The wily fox outsmarts the selfish crow

(Here is another Sonu story. And one featuring Rani, the queen of elephants)

For Sonu, that day began much as it usually did, with a bath in barely warm water in the outside bathroom.

“Brrrr!” he said as he rushed back into the cozy warmth of the main house, warmed by the bodies of his father and sister in the drawing room and his mother boiling water for chai in the kitchen. His father and sister were arguing about the cricket match last night.

His sister wouldn’t hear a thing against her idol, Dhoni.

Caw! Caw! Caw!

Photo by Vivek Doshi on Unsplash

“What do you want now, Kauva-ji?” his mother exclaimed from the kitchen, catching sight of the noisy black crow with the grey neck who came every morning to clamour for food at their kitchen window. “Do you want seconds?”

To her astonishment, the crow seemed to look her straight in the eye and say, “Ma, I want to have pakoras today.” Her jaw dropped. She must be imagining things. A talking crow?

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw both Sonu and his sister staring at the crow, mouths agape. Sonu’s father seemed dumbstruck, his logical brain, moulded by years as a train engineer, unable to comprehend what was happening in front of him.

“Ma, you have to give him what he wants!” whispered Sonu, loudly. “Yes!” For once, Jamna seemed to agree with her brother. Sonu’s mother still could not believe that she had a talking crow perched on her window sill, asking for pakoras. She wondered if it were her husband playing a prank on her.

So she said, “Kauva-ji, if you want pakoras, you will have to go to the market and bring onions, green chillies, some flour, and salt. I am not going to raid my kitchen to make you pakoras.”

At this, the crow flew off without a backward glance and the spell seemed to break. Sonu and Jamna went back to bickering, nearly forgetting that they had witnessed a talking crow just minutes ago. Sonu’s father, Rajaram, went back to reading the newspaper.

About an hour later… Caw! Caw! Caw!

Kauva-ji was back at their window, this time with a small sack attached to his beak. Sonu’s mother wasn’t expecting this! Seeing the sack, Sonu demanded that his…