The Story of a Mouse Deer and a Tiger
The Tiger had been hunting from the early morning. So far he was only successful in catching a few rats. Rats! He shuddered to think if any of his friends knew that he had resorted to catching a few annoying rats to appease his hunger. How could he regale his friends with his awesome tricks and skills if he could only catch those infuriating rats? He would rather swallow a bitter gourd than admitting to his friends that he could only catch rats. At least he hope the bitter gourd would be the least bitter than admitting he failed miserably.
"Hmmm ... how big that mouse deer stomach is?" He wondered. "He seems did not stop chewing, and here I am getting hungrier. My stomach is growling like a mad lion now. I need to act now!" Having decided that he needed to take the necessary action, the Tiger started to walk near to the mouse deer. But in his haste, he accidentally stepped on dead branches. "Crack!" The sound seemed so loud in the quiet evening. A group of crows took off because of the noise.
"What is that?" asked the Tiger curiously. Though the Tiger was a frightening hunter in the jungle, but he was not known to have a bright mind. "Oh! That is the Gold Gong of the King Solomon. His Majesty likes to hear the sound of the gong when he is hunting in the jungle", replied the mouse deer.
"It must gives the sweetest sound when it is pounded" said the Tiger with an excited voice. "Of course! After all it is His Majesty's gold gong. Who ever has the opportunity to listen to the sound of the gong, will feel happy for the rest of the day" replied the mouse deer. He tried to make his sound more prideful rather than trembling with fright.
"O pretty please my dear mouse deer. Please allow me to pound the gong this time. If you do that I promise to let you go today" pleaded the Tiger. His voice became whiny and pitiful. The mouse deer stood silent for a few minutes as if debating his decision.
With a deep breath and sounded remorseful, the mouse deer finally said; "Oh! Because you are so kind to spare my life, and I am grateful for that, I will allow you to pound on that gong. But because I am afraid of the wrath of his Highness King Solomon, you can only pound that precious gong when I am far from here. At least I can claimed that I did not know who had pounded the gong. Promise me."
The Tiger was for once waited patiently to hear the signal from the mouse deer. When he heard "Pound" from somewhere in the deep jungle, with his might he pound the bee nest. The bees were so angry with the disturbance that they started to attack the Tiger in a drove. The Tiger was so surprised by the attack that for a moment he was frozen. Then he howled with all his might that his roar was heard all over the jungle.
Finally the bees went back to their ruined nest. The Tiger was able to swim to the river bank. He was shivering and at the same time fuming for being made a fool by the mouse deer. He promised himself that he would seek revenge on the mouse deer.
~~~~~ The End ~~~~~