THE STORY OF THE WOODPEACKER

   

              Long long ago, when the elephants and horses could fly, there lived a saint in the northern part of the earth. On a cold winter moring, the saint set out on a journey to visit the neighbouring village. As he wandered through the snowy roads, he saw children and elders moving around busily , tucked up tightly

in the warmest winter clothes. As it was winter, the days were short and the nights, long. Fighting the cold with his thin upper cloths, he walked slowly towards the village. It was already dark by the time the saint reached the village. Having traveled so far, he was tired and hungry too.

                                When he could walk no more, he decided to request the first man he would meet, for some food and shelter. Thinking so, he wearily walked through the snowy roads for some more time. Finally, he reached a small cottage. As he peeped in, he saw an old woman who sat by the fire. As he went nearer, the saint understood that the old woman was baking some cakes fire.

                                                                                                                         Extremely hungry, he tapped the door of the old woman and said, "Good old lady! I have reached this place after a very long journey. All through the day I have had nothing to eat. I feel as if I am going to faint with fasting. Could you please give me a small cake to eat?"  As he finished talking, the old lady asked him to step inside and sit by the fire while she baked a cake for him. The saint was pleased for her kindness and thanked her in advance. 

         The old women soon made a small cake and placed it on the hearth to bake it. As the cake was still baking, she looked at the cake and thought, "It seems I made a big cake. I do not think I should give such a big cake to the saint." Thinking so, she removed the cake and placed it away in a tin without giving it to the waiting saint.

                                     Then she kneaded a smaller piece of dough, made a cake and placed it for baking. As she examined the cake, she felt as if the cake turned out to be larger than the earlier one. She placed that cake too in a tin without giving it to the earlier one. She placed that cake too in a tin without giving it to the saint. Again, she took another tiny piece of dough and made a very small cake out of it. Even the cake looked too large to give away and she decided to keep that too for herself. "The cakes I baked are too large to give away." She thought and put the tin of cakes, on the shelf.

                                                                             The saint waited till the very end and when she put the tin on the very end and when she put the tin on the shelf, he understood that the old lady had no intention to give him any food. The saint was annoyed by the selfish act of the lady .

                                                                                   Out of rang he said, "Oh lady! I have never seen any one as selfish as you are. You do not desverve the food, shelter and the life you are leading now." 

                                                                               As the old lady remained stunned, he uttered a curse saying, "Oh lady! From now, you will no more be a human. You will be a bird, pecking small nuts and berries.

            Even that food, you shall get only by boring and boring all the day long, in the bark of trees. I curse you to toil hard all through the day to receive tiny pieces of food that would be hardly enough to satisfy your hunger." 

                     As soon as the saint let out his curse, the old woman turned in to a red-headed woodpecker and flew out of the house towards the forest. She had remained but boring in to the woods to find its food. That is the reason why a woodpecker is always seen busy boring the bark of the trees with its sharp and long beak. 

                                                                                                                                     ~ -     P.KUMAR.