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Key words£ºcrow£¬hunter£¬king, dove,
mouse,
net |
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Genre£ºfable |
Topic£ºfriendship |
Words:500 |
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...and the mouse immediately started nibbling at the
strings
of the net and set the birds free. |
Some doves and a mouse
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Author£ºG.L.
Chandiramani |
Source£ºwww.bolokids.com
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Nation£ºIndia
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Date£º2008-8-13 |
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Once at dawn, when the moon was
setting over western mountains, a crow woke up and saw a hunter
coming towards the tree. He looked like Yama, the God of
Death... When the crow saw him, he was frantic and thought to
himself, ¡°This looks grim. I don¡¯t like the look of this at
all.¡±
Thinking thus, he started
following the hunter.
After some time, the hunter
stopped and looked around. He took out some grains of rice from
his bag, scattered them on the ground and then spread out his
net over the grains.
When he had done this, he hid
himself behind the tree.
Just then, the king of doves with
his courtiers was flying around in search of food.
He saw the grains of rice and
said to his followers, ¡°How strange! Grains of rice in an
uninhabited forest? Let¡¯s see what this is all about. I smell a
rat!¡±
But being greedy, the doves
didn¡¯t listen to their king and flew down to pick up the grains
of rice. Whoops! In a trice, they were all caught in the net.
A terrific commotion broke out
amongst the trapped doves.
Then the king cried out,
¡°Friends, we are in great danger. Unless we pull ourselves
together immediately and think of a way to get out, there¡¯s no
doubt that we shall all be dead. Now I propose that we all catch
hold of the net at the same time and fly upwards together.¡±
The birds agreed. They caught
hold of the net and together flew away with it. When the hunter
saw this, he was spellbound and didn¡¯t know what to do.
But he soon came to himself and
began to run after them, thinking, ¡°These birds have managed the
escape because they are united. But when they come down, I¡¯ll
have them in my power!¡±
However, the doves flew very fast
and were soon out of sight. They then asked their king,¡± What
shall we do now?¡±
¡°I have a very dear friend,¡± he
said, ¡°a mouse who lives on the banks of the river Godavari.
We¡¯ll go to him. I know he will find a way to free us!¡±
So, they all flew to the place
where the mouse lived. When the mouse saw the birds flying down
towards him, he got frightened and ran inside his hole at the
root of a tree.
But the king of doves called out,
¡°My friend! Don¡¯t you know me? Come and set us free.¡±
When the mouse heard this, he
recognized his friend¡¯s voice and came out quickly. The king of
doves told him all that had happened and the mouse immediately
started nibbling at the strings of the net and set the birds
free.
The crow, which had flown along
and had been watching this from a nearby tree, was full of
admiration for their friendship and said to himself:
¡°Well, it¡¯s true what they say, a
friend in need is a friend indeed¡±.
Discussion£º
1. How were the doves
caught in the net?
2. What did the doves do
after they were caught in the net?
3. How did the mouse free
the doves?
¡¡
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