THE TITANIC BATTLE!

On the banks of the jungle river Vanarani lived a pair of ducks named Floaty and Moti. The river was full of wonderful fish. One day Moti laid four shiny eggs at the foot of a peepal tree that stood on the riverbank. By and by chicks started emerging out of the eggs one by one. First there appeared a crack on the shell of one of these eggs. Then the crack widened to show a tiny beak.

‘Oh’, exclaimed Moti as the little chick wriggled its way out of its shell. It was milk white with black spots. Floaty at once named it Spotty. Then followed other chicks. One was black as crow, another was bread brown yet another was spotless white. Floaty named them Blacky,Browny and Milky respectively. 

Birds from the trees lining the riverbank came to see the newly hatched chicks, and within a week, the four chicks were swimming alongside their parents, having grown well under their protective care.

Things went well until one afternoon when a flock of parrots rushed to the peepal tree screeching with alarm. They told Floaty and Moti about the arrival of a crocodile with bloodshot eyes. Floaty and Moti became worried. “Oh God, how are we going to protect our young ones?” moaned Moti while Floaty said with distress “our peaceful days are over”.

From the next day onwards they did not allow the four chicks to go swimming alone. Moti found it difficult to restrain the chicks. At the same time the chicks did not like the idea of sacrificing the pleasure of swimming just because there was a crocodile prowling around. Spotty, the most inquisitive of the four, went to its father and said “Papa should we remain afraid of this croc Ruthless forever? Is there no one capable of driving it away from here?”

“You are too young Spotty, you don’t know anything about crocs especially this Ruthless, even elephants are afraid of them” replied Floaty. But Spotty refused to accept that crocs are invincible. There must be a way.

That evening it went to see an old owl called Biggy. Biggy heard what Spotty had to say. Then he started speaking. “Dear, I understand your feelings. I have an idea. Two miles east of our place there lives a huge python called Pitiless. Approach him just after he has had his meal. You know pythons are dangerous only when they are hungry.

He is a mighty snake and he is very proud. You go to him, flatter him like anything. Then proceed to tell about this rascal Ruthless. Tell him this croc has come to this place to rule. This will infuriate him. He will surely vow to vanquish the croc Ruthless.

“But what will be our fate if Pitiless chose to stay near our place after killing Ruthless?”

“Don’t worry” assured Biggy. “Neither of them is going to survive the battle. The forest is going to be rid of two evil things.”

“What an idea” exclaimed Spotty. Thanking Biggy profusely it proceeded towards east to meet Pitiless the python. Pitiless was half asleep with one of eyes shut. When it heard about the audacious croc Ruthless its muscles tightened. “I will see who this puny lizard is” he hissed and slithered down from its lair. Spotty guided him to the spot where Ruthless lay sunning.

Ruthless realized something was happening only after Pitiless the python put a loop around its waist. It lashed its formidable tail this way and that and tried to drag Pitiless the python into water. Pitiless tried with all his might to crush the life out of Ruthless. The battle went on and on. The entire jungle gathered to witness the titanic battle.

Night started falling. The battle continued although almost all the animals and birds went back to sleep. Next morning when Spotty inched its way to the battlefield there was complete silence. When it went up to the water’s edge there lay half submerged bodies of Ruthless and Pitiless.

Both of them died fighting each other. “Uncle Biggy’s words came true”, Spotty shouted with joy. All the birds living in the vicinity came to sing and dance to celebrate the end of two monsters.