14
A
strange animal hides at the marsh
It was Kotwal who was watching from a
very high perch on the babool tree above the marsh who called out to warn her.
It was a strange animal, hiding out among the grass, pouncing and frightening
away the birds that came to the water. Kotwal flew down from his perch to a
thin lone babool stem that had been trying to grow out of the grassland each
year. The babool would try and grow taller each year but would find itself cut
down by one of the wandering children from the village nearby. The lone babool
stem never gave up trying. It kept growing out of the grassland each year in
spite of being cut down. Kotwal alighted on the babool and whispered to Teetiri
about the strange animal that had never been seen in their grassland before. It
looked very dangerous. It seemed to be hiding in the tall grass and sitting
very still.
The lone Babool tree - kept growing back after it was cut
Kotwal - the black drongo loved to perch on its highest branches
[Photograph - Govinda Swami]
What can we do? Teetiri asked. Can we
not frighten it? Does it fly? Can it fly? Can it run very fast? Does it swim?
All these days, Teetiri had thought that the marsh would have been the safest
place in the grassland for her to hide her young ones when they would hatch out
of their eggs. And now, this strange animal had come to the wetland. Had it
come to stay there forever? What was it anyway? Could someone talk to it? Could
we know more about it so that we could decide whether to visit the marsh or
not? Teetiri asked Kotwal.
Let us call all the birds of the
grassland together, replied Kotwal. We
will tell Darzi and Phoolchuki to go around on all the trees and tell the other
birds to come here. I will go around the grassland and call the birds that I
meet. Teetiri said that she would go near the river bank and call the birds
from near the water. Darzi went and told Dominga and Domingi, while Phoolchuki
went and told all his cousins and Chimini and her family. Kotwal went around
the grassland and told his cousins and Bulbul. Teetiri went to the riverside
and told all her cousins and asked her aunt to go and fetch Salonki, the common
myna.
Teetiri’s aunt found Salonki and her
partner dustbathing and soaking in the sun among some of the smooth round
stones near the pools formed along the river. On hearing Teetiri’s message,
Salonki and her partner left rapidly and came flying to land near the babool
stem. Most of the birds had not seen the strange animal, except for Salonki and
her partner. They had indeed seen the strange animal. Wow. It was quite
frightening. Both Salonki and her partner kept nodding and shaking their head
as though agreeing and disagreeing with each other. So what should we do?
Teetiri asked. What did it look like? It was large, Kotwal said. It was
dangerous, Salonki said. Salonki’s partner kept nodding and shaking his head.
So what was the animal? Teetiri asked worriedly, wondering whether or not
Salonki would actually provide an answer. Whatever it was, it was frightening,
large and dangerous, said Salonki while her partner kept nodding and shaking
his head.
Getting tired of Salonki and her
partner by now, Teetiri asked Kotwal to fly low over the marsh once to check if
the animal was still hiding out there. Kotwal agreed and flew straight up from
the babool stem, straight and high and then glided down straight back over the
marsh as though he was about to land there. While reaching just above the
grass, Kotwal straightened his glide and flew out above the marsh and turned
back to return to the babool stem. Not at all looking tired or frightened after
this search flight, Kotwal turned to Teetiri and nodded. Yes. The animal was
still out there. Sitting quietly. Not moving at all. This would not do, Teetiri
thought. The animal would have to go. She needed the marsh returned to her for
raising her young ones who were yet to be born. She could not risk losing
another season and another clutch of eggs. She had to do something. But she
needed more help.
