AGNEA

By Sreeja Mitra

Chapter 1: Off to the world alone




The beautiful April, who had slept for such a long time had now risen. The birds were chirping, laughing and singing. Hearing these noises, Zambia, the little swallow woke up. She had dreamt a strange dream: Her grandfather, whom she loved very much, had said to her from heaven “Zambia, my dearest, you have indeed grown up now. I don’t like the way you are being brought up. Your parents are pampering you. Your parents will leave you tomorrow…” Then she had woken up. When she looked around her, she found her parents missing. Had her dream come true then? She screamed and sang to call them back, but nobody responded her. She was despaired. But what could she do? Groaning with helplessness, she flapped her wings and flew away after biding goodbye to her home.

On the way, Zambia was astonished. “The world’s so big!” she said to herself. “It's a pity I didn’t come out of my nest at all!” and she laughed madly.

She drank and took a bath in a nearby pond. A little boy sat there. As he hadn’t seen any swallow before, he tried to catch it. The little swallow was unaware. But as every bird did, she got an alarm sense soon. She flew away and never returned.

Chapter 2: A strange meeting

Then she sat down on a tree branch to sleep.

As she woke up after a good sleep, a kingfisher swift flew past her. He landed on a lower branch. Zambia caught hold of his beautiful feathers. She stared at him stupidly. The kingfisher looked around and saw her. This stupid reaction of Zambia infuriated him. He at once spoke in a cruel manner” What’s got into you girl? Have you no manners? Staring at me like coelacanths! Making fun of me I expect!” Zambia was shocked to hear such rude welcome. Her voice turned cold, very cold and then icy. She said scornfully,” Mister Kingfisher, look I’m new here. I don’t know anyone here. Moreover how would I make fun of you? I was just looking at your bright feathers.” The last sentence of Zambia changed the Kingfisher’s mind completely. His anger changed into pride. He started pecking his feathers proudly. When he asked about her, she told her entire story. The Kingfisher was stunned. After a pause he said” Zambia, you are still a small girl swallow. Do you want to go round the world for once?” Zambia readily agreed. And within hardly a minute off they flew.

Chapter 3: An unexpected attack by an unknown animal

They flew and flew. They traveled to Rome, France, England, Russia and Africa. They soon settled in the Indian jungles. The Kingfisher taught Zambia to catch fishes. Life was going good.

But suddenly something attacked them on their third day in India.

It was a dark night. They were both sleeping. Nobody even stirred until Zambia heard a noise. A strange noise it was. It was a hissing sound somewhat send-shiver type. Then, the sight which showed before Zambia was terrifying. A creature stood before her. It had no legs but a hood. It had a mystic mark on the back of it. It went on hissing. Zambia woke up the Kingfisher, knowing not what to do. The Kingfisher yawned, looked around him and froze. Zambia whispered “What‘s going on?” “Please, please, shut up. Stay silent. Don’t even move a little.” Was the Kingfisher’s reply. Zambia was alarmed. She was rather worried than frightened. But she had one company.

Meanwhile the creature moved towards Zambia. She didn’t move the least. The Kingfisher was nowhere to be seen. All of a sudden Zambia shivered and blinked one eye. The creature saw this. It looked alarmed, satisfied and then excited. And then! Surely you can imagine how terrible the fight was. It may be easy for us but not for simple birds. They have no weapon but only an alarm sense and wings to escape. Let’s start the fight! Such little birds first of all, then so much courage and determination to save the others! Come on and please don’t leave your mouth agape!

End of part 1

Chapter 4: A terrible fight

The creature was more agile than Zambia had fancied. It crawled towards Zambia at his greatest speed. Zambia never expected this. Such a lovely day ending by such a horrible end! She tried to fly away but something was stopping her from doing so. It was her fear. She was frozen stiff. Will she be eaten by this stupid crawly thing? Will her life end here? Her thoughts continued while the enemy had almost squeezed her to death. It was about to bite her, when a yelling was heard. The big animal turned and before he could blink his eye a well-aimed stone came to hit him. Zambia was closing her eyes with fear. When she opened them she saw her life-saver-companion, the kingfisher. He had thrown stones to attract the enemy’s attention. Zambia stayed baffled. She didn’t know what to do. This was the first problem in her life. Before, she didn’t even hear birds mentioning” a problem”. Oh, what, oh what could she do? The kingfisher was swift and courageous but the enemy was no less. Zambia stared at them. She couldn’t even remember her name that moment, she was so frightened. Suddenly an idea flashed through her mind like a cry of a crow in the middle of a grand silence. But could she do it? What was reluctant to go with her? Her courage or her strength? She knew! Her mind suddenly brightened up. Her body, which was frozen stiff, was now melting. She stood up. She silently crept behind the crawly thing. It was squeezing the kingfisher when she was thinking. Fortunately the kingfisher was mighty. If he was not, he would be dead within a minute. Zambia was still very, very quiet. She meant the enemy to get a grand surprise!

