SHORT STORY: A Crow And A Dove

A crow expanded its wings and flapped them a few times. "Croak! Croak!" said the crow. It gave the sign that the day was getting hotter. The crow then flew up into the open sky. As always, it was going to visit its friend, a dove. The dove was the pet of a rich man. It was kept in a cage in front of his big house.

      The dove also would be looking forward to meet its friend the crow. Every day the dove would wait patiently in its beautiful cage. From far away, the dove could recognize the crow as it flew down to meet him.

      The crow was always down hearted. "No other bird which is more disgraceful than I am," complained the crow to its friend.

      "Why do you say that?" asked the dove.

      "My feathers are black. As black as coal! There is no pattern or any patch of other colours," said the crow in regret. It hated itself.

"It's not nice to say so. Black is beauty," consoled the dove. The dove was lucky. It had beautiful feathers and a sweet voice. That was why the rich man was willing to spend hundreds of Ringgit just for its cage.

      Furthermore, the dove did not have to look for food. Everything was provided by its owner. The rich man would only select the best grains to give to the dove. He himself would clean the cage every day. In short, the dove was well treated by the rich man.

      On the other hand, the crow had to fly to the dumping site to scavenge anything that it could eat. If it was lucky, it would have a lot to eat and if not it had to eat whatever available to stay alive.

      "You are so lucky," said the crow to the dove. The dove did not say a word. It stared at the crow from inside the steel cage.

After sometimes, the crow asked to be excused. It wanted to go and look for food. As it was about to fly, the dove said, "One day, you will know who is luckier."

      The crow flew away to its destination.

      When the night came, it had to search for a suitable place to sleep. It found a nice shady tree to spend the night on. While preparing to sleep, he remembered what the dove had said before it flew off that day. He tried to figure out what the dove meant.

      Coincidentally, there were two owls resting on the same tree. The crow heard them talking. "Can you tell me what is the best thing we could have in this world?" asked one of the owls.

      "Birds like us are blessed with wings. We are free to fly anywhere we want to go. That is the best thing for birds," answered the other owl.

      When the crow heard that, he was very thankful. His jealousy of the dove vanished. Instead, he felt sorry for his friend the dove. That night, he could not sleep thinking of his caged friend.

Now he understood what the dove meant. Even though the dove lived in a beautiful and expensive cage, he had no freedom. The crow realized that he was luckier than his friend the dove. He wanted to apologize for being jealous over what the dove had.

      At day break the next day, the crow flew to a garbage bin to look for food. He found a corn cob with a few grains on it. After eating the corn, he flew off to see his friend the dove.

      From a distance, the crow could hear the sweet voice of his friend singing to greet the beautiful morning. He could see the rich man smiling while listening to the sweet melody made by the dove. As a reward, he put some nice grains into the cage.

      As soon as the rich man walked away, the crow flew down to meet his friend the dove.

      "Hai my friend! You look happy today," said the dove. The crow did not say anything. It flew round the dove's cage.

      "Why? What is wrong with you? You seem to be very sad," asked the dove. He was puzzled that the crow suddenly showed a sorrow face. The crow stopped flying and rested on the verandah of the rich man's house.

 "Now I understand what you meant," said the crow regretfully. The crow felt sorry for the dove which was caged all the time. It could not fly freely as he could. What the owl said was absolutely true. As a bird, to be able to fly freely is the best thing in this world.

      "It's good for you that you understand what I meant," said the dove.

      "Don't you want to be free?" asked the crow. The dove just kept quite. It did not only have a sweet voice but also a lot of patience. The dove was always calm and contented with its life.

      The dove told the crow that, the sweetness of its voice that had brought misery to its life. People keep doves because they love to listen to the sweet melody a dove can sing.

      "Don't you forget my advice," said the dove. "Look at you! Although you can only make 'croak' sound and don't look beautiful, you are free," added the dove.

      After listening to what the dove had said, the crow now realized how lucky he was. They now understood each other well and became good friends for a very long time.

MORAL VALUE

      Don't take things for granted. All God's creations have their own specific function. But we must not be boastful if we are blessed with special talent. May be there is somebody else who is more talented than us. Talent is a gift from God and God may take it back any time He wants.

      Always be contented and thankful of what we have. And don't ever look down on others for the flaws they might have. Everybody has their own strength and weakness.

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