriter based in Maharashtra. She basically writes for children.]