The enemy was not still alarmed. Then suddenly she gave such a loud scream that the kingfisher jumped. The creature felt his jump. He turned behind him and with her tiny paws Zambia caught his cold body and… What did you say? No, obviously she could not lift him but drag him to make him slip. The creature was so surprised that his surprisement made him slip more. He climbed up with ease but by the time the little birds flew away.

Then it was a weird scene.

The two birds were flying anxiously while the crawly thing was chasing them. A wave of anger, anxiousty and excitement were flowing through each body.

All of a sudden an eagle’s call echoed through the whole jungle. The three of them jumped.

An eagle appeared on the scene, took the crawly thing and flew away.

Chapter 5: Snakes and Cria

There was a silence. The birds stared at the eagle. Suddenly Zambia sang and chirped. The kingfisher also joined in her happy, joyful and excited chirps. Their chirps were ended by the Kingfisher” Zambia, you don’t know how pleased I’m to find ourselves alive. I don’t mind telling you that I was really very frightened. It was really terrible.” Zambia asked timidly “Actually WHAT was that? Zambia asked. She could not wait for the answer! The kingfisher’s jaw dropped.” Oh!” he squealed. “You don’t know?” Zambia went red. She didn’t want other birds to know that she was not knowledgeable. But she was innocent and curious.

The kingfisher appeared baffled. It was a common fact among birds. After a while, he said so softly that Zambia could barely hear him.

“It was a snake.”

“What is that?”

“There are varieties of snakes. Anacondas, Boas, Pythons, Rattle snakes, Cobra etc. This was a king cobra. “

“Does it squeeze its prey?”

“Some snakes do so. But not Cobras. They are poisonous.”

Zambia shivered at hearing him. “They-are-poisonous, they-are-poisonous” began flashing on her head.

“Then?”

“They bite and their poison enters our body.”

Zambia listened to him spellbound. It was stunning to her.

This discussion of snakes continued for some time. Finally the kingfisher said” Gosh! It was the most frightening moment in my life. If we go on attacked by snakes this way, I have to consult my friend, Cria.” He took a pause. It was surprising to Zambia as she didn’t know Cria even. “Now who was this? Don’t tell me that it’s another snake!” She said to herself. But she didn’t reveal anything as she didn’t want the kingfisher to think she didn‘t know Cria even. Cria must be someone famous, she thought.

The kingfisher looked at her. It was clear to him that Zambia didn’t know anything about Cria. He giggled. There was silence. Zambia was staring at him with small, curious and timid eyes. After a sigh, the kingfisher said mockingly” So you don’t know Cria, huh?” Zambia went red again. “Cria is the queen of charm. She is the loveliest of the whole southern India. She is a peacock. Let me say that I was so ashamed of myself to know that you didn’t even hear her name? “Said the kingfisher somewhat sheepishly. “Where does she live?” said Zambia who could not stop herself from asking questions. “She lives in Chennai. That was a parrot who told me about it.” Replied the kingfisher ignorantly. Zambia had immediately pain shinning in her eyes. What could she do if she didn’t know Cria, snakes or etc.? “It’s my parents’s fault. They didn’t teach me anything but flying, singing and escaping from an enemy. They kept pampering me. Grandpa was right. ” She kept muttering. The kingfisher looked at her eyes and went blue with shame. He understood that Zambia had covered her mind with a thick black wall. She would not show sorrow, anger, pain etc. She would control it. If anything she could not control, she would break the wall and open her beak. The best God-given power to her was her mental strength. Zambia was ashamed, tried to control it and didn’t say anything. This shamed the kingfisher himself. Oh why, oh why he had treated her so ignorantly? He tried to change the subject, “Oh, wow! Have you seen those mangoes lying there? Come on! Let’s eat them before anyone eats them, oh come on! I’m so hungry.” Zambia showed a sign of relief in her eyes. They shinned.



