Many years ago not long before the human replaced the chieftainship of the animal kingdom from the Lion. There aroused a great upheaval in the land. On a sunny afternoon a man who was distantly related to the chief went sharpening his newly invented wooden-knife stream to stream. As he sat to sharpen his newly discovered invention besides a stone slab a crab suddenly bit one of his two hanging orbs. In pain and in desperation the early man rushed out of the stream and chop the first living thing he saw- the Bamboo tree- as the tree fall, it crushes down a theipeithei* tree which was carrying in her branches many an unripe fruits. In effect the tree hails down its fruits on the flaunting qail’s tails who was dancing a rain dance on the ground. This act prompted the quail to desperately scratches the earth to vent his anger and in the process destroyed the anthills. The ants seeing that their beautiful architects were vandalized by the handless winged bird decided to look out for someone who must have instigated the artless but sycophantic bird and found a python lazily basking on a rock near by. On seeing the lazy python the ants without any hesitation about the genuineness of their conviction began to lift the huge python’s tail. The snake on sensing he had been attacked begun to swerve until he destroyed the hurriedly build nest of the wild Boer.
As the night engulfed the earth and when the mother wild Boer return to have a glimpse of her carelessly build nest and found all her endeavors destroyed. She began to look for suspectable neighbors who might have racked her nest and saw a grove of banana trees swinging rhythmically in tune with the flow of the wind. On seeing her neighbor dancing, the she Boer rushed and felled the helpless trees. But alas! The helpless tree has sheltered the most blindest of all animals and birds of the time – the bat- sensing that her world has become riotous and that thinking it might be the end of the world she flung herself until she reaches a warm planet. But the new world was non other than the left ear of an elephant. The bat without realizing she had landed on a left ear of an elephant slowly decided to explore her new found world and decided to explore deeper until without her realization burst into flames the ear of the mighty elephant. The elephant in pain and in agony charged towards a light which ultimately leads him to a human hut which was inhabited by a heavily pregnant woman. As the elephant barge into the hut he trampled the the pregnant woman.
The next day the husband of the dead woman addresses the animal community for justice. The gathered public earnestly decided the case must be investigated by the new chief. On hearing this, the chief requested the utmost cooperation from all the animals present and began his judgment. The chief than asked the elephant to explain the incidents that has lead to the killing of the helpless woman. The elephant than said, “my lord Last night as I was sleeping peacefully this bat who is besides me flew into my left ear and inflicted an unbearable pain . This act caused me to run amok until I realized the horrible mistake of having walked over a pregnant woman”. The chief than asked the bat the reasons for inflicting such pain on a sleeping elephant and the motive for wandering so late in the night. The bat who was almost snoozing clarifies that he was equally asleep but for the violence meted out by the wild boar on the banana grove had made her think the world was coming to an end ‘and so venture out to find a new world’ until he found the worm ear of the elephant.
Sensing that the case has last more than he expected the new chief quickly summoned the wild Boer who was still cursing the fallen banana grove. On reaching the designated court the wild Boer narrated that she was forced to vent her anger on seeing her nest being destroyed by some jealous neighbor. Not satisfied with her statement the chief asked the congregation if anyone amongst them have taken part in destroying the Boer’s nest? A reluctant python came forward and informed the chief that it was he who had ransacked the nest but for a certain reason. On being probed the reason the python slowly hisses out his reason: “my lord yesterday after having swallowed a fat rabbit I was dreaming about a new bride who has just incarnated into a beautiful lady until my dream was abruptly halted by the attacks of the treacherous soldiers of the queen ant. To free myself I swayed till my huge body inadvertently razed my neighbor’s nest”. On hearing the python’s argument the queen ant in a loud tweeting voice informed the chief and the congregation that her soldiers were compelled to attack anyone nearby as their high raise towers were unceremoniously pulled down by the callous quill.
The quill than argued that it was because of the careless fall of the Theipeithei tree. That prompted him to indulge in such act. The quill than apologize, the ant queen and asked for forgiveness. Wiser by now with queries the chief said to the the Theipeithei tree ” Certainly you could’nt have showered your unripe fruits by yourself” The Theipeithei pointed at the tall bamboo, Who was only waiting for his turn to explain. The bamboo tree than said to the chief, ‘Dear chief I do hope you will forgive me but my action is directly the consequence of your cousin’s act. For no fault of mine I have been made the object of venting his anger. Yesterday as I was somersaulting as usual from left to right, that over enthusiastic young man chopped me off and having lost my balance I fell upon the theipeithei”. So at last the man was asked by the chief the cause of his act. The man hesitantly began to narrate the episode that has brought so many upheavals in the land. ‘My dear sir’ said the man to the chief. “Yesterday as I was hoping from stream to stream to look for the finest stone for sharpening my knife, I finally found the perfect one just near the barrow of the crab. As I sat down to sharpen my knife my two little balls goes out of the haunch where upon taking advantage of the situation a crab snatched and pulled one of my little balls. In sheer pain and embarrassment I cut down the only witness of the episode. The chief than proclaimed that justice will be done. And that all the animals should accompany him to the crab’s barrow to find out the truth. On reaching the burrow the chief accosted the crab and said, “Mister Crab your mischief has disturbed the peace of the land can you explain the nature of your behaviour?” The crab not realizing the weight of the question gave a mischievous “he he” and went inside his burrow.
The chief than ordered a youthful eagle to arrest the crab. No sooner did the eagle peep into the barrow the crab give a sharp bite. Next the chief asked his best friend the dog to thrush his hand to pull the crab out but the dog too suffered the same humiliation. As the animals were discussing the next thing a handsome toad wearing a huge haora** approaches the public and asked what the reason was? No sooner did the toad hear about the story he volunteered himself to arrest the culprit. Unwrapping, his haora and placing it in the hands of the man who had suffered the humiliation in the hands of the crab, the toad went inside the barrow whistling. The assembled animals waited in baited breath hoping no harm was done to the gallant friend. Then, hearing no words or sound from the burrow, a frog who was a distant relative of the gallant toad peer at the barrow and called out “brother toad! Can we assume you are ok? We are worried.” The toad replied in a frail voice: ‘brother I am ok and I shall be coming out soon’.
The public on learning the assurance gave a loud applaud and waited for the heroes return. In a little while, the sun began to set and the mothers soon began to leave one by one for domestic chore. The male species decided to wait for some time but as restlessness get the better of the anxious crowd. The chief ordered one of his kinds to thrush his hand in the barrow to check if everything was ok. The man than thrushes his entire length of the hand and felt a soft skin, just than a voice came out of the barrow ‘brothers am coming out with the culprit’. So hearing the voice the congregation waited eagerly for the toad and the culprit but to the dismay of the gathered the toad began to throw out only the shell and the skeletal of the crab. The humiliated man seeing that he will never be able to see the culprit punished solely for the greed and appetite of the toad stomped on the toad until his weigh flattened the toad. The animals slowly left the place each of them talking about the selfish and non serious nature of the two slain fellows. But the man for whom dead of the crab was not enough to redeem his pride took a handful of rough sand and threw it on the toad. And since that day the toad inherited a leprous like skin with a flat body. As for the other animals and trees, the bamboo swings no more from left to right but nods gracefully every time the wind blows. The theipeithei still waits for her fruits to ripe once again, the quill still longs for the lost tail.
* A tree that only flowers but never bear fruits
