July 15. Story of the Day: What Can I Do? (The Peacock's Story)

Here is another original story by Prof. Smita Pawaskar (more of her contributions here), and it features a long series of animals, but this time it is a series of wild animals, seen through the eyes of a peacock: flying birds, songbirds, squirrel, mice, tortoise, ducks, and a crane. The plot might remind you of Aesop's fable about the jealous peacock, with a dose of Andersen's ugly duckling.  The ending of the story is very sweet!

Looking for more stories? Click here for previous Stories-of-the-Day.

WHAT CAN I DO?

by Smita Pawaskar

(translated by Suniti Namjoshi)

Around a small pond near the outskirts of a town a number of birds and beasts lived happily together. One day a young peacock came through the bushes. They had never seen a peacock before, but as he had two feet, wings and a beak the other birds assumed that he must be like them. They gave him some of the grain they had gathered for themselves. He must have come a long way because he gobbled it up hungrily, and then he perched on a low branch and fell asleep.

The next day when he went for a walk he saw a number of birds flying about in the sky. He said to himself ruefully, ‘The most I can do is hop onto a low branch. What fun the birds are having!’ 

Then he heard birdsong. He cleared his throat and tried to sing, but it was no use. ‘How wonderful to be able to sing like that,’ he thought.

A little further on the peacock saw a squirrel scamper up a tree and down again. She picked up a fruit in her front paws and began eating it. The peacock was charmed, ‘It must be great to be squirrel. She can do ever so many things!’ He tried to imitate her, but it was beyond him.

Next he saw two mice running in and out of mouse holes and playing catch. He wished he could play the way they were playing, but he knew that he would never fit into a mouse hole.

Then he saw a tortoise. As soon as the tortoise saw him, it pulled in its head and feet and hid under its shell. The peacock thought this was quite a trick. He tried to tuck his long neck under his body, but he just couldn’t do it.

As he got nearer the pond he saw some ducks. They kept going into the water and coming out again onto the mud. The peacock put one foot into the mud and promptly withdrew it. He was afraid of getting stuck. He couldn’t help thinking though that the ducks were having a splendid time.

At the side of the pond there was a crane standing absolutely still on one foot. He looked like a sage meditating; but as soon as he caught sight of a fish, he would spear it with his beak and eat it up. The peacock tried standing on one foot and tumbled over. As for the fish, they were nowhere in sight. The peacock said to himself sadly, ‘And I don’t even eat fish! All I eat is grain and insects.’

The peacock returned to his tree. As the days passed, his crest grew and his tail feathers filled out. The peacock didn’t know what he was supposed to do with all these feathers. 

(photo by Suniti Namjoshi)

But then one evening dark rain clouds began to mass in the sky. The sunlight could barely filter through. There was a tremendous thunderclap and a flash of lightning. And an astonishing thing happened. It was as though the lightning had somehow sparked something in the peacock. His whole body trembled, even his tail feathers, and as they trembled he fanned them out and his feet began to dance. He danced and he danced as he gazed at the sky. 

The birds and the beasts gathered about and watched the peacock’s unearthly dance. They loved the way his neck glittered when the lightning blazed, the grace of his movements, the spread of his tail, and were altogether enchanted by his magnificence. They gazed at the iridescent blues and greens and purples of his plumage, his jewelled feathers, and thought he was a splendid fellow. And still the peacock danced. He danced and danced till he was exhausted. And that night his sleep was peaceful and untroubled.