Pawaskar. The Sparrows' Nest

This is another story from Prof. Smita Pawaskar about a chain of animal helpers; for another story about animals who cooperate, see The Naughty Monkey. This time the helpers are a more eclectic collection: mouse, horse, mynah bird, and bees.

Prof. Pawaskar remembered this as a traditional story, but she could not remember all the details, so she got some help from others at the gym in Pune to fill in the gaps; here is what Suniti Namjoshi told me about that:

Smita couldn’t remember the poem her story is based on properly, but she wanted to tell it anyway. So I called Sandhya, the young woman who is in charge of that bit of the gym in that bit of time, because she likes Smita’s stories and wouldn’t have wanted to miss out. The thing was Smita couldn’t remember anything beyond the horse and there we were having a mini-conference, oh well, a confabulation, well, a chat. So I suggested a crow as a helper after the horse. But Smita was quite sure it couldn’t be a crow. So I suggested a mynah (grackle). This was acceptable and Smita thought we could stop at that. I said, “No. There had to be at least 4 helpers if there was any hope of calling it a chain.” Sandhya laughed. I lost count of how many sidekicks I had done. And Smita thought. I then suggested a honey bee (Smita frowned). A whole swarm of honey bees? And that was that.

It's the collective storytelling tradition in action!

THE SPARROWS' NEST

(translated by Suniti Namjoshi)

(sparrow nest)

It so happened that a pair of sparrows built their nest in the fork of a mango tree from the choicest bits of grass and fluff and odds and ends. They were all set to raise their young, when a great gust of wind blew away their nest. They were distraught.

‘’How can I lay eggs without a nest?” wailed the mother sparrow.

“Don’t worry,” said a mouse, scurrying up to help. “I’ve just been gnawing at an old mattress, and I’ve stashed away some cotton wool and bits of thread. I’ll bring you some.”

Then a horse, who lived nearby, came up to them. “I’ll bring you some grass and some straw from the stable. In no time at all you’ll be able to build a brand new nest.”

He was a tall horse and as he looked across he saw a chink in a wall. He pointed it out. “That might be a good spot to be build a nest,” he told the sparrows. “It looks sheltered from the wind and rain.”

The sparrows set to work. As soon as the nest was ready, the mother sparrow laid two speckled eggs.

Everyone was pleased that the sparrows had a nest again. They all waited for the eggs to hatch.

The mouse and the horse visited every day, and in a couple of weeks the eggs did hatch. 

A mynah brought some rice for the sparrows, the mouse some wheat, and the bees honey. 

And then they had a party and felt lucky because they lived among friends.