The Prize
by Sharmila Roy Ghosal
(Dehradun, India)
Chino the elephant plodded on his way through the forest, he was going to his aunt’s house who lived in the middle of the forest. She was sick. It was almost afternoon when he came upon a leveret a baby hare John, cringing behind a rock. Not far away he saw Dina the vixen eyeing the young hare with a mischievous look on her face.
Acting promptly Chino lifted up John with his trunk and went towards Mary the kangaroo’s house.
“Keep the baby in your pouch till his mother returns”. Chino said. He informed Mary about Dina the vixen. Mary nodded.
It was late in the evening when John was united with his mother Tina, who had gone to help a friend collect apples from her garden, had advised John to stay in the burrow , which of course he had not listened to.
Tina became best of friends with Chino and Mary after the incident.
A few weeks later a high jump competition was being organised in the Evergreen forest. A number of animals were participating. There was Tunu the horse, Minnie the cat, Tuna the porcupine,Teddy the bear and some others. The prize was a scooter. Chino desperately needed a scooter since he had to walk all the way to the other end of the forest, where he was a gardener in Sima the deer’s garden. But unfortunately Chino couldn’t jump.
Tina decided to help. She filled in for Chino. As hares are great jumpers Tina easily won the race.
Chino was at first reluctant to accept the prize then however a compromise was reached. Chino would use the scooter to work and Tina would ride it when she needed it for her errands.
Mary was happy for her friends, she was not interested in the scooter as she loved leaping about on her own but she had one weakness mushrooms and Tina had a garden full of them. Every evening Tina would bring mushrooms for Mary to cook, sometimes Tina and Dina would join Mary for dinner.
The three remained friends for life.
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