Chapter 6: A funny accident

They ate stomach-full of ripe mangoes. The kingfisher’s tummy looked as it was about to burst. And so was Zambia’s. There were much more mangoes left but they were both full. Zambia said” Wow! These are the sweetest mangoes I’ve ever eaten. If only I had four tummies!” She burst out laughing. The kingfisher did so too.

Quite some time later suddenly the sky went red and the sun set. “Did you see the sky, kingfisher? It ‘s so red!” said Zambia at once. “I have seen many such sun-sets. You should the sun-set which I saw in…in… Come on, now let me see…Seysselles, no…Seashells, no, no… Seychelles! Difficult name, no? These stupid, people think names without even thinking!” said the kingfisher loudly. Zambia sang. She really liked this meal, this sun-set and the kingfisher’s declaration. She didn’t like people. She thought that there were only hunters in the people colony! Anyway, why would they bother the forest? They have their own ear-bursting cities to stay and those are jolly comfortable, so far. Zambia suddenly yawned loudly.

She yawned so loudly that it made the kingfisher yawn too. “I want to sleep.” she said at last.” But not here and not yet. Somewhere up or safe. And that must be soft too, not like this hard and hot ground. Look! That branch is perfect to sleep. It’s covered with soft leaves. Shadows have covered that branch to prevent the sunlight from burning its leaves. There are more ripe mangoes up there to welcome us by feeding us their juice whenever we are hungry again. Come on, kingfisher, it’s such a nice place!” “So it is. But I can’t…” replied the kingfisher but Zambia cut him off.

” What?”

“I have my feet stuck. I don’t know why it’s so.”

Zambia giggled. Her feet were also stuck. And none of them knew why. Suddenly the kingfisher noticed something black on their feet. “IT’S A NET! “He cried. Zambia knew nets very well. And it’s a hunter’s net! Her grandmother, sister and great grandmother were caught by hunter’s nets. The kingfisher was himself caught by a net once. But he did a plan to get himself out. He pretended to be dead and when the hunter was away he flew off.

But now, they were both stuck fast. The kingfisher could not even see the hunter. Zambia could not stop herself from shedding small tears of agony and the kingfisher screamed.

And suddenly, through the kingfisher had already some brains on his own, God gave him yet another plan to help him.” Aha!” he squealed. He gave a wink to the parrots flying nearby, and then advised Zambia to make the most terrible noise from her throat. Zambia was puzzled but she soon decided to obey the kingfisher. She gave a loud terrible shriek that frightened each and every one of the birds in the whole jungle. The kingfisher copied her shriek. The parrots nearby, understood the signal, and started imitating their shrieks. What a terrible noise it was!

Once the birds had started shrieking, a sleeping dog nearby woke up. Now who dared to wake him up? Nobody, but birds! He barked loudly and he said in animal language” Get out, you! My master will be woken up, scold me for this misunderstanding, I’ll tell him the truth, he’ll scold you and what a fuss would there be! And after all, you little naughty birds have woken me up!!!” And it was true. The master woke up, scolded the dog thinking that he had made all these noise. But when he started howling, growling at the parrots and at the same time trying to explain his master what had happened, the master got confused. What had happened? The master believed in bad omens. He thought it was a rakhshasa (an Indian epic monster) who had come to eat him and his family. He thought if he could make louder noise than the rakhshasa’s roar, he would go away. He brought drums, beena and tabla (two Indian instruments) He sang a Marathi song loudly and began playing the instruments. The noise became louder.

Meanwhile, the hunter who was not far off, heard the terrible noise and was scared out of his wits. He thought the same bad omen of course. But he had no instruments to scare away the big rakhshasa. What could he do? He could do nothing but to run away…So off he was, running as fast as his les could take him.

Chapter 7: Lot of time wasted

The parrots calmed down later. “The hunter’s gone! Our plan succeeded!” They cried. One of them flew down to the kingfisher and said softly:

“How are you going to get out of this?”

“Do I have the answer?” came a scornful reply.

“Can you cut through these nets?”

“My beak is not sharp enough.”

“And the other bird, whoever she is?”

“No, she’s too frightened.”

There was a silence. Zambia was confused and tired. She sighed every now and then. The kingfisher looked terribly fierce. He looked horrible whenever he was cross, that would mean whenever he could not do anything, was in a fix etc. “Now!!” he flew to another of his sudden rages.” What’s the best thing to do?”

One of the parrots suddenly brightened up. Zambia noticed his”brightening up suddenly” and brightened up herself. “What is the matter? Have you found an idea?” she shot up. “Yes” said the parrot who looked very firm. “I have a friend, Gugaha, a mouse, who lives not far from here. Perhaps he could chew through these nets, do you think?” Somebody scowled: And how do you think he could come here?”

That was the kingfisher, of course.

“He’ll come with me.” replied the parrot and flew to the sky, disappearing into the clouds.

“Funny!” said Zambia. “That parrot looked strange to me.”

They had to wait for a long time for him and his friend Gugaha, whoever he was. Zambia continued her” sighing” and then stayed silent. Out of the clouds came a funny, timid, mouse sitting on the back of a firm parrot. “Good morning!” he said when they landed.” He’s well-mannered,” said the parrot,” He comes from a city, so he has copied all the people’s manners.” He immediately received an unseen punch from the kingfisher, who was afraid that Zambia would have heard and be hurt because she hated people terribly.

The gentle mouse cut the net quickly. The kingfisher saluted him beautifully. ”Thanks, Mr. Mouse!” he said. “You deserve the best award for helping others!”” Thank you.” Came a generous reply. He went back calmly on the parrot’s back. There was a silence.

“Well,” said the kingfisher. His temper never lasted long. “Should we continue our voyage?” “Oh,” said Zambia in a strange tone.” We shall.” Whoosh... they were off again.

Chapter 8: Cria

The little birds flew across high peaked mountains of Kashmir, sunny deserts of Rajasthan, dangerous forests of Madhya Pradesh, The blue sea of Goa, and at last they arrived Chennai. Chennai was a beautiful city. They flew and tasted sweet grains on the roof of the house of a kind merchant. They bathed their feathers in a cool pond near a poor house. The kingfisher saw some rice near a field he collected some of them and put them in the front of a poor lady in that house. The lady cried with joy, for they had eaten nothing for last few days. She said” Thank god!” in quick Hindi, which sounded like bubble water gutter to the birds. They flew and flew. Once, when they arrived near a Mahal (“Palace” in Indian language) the kingfisher whispered to Zambia,” Wait here. I’m coming.” Zambia watched the kingfisher disappearing in the bushes. She stood patiently. What was this kingfisher up to now? It was indeed a long wait. She tried to fall asleep but she couldn’t. The sparrows were chirping too loudly. She pecked her feathers and drank water from a fountain in the garden of the mahal. And then only she saw something peculiar. The kingfisher was there, talking with a lovely bright-feathered bird! Her eyes nearly fell out of her head. What a lovely creature! The kingfisher also eyed Zambia. He called out to her” Come fast, Zambia, this is Cria! Come fast!” Zambia giggled. So this was Cria! She hadn’t thought of that! She went beside her, very sheepishly indeed. They exchanged their “hellos” and kept quiet.” Well! “Said the kingfisher, seeing the girls’ behavior. “We are all friends!”

And so they were! They flew together over cities and fields and forests while Cria raced below. Goodness, she couldn’t fly! But that didn’t matter to the birds; obviously-because they were the best friends in the world now. But people, the nightmares of Zambia, were not so thrilled. They would admire the peacock, the kingfisher, but were terribly shocked to see such an ugly black swallow in company with them. Zambia didn’t care. All she cared was to be with these two generous friends until her death. But as time grew, Zambia opened her eyes and saw the world clearly. As the old proverb says,” Bird proposes, God disposes.” Zambia couldn’t keep with them for long.

Once a terrible tragedy came in store for them. Cria died. The kingfisher went nearly mad. Sometimes he would fly to one of his rages, and then weep like children. He would mutter all the time, “No, Cria, no. You can’t do this to me. No. No! No, no, no, no!” Even Zambia could not tolerate this. Cria was not her real friend. She thought that she was proudy since she didn’t talk so much to her. It was a misunderstanding. Cria had tried to talk to Zambia, but she was too shy. Everyone has his own characteristics, own soul, own mind. But Zambia was not enough understandable to understand this. Moreover, since the kingfisher talked to Cria very often, she thought that it would be better to keep in company with her. She shed a few tears, and then thought that it would be better if she forgot Cria’s death. Her mind would be pure if she forgot all the rages, worries and sadness; her grandfather had once told her that. She told her idea to kingfisher. The kingfisher disagreed. Cria was his friend for so many years. And now he had lost her forever. Zambia kept pleading to the kingfisher, the kingfisher kept refusing until the two changed their minds. Zambia became frustrated. All was right before. She knew that Cria’s death was intolerable; but that didn’t mean that the kingfisher should weep all day long for her only. “Come on up, you!” she said in anger.” Shame on you! Sitting beside a dead body for such a long time! At your age too!” “Why…?” began the kingfisher, shocked to see his quiet, peaceful company looking quiet fierce. But Zambia cut him short. “Are you going to weep for her all day long? Aren’t you ashamed? It was right before, but don’t think it is now!” “What’s the matter? Have I done something wrong?” said the kingfisher innocently. “Oh, sure you have!” said Zambia ignorantly. “Wasting time sitting beside a dead body! Something beyond imagination! Cria, our friend has gone forever, I know, but that doesn’t mean that you should make such a fuss about her death. Come on, now. Forget her.”

Chapter 9: A frightful quarrel

There was a silence. The face of the kingfisher was white and blue. And Zambia’s was red. The kingfisher suddenly burst out “All right Miss Zambia!” he went red too.” Do whatever you like. Go here, there, anywhere. Just leave me alone with Cria! If you had any feelings, you’d…you’d…””Be away from her.” Finished Zambia. “Let me tell you that I didn’t like her at all. She was indeed a proud peacock.”


The kingfisher was shocked.” You betrayer! You have been pretending you’re a real friend of Cria, meanwhile you’re not!! How dare you?” He almost spat out words. The two were suddenly in terrible rages, the rages that were impossible to forget. Both kept adamant on their words.” Forget it, Zambia! I wouldn’t boast of it like you! You are an ugly, two-faced dirty old swamp!” said the angry kingfisher. “Oh!” said Zambia. “All these days you’ve been praising me telling me that I was pretty, intelligent and sensible bird! Now I know what you mean by that!” She grinned. The two were shouting, with fearful rages and blazing eyes. Zambia broke the wall. She and the kingfisher peeped into each other minds, and read their thoughts. The sparrows nearby, surrounded them wondering what was happening. One or two of them told the two angry birds to stop the quarreling, but soon stopped as nobody could change Zambia’s or the kingfisher’s mind when they were in one of their moods! The ending was very bad.” Well I’m going! I never expected this, Zambia, but I have to!” “Oh, go away! I never wanted you! I could wander alone and discover the world myself!” “That’s what you think! You didn’t even know snakes! Who saved you, from being poisoned?” “Oh, go, oh, go! I don’t want you anymore.” They separated. Another tragedy they were never to forget. Suddenly Zambia remembered something that she should have asked him long ago. “Well before you go, may I know what your name is?” she asked him with the same timid eyes. The kingfisher turned back. He looked at the same timid, small Zambia, who now looked like an angel. Her feathers had grown, her eyes were deep and clear, and her small little beak was sharper. Ancient memories were coming to each other. The kingfisher calmed down and sighed. Obviously he had not forgotten how he had shouted at her when they had first met. Zambia had answered with a calm temper answer. The kingfisher had met her and shouted at her, and was shouting a little before from now also, when they were leaving each other. Was that right? Nobody knew the voice of heart. It kept pleading: Oh, please, please, let’s make friendship again. It was so good before! A deep tear rolled down the cheek of the kingfisher. He had lost Cria, and now Zambia. What was life without friends? Zambia waited patiently for the answer. She began to open her eyes, but they were almost covered with imbecile tears of the inside. The kingfisher wiped his cheek and replied” Hamin.” Without another word, he flew away. Another tear fell off his cheek, and through the branches, landed near a very surprised little swan.

To be continued...

Ei golpoti likheche 9 bochorer Sreeja, amader priyo Banglar Bodhu Suparna Mitra-er konya.Sreeja-r kache er poroborti ongsho shonar jonne aadheer aggrohe roilam... :-)