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Coverstory |
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My Home or Your Home: A King's Dilemma |
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There were many trees which grew in the king’s garden, but there was a special tree. It was huge, solid and its branches provided shelter to numerous birds, insects and termites. One day, these creatures were engaged in an animated discussion. They had come to know that the king was planning to cut down the tree and were worried about what would happen to all of them.
The sparrow wondered why the tree was being cut down. This was, after all the king’s favourite tree and he had never ever allowed anyone to cut its branches. The squirrel told them that the king had noticed a crack on the pillars of his palace and now wanted the best wood in the kingdom to reinforce the pillar, so that his palace would not fall.
The bat remarked that it was not fair that the king was sacrificing their home to preserve his palace. “We must do something about this. We can’t let this happen”, he told the others. “But what can we do”, the squirrel asked. “He is the king”. “Oh yes, we can do something. We can all threaten to leave his kingdom, each bird and animal here. Let us see what he can do about it. He may be the king, but he can’t stop us. And he can have his kingdom of trees without any life.”
So the ultimatum was delivered to the king. The king did not know what to do. On one hand, his carpenters assured him that this tree was the only one which could serve his purpose. Otherwise, he would have to leave his palace. He had thought that instead of him changing his home, he would make the other creatures change their home. After all he was the king. He could ask the other creatures to leave their homes. But now, he was faced with a choice of having no birds and animals in his kingdom. Could he live in a place where the birds did not chirp and the ants did not work?
What did he do ? What would you do ? Please write to us your reaction soon. The best responses will be published in the next issue and the respondents will get a free subscription for Honeybee for one year.
Source: Based on the story Small is Big from http://www4to40.com/folktales/index.asp?article=folktales-smallisbig
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| Volume No. |
Honey Bee, 16(2):, 2005 |
