12
Dominga
is fooled by Darzi and returns to Domingi
Phoolchuki, Teetiri and Darzi returned
to talk to Dominga. It was Darzi who spoke first. He told Dominga that it was
not an unknown thing for eggs to change colour while at the nest. It must have
been Dominga’s mistake. Did he, did he, did he, did he ever, ever, ever, ever,
feed one of those red and black coloured caterpillars to Domingi before the
eggs were laid? Dominga was taken aback. Was it his mistake? Did he give one of
those red and black coloured caterpillars to Domingi? He thought very hard. But
Darzi did not give him time to think. He kept talking. Dominga must have, must
have, must have, must have, fed one of those stick-like grasshoppers then. If
not the red and black caterpillars or the stick-like grasshoppers, then he must
have, must have, must have, must have given one of those glowing worms that
shone brilliantly at night. Dominga nodded hesitantly. Yes. He had once caught
one of those glowing worms.
But those glowing worms were certainly
not shining once he had caught them, said Dominga. But, it may also have been
one of those stick-like grasshoppers. He had once caught a young one. He
stopped to think back. Darzi looked at Phoolchuki and winked. Now they had him.
Darzi began to talk very fast again. Yes yes yes yes. That must be, must be,
must be, must be it. He must have given one of the glow-worms or the stick-like
grasshoppers to Domingi. Did you know
that could change the egg-colour? It was his entire fault. Did he, did he, did
he, did he, did he scold Domingi for his mistake? Did he, did he, did he, did
he? Darzi kept asking. He did not want to give any time for Dominga to realise
that he may be wrong or that he was being fooled. And suddenly, Darzi flew away
to the babool tree, and back to Darzeee at her nest.
Darzi was happy that he had completed two
tasks. First, he had helped Domingi protect her eggs. Second, he had fooled
Dominga. He had wanted to do that for a long long time. Dominga had always been
a very proud songster, singing from the highest branch, or from some of those
new electric cables and wireposts that had been lined up along the edge of the
grassland. Those electric cables gave off a loud buzzing noise sometimes. Most
birds did not go near them. Darzi was always content to sing from within the
branches of trees or bushes, and usually sang to tell Darzeee or other
tailor birds that he was nearby. But Dominga was a proud bird. He kept singing
just to show off, Darzi was convinced.
Meanwhile, back at the ber bush,
Phoolchuki told Dominga to begin smiling, stop his sad look and get back to
Domingi back as soon as possible. Dominga looked at Teetiri and asked her as to
what she thought. Teetiri also smiled and asked Dominga that he should
certainly get back to Domingi right away. She must be starving at the nest. He
should go and apologise. Phoolchuki would go with him and make sure that he did
apologise. Otherwise Teetiri would tell all the other lapwings to spread the
message that Dominga had been a very very bad bird. Then nobody would protect
him.
Domingi - the female Magpie Robin knew that
Dominga would return to her after his anger would go off.
[Photograph - Govinda Swami]
Each time a Shaheen, the falcon, would
come hunting for small birds near the tall tamarind tree, some bird or the
other would point out Dominga’s location to be hunted. Or, it could be more
dangerous, if the tailor birds sounded their alarm to identify Dominga’s hiding
place to Shikra, the sparrow hawk, known to all the birds as the silent killer,
who flew in between the branches of the trees and bushes. Frightened and
completely humbled, Dominga flew back to Domingi with Phoolchuki at his side.
Both Shaheen and Shikra were the most feared hunting birds in the grassland,
riverside trees, in the orchard, and in the village nearby. Most birds usually
helped each other to know that these hunters were nearby